Page 163 of Cold, Cold Bones

Pitluck joined me and together we gently pried Olivia’s fingers from her wrists. Kramden didn’t fight us, but the child’s strength and determination were remarkable.

Murmuring a steady stream of reassurances, I wrapped Olivia in a blanket and carried her to the back seat of Pitluck’s cruiser. The trembling in her small body made my heart ache.

I was stroking the girl’s shoulders when she let forth a wail that sent ice down my spine. Following Olivia’s sightline, I saw Slidell shove a cuffed Kramden into the rear of a van, slam the doors, and whistle to the driver.

All my life I’ll remember that vehicle flashing past, that mangled face peering out. That expression—the saddest I have ever seen, before or since.

Through the cruiser’s open car door, I heard Slidell call to Ryan.

“We got the sick bastard.”

Ryan said nothing.

“Do you believe the freakshow he had going down there?”

36

Olivia Lakin suffered no sexual or physical assault.

Following her rescue and Kramden’s arrest, the child expressed concern for her captor and repeatedly asked to see him. Stockholm Syndrome? Genuine affection? A pediatric psychologist was sorting that out.

Both Olivia and Bobby Karl told the same story. Though a seemingly impossible pairing, the two considered themselves pals. The friendship started when Olivia, out of pity, asked her scarred neighbor about the flowers he was planting in his front yard. Caught off guard, and unused to kindness, Bobby Karl showed the child his garden, then offered her Oreos. Occasionally, unknown to the senior Lakins, Olivia would pedal or walk up the block to discuss horticulture and share cookies with the lonely old man who lived all by himself.

On the day of her disappearance, recognizing Bobby Karl at the wheel of his car, the child waved Kramden over to ask for a ride to school. Why not? She’d done it before upon such chance sightings. When Kramden proposed a prank on her parents, Olivia happily agreed.

According to Olivia, the bus complex was “awesome sauce” and“her ugly neighbor” was gentle and kindhearted, like the “BFG.” I didn’t quite get the BFG thing, later learned it was a reference to the “big friendly giant” in a kid’s movie based on a book by Roald Dahl. For Olivia, the whole outing was a grand adventure.

According to Bobby Karl, the ransom idea was spur of the moment. He needed money. Olivia was in his car. He planned to keep her very briefly, then release her unharmed, payout or not.

Kramden was charged with abduction of a minor, kidnapping, and a number of related crimes. Slidell insisted he was also guilty of desecration of corpses, concealing evidence of death by dismembering or destroying human remains, and three counts of first-degree homicide. Lacking a theory on Kramden’s motive for the copycat murders, Skinny failed to persuade Mangiorotti on the additional offenses, but was encouraged to pursue his investigation and allowed to question the prisoner.

While freely admitting to the kidnapping, Bobby Karl was adamant in his denial of the killings. The harder Slidell pressed, the more firmly Kramden held fast.

Mangiorotti ordered CSU teams to toss the buses in Gaston County and the house on Sharon Hills Road in Charlotte. Forensics experts started the backbreaking task of analyzing every shred of potential evidence.

In tandem with members of the main task force, Slidell’s team bulldozed through Kramden’s present and his past—relatives, friends, neighbors, and known associates. They investigated any purchase he’d ever made, any argument he’d ever had, any bill he’d ever paid, any prepper gathering he’d ever attended. You get the picture.

Kramden was assigned a public defender and locked up in the Mecklenburg County jail awaiting arraignment. Slidell grilