Searching (PAVAD- FBI Romantic Suspense Book 18) Page 17

  Jac stood still. Max watched. She looked all around. “It was raining this morning. Wouldn’t there have been an umbrella? Edith was eighty-two, she’d have had an umbrella to keep herself and the dog dry. It’s November. Cold. She’d do whatever she could to keep herself dry. Or Sadie. The dog was all she had, except for her neighbors, from what the neighbors said. She loved the Sturvin girls. She loved her dog. She’d have kept Sadie dry as much as she was able. You can tell how much she adored the dog just by looking in her home. One entire room was devoted to dog toys and dog furniture. She had an actual tiny couch for the dog. Clothes. There was a shelf with tiny dog clothes everywhere. She’d have protected that dog.”

  Max nodded. It was best to focus on horses, not zebras. Until the zebras presented themselves as absolutes.

  “I think Mrs. Lindsay’s attack interrupted the second attack. And then she became the target to prevent her from identifying the killer. During that time, the mystery woman ran, climbed into her car, and sped away. Possibly taking both girls with her, though that would have slowed her down significantly,” Jac said.

  Max shook his head. “At this point, we have no proof the girls were with her.”

  “The mystery woman could have already had the kids in her car,” Jac said quietly. “Maybe she’d already had them and was bringing them home when she stumbled on what was happening? Maybe the girls never got out of her car?”

  Max nodded. It was certainly a possible scenario, could move into a working theory. Although midnight on a school night was extremely late for two little girls that age to have been with someone other than their mother or father.

  They could have been asleep in the car. It would have been easy enough to carry them inside to their beds, even in the rain. He’d done it countless times, himself.

  “So where were they?” Barnes asked, shifting close enough to Jac to touch.

  “We don’t know, Barnesy. That’s kind of what we’re doing here, too,” Miranda said, coming up behind them. He’d thought she was at the bullpen. She deliberately stepped between Barnes and Jac. Protectively.

  She always had been overprotective of Jac in some ways. He’d likened it to her being the eldest of so many cousins and sisters that she’d felt responsible for. Having now met those sisters and cousins—and seeing a superficial resemblance between some of them and Jac—he understood why she tended to watch over Jac.

  Miranda missed home, and Jac was her best friend. They were as close as sisters. Miranda was used to being the leader, a protector, and she’d needed people to protect in St. Louis to feel subconsciously validated.

  They might be PAVAD profilers and agents—but they were human, too. And this case was going to hurt them all on that human level.

  There was no way that it wouldn’t.

  “I don’t think forensics is going to tell us much more than it already has. Now, we need to build a profile. Two—one of someone who could do this, but didn’t know the family, and one where someone knows the family and took the girls.”

  Jac took one more look around. Her attention stayed on the bank of windows above the front door. The girls’ rooms. They looked right out on the drive.

  Had the girls been there? Had they seen what had happened? Max felt sick at the very idea.

  Because he knew the truth—if those girls had been abducted by their mother’s killer, time was running out.

  45

  They spent a few more hours poking around the Sturvin home, trying to get a picture of who they were. Max spent half that time speaking with Marianna. When the head of forensics left to meet with her team, he went in search of Jac.

  “Dani find anything out on that car?” Max asked, coming up behind Jac in Paul Sturvin’s home office after checking in with forensics about the search for the murder weapon.

  Miranda was keeping Barnes distracted outside.

  Miranda could handle that task just fine on her own. She’d probably enjoy it, as perverse as she could be.

  “Not yet.” Jac shook her head. She had her phone out, snapping photos of Paul Sturvin’s desk calendar. “Dani’s checking traffic cams, but at the distance they are from here, there’s no guarantee that it even had anything to do with the Sturvins’ case. All she has so far is one Pontiac driving at an erratic rate of speed at approximately 12:15. That’s it. Nothing probative.”

  “Do they think it’s the killer?” Barnes asked, almost too enthusiastically, as he came up behind Max.

