"I"m all ears," Bonner said with a note of impatience in his voice.
"Did you know Regina Bennett had a nephew?"
"She didn"t. Regina was an only child. She didn"t have any siblings. And her aunt and uncle were childless. What makes you think she had a nephew?"
"Because he not only visited her every week the last few months of her life, but he paid for her funeral."
"Well, I"ll be d.a.m.ned."
"The only problem is that, so far, I haven"t been able to locate a Corey Bennett that is in any way connected to Regina."
"A mystery man," Bonner said. "Someone who doesn"t exist. An alias, maybe?"
"Maybe," J.D. agreed.
"Got a description of this Corey Bennett?"
"A vague description. Young, white male, average size, blondish brown hair. Mustache and gla.s.ses. That"s about it." J.D. paused to give Bonner a few minutes to a.s.similate the info. "Jeremy Arden visited Regina several times before she died. From his driver"s license photo, he fits the same general description as the one of Corey Bennett, minus the gla.s.ses and mustache."
"You think they could be one and the same?" Bonner snorted. "Doesn"t make sense. Why would Jeremy visit Regina as himself and as her nephew? And why would one of her victims pay for her funeral?"
"I have no idea. It was just a thought."
"No, it was more than a thought. You"ve got a theory. Let"s hear it."
J.D. hesitated. "Not so much a theory as a hypothesis, and a completely unsubstantiated one at that."
"You"re talking about a gut feeling, right?"
"Yeah, pretty much. What if while he was with Regina Bennett back when he was a toddler, Jeremy Arden formed an attachment to the woman, maybe even saw her as a mother figure. From what I"ve been able to learn about Arden, he"s been pretty messed up emotionally most of his life."
"Hmm...go on. You"re making a weird kind of sense."
"Let"s say that he felt compelled to visit her, to see her, talk to her, so he came back to Chattanooga and reconnected emotionally with her before she died. Her death could have triggered something inside Arden, something that compelled him to reunite Regina with all the toddlers she put to sleep."
"This hypothesis of yours works only if it turns out that those skeletons belong to a couple of the Baby Blue toddlers," Bonner reminded him.
"And if they do, then we"ll have a jump start on figuring out a connection. At this point, unless we can find Corey Bennett, nephew of Regina Bennett, then Jeremy Arden is our best bet. He"s the only kidnapped toddler who lived to tell the tale, so to speak."
"Was he?"
"What?"
"Jeremy was the one kidnapped toddler we rescued, but the bodies of the other five were never found. And even if the skeletons left with Jill Scott and Debra Gregory turn out to be two of the Baby Blue toddlers, that doesn"t mean Regina killed the other three. She confessed to only one murder-her son"s."
"I subpoenaed Regina"s medical records and I"ve gone through enough of them to tell that she contradicted herself quite often and baffled her doctors a great deal of the time. She seemed unaware that she had killed more than one child. The doctors a.s.sume that each time she killed one of the Baby Blue toddlers, she believed he was Cody."
"That was their opinion, and you know what they say about opinions."
"Yeah, yeah, everybody"s got one."
"Why don"t you concentrate on Whitney Poole for the time being," Bonner suggested. "Once the DNA results come back on the skeletons, then that will be time enough to continue trying to connect the Baby Blue cases to the Rocking Chair Killer cases."
Zoe had surprised Audrey by choosing a very pretty pink nail polish when given the choice from among more than fifty colors. On their way to the salon/spa, they had dropped by the house Zoe shared with her father so that Zoe could change clothes. Then they had spent hours indulging themselves in hot stone pedicures and deluxe manicures. Lunch at Chili"s, followed by a quick dash into Publix for cookie ingredients, rounded out their morning and early afternoon. They had chatted about a variety of subjects, everything from makeup and clothes to their favorite foods, music, TV programs, movies, and movie stars, and the cla.s.ses Zoe liked and disliked at school.
But now that the last batch of cookies-two batches of sugar cookies and one of Zoe"s dad"s favorites, chocolate chip-were done, Audrey and Zoe settled down on the sofa in the living room, each with a bottle of Diet Dr Pepper. When Audrey kicked off her leather loafers, Zoe removed her Skechers and wiggled her sock-covered toes.
"Thanks for last night and today." Zoe brought her legs up, bending them at the knees and wrapping her arms around her upper calves. "Today was fun. I"ve never done anything like this." She shrugged. "You know, girl stuff. Getting a manicure and pedicure and baking cookies."
"Didn"t you and your mother ever do girl stuff together?"
