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Theo made sure that the screen door didn’t slam shut behind him. Once it was latched properly, he then stepped to the side so that Dillon could close the main door. According to the details that had been sent to Theo’s email, Dillon was the oldest grandson at the age of thirty-one.
“You must be here because of that handprint.” Leonard Buchert had appeared from an archway that almost certainly led to the kitchen. He was wiping his hands on a white dishtowel as he closed the distance to where Theo remained by the front door. “I’ve got to tell you, it was a hell of a surprise seeing the news first thing on Monday morning.”
“Thank you for speaking with me, Mr. Buchert. My name is Theo Neville.” He went ahead to quickly set the record straight, not wanting to start the conversation under false pretenses. “I’m not with the metro police, though. I work for S&E Investigations. We’re a private consulting firm working in tangent with the FBI on a serial murder case. And yes, thisisabout your previous conversation with Special Agent Sid Parker.”
“Come on in,” Leonard invited as he motioned toward the living room. “Dillon, would you mind getting us the pitcher of water from the refrigerator and some glasses?”
Dillon nodded his reply, but it was obvious that he would have much rather remained behind to hear the beginnings of the conversation. Theo purposefully waited for Leonard’s grandson to pass underneath the archway before taking off his boots and then proceeding into the living room.
“You have a beautiful home, Mr. Buchert. It reminds me of the houses back in my old neighborhood.”
“New York. Near Queens, if I’m not mistaken.” Leonard waited for Theo to take a seat on the couch before doing the same in a matching recliner. “I’ve got a thing for accents. My wife and I used to travel quite a bit earlier on in our marriage. Before the kids, of course. Now? Not so much. It isn’t the same without her.”
“I’m sorry for your loss, sir.”
“So, what is it that you think I can add to my previous statement. Is that what you call it? A statement? It was more of a conversation, if you ask me. Agent Parker thought there might be a connection between the victims back then, but we were only able to find two patients who had ties to the nursing facility. One of those having a very loose association, because I think it was the woman’s great uncle. They weren’t close, and she didn’t visit him much.”
“Why did you leave out that Jack Ridgeway had been arrested for murdering a patient at a previous facility?”
Theo didn’t see the need to recap the situation from three years ago. It was clear that Leonard recalled Agent Parker and exactly what had been discussed about the case. The fact that Leonard didn’t react in a contrite manner was very telling under the circumstances. He hadn’t withheld information from Agent Parker intentionally, and it was clear that he didn’t believe Ridgeway had been in any way involved with the missing women.
“There was no reason to mention Jack. Plus, he hadn’t been arrested at the time. We fired him because we discovered that he had lied on his application.” Leonard sat back in his recliner and tapped the fabric of the arm with his fingers. “We’d just lost one of our own residents, and it wasn’t until later that we discovered Ridgeway might have been involved, which turned out to be the case. Our lawyers immediately came in, instructed us not to speak with anyone regarding the investigation, and I simply followed their advice. I figured the police would speak with Agent Parker, so I didn’t make a follow up call.”
Theo could vaguely understand the miscommunication that had evidently taken place between Agent Parker and Mr. Buchert. Still, both parties should have stressed the meaning behind their questions and responses a bit more.
“Is there anything that you left out of your conversation with Agent Parker?” Theo asked before noticing Dillon pass back through the archway. He was carrying two glasses filled with ice water, sans the pitcher. “The handprint discovered on Monday morning belonged to Jenny Capshaw. We’re looking into any ties that she might have had with a resident at the nursing home.”
“The name doesn’t ring a bell, but you could always check with Simon.” Leonard leaned forward to accept one of the glasses from his nephew. “He knows everything about that place.”
“Simon?”
“Well, we all called him Simon back then. They probably still do,” Leonard revealed before taking a sip of his water. He then rested the bottom of the glass against the dishtowel that was still on his lap. “It was the man’s nickname. He loved playing games with the residents. As you can guess, it was because of the game—Simon Says. I don’t imagine much has changed since I retired. His real name is Edgar Lynne.”
“I remember Simon,” Dillon said as he remained standing in front of the fireplace. His arms were folded across his chest as he listened to the conversation. “He used to give me and Katie peppermint candies when we would come visit you at your office.”
There was wood stacked up inside the hearth and picture frames on the mantel. The photographs had captured happy moments of their lives. There was one picture in particular that hadn’t been taken too many years ago of Dillon, Katie, and their younger brother.
“That was when the three of you were knee-high,” Leonard replied with a chuckle. “My son and his family moved down to Kentucky about the time that Dillon here was entering high school. He came back here after college, and Katie followed shortly thereafter.”
“What does Edgar Lynne do at the nursing facility?” Theo asked, attempting to recall the employee from the list of staff names. Sylvie would have been able to do so without losing a brain cell, but Theo had been concentrating more on family members and friends of Grace Willow, along with the previous investigation into Jack Ridgeway’s crimes. “And I take it that he still works there?”
“Edgar has been with the nursing facility since they opened their doors,” Leonard revealed with a fond smile. “He oversees the laundry department…about six attendants, the inventory of linens, and so forth. Trust me, with that many residents under one roof, it isn’t an easy job. Good ol’ Simon always made sure to take an hour and join in on whatever game was going on at the time. Cards, charades, checkers, chess, and even board games from time to time.”
“I’ll make sure to speak with Mr. Lynne.” Theo made like he took a sip of the water, but he’d basically just lifted the glass to his lips. He was never one to feel comfortable drinking beverages or eating food with those he spoke with during active investigations. If he literally monitored the individual making the coffee, that was different. He leaned forward and set the glass of water on a sandstone coaster. “Do the names Grace Willow, Debbie Horton, Jean Goldwyn, Felicia Rhimes, or Heather Krinsky mean anything to you?”
“Horton and Rhimes, of course. I know that from my conversation with Agent Parker,” Leonard said as he looked past Theo, his mind returning to the past. “The others…well, the names are only familiar because those women went missing three years ago. The Handprint Killer is what the press called the guy, though I never understood it. If their bodies were never found, how do the police know that they were subsequently murdered? There is a lot of human trafficking in the cities, you know. Especially young women. There was a report just the other day about a human trafficking ring being busted by the FBI in Florida.”
Theo didn’t bother to explain that human traffickers would never force their victims to leave a bloody handprint in the last place that they were seen alive. There entire organization was based on secrecy and blending in with society. The unsub who they were currently hunting was actually doing the opposite, because it was as if he wanted the world to know about the women’s abductions. Not that the human trafficking angle hadn’t crossed his mind, but it just didn’t fit the profile.
The next thirty-five minutes had been spent discussing staff, residents, and basically anyone in connection with the nursing facility who fit the profile. Unfortunately, Theo wasn’t able to garner much of a list. With the number of residents in the nursing home, their family members and close friends made for hundreds and hundreds of possible suspects. If he were to include the staff and their extended families, the list was simply too extensive to go through every single male subject one by one without wasting months of resources.
Just as Theo was about to end the interview, he could feel the vibration of his phone that he’d silenced before walking up to the residence. He waited until they were all standing from their perspective seats before pulling the phone out of his front pocket. A quick glance at the display had him asking one more question.
“Dillon, is there a reason that you withheld information about being personally acquainted with Jenny Capshaw?”
Chapter Twenty
Brooklyn Sloane