  Apparently, Miranda hadn’t been as good at distracting Barnes as Max had thought.

  “Dani’s going to keep looking. Seeing what she can find. She’s trying to track the Pontiac now. Last I spoke with her, she was trying to isolate a still of the license plate.”

  “We need to go on the assumption that this mystery woman is the third victim. And boys, there was enough blood that she’s bound to turn up sooner or later. It didn’t look good. Shayna called; a third of the blood samples inside the hall came back to the mystery woman,” Miranda said.

  “Dani’s calling around to the hospitals and the local law enforcement posts to see what we can find,” Jac added. “She’s pulled four from Lytel’s department to help.”

  “If that woman has the children with her...well, she’d be in no condition to care for two children,” Max said as images of the girls popped into his head. “If she is in need of medical help, that leaves the girls with her alone. Call Dani again. See if there’s been anything new, anything at all, that we can possibly roll on. We can’t just stand around here doing nothing.”

  46

  Todd had always loved the smell of women. He probably always would. Miranda Talley smelled like warm vanilla. Just his luck, he’d gotten sent back to the PAVAD building with her. She’d insisted on driving, even though he’d offered, since she was in that cast. He’d been trying to be helpful.

  The woman had just smirked at him and said she could handle it.

  Talley had serious control issues, that was for sure. He studied her, making no bones about what he was doing.

  She smirked at him again. Taunting him.

  Damn, she was a looker. No wonder she strolled around the place like she was hot shit.

  She was. As far as he knew, she’d been in St. Louis for years. She wasn’t all that old—a good seven or eight years younger than he was, but she’d gone far.

  With PAVAD.

  He wondered who she’d screwed around with at the academy to get to where she was. There were a few names he could think of, including old Dennis himself—even if she was younger than the director’s daughter. There was no other explanation why she would have gotten into PAVAD so quickly.

  No reason she’d have gotten in and not him. He’d probably been on the job five years before she’d even started at the academy.

  One look at her made it clear just how a woman like her had gotten so far in the bureau. The women who’d been in his cohort at the Academy had all been dog ugly. Or married. Three of them had been married—two of them had been married and dog ugly.

  He didn’t mess around with married women. Ever. Good way to get his ass kicked. There were a lot of men in the world who thought with their dicks. Hell, Todd was one of them, at times.

  A lot of smart women used that fact to their own gain. He might not like her, but she was an intelligent woman. Very wise to the ways of the world…no doubt very wise.

  “You’re staring, Barnesy. That’s annoying. Do I have spinach in my teeth? My hair out of place—that tends to happen a lot with this hair.”

  “Guys probably stare at you all the time.” What the hell? They had a twenty-minute drive. He’d have a little fun taunting her. See if he could shake her. He was just as good an agent as she was, after all. Better. He had earned his way to where he was—and not on his back. He’d like to have her on her back, though. Just for one night, anyway. He bet she’d be a wild ride. “It’s the way you look. And the three miles of legs.”

  “I do have long legs, don’t I? You jeal
ous?” She sent him a mild look. “Yours are a bit stumpy, Todd.”

  “Do you wear colored contacts? The green can’t be real. Not like Agent Jones’s.” Both she and her little friend had reddish-brown hair, and green eyes. Though this woman’s hair was a few shades lighter. And long, wild curls, whereas Jaclyn’s hair was straight and midlength silk. But the color was a weird coincidence. “You two competing with each other? Same guy maybe? Good old Max move on from Jaclyn and to you? You two seem pretty chummy.”

  To his surprise, she laughed. A full, gorgeous laugh that sent those green eyes sparkling. She just looked at him as they waited at a stoplight. Her lips were curved. Her eyes sparkled.

  Todd’s gut tightened with swift, unexpected lust. He had a thing for beautiful women. Well, his dick did, anyway. He might not like her much, but he liked how she looked.