When Zoe frowned, Audrey wondered if perhaps she shouldn"t have mentioned Zoe"s mother.
"No. Mom and I didn"t...You"d have to have known my mother to understand. It wasn"t that she was a bad person. She wasn"t. She was a good person, but she wasn"t cut out to be a mother. She liked to have fun. You know, grown-up fun."
"If you"d rather not talk about her-"
"It"s okay. I really appreciate your not playing counselor last night or today. I didn"t feel like you were studying me and trying to figure out what makes me tick."
"If the question about your mother made you feel that way, then I apologize."
"It doesn"t. Actually, I"ve kind of been wanting to talk to you about my mother and J.D. and me and what a mess my life is, but..." Zoe brought her arms up her legs, lifted them until her elbows rested on her knees, and then lowered her chin down on top of her clasped hands. "I sure drew the short straw when it came to parents. I mean, why is it that two people who shouldn"t have ever had a kid, who never wanted to be parents, wound up as my mother and father?"
Audrey felt a sharp, sympathetic stab of pain and paused for a moment to consider how to answer Zoe"s question.
"Oh, I know about s.e.x and how J.D. got my mom pregnant." Zoe laughed, the sound hollow and sad. "That"s not what I meant."
"I know what you meant. And I"m not sure I have an answer for you. Luck of the draw. Fate. Meant to be. Take your pick, but none of them seem a satisfactory reason." Audrey lifted her feet off the floor and folded her legs sideways as she relaxed her back on the sofa arm behind her. "My parents got a divorce when I was five and even now, sometimes, I wonder why they couldn"t have stayed together, why I couldn"t have been one of those kids whose parents spend their whole lives together."
"Yeah, fairy-tale stuff." Zoe sighed heavily, a faraway look in her eyes.
"My friend Tamara"s parents are still married, still love each other and are very happy, so a few people do get that happily ever after."
"It must be nice. She"s lucky, huh?"
"You know, Zoe, your dad might not win any father-of-the-year awards, but don"t you think he"s doing his best?"
Zoe looked right at Audrey. "I thought you didn"t like him, and here you are defending him."
"I"m not defending him. And whether I like him or dislike him has nothing to do with-"
"Yeah, I guess he"s doing the best he can. For a guy who got stuck with a kid he didn"t want and didn"t even know he had, he"s done okay. I mean, he"s providing room and board and he makes noises like a father even if he doesn"t have any idea how to go about being a real dad."
"And what"s a real dad like?"
"Humph. How should I know? You tell me."
"Oh, I"m not an expert on fathers, believe me."
"What"s your dad like?"
"Oddly enough, Zoe, he"s a lot like your dad." Strong and brave and totally male. Dedicated to his job. Emotionally aloof. And he"s never had any idea how to be a loving father to a daughter. Strong and brave and totally male. Dedicated to his job. Emotionally aloof. And he"s never had any idea how to be a loving father to a daughter.
"A real pain in the b.u.t.t, huh?"
Zoe and Audrey laughed and kept on laughing until their sides hurt. And when the laughter subsided, they exchanged knowing smiles, each understanding the feelings of rejection and neglect the other had experienced.
While her father, in his role as chief of police, had made a statement to the media, Tam had stood beside Garth and J.D. and Hugh Nicholson, head of the CPD Major Crimes Division, and shared the frustration the others felt. In the span of less than a month, three young women had been abducted and two were now dead. With the resources of the entire police department, as well as the TBI, and with federal a.s.sistance, they were no closer to discovering the ident.i.ty of the Rocking Chair Killer than they had been weeks ago. Her dad had fended off media questions with the skill of the politician he was destined to become, perhaps even a U.S. Congressman. Being his daughter, she could read even the subtle variances in his facial expressions, and where no one other than her mother might suspect, she knew that the burden of his office under such trying circ.u.mstances was taking a toll on him. Willie Mullins cared. He cared about what had happened to the two murdered women and he cared about the h.e.l.l their families were experiencing. And he cared about Whitney Poole.
Once back at headquarters, J.D. placed his hand on the small of Tam"s back as they entered the building. "You"re worried about your father, aren"t you?"
Apparently she wasn"t as adept at hiding her feelings as her father was. "He"s taking all the hits from the press, when we"re the ones who aren"t accomplishing anything. We"ve got zip. Nada. We have no idea who this guy is or why he"s targeting young brunettes."
"Unless it turns out that he"s somehow connected to the old Baby Blue cases," J.D. reminded her.
"And if he is, if the DNA tests confirm that the skeletons belong to a couple of Baby Blue toddlers, what does that give us? How does that help us find this guy?"
