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“You don’t look any the worse for wear, Agent West,” Chief Gervase greeted Jason. “Glad to see you back on the job.”
“That’s youth for you,” Kennedy said.
Gervase grinned. “That’s exactly what I used to think about you, Agent Kennedy.”
Kennedy snorted.
“It’s been an interesting twenty-four hours,” Gervase said, leading the way back to his office. “We’ve had some developments you’ll want to hear about.” He called toward the direction of the front desk, “Could we get coffee, Officer Courtney?”
“Coming, Chief!”
Boxner was already in Gervase’s office going through his file cabinet. He jumped guiltily at their arrival, and Gervase said, “How many times have I told you to ask before you start pawing through my files? This isn’t your office yet, Boyd.” He sounded more resigned than annoyed.
Boxner, face red, leaned against the wall and folded his arms. “I just wanted to double-check something.”
“What?”
“It’ll keep.”
Gervase sighed and shook his head. He took the chair behind his desk. “First things first. Tony McEnroe has no alibi for the night Candy Davies was abducted.” He directed a challenging look at Kennedy.
“McEnroe is not our unsub.” Kennedy was uncompromising as usual.
Gervase’s face tightened, his eyes hardened. Jason sighed inwardly. He agreed with Kennedy, but would it kill him to occasionally soften his delivery, at least pretend he didn’t think he had all the answers?
Gervase leaned back in his chair. “Then do enlighten us, Special Agent Kennedy.” He nodded in curt thanks to Officer Courtney who had appeared with a tray of steaming coffee mugs.
Kennedy said, “West has developed a promising lead on the artist who carved the original mermaid charms. It turns out he lives locally.”
Gervase took a cup from the tray and threw Jason a startled look. “Is that so?”
Jason said, “Yes. Dr. Jeremy Kyser is one of Pink’s two permitted outside contacts. He’s supposed to be working on a book about serial killers. But as it happens, he’s also a talented amateur artist. We—I believe—we’ve got verification that he carved the mermaid charms.”
“That’s what I call a big coincidence,” Gervase said.
“What are we waiting for?” Boxner stepped away from the wall. “I’ll go talk to him right now.”
Jason opened his mouth to object. He had uncovered this lead, and this was by rights his line of inquiry.
Except…the FBI was there at the invitation of Kingsfield PD. They couldn’t take over the investigation, couldn’t even insist on conducting interviews of suspects without the permission of local law enforcement. Technically, they were there to advise and assist.
“Okay, slow down,” Gervase said. “We need to understand what we’re dealing with. Kyser’s name never came up in the original investigation.”
“But that’s it; that’s what this is about,” Boxner said, and as much as Jason disliked Boxner, he couldn’t help sounding his agreement and approval.
“Now hold on, you two,” Gervase said. “If these charms had been produced by Acme Corporation, we wouldn’t be considering Acme Corporation a suspect. Let’s not confuse cause and effect. The Corrigan girl had that mermaid for months before her death. Pink didn’t plant it on her.”
“I don’t see what you’re getting at,” Boxner said, and once again Jason was in agreement. The charms were not mass produced. They were the work of a local artist. That personal connection could not be ignored.
Kennedy said, “The Corrigan girl was the first victim. Everything that happened in her case set the pattern for the subsequent killings. It’s very possible Pink bought the other charms to match Honey’s.”
“So what?” Boxner said. “We’ve got the man who made the charms. That’s a lead.”
“Yes, it is, and I think you and West should follow it up together,” Kennedy said. He ignored Jason’s startled look. “I’m not arguing with you. I agree that this is a line of inquiry that needs to be pursued. Before you pursue it, though, we need to keep in mind a couple of facts. The first one being, that as sinister as his emergence in this case might look, so far Kyser’s involvement is tangential. Assuming he is the artist—and we’ve yet to confirm that—” He shot Jason a cool look. “He may have become interested in Pink’s case partly because Pink used Kyser’s own creations in his crimes. That is certainly going to get someone’s attention.”
“Yes, but how would Kyser know that when it wasn’t publicized in the media?” Jason objected.
“It’s possible Pink contacted him after the fact with that information. Actually, for all we know, Pink may have chosen those charms for that very reason: he wanted Kyser’s attention. We don’t yet know the extent of, or his history with, Kyser.”