  “Once this case is over, why don’t we go out somewhere?” The words came out before he could stop them. Oh well.

  Todd had always lived by the idea of giving it a good shot. Especially where women were concerned. Maybe she got under his skin and irritated the hell out of him, but she would be damned fun in bed. He didn’t have to like her to screw her. There had been plenty women he’d gotten dirty with that he hadn’t liked in the last twenty years.

  She laughed again, then sent him another look. One that said she was mocking him. “That’s never going to happen, Barnesy. I don’t date guys like you.”

  “What? Successful ones? Thought that was all the rage around PAVAD?”

  “Naw, I’d date half the men I know at PAVAD. They are good guys. I don’t think you fit that description, pal. You just aren’t my type. No hard feelings, right?”

  He would have said more, but his cell vibrated.

  Not the one he’d been issued by the bureau. But the prepaid in his pocket. It was enough to remind him exactly why he was there in St. Louis in the first place. It wasn’t to screw around with women like her.

  The phone vibrated close enough to his balls to act as a warning.

  It wouldn’t be smart to let someone get his pants off, in any way, right now. Too many ways he could screw things up.

  That didn’t mean he couldn’t needle her right now, though. Push her buttons.

  “So…who got you into PAVAD in the first place?”

  “What? Don’t you think I earned it?” This time the amusement was written all over her. Did the woman laugh at every man who asked her out? Bitch. How he would love to tame her. “Tell me exactly what you think, babe. I can’t wait to hear it.”

  47

  Jac was combing over the Sturvin financial records a super-helpful judge had signed the warrant for when Shayna came into the bullpen. The younger woman stopped at Jac’s desk.

  “I got something for you. Dani found the owner of that Pontiac.”

  Jac stood, reaching for the paperwork. Shayna obliged. “Who?”

  “Deborah Miller, age fifty-six. Get this: she’s Rachel Sturvin’s only relative. Deborah was married to Rachel’s paternal uncle for fifteen years. According to records, after Rachel’s parents died in a car wreck when she was eight, Deborah assumed custody. She raised Rachel. I’d say we’ve most likely found your mystery woman.”

  Jac stood, grabbing for her phone. “She might have the girls.”

  “Possibly. Who doesn’t want to spend the night at their grandmother’s house when they can? I have forwarded the info to Dr. Jones. Dani is calling the Missouri State police as well as that of the neighboring states. Focus on Iowa. Deborah owns a small cabin up there, too. If I was afraid for my life and had two little girls I loved more than the world itself to protect, I’d head up there. Well, I’d most likely head to the police, but…”

  Jac was already grabbing her coat.

  She’d find Max, and they’d go.

  If Deborah Miller had the girls, Jac wanted to know why. And if Deborah was hurt, she needed help.

  “Call every hospital between here and that cabin. See if any woman matching Deborah’s description has come in. With or without two little girls. Have agents from auxiliary contacting police and fire precincts and every ambulance service possible. I saw Lytel around a few minutes ago.”

  “That’s going to take hours,” Shayna warned. “If it’s a dead end…”

  If it was a dead end, they would have wasted all those hours and manpower, but that was a risk they had to take. “It’s the only real lead we have.”

  48

  Max knew when he saw Jac’s face that something had happened.

  “Where are we going?”

  “Rachel had an aunt who raised her,” Jac said. “Dani is sending me the address now. Rachel’s only living relative, other than the girls and Paul.”

  “What about Paul’s family?”

  “Adopted when he was four or so. Both adoptive parents are now deceased. No other relatives, except possibly a biological cousin. I have Barnes tracking down the cousin now.”

  “Good.” He wrapped his fingers around her elbow and stopped her in her tracks. “Slow down. We have to find her first.”

  “We find the car, we’ll find her,” Jac said. “If nothing else, we’re doing something. Instead of just sitting here, coming up with theories.”

  She always had been impatient when she felt passionately about something. Max tightened his hold on her elbow. “What do we know about her?”

