Page 52 of Cold Threat

His mother had made meatloaf and mashed potatoes. It was delicious and everyone cleaned their plate quickly.

“You know, you can talk about what you’re working on in front of me,” Beth said as they waited for dessert. “You’ve already shared quite a bit.”

“I realize that, hon,” Ray said. “I just don’t want to take away from the wonderful meal you’ve made for us. Besides, I don’t think it hurts to have some family time without bringing up death and destruction.”

Beth laughed. “And I appreciate that, but you always used to tell me about your cases when it was just us.”

Ray sighed. “Actually, I didn’t tell you about all of them. When you work in law enforcement, there are some things you have to keep to yourself. Things you don’t want someone you love to hear about.”

Tony knew exactly what his father meant. In his time in the FBI, he’d seen things no human being should see. If you didn’t believe in the devil before becoming an FBI agent, you certainly did after a while. There was no way to understand some of the horrific things they saw except to believe that the people whocommitted the heinous crimes that ended up as reports and pictures given to the BAU to analyze were beyond the scope of human evil. They could only have been empowered by something beyond the comprehension and ability of men. The devil was not only real, but he was corrupted to the point of no return. There was no compassion, remorse, or pity in him.

“You and Tony are both bursting at the seams with information,” Beth said. “You’ve both been fidgeting ever since you sat down.”

“Okay,” Ray said. “I give in.” He smiled at his wife before addressing Tony and River. “Sandra Cooper is conscious and talking. I got more out of her today. She saw her attacker clearly.”

“Was she able to give you a good description?” Tony asked.

“Before we go there, she said again that he waited for her to die first before he started the fire. I think we can safely assume that the people he killed were dead before he torched their houses.”

“So, he kills them, binds their hands and feet, and then sets the room ablaze,” River said.

“I can’t believe Ms. Cooper was able to play dead while he bound her,” Beth said. “I don’t think I could do that.”

Ray nodded. “She’s a pretty gutsy woman. I don’t think our UNSUB checked her very carefully, though. My guess is that he was so certain a large overdose of fast-acting insulin would kill her, he just assumed she was dead.”

“At least we know the people he murdered didn’t actually suffer horribly,” River said. “So, he does have some compassion toward the people he kills. That agrees with our profile.” She frowned. “So, we were right. The fires aren’t just an expression of anger.” She looked over at Tony. “He really is using them to hide evidence. He truly is an organized killer. We were right about that too.”

“So did you speak to Angie?” Ray asked.

“Yeah, we did,” Tony said. “It was very enlightening.”

“Is she okay?” Beth asked.

“I think she’s still recovering. But we learned a couple of interesting things.” Tony looked at his mother. “Are you sure you don’t want us to take this upstairs?”

Beth smiled as she got up to remove the layered pudding desserts from the refrigerator. “I get to spend more time with you this way. Go ahead. Just keep any details about missing heads or cannibals out of the conversation. Oh, and no zombies.”

River grinned at Ray. “A lot of decapitations, cannibals, and zombies in Burlington?”

He laughed. “Fortunately not.”

“First of all,” Tony said, “did you know that Edward Wilson, Angie’s grandfather, wasn’t related to her biologically?”

Ray frowned at him. “No, that didn’t come out during the investigation. It should have. It might have opened up some new possibilities. Maybe the person behind their deaths was related to him somehow. I can’t believe that wasn’t explored.”

“I know things were pretty crazy back then,” River said. “Could your chief have just overlooked this?”

“That’s something that shouldn’t have happened,” Ray said slowly. “I can’t explain it. I’ll check Wilson out tomorrow. Run his social and put him through our facial recognition program.”

“The FBI has new investigative tools,” Tony said. “If you need help, let me know. I can contact someone with the Bureau.”

“The National Crime Information Center should cover any criminal background Wilson had,” Ray said. “If I need additional assistance, though, I’ll let you know. I appreciate the help.”

“Any reason besides being busy that your chief might have ignored this?” River asked.

Ray sighed. “Back then, we were going through cutbacks while crime was rising. Unfortunately, some bureaucrats don’t understand what law enforcement needs to make things run smoothly. They just look at the bottom line. Money is everything.” He shook his head. “Chief Watts was under a lot of pressure. My guess isthat his detectives just didn’t pick up on this, and he didn’t have the time to follow up. Of course, he shouldn’t have had to. I can’t blame him for this one.”

“If something pops up that might have saved lives, this could have been a huge mistake,” Tony said.

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