“What’s with the long face?” Uncle Mike asked, giving Sam a wry smile.
“Isn’t it obvious why?” Sam asked.
“Of course,” Mike said. “It’s been a hell of a time. And Conor and Kate should be sitting here with us. But we have to keep our spirits up, in order to be useful.”
“‘Useful’?” Sam asked.
“To help Conor and Kate,” Anne said. “To solve this.”
“Conor could still be arrested. Garrett Milne is awfully gung ho, and he seems to have a personal problem with him,” Mike said.
“Even without an arrest,” Leo Kennedy said, “Conor’s reputation could be damaged. Rumors and innuendo can hang over a person’s head forever. That would be the kiss of death if he wants to advance in his career.”
“So that’s where we come in,” Nola said. “Being useful.”
“I’m in too,” Sam said. She paused, thinking of the trip she, Kate, and Maeve had taken to Maynard-King earlier. She thought about all they had seen at Dr. Jonathan Tyler’s grave, especially the handwritten card. “I think Suzanne is the key. Plus the number 1740.”
Mike frowned. “That was the number on the blue truck. I saw it at the murder scene. What does it mean?”
“Not sure,” Sam said. “But it seems to be recurring.” She told them about the grave and the note. She wrote it out on a napkin and passed it around, and she watched each of them examine it.
1740
With love
Always
“There it is again,” Mike said. “And you know, it’s reminding me of something. A murder case, about ten years ago. A woman was about togo on trial for killing a man she claimed had kidnapped her. There were allegations of sexual abuse and that he had held her for an extended time. The state offered her a plea deal, but she swore she hadn’t done it—that there had been another kidnapper, a woman, and that the woman had been the one who killed him. She was out on bond, and just before trial began, she disappeared. She had left a diary, and I think it mentioned that number.” He glanced around the table. “Does this ring a bell with anyone?”
“Yes,” Leo said. “Her name was Lilian Jones. I remember thinking I could have done well for her if she had hired me, but she went with a different firm. Nola? You were my investigator. We were intrigued by the case, weren’t we?”
“Yes, we were,” Nola said. “I was hoping to meet her in the prison, but she made bail before I had the chance. I read the arrest report, and she seemed so vulnerable. The details of what she said she went through convinced me that she was innocent. But, Mike, I don’t remember anything about a diary. Or the number 1740.”
“I wonder what happened to her,” Mike said.
“The police were never able to verify her claim of being kidnapped and held, but from everything I read, I believed her,” Nola said.
“Abuse, trafficking, exploitation,” Mike said, shaking his head. “Cases like hers get to us. They are so hard to let go.”
“That’s you all the way, darling,” Anne said to Mike. “You care about the people who wind up in your courtroom, even after the final judgment. And even ones who never actually make it to trial.”
“We all have cases that affect us,” Leo said. “Mike’s not alone in that.”
“Maybe it’s why we’ve all wound up in this field,” Nola said. “Criminal law.”
“You’re a lawyer?” Sam asked.
“No,” she said. “My research is in criminal behavior and victimology.”
“Victimology?” Sam asked.
“Yes,” Nola said. “Studying the victim of a homicide can often give us clues about her killer. What drew him to her? What habits of hers could have put her at risk? Where did her attacker first encounter her—were they neighbors? Coworkers? Did she always go to a particular grocery store? Gas station? Victimology can help answer the where and why of murder.”
“Isn’t it blaming the victim?” Sam asked. “To ask where she grocery shopped or got gas? As if by going to those places she brought it on?”
“Not at all, Sam,” Nola said. “She was just living her life. Going about her day. Monsters can find their victims anywhere. In many ways, it’s like a shark attack. If the person entered the water a minute earlier or later, the shark might have swum by. Sometimes timing and location are just very bad luck.” Nola paused and gave Sam a sad smile. “It’s never the victim’s fault, Sam. No one asks to be attacked.”
“Have you ever studied actual killers?” Sam asked, thinking of the person who had murdered her mother. She had never stopped wondering what the driving force had been.