  Jac pulled in a breath. She was close enough Max could almost feel her exhale. “Dani is forwarding that information. The aunt drives a red Pontiac. They’ve confirmed the license plate number. It was her there. The mystery woman. We can say definitively that she was at least in the vicinity shortly after Rachel was killed.”

  Max nodded. “I’ll drive.”

  They discussed the specifics as Max drove toward the address Dani sent them.

  “Maybe she had the girls? Was bringing them home, running late? Maybe she pulled in and saw what was happening with Edith? Maybe she got out of the car first? Went to get Rachel to help her carry the girls in, leaving the girls alone in the drive for a minute? When she saw what happened, the killer turned on her and she just ran—back to her car?”

  Max nodded. It made sense. “She stumbled right into it. Was attacked herself, but managed to get away. We don’t know yet how much of the blood was hers, or Edith’s or Rachel’s. That’s going to take time. She could have jumped into the car and driven away.”

  “With Ava and Livy still in the backseat. I hope that’s it. I hope she got them far away from this place. Most of all, I just hope they are all safe.”

  “Me, too.”

  They pulled into a small bungalow and killed the engine.

  The house was deserted. Max knew it with one glance. A cat, yellow and white, jumped into the window at his knock. It mewed at him plaintively.

  Jac peered into the garage window.

  “Nothing. The car’s not here.”

  Max almost said something in reply when a woman from the house next door called out. “Can I help you with something?”

  Jac came around on his left side. “We’re with the FBI. We’re looking for Deborah Miller.”

  “Is she ok? I can’t imagine Debbie being in legal trouble.” The woman was around Deborah’s age. She eyed them with suspicion. Jac held out her credentials for her, trying to look unthreatening. With hesitant witnesses, she often led—Max, at six four and solid male muscle, was just too intimidating at times. He tried, but that wasn’t something he could always control.

  “She’s not in trouble. We are here regarding her niece, Rachel.”

  “Oh my. Is Rachel ok? Debbie thinks the world of her. And the girls, of course.”

  “Can you tell us the last time you saw Rachel and Olivia and Ava?”

  “Yesterday, of course. Debbie was keeping the girls. Rachel wasn’t feeling well, and she’d driven the girls over here during the afternoon. I suspect that husband of hers is out of town again. He is always leaving the girls with their mother. Even though he
has to know Rachel is a bit frail at times.”

  That was information they hadn’t been given yet. Max made a note to check with Rachel’s primary physician. “How so?”

  “Always pale. Always sickly. Migraines, I think I’ve heard. Or fibromyalgia. Would send her to bed for hours, even days, I think. Saw a migraine come on myself just a few months ago. Fine one minute, pale as death the next. Anyway, Debbie gets the girls whenever she can to help out. She had them all yesterday and last night. I saw her leave around eleven thirty, last night, though. Both girls were still awake, which I thought was a little odd. The younger one was crying. I asked Debbie what was going on. She said something about the little one not feeling well, and Debbie was going to drive them both home. They wanted their mother, of course, as little as they are.”

  “Thanks,” Max said.

  They’d just confirmed who had Paul and Rachel’s daughters. Now, they had to find where they were now. He wasn’t going to relax until he had those girls safe. Not yet. “So you didn’t hear her return last night?”

  She shook her head. “No. I just assumed she spent the night with her niece. She’s done that before. To help out with the girls. Is Rachel ok?”

  “We’re not releasing that sort of information right now. We just have some questions for Debbie regarding Paul Sturvin. Have you ever met him?”

  “I’ve seen him at a distance. But the likes of him won’t have anything to do with the type of people that live around here in this neighborhood. He despises Debbie—and the feeling is mutual. You have any more questions, you should ask the preacher where she works. He’ll know. He and Debbie are pretty close.”

  49

  Max called PAVAD from the car while Jac asked the neighbor a few more questions. When she finally joined him in the SUV, he had good news to tell her. Comparatively.