Page 280 of Cold Case, Warm Hearts

CHAPTER TEN

The next morning, Wade stared at the cross near the altar. God had a way of getting His message across when His servants took the time to listen. The sermon was about God’s sovereignty. Wade realized he’d once again attempted to overtake God’s role and control his surroundings.

While he didn’t like Emily putting herself at risk by going to Boulder Field, he understood her job requirements. As long as she was employed by the state, she’d remain in danger. Unless he caught the serial killer. With God’s help, he might be able to solve this case and protect Emily. But without God, he could do nothing.

After the service, he went outside and called, but she didn’t answer. What he needed to say shouldn’t be left on voicemail.

He pushedthoughts of Emily out of his mind, so he could concentrate on the case, and called his boss.

“Lieutenant McGinley.”

“It’s Brunner. I thought you might want an update on the Boulder Field case.”

“My office. Noon tomorrow. Press conference to follow.”

“Yes, sir.”

That gave him twenty-four hours to get his act together, and give a clear, concise presentation of their investigation up to this point. The lieutenant would be livid they hadn’t found Parsons, but maybe the news media could help them.

He needed to figure out which direction to take next. There had to be more to the gift angle, and it might lead back to Lester, but his efforts to identify the source of the stuffed bears yielded no fruit. He stared at the murder board hoping something might click. They hadn’t found any cases where Genevieve Adams and the judge would’ve crossed paths, so he began the slow, methodical process of listing every activity and affiliation the two women shared.

By lunchtime he had found five possibilities for where their lives may have overlapped. Both were registered democrats, but even in a mostly conservative jurisdiction that pool was too large to be any help. Both were members of the bar association. That was to be expected. They’d both been to the Senators charity gala, but so had hundreds of others and they’d attended two years apart, so that link wasn’t likely to lead anywhere. They used the same courier service to deliver legal documents. It could be a promising lead if he could link the other victims to the same service, but he wasn’t ready to dismiss it as a possibility.

The last and most promising lead he’d found was that Genevieve Adams had a case with an attorney named Gary Swartz who clerked for Judge Van Britton around the time she disappeared. He would need to pay Mr. Swartz a visit.

Wade droveinto Scranton early and arrived at the law offices of Schmidt, Liebowitz, and Swartz shortly after they opened. A friendly receptionist greeted him.

“Hi there. Do you have an appointment?”

He showed her his badge. “I’d like to speak with Gary Swartz if he’s in.”

“Just a moment.” She lifted a telephone off the receiver, punched an extension and turned her back as she whispered into it. “There’s a plain-clothes officer here to see you, Mr. Swartz.” Then she faced him with a fake smile plastered across her face. “He’ll be right out. Can I get you a coffee while you wait?”

“No, thanks though.”

Less than a minute later, Mr. Swartz appeared with an outstretched hand. “Good morning. How can I help you, officer?”

Wade stood. “I’m Sergeant Brunner with the Pennsylvania State Police. Might we speak privately, sir?”

“Of course.” The man led the way into a spacious corner office overlooking Montage Mountain.

“Nice view.”

“I enjoy watching the skiers.”

“I’ll cut to the chase, Mr. Swartz. I’m investigating a series of murders, and your name turned up in two of them.”

The man dropped into his seat and took off his eyeglasses. “Murders?”

“Judge Mary Van Britton and Genevieve Adams are the two victims with whom you appear to have connections.”

“I clerked for the judge for about three months before she disappeared.” Beads of sweat shone on the man’s forehead, andhe used a tissue to wipe them away. “I had a case with Genevieve Adams. We worked on behalf of the defendants in a medical malpractice suit. I represented the doctor and she represented the physician’s assistant. There was another lawyer for the hospital system.”

“Do you have that name?”

“I don’t know it offhand, but I can look it up and send it to you.”

“Please do.”

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