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“I understand,” Dillon said. “I apologize for any problems I may have caused.”
“Are you protecting Rogan?”
“Pardon me? Protecting?”
“You didn’t apprehend Mallory on your own, since the Herndon police drove you here with Mallory. You couldn’t walk to where you arrested him in Herndon from Georgetown. I told Rogan to stay the hell out of my way—”
Rick Stockton said, “I’ll let you handle the situation, Noah, as you see fit, but I have a meeting with the director at five, and I need to tell him something, even if it’s that Mallory refuses to talk. We have sensitive media issues with two former FBI agents allegedly orchestrating a vigilante group.”
“I apologize, sir.” He used his military training to tamp down his anger. “Which psychiatrist is going in with me?”
“Hans,” Rick said without comment. “And Kate. I’m sorry, Dillon, you’re too close to the situation right now. If Mallory wants to talk to you later, that’s fine, but I need my agents in there.”
“No explanation necessary,” Dillon said.
Noah asked Hans, “What do I need to know?”
“Mallory is extremely protective of Lucy Kincaid. He failed Lucy six years ago and couldn’t—or didn’t—protect her. When he survived, he sought ways to right wrongs. He needs to appease his guilt, but it will never be satisfied. Which is why he continues. Using Lucy as one of the lures through WCF.”
Dillon said, “He sees it as letting her help, even though she doesn’t know what she’s doing for him. He’s empowering her.”
“Exactly,” Hans concurred. “Lucy was able to put the bad guys back in prison, which gave her power and helped her develop a strong sense of justice and fairness. Getting Lucy to help the vigilantes was easy: she was predisposed to do anything legal to get those people off the streets. But our gang of conspirators never approached her to be an active member of the assassination team. Mallory’s own guilt required a blood sacrifice, of sorts. He would most likely decide when someone needed to die, and Fran would target the appropriate felon. In fact, when we analyze the WCF files we’ll likely see a pattern suggestive of a serial killer. At least one a month, escalating over time because Mallory’s guilt isn’t assuaged by his kills. In fact, his actions make him feel increasingly disconnected from humanity. He sees himself on one hand as a dark knight saving Lucy over and over because he couldn’t do it right the first time, and on the other as a monster, a killer, and that is antithetical to everything he believes in.”
“Morton doesn’t fit the profile,” Noah said. “And neither does Prenter—he didn’t target children.”
“Because Mallory chose those targets, not Buckley. And he didn’t use Lucy for Morton—because Morton wasn’t prowling the online chat rooms. He was too ADHD to sit for long in front of a computer. He needed physical communication, not virtual.”
Kate said, “We don’t have enough evidence. So far, the agents at Mallory’s house have found nothing incriminating. No weapons, other than what was on him, but we already know that the ballistics don’t match on any of the victims—and one of the victims was killed in a hit-and-run, and three stabbed. There’s nothing to tie them together.”
“We need a confession,” Hans said.
“Mallory is tired of this,” Dillon said. “That’s what he told me while we waited for the police. I think, with the right approach, he’ll be willing to tell you everything. You’ll have to earn it. He’s going to want you to be worthy of the information.”
Hans nodded. “Excellent point. And if not him, once we have Biggler and Buckley in custody it’ll be easier to get one of them to cave. What’s the status?” he asked Noah.
“Abigail is executing the warrants on Buckley and WCF. I have two agents each on Biggler’s tail and his sister. His sister is in the middle of a twelve-hour shift at Mercy Hospital. We made contact with the principal at Biggler’s school, who confirmed that he was still on campus. The students are gone.”
“I don’t see Biggler as a threat,” Hans said. “And he’s not going to leave his sister. If he suspects anything, he’ll go straight to the hospital to talk to her. Let him. Then arrest both of them together.”
“Why Brenda Biggler?” Kate asked. “I thought we were just looking at the brother.”
“I read the Prenter police report, and it stated that a blond female left with the victim. That tells me that Biggler and Mallory are working with a woman, and she’s the only one in the picture that we know about. If she’s not involved, Biggler will confess so she doesn’t get dragged into the mess. If she is involved, he’ll try to negotiate leniency for her. His involvement with the vigilantes suggests that he’s seeking justice for his murdered sister. So it stands to reason that he’d be protective of his other sister.”
“And we need to find out why he brought Morton to D.C.—if he did, or if he took advantage of a situation,” Dillon added.
“Do we know why Ralston went to Seattle?” Kate asked.
“No,” Noah said.
“Mallory knows,” Dillon said.
“You really think that Morton had something that valuable?” Kate asked.
“It could be information. This isn’t about money—it’s about revenge. For Lucy, and for the others.”
“Information,” Rick said. “If we didn’t seize Morton’s money when he was sent away, he would have disappeared right after he was released.”
Noah said, “A hit list.”
