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“Jac,” said Monroe when his partner and boss answered, “I need to take Mallory to one of the safe houses, and I’m thinking the one in the country.”
“Agreed. The local news has just connected us to Mallory. Who are you taking with you? You usually know more about where everyone is and who is available.”
“I think we could probably handle it alone. No one knows where we are, and the house is secured.”
“Negative. We live by the buddy system. You’re going to need someone there, so how about Garrett?”
“Garrett will not want to sit out there with nothing to do all day.”
“Actually, he could use some quiet time to work through the new clients’ dossiers we have. Besides, he needs a break, and he’s refusing to take one. He says he’s fine, but when Calli disappeared, he never recovered, not completely. He’s been going full speed ever since. The man is a few years older than I am, and I’m taking breaks. Hell, I need them. So does Garrett.”
“I’ll call him as I gather things up.”
Chapter 12
It didn’t take long to settle into the self-contained safe house they named The Lodge, ten miles outside Reynaud and Associates’ offices. It was in a wooded neighborhood with few homes, but all with good security. Kaden and Carter had set up the security for most of the select houses in the area, and when this house came on the market, Jac snatched it up and modified it. The group had found great success using it since then.
Mallory started working on a puzzle, catching up on her reading, watching cooking shows and then attempting to replicate the recipes. Monroe suggested she start more basic, like meatloaf. Mallory wanted to ignore him but looking up the first recipe she wanted to try and seeing the prep time as one hour, she decided simple was good, too. Besides, she made a world-class salad.
Monroe answered his phone right after breakfast the third morning they were at the Lodge.
“Arturo, how are things with the case? Have you found the accomplice yet?”
“The general consensus is that Romaine was playing games because they could find no evidence that there was an accomplice. They believe he did it alone. I think that if Mallory believes there is another person, we should operate under that assumption for now and proceed accordingly.”
“Right. Have you talked to Jac, or do you want me to disseminate the information?”
“No, Jac was unavailable, so I called you. If you would pass it along, that would be helpful. Oh, and there won’t be a trial for Mallory’s kidnapping as Romaine has admitted to that. He’s admitted to the other young woman and to the three bodies we’ve found so far. I hope that helps Mallory to get back to her life.”
“It definitely helps. What about the last places Romaine has lived?”
“We’ve uncovered some of the first places he lived and have ruled them out after a rudimentary look because they were run-down apartments in concrete jungles. No one knows how long he lived at those places or when he left. According to one manager, and I quote, ‘We don’t give references and don’t keep records.’”
Gutierrez seemed satisfied with that bit of information, but Mallory couldn’t accept it.
Mallory explained her thinking to the men on the phone with them. “I can’t help but think that it isn’t likely that the man lived half of his adult life a regular guy and then one day began this almost ritualistic way of kidnapping and killing people? He might have worked up to it, but he has to have done things before now.”
Kaden, who was on the line with Jac, agreed. “Good point. I’ll start looking into that.”
“Don’t we think it has something to do with his desire to play at a kink club or something?” asked Kaden.
“Maybe not unless there was a precipitating event?” asked Garrett. “It’s just a theory.”
“Would that stand to reason, though? Enough psychologists agree that those in tune with themselves and who play are less inhibited by others’ misinformation. They’re good examples of self-actualization, therefore typically well-balanced, are less narcissistic, and more satisfied with life.” asked Mallory.
“So, my thoughts are he wouldn’t have been able to get past the screening criteria for a club and so possibly tried munches or parties where there isn’t any real screening. Maybe he showed himself to be a loose cannon or something, and they banned him from local munches,” said Monroe.
“But it would be nearly impossible to verify anything like that. It would have to have happened a while ago because I’m sure he’s been doing it for much longer than anyone suspects. In a sick, perverted way, instead of being haphazard, he was too precise. It had become a way of life for him. The incidents were orderly. He was almost fanatical is an obsessive pattern, according to Mallory’s account. Events had to happen in a precise way, such as the last victim must die before he or they could enjoy the next victim,” added Jac. “Kaden will take that line of inquiry. Follow the pattern and see if other abductions fit it.”
“I’m on it. Do we continue to work backward?”
“Affirmative. Otherwise, for now, we continue as we have done, doing our other jobs, keeping Mallory safe, and waiting on more from the FBI. Sharlee has been keeping Gutierrez informed as we go.”
Mallory reasoned she had to ignore the persistent idea that another person did the crimes with Romaine and accept that it was no longer the focus of the FBI. They focused on finding bodies, systematically identifying them, getting them back to their families, and then on to the prosecution of Romaine.
Mallory forced herself to deal with the fact that life won’t get better than this for now. The FBI would work on finding bodies for months, according to Gutierrez. Mallory decided to save her sanity. She would do best if she tried to go back to work. It had only been three weeks, but Mallory needed the distraction of focusing outside of herself and this damn craziness. After several days of telling Monroe it had to be this way, or she would live in limbo forever, he agreed to discuss it.
“It could take years to find all the women, if they do, and identify them, work their cases up and since he has already admitted to the three women found dead in the beginning, and the woman held captive for so long and then kidnapping me, he won’t ever get out of prison.”
