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CHAPTER TEN

T he 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 pushed thoughts 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 drove into 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, and he 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.”

“After the case was settled Genevieve and I started seeing each other.”

“You were romantically involved?” Wade sighed.

The lawyer nodded.

“Do any of these other names ring a bell? Amanda Curtis?”

The attorney frowned. “She was the physician’s assistant in the lawsuit.”

“How about Stacy McGuire?”

“Never heard of her.” The man’s eyes widened. “Is this about that serial killer? Butcher of Boulder Field?”

“We don’t identify the killer by that name.”

“So, it is?”

“Sir, would you simply answer my questions?”

“Sure.” He tugged on his tie. “Sorry.”

“Do you know a Lorraine Moore?”

“The psychologist? I haven’t seen her in years, but my younger sister was hospitalized in a facility where she worked.”

“That ties you to four of the five victims.”

“You don’t think I had something to do with this, do you?”

“It’s a possibility I must consider. Another is that someone connected to you is targeting these women.”

“I think I need a lawyer.”

“Don’t you want to help me identify their killer?”

“I do, but I know enough to get a criminal attorney to offer me legal advice before we continue this conversation. I’ll see you out, Sergeant Brunner.”

Wade handed the man his card. “Contact me when you’re ready to cooperate.”

After driving around the park for twenty minutes looking for Emily, Wade finally spotted her SUV near the organized group tenting area. He pulled up behind the two DCNR vehicles. Voices were coming from down the trail, so he followed the sound and found Emily and Pete in a physical altercation.

“Get away from her,” he shouted.

Pete looked over his shoulder at him, and that’s when Wade noticed the buck between them. The deer had his antlers snagged on some type of material which was stuck under a massive rock.

Wade moved in to help. “Sorry, man. Didn’t notice the deer.”

While Wade and Emily held the buck still, Pete used his pocketknife to cut the fabric away from its antlers. Once he’d completed the task, Emily counted to three and they all stepped away from the deer.

“And he lives to see another day,” Pete said as he stuck his knife back into his pocket. “I’ll see you guys later. I have some reports to type up.”

Wade waved as the other guy sauntered away.

Emily stood there silently. She wasn’t going to make this conversation easy for him.

“I owe you an apology,” he said. “I shouldn’t have asked you to choose between me and your job.”

She didn’t respond.

“Is this the silent treatment, Em?”

She groaned. “What do you want from me, Wade?”

“I want you in my life.” He rubbed the back of his neck.

“As what?” A harsh laugh escaped. “Your friend? Your girlfriend? A sounding board for this case?”

“You mean more to me than any of those things.” He made eye contact, but she broke it.

“How is that possible? You haven’t seen me in eleven years. You don’t even know me anymore.” Her whispered words sent a chill up his spine. “And I don’t know you.”

“I don’t believe that’s true. We’ve grown up, but we’re the same people at our core, and I’m even more drawn to you now than I was back then.”

“For the sake of argument, let’s say you’re right and we haven’t changed that much. Where does that leave us?”

“It leaves us right here in this moment.” He put his arm around her shoulders, and they strolled toward her SUV. When they reached it, he faced her and took her hands in his. “Will you allow me to use my IOU to take you to dinner tomorrow night?”

“A girl has to eat, so why not?” It wasn’t the response he’d been hoping for, but at least she agreed to the date. He would need to work extra hard to not mess up the chance he’d been given.

“Perfect. It’s a date.”

“You shouldn’t have wasted your IOU. Even without it, I would’ve gone.”

He grinned. Maybe things were looking up after all.

Wade got cotton mouth as he stared at the stunning woman who came to the door in a red sundress. The color brought out the auburn highlights in her chestnut hair. She’d left her hair loose and it fell in waves down her back and over her left shoulder. There was a glossy sheen on her rosy lips, and he wanted to kiss it off of her, but forced himself to speak instead. “Ready?”

“I am.” She hit some numbers on the keypad beside the door and stepped out of the house, locking the front door behind her.

“You look gorgeous tonight, Em.”

Emily’s smile lit her eyes. “Thank you.” Her gaze wandered up and down his length. “You look pretty good yourself.”

“I’m glad you agreed to let me take you out.”

“Me too.” She waited as he opened the passenger door of his truck. “This is scary, but so is everything worth doing, right?” she asked.

“That’s right.” Once she settled into her seat, he closed the door, walked around the truck to get in the driver’s side, and started the engine. He reached for her hand and held it as he drove. She made circles on his palm with her thumb driving him crazy with desire. It was all he could do to keep his eyes on the road.

