“Most likely stuck in traffic,” Ryder said. He texted her and asked her ETA.
Catherine said, “She needs to talk to Detective Fuentes as soon as possible—her report was detailed, but there are questions regarding the moments leading up to his arrest and comments he made. If necessary, she’ll need to testify on video during the hearing in order to put the comments in context.”
Catherine glanced at her watch a second time, frowned, thencontinued, “He asked for a lawyer, who evidently couldn’t come until today.”
“It shouldn’t matter,” Michael said. “We caught the guy red-handed.”
“We have him on attempted kidnapping,” Catherine said, “but the sheriff’s department hasn’t found any evidence tying him to the six homicides. Anson is charging him with assault, but that is thin—we can’t prove he drugged the food—and while Reid’s excuse for entering Matt’s cottage is weak, it’s still within the realm of plausibility. We need concrete evidence.”
“They said they could handle the investigation,” Michael said. “They didn’t ask us to stay and assist.”
Catherine put up her hand and said, “I’m aware, and I’ll admit I was fairly confident that there would be connective evidence once the search was complete. We may be called back down to help, or provide support from here. Financials from the secondary warrant are coming in today, and our lab is still processing evidence.” She glanced at Jim.
Jim nodded. “I’ll be following up with the head of trace evidence later this morning.”
Catherine made a note, then said, “I sent Matt a message right before his meeting with Tony that Michael and Kara may need to go back to Flagler County for a few days.”
“Maybe we shouldn’t have left,” Michael said.
“Do we know anything about Reid’s lawyer?” Sloane asked. “I would think he’d want to have a sit-down over the weekend to find out exactly what the charges are, talk to his client.”
“When I spoke with the DA this morning, the lawyer had yet to arrive,” Catherine said. “Florida asked for our help with Reid’s background. Ryder has been working on his employment history, but there are holes, correct?”
Ryder nodded to the folders he’d already distributed. “Everything I have, you now have. Garrett Reid, thirty, from Pasadena, California. His parents claim they haven’t spoken to himin the last six to seven years. The dad is a retired civil engineer with the county, the mom is a retired schoolteacher, and they’ve lived at their Pasadena home for more than forty years. We’re tracking down his two older brothers now.”
“The parents didn’t help?” Sloane asked.
“Two LA FBI agents spoke to them in person on Saturday, but obtained minimal information,” Catherine said. “They hadn’t seen him, didn’t care what he was doing. The agents came away with the impression that there was a family disagreement. Phone records support that they haven’t spoken with him in years. Maybe his brothers will be more forthcoming. The local FBI office is checking with friends and other family. I plan to reach out to the parents as well, hopefully figure out why Garrett is estranged from his family and if that has any bearing on these murders. Depending on what we learn, I may ask Kara to speak with one or both of the siblings. She has an uncanny way of getting people to talk.”
A rare compliment. Ryder was stunned. Maybe Catherine really had turned over a new leaf regarding Kara.
Catherine said, “None of the staff at the resort had anything but good things to say about Reid. He’s competent, helpful, friendly. He rarely socialized with anyone outside of work. No one seems to know anything about his private life. He’s been on staff for nearly nine months—two months before the first couple went missing. I have LA FBI digging deeper into the first two victims. We knew that Emily Henderson was raised in Santa Barbara, and while that’s a distance from Pasadena, perhaps they knew each other in some way, crossed paths.”
“And,” Jim said, “we can’t discount that he may have had earlier victims. Even if we can’t find unsolved crimes that fit his profile, we may have missing couples or young blonde women who were his handiwork.”
“True,” Catherine said, “but I keep going back to whyhere? Why now? Why these couples? He was fishing in his own pool. Easier access? Convenience? Being an employee makes his crimesriskier. Did he relish that risk? Did he know Emily Henderson or did she remind him of someone?”
“We have far too many questions,” Michael said, “and too few answers. Damn. I shouldn’t have jumped when he reached into his pocket. He never used a gun before, but I thought he might have one as protection.”
Ryder had been privy to the conversation where Matt told Michael he made the right call, but Michael said he shouldn’t have made the mistake. If he’d waited five seconds, he would have seen it was a flashlight and not a gun. If he’d waited, they could have captured him in the act of tying up Matt and Kara, and that would have been harder for Reid to explain away.
“It was a tense and difficult situation,” Catherine said. “Now that we have a suspect, even if he’s cut loose this afternoon, there is a full, ongoing investigation. We’ll find his mistakes. If Emily Henderson is connected to him in any way, we’ll find the evidence. And I already asked LA FBI to look for any woman who fits the profile who was killed or went missing in Los Angeles County the year before Reid left. If he killed someone, that may have given him a reason to leave.”
“Would he be able to wait five to seven years before killing again?” Sloane asked.
Catherine hesitated. “I don’t know,” she said cautiously. “I don’t know enough about Reid. If the first murder was an accident, perhaps a girlfriend—someone who broke up with him or left him at the altar or turned down his engagement ring—then yes, I think a long cooling-off period would be expected. It could be the Hendersons were his first... or his second after a long period. But I don’t want to jump to conclusions on this. We’ll wait for the report from the LA office and go from there.”
Ryder looked down at his silenced phone when it vibrated on the table.
“Excuse me, I have to take this,” he said and stepped out of the room.
He answered his phone. “Yes, sir.”
Assistant Director Tony Greer said, “Where the hell is Costa?”
“He’s aware of your meeting. I’m sorry he’s late.”
“Don’t apologize for him,” Tony said. “He’s twenty minutes late and isn’t answering his phone.”
