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Gretchen said, “You think Raffy Sullivan is the killer?”
“I don’t know,” said Josie.
Mettner said, “If he’s the killer, why would he point us right at him? It doesn’t make sense. The pattern is that the thing in the box leads to a secret that Beau was keeping. Brooke Sullivan has to be the secret. I don’t think we have enough information to make the leap that Raffy is the killer. We don’t know nearly enough about him or where he fits in. We need to track Raffy down and talk to him. I interviewed him the first day at the studio. I ran his background check. He rents an apartment not far from here. I can also call WYEP and see if he’s there.”
Noah stepped back into the circle. “He’s not.”
“What do you mean?” asked Josie.
Noah held up his phone even though the screen was black now. “That was Mr. Brown, the manager of the Eudora. A staff member reported that they saw Beau leaving the hotel through a rear service entrance with another man about twenty minutes ago. They’re pulling the footage now but the man with Beau was described as approximately thirty-five to forty years old, tall with brown hair and a goatee.”
“It sounds like that could be Raffy,” said Gretchen.
Noah started to jog away, calling over his shoulder, “I’m going to go over there and look at the footage myself. I’ll let you guys know.”
“In the meantime,” said Josie. “I think that someone needs to track down the bridge where this accident happened. Whether the killer is Raffy or not, he’ll be staging Jasmine and Sam’s murders at this bridge.”
“What makes you say that?” asked Mettner.
“He killed Claudia at her anniversary dinner—in many ways, the Collinses’ marriage was a sham. He killed Eve in Lovers’ Cave—she was Beau’s secret lover. He killed Trudy in the practice office—the site of Trudy and Beau’s ‘crime’ against Claudia. This killer has been leading us the entire time. Leading us on a tour of Beau’s secrets, indiscretions, and sins. Why would he leave this article at this scene if he didn’t intend for it to expose some new secret or lead us to Sam and Jasmine’s bodies? This article leads us to the bridge.”
Gretchen touched Mettner’s shoulder. “You stay here and work this scene. Get us anything you can. Witnesses, footage. You said Raffy’s apartment isn’t far from here? Send a unit there to knock on his door. While you’re doing that, I’ll head down to Lenore County, find this bridge, and check it out.”
“I’ll check on the last known address of Brooke Sullivan,” Josie said.
Mettner said, “You’re going there alone?”
“Of course not,” she said. “The article says she’s a Lenore County resident. I’ll call the sheriff down there and ask for an assist. I’m sure someone will meet me there. If we’re going into their territory, talking with Brooke and checking out the bridge, we’ve got to give them a heads-up.”
“I’ll make a call, too,” said Gretchen.
As Josie watched her colleagues split off to work different leads, her phone trilled. She took it out and swiped answer. “Quinn.”
Their desk sergeant, Dan Lamay, said, “Boss, I just hung up from a call with the officer assigned to Archie Gamble.”
Dread was a brick in Josie’s stomach. “What did he say?”
“Uh, Archie Gamble is gone.”
“What?”
“He’s not at his house and the officer cannot locate him.”
“Are you sure?”
“Uh, yeah. Apparently, the officer on duty saw him leave his house on foot and go into the woods. He hasn’t been seen since.”
“How long ago?” asked Josie.
“About twenty minutes.”
She sighed. “I’ll handle it.”
FIFTY
DIARY ENTRY, UNDATED
I know who it is now. My lover. Today, a woman came to our house. I don’t see anyone besides my husband anymore other than when we go see the doctors. I know this because I write in this diary every day, so I’ll remember what happened. I scoured all the entries since the accident. None mention people other than the doctors. When I heard a woman’s voice coming from the kitchen, I knew I had heard it before. I had to see her face. Something might come back to me if I saw her. I only meant to peek into the room, but I fell. Since the accident, I fall a lot. They heard me. My husband took great pleasure in letting her see me. He asked questions I didn’t know the answers to until I finally started crying. Each time I said I don’t know or I don’t remember, he seemed to get happier. It felt sadistic. The woman must have thought so, too, because she cried, too. After she left, I asked who she was. He said he would show me. He got out his laptop and put something on for me. A clip from a television show. It was called Couples’ Corner With The Collinses. I recognized the woman who had just been to our house.
