Page 21 of A Dark Place

“There’s a bonus room behind the stairs in the basement. Probably intended to be a laundry room, but Overton wasn’t using it for that.”

Drake headed over to the room with the director and the rest of the agents with him. “Overton has pictures of all three of the intended victims as well as Sylvia Abbott. He knew their addresses, what they did for a living, and he was tracking their movements.”

Holden didn’t appear surprised, which didn’t sit well with Asher at all. Asher couldn’t dismiss the feeling that Overton was being set up big time.

“And we found a stun gun and several vials of what might be ketamine.”

The director stormed into the compact space ahead of the rest of his agents.

Asher stood in the doorway with Olivia and caught his first glimpse of the room. A small desk stood against the opposite wall from the door. A closed laptop sat on it. Above the desk the entire wall was covered with photos of the women who were to be targets of the Van Gogh Killer, along with the one who had died.

“Take the laptop and document it. I’m willing to bet we’ll find more evidence on it,” Holden ordered.

“You got it.” Tanner Ellison, another agent for ERT, carefully gathered the laptop into a bag while members of his team collected the stun gun and the vials.

“I’d say this is a pretty good indication that we’ve found the second half of the Van Gogh team.” Holden pinned Asher with a look as he proclaimed this. “Overton fits the general description given to us, and his eye color matched what the victim who escaped recalled.” He surveyed the room. “I want everything taken to our lab for examination. And, Tanner, sweep the basement and the rest of the house for anything that can tie our recent victim to this house. We need to tie up all the loose ends. I want Overton caught, and I want to put the Van Gogh to rest once and for all.” Holden made a path through the room of agents and left the house.

It was almost as if once the evidence connecting Overton to the case was found, he no longer had interest.

Asher motioned to Olivia and Declan up the stairs. The team was already tearing the house apart. “Let’s step out back,” Asher told them because he didn’t want to say anything in front of the others.

“What do you make of what’s happening?” Asher scanned the faces of the two people he trusted above all else.

“Seems a little too convenient, if you ask me,” Declan confirmed Asher’s belief as did Olivia.

“We need to find out everything we can about Overton.” Olivia hesitated before she told them about her texts with Luke. “I believe him. I don’t think he would feed information to the director, which makes me wonder if Holden is somehow tracking our phones.”

Asher didn’t want to believe it, but the evidence was mounting. “What’s with this guy?”

Holden’s friendship with Daniel Pamphili was troubling. Pamphili worked with Walton Kirkpatrick, who was the US Ambassador to Afghanistan. Kirkpatrick was currently holding a summit in Germany with international leaders in order to come to a worldwide peace agreement. None of which explained why Kirkpatrick had supposedly convinced the powers that be to appoint Holden to the director position. How could a man who had no history with the FBI suddenly become the one in charge of it? He shared his suspicions with his friends.

“I definitely think Holden has a much higher agenda than Van Gogh,” Olivia confirmed. “But why would he want to shut down an active case involving a serial killer when the killer is still out there? Even if it proves to be Overton.’ She shook her head. “Until he’s in custody, Holden is putting innocent lives in jeopardy by covering this up.”

“He’s more concerned with finding Strike Force for his pal Pamphili than he is Van Gogh. And he believes you and I are standing in the way of that happening.”

“He suspects you’re withholding evidence,” Declan confirmed.

“Exactly. Which makes me realize we have to be all the more cautious passing along information to Sheriff Callahan for Will and Lizzy.”

Olivia appeared uneasy. “We all need to watch your backs. If Holden is working for Pamphili and Kirkpatrick, then he has an awful lot of power behind him.”

A chilly breeze swirled snow all around. Asher glanced back at the house where the activity would continue for hours.

“Why don’t we all take a ride,” he said and focused on the two people in front of him. “Let’s see if we can speak to Overton’s coworkers and see what kind of a man he was. Maybe they can give us some information on his family if he has any left.”

Oliva and Declan readily agreed. “But I’m driving,” she said in typical-Olivia fashion. She held out her hand for Declan to give her the keys.

He reluctantly passed them over. “What was it like to ride with Holden to the crime scene?”

Asher cringed. “That was fun. All he did was glare at us and drive like a crazy man.” Despite the fears and doubts swirling around in Asher’s head, he chuckled. “I’m still not sure what the reason behind that was. I figured he’d berate us some more or threaten to fire us, but he never said a word. I think it was an intimidation tactic.”

The three slipped through the back gate and out to the front of the house.

Olivia hit the key fob for the Bureau-issued SUV, and the doors unlocked.

As she maneuvered through the light traffic of the neighborhood, Asher couldn’t erase the thought from his head that they were racing against the clock to find the truth before Holden shut them down for good.

Chapter Ten

---