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David chuckled. “Don’t we all.”
“No, I mean, I want to know what happened to him that made him kill Shapiro,” Laura said. “He worked at Coastal State Prison for a couple decades, right? Knew all these guys. He volunteered and worked soup kitchens. You see, he did his best to watch over the people of Savannah who didn’t have anywhere else to go. He knew something was wrong, and by the looks of it, he started to gather information on Shapiro over a year ago. So, what made him decide to kill Shapiro instead of turn him in?”
“Maybe he didn’t trust the police either,” Cassie offered.
“Maybe, but I keep going back to how personal this is for him.” Laura tipped her head back and searched the ceiling for answers. “He knew about Shapiro, and instead of gathering evidence and turning it in, he killed him. He knew about Shapiro for a while, but he chose last week to kill him. Why? What changed?”
Cassie shrugged. She didn’t even know where to begin to answer that question. She looked around the war room like it would give her answers. There was so much information here, so much time and energy put into solving this case, there had to be a picture or a page or even a single paragraph that could point them in the right direction.
A map along the far wall drew Cassie’s attention. She walked over and stared at it for a few minutes before comprehending what was in front of her. It was Savannah and the outlying towns. Different colored dots littered the map. They were centered around the city, but a few reached farther than that.
David stood beside her. “Look at that. He was marking where the victims disappeared. Where they were found. Where they traveled to and from in between. This is where he started figuring out something else was going on and that there was a serial killer on the loose.”
Cassie was only half listening. As her eyes roamed over the map, that feeling of desperation and anger and sadness increased. Cigarette smoke filled her nostrils. Her stomach churned. She felt dizzy.
And when her gaze landed on the town of Keller, she nearly lost her lunch.
Cassie pressed her finger to the map. The faintest ringing of church bells sounded far off in the distance. She knew without asking that no one else could hear them. She turned to David.
“He’s there.”
35
David hesitated only for a moment before he turned and descended the stairs from the attic. Laura and Cassie followed him a few seconds later and found him already engaged in conversation with Paulson. The dusty smell of the attic hung around them like a shroud.
“Tell the Chief we’ve got a location on McLaughlin. We have no reason to believe he’s armed or dangerous, so we don’t need the entire department on our ass, okay? I’m going to drive ahead and get a lock on him. Make sure he doesn’t disappear. Keep me updated every step of the way, okay?”
Paulson nodded and scurried off. David turned back to the sisters.
“Laura, I’m afraid I’m gonna have to leave you behind again. Cassie’s got more experience with this.”
“Does she have to go with you?”
“Have to? No.” He smiled. “But if McLaughlin has already moved on to the next location, having her by my side might be helpful.”
“I’ll be fine.” Cassie placed a reassuring hand on her sister’s shoulder. “Promise.”
Laura looked doubtful, but she didn’t argue. “Anything I can do?”
“Keep your phone on you. Keep looking through McLaughlin’s notes upstairs. I don’t think he’s dangerous, but we still have a couple missing pieces of the story. I’d like to know them before we meet McLaughlin for the first time.”
“The media’s out front. What are we going to do about that?” Cassie asked.
“We go out the back.”
Before Cassie could follow David back downstairs, Laura pulled her into a hug. “Just be careful, okay? And keep me updated? Don’t take any risks. And listen to David.”
“Yes, Mother.” Cassie smiled. “I’ll text you.”
Cassie caught up with David, who went through the backdoor, around the block, and down the street to where he’d parked his sedan. As he slid into the front seat, he turned to Cassie. “Any idea where precisely, or are we just gonna go knocking oh every door?”
She already had her phone out and was searching a map of the area. She pinched the screen to zoom in and tapped on a spot. “I’m guessing it’s the Presbyterian Church on Belfast.”
David put the car in drive and pulled away from the curb. He circled the block once, where they saw more people had gathered in front of McLaughlin’s house. There was another news van out front now, which meant Campbell had likely shared select details of the investigation with her viewers.
“What’d you tell her?” Cassie watched as the second news crew scrambled to set up.
“The basics. Murder investigation tied to a cold case. Didn’t want to give away too much yet, in case McLaughlin slipped through our fingers, but I promised her another exclusive later down the line.”