J.D. followed Tam into the office she shared with Sergeant Hudson, who had entered the PSC before they had and had gone straight to the bathroom.
"If the DNA test results confirm what we suspect, then that"s another piece of a very intricate puzzle. We start putting those pieces together, one at a time, and you never know what even a partial picture might reveal."
Tam flopped down in the swivel chair behind her desk, leaned back, and cushioned the crown of her head with her cupped hands. "I didn"t peg you for an optimist, Special Agent Ca.s.s."
J.D. grinned. "And I didn"t peg you for a pessimist, Officer Lovelady."
"I"m not. Not usually. But seeing the way these cases are affecting my father, not to mention what it"ll do to Audrey and her family if one of those skeletons turns out to be Blake, has put me in a negative frame of mind."
"All we need is one lucky break," J.D. reminded her. "Someone who saw something."
"Someone other than a seventy-year-old, nearsighted woman." Tam groaned as she sat up straight.
"This guy is human. He"s made mistakes. We just have to find out what they are. Once we figure out how he"s slipped up, then it"s only a matter of time until we nab him."
"Well, I"d like to figure out what, if any, mistakes he"s made before he kills Whitney Poole." Tam looked J.D. square in the eye. "If he stays true to form, then we have less than two weeks to connect the dots before he props her dead body up in a rocking chair and sticks a toddler"s skeleton in her arms."
The phone on Garth"s desk rang just as he entered the office. Without even glancing at Tam or J.D., he walked over and picked up the receiver.
Garth"s face paled. "Why the h.e.l.l didn"t they notify us yesterday? Yeah, sure. But G.o.d d.a.m.n it, Willie, this isn"t just some case, is it?"
Garth was talking to her father? She and J.D. exchanged puzzled expressions.
"Yeah, I"ll tell them." Garth gripped the phone with white-knuckled tension. "I agree. We don"t want word of this leaking out until the families have been notified."
Tam rose to her feet. She and J.D. were so focused on Garth that when he hung up the phone, he couldn"t help but feel them staring at him. He glanced from J.D. to Tam.
"What was that all about?" she asked.
Garth swallowed. "That was your dad. He just got a call from Dr. Reynolds. It seems the DNA test results came back yesterday afternoon, but there was a mix-up about who was supposed to notify the chief."
Tam"s heart beat so hard and fast that she thought it was going to jump out of her chest. "Tell us. What were the results?"
"The toddler skeletons" DNA matched the DNA for Keith Lawson and Chase Wilc.o.x," Garth said.
"Oh, G.o.d!" Tam reached out and gripped Garth"s tense shoulder.
"Keith and Chase were the first two, weren"t they?" J.D. said. "The first two toddlers who came up missing. Possibly the first two of Regina Bennett"s victims."
Garth dropped down into his chair, stared at the floor, and cursed a blue streak.
Chapter 17
All J.D. wanted to do was pick up his daughter and take her home. He"d considered calling and telling her he was sending a taxi to pick her up, but if he had, she would have asked him half a dozen questions. Questions he couldn"t have answered over the phone. Once the initial shock had worn off, Garth Hudson had recovered quickly and explained that until Keith Lawson"s and Chase Wilc.o.x"s families had been notified, the information was to be kept under wraps.
"Willie...the chief has given me"-he had looked at Tam-"us permission to tell Hart and Audrey. He"ll speak to Wayne himself."
"I"ll tell Audrey," Tam had volunteered.
Garth had nodded agreement. "First, we need to track down the Lawson and Wilc.o.x families. If any of them still live in the area, we"ll go see them personally. If not, well..." Garth had huffed. "It"s not the kind of news you want to deliver over the phone.""
J.D. had stayed at police headquarters long enough that his departure didn"t look like a hasty getaway. But the sooner he picked up Zoe, the better. It was only a matter of time before Tam showed up to tell Audrey that the toddler skeletons had been positively identified.
Wanting to get in and out quickly and be gone before Tam arrived, J.D. tapped his foot nervously after he rang the doorbell. He hadn"t expected Zoe to open the door.
"Hi." She smiled at him, something she seldom did. "Come on in."
"Where"s Dr. Sherrod?" he asked as he stepped over the threshold.
"In the kitchen. The peach cobbler we made is ready to come out of the oven, so she asked me to see who was at the door."
"Peach cobbler? I thought you were making cookies."
"We made sugar cookies," Zoe said. "And some of your favorite, too-chocolate chip. But Audrey said I can take those home with me."