She's Not There - Madison Marla (книги без сокращений .txt) 📗

“Do they think it was a hate crime because he’s gay?”

TJ looked at her impatiently. “You aren’t getting it, are you? Remember it happened a couple days after we met him at the salon?”

Lisa winced at the enormity of TJ’s words. “Rollie thinks it was about what we’re doing?”

“Just sayin’ Rollie thinks it might be.”

“Why now, after all this time?”

“Seems like now that Charles is over the trauma, he remembered somethin’. After the guy worked him over, he said to Charles, ‘Stay the fuck out of it!’ Rollie hasn’t told Charles what he thinks it means. Not yet, anyway.”

“Why isn’t he telling Charles the truth?”

“Well, there ain’t no real truth here. It’s just supposition, right?”

“But if it’s about our investigation, the assailant mistook him for Roland, just like me and Danielle. They are about the same height and build. And it was dark.”

“Yeah, yeah. But two mistakes? Well, there’s nothin’ we can do about it anyway. It’s over and Charles is okay. I think Rollie’s afraid if Charles thinks his attack had anything to do with Rollie’s helpin’ women disappear he won’t want him to do it anymore. Or donate to the cause again. Don’t want that to happen.”

Lisa drained her glass. “Yes, but—a gay bashing? It’s unconscionable to let Charles go on thinking that.”

“Would you talk to Rollie about it?”

“Why me?”

“I dunno. Because you could do it better?”

Eric’s words came back to her; “You are what holds us all together.” It felt like a heavy burden. She’d have to be strong for all of them, and somewhere in that strength, find a little left for herself.

50             

TJ and Lisa were eating breakfast when Maggie entered the room, her cheeks pink from the cold. “Sorry to disturb your breakfast. Security let me in.” She nodded toward the food-laden buffet. “Is this really the day after Thanksgiving?”

Lisa asked, “Do you have news for us?”

“I do. Is everyone here?”

“No, just us. Would you like some breakfast?”

“Thanks, but I can’t stay long. The women’s bodies in Wysecki’s basement have been identified. None of them are on your short list, but you had one of them on your original list. We had the woman’s husband as the prime suspect, though he was never arrested.”

“Do you think Wysecki might have killed the wife for the husband?”

“They’re looking into it. Wysecki had financial problems from time to time, so I suppose it’s possible he may have resorted to it. They’re also looking into his wife’s death, but it appears to have been an accident.”

TJ scraped her plate. “What about Danielle Ventura? If Wysecki didn’t kill her, who did? If it was someone who thought she was Lisa, then we must be on the right track; there is a killer and it ain’t Wysecki. And get this—Teresa knew one of the ladies on our short list. Said she had a guy in her life other than her husband.”

Maggie said, “Okay, we don’t know who killed Danielle. Everything points to Wysecki, but we won’t know anything for sure until we have him in custody, and that probably won’t be until next week sometime. If it wasn’t him and her murder is related to your interviews, then I’d have to ask—who knew what your group was doing?”

Lisa choked on a bite of food. “Who knew? That would be a lot of people. Everyone we interviewed. “

“That’s right. So, bottom line—you need to wrap this up as soon as possible. How long are all of you planning on staying here?”

Lisa shrugged. “I think TJ is planning to leave next week.”

TJ nodded. “Have a life to get back to.”

Lisa agreed. “I’d like to be in my own home again before Christmas. Shannon’s offered to stay with me, but our plans aren’t certain yet.”

Maggie frowned. “I think you should consider going to the police after Wysecki is interviewed. Unless he admits to killing Danielle, the Waukesha Police will be back to talk to all of you, and this time their questions will be intense. It would pay to be proactive.”

Before TJ could protest, Maggie said, “That may be a good thing for all of you. With it out in the open, there’d be no reason for the killer to go after any of you.”

“We’re making progress, Maggie. I think in a week we’ll have enough.”

“Good. They should be done talking with Wysecki by then. Until then, remind everyone to be cautious. It’s unlikely your killer will go after any of you again. If he’s the one who killed Danielle, he’s probably feeling real good about having Wysecki as a scapegoat.”

Lisa said, “One last question. Do you think there’d be any value in having a profiler look at our information?”

“A profiler? No, I don’t think so, Lisa. Because, if I’ve understood your purpose here, you’re not looking for a killer, you’re simply trying to convince the police there is a killer, force them to begin a formal investigation.

“If, and I say this very emphatically, you folks believe you have an idea who is behind these disappearances, do not attempt to play detectives. I would hope an assault on one of you and the murder of a person who was supposed to be one of you, would be enough to prevent you from doing something stupid.”

TJ and Lisa stayed silent, letting Maggie think she’d had the last word on the subject. Lisa didn’t mention the stack of books on Eric’s desk about profiling, the Internet search he’d done, or the long list of profilers for hire he printed out.

On a whim, Maggie stopped in Kristy’s Classics. She found Eric out in the garage, bent under the open hood of a ‘57 Chevy.

“Didn’t think you did the dirty work,” Maggie jabbed.

Eric looked up, a clipboard in hand. “No, just recording the number from the firewall dataplate.”

“I just talked to Lisa and TJ and decided I’d stop and see you.”

“Why the personal visit, Detective?”

Maggie repeated what she’d told the others.

Eric said, “I’m not surprised. What happens if they find out Wysecki didn’t kill Danielle?

“You’ll have to tell them everything.”

Eric grimaced.

She said, “How many of the women on your list are from Waukesha County?”

“Four, I believe, including my wife and Jamie Denison.”

“I’ve been thinking; if you get nowhere with the MPD, I’m pretty sure Waukesha County would take the case. Once it’s officially on Waukesha’s books, Milwaukee would be backed into it whether they wanted to be or not.”

“I like your way of thinking, Detective,” Eric said. “But we’d still want to finish what we’ve started. Couldn’t a profiler be helpful in finding a commonality between the women? Might move things along a little faster.”

Maggie sighed. “I’m not a big proponent of profiling. But if it would get you folks away from police work, go for it. You might want to talk to David. He had a case in Chicago when he worked there, and they used a local guy to run a profile for them. David liked him, said he was good.”

“Can you find out how to contact him?”

“Let me talk to David. I’ll let you know what he thinks. He knows this profiler pretty well, so if you decide to go that route, I’m sure he’d call him for you.”

“I’d appreciate it. I’ll be glad to pay his fee.”

“The others are talking about returning to their homes. I’m hoping you’ll convince them to stay with you. And, include Shannon.”

“I’ve been working on it. But I’m up against the holiday season, and they’re a stubborn bunch.”

51             

TJ drove Janeen and the kids home from Eric’s. As she drove, she kept a close eye on any vehicles following them for more than a mile or two. TJ hadn’t told her sister all the details of what had been happening the last few weeks, only that they were trying to get evidence someone was abducting abused women.