He’d made reservations at the Sunset Inn, a lakeside restaurant near his home, and the ma?tre d' greeted him by name.

“You’ve been here before, I take it.”

“Many times. The food is great.” He smiled. “I think you’ll love it.” He could practically see the wheels spinning in her head. “I usually dine alone when I come here, but Jamie’s come along a couple of times when Ty had to work late, and she didn’t want to go home to an empty house.”

“Oh.”

“You’re the first date I’ve brought here.”

“Am I that transparent?”

He chuckled. “If you had picked the restaurant, I’d be wondering the same thing.”

“How did you find this place?”

He pointed out the window. “Do you see the chalet across the lake?”

It was her turn to nod.

“That’s my house.”

She smiled. “That’s a lot of house for a single guy, isn’t it?”

“I don’t plan to remain single forever.” He saw the panic in her eyes but didn’t say anything to ease it. If they were going to give this a chance, she had to know he wanted more than a fling.

She ordered linguine in a pink sauce with crabs and shrimp, and he got the prime rib. They were both too full for dessert, but he promised to bring her back to try their decadent layered chocolate cake.

“Want to take a walk around the lake?” he asked after he paid the check.

“I’d love that.” She slipped her hand into his.

“Do you mind if Ruger joins us?”

“Ruger?”

“My German shepherd.”

“You’re full of surprises, Wade Brunner.” She grinned. “I’d love to meet your dog.”

When they arrived at his house, Ruger was waiting at the door. He sniffed Emily’s hand.

“You can pet him.”

She did, and Ruger leaned against her. He never did that with anyone but Wade. “I think it’s official. He likes you better than me.”

“I don’t know about that, but he’s friendly.”

“He’s a retired military dog.”

She scratched Ruger behind his ears.

Wade shook his head. It was amazing to see her work a miracle on his dog. “Want to go for a walk?”

The German shepherd disappeared down the hall and returned with his leash. “Good boy.” He turned to face Emily. “Ready?”

She nodded. “Will you show me your house when we get back?”

“I’d love to.”

Emily’s stride was much shorter than Wade’s, so he couldn’t keep up their usual speed, but Ruger was patient with the slower pace. When they arrived back at his property, he opened the gate into the fenced part of his yard for the dog, and then took Emily by the hand and steered her toward the water’s edge.

“It’s beautiful out here at night.” She smiled up at him. “You chose a lovely place to live.”

“I like it, but it gets lonely living in that big house alone.”

“I get that.” She looked down at her feet. “Sometimes I feel that way, too, and my house is tiny compared to yours.”

“Will you allow me to take you out again, Em?”

“Tonight was wonderful, but I don’t think it would be smart to repeat it.”

“Why wouldn’t it be?”

“Let’s not spoil the present by talking about the future. You promised me a tour, remember?”

He smiled but didn’t feel it. The night had gone perfectly, so he couldn’t imagine what spooked her. Probably too much thinking about the past. “Let’s have that tour.”

The next morning, Wade followed up on a tip they’d received on the whereabouts of Lester Parsons. Their suspect was hiding out on his boat in Indian River Marina in Rehoboth, Delaware.

Wade contacted the local police to let them know he had a search warrant for Parsons’ boat and then contacted Guy Herndon, the FBI agent assigned to the case, to ask for his assistance.

As he was gathering his things to leave the office, John Cunningham stopped at his desk. “Good morning, Wade.”

“Hey, Cunningham. Need something?”

“My aunt asked me to get a progress update on the case. I don’t know why she didn’t ask Pete. He works at the park, so he should be able to find out as easily as I can.”

“Why would she ask him?”

“He’s my cousin. Her son.”

“Gotcha. I’m on my way out the door to execute a search warrant on our main suspect’s boat.” His brow furrowed. “Who is your aunt?”

“Senator Martin.”

“Pete’s last name is Cunningham, right?”

“Yep. His mother kept her maiden name for political reasons.”

“Ah. That explains why I hadn’t made the connection.”

“My aunt told me Jamie called her a couple of times about someone she knew. A judge. She wondered if you’d found her killer yet.”

“Let Senator Martin know we’re on top of things. Feel free to give her the lieutenant’s number. He’ll be happy to keep her informed.”

“Are you sure he won’t mind?” John asked.

“Managing press and politicians is his specialty.” Wade stood and patted the other man on the back. “It’s all part of the job. Now I’d better get going. I don’t want to keep the FBI waiting.”

“FBI?” Cunningham’s voice trailed after him. The trooper would be in the lieutenant’s office asking about it in no time flat. Good. That would keep them both busy, so he could get on the road with no more distractions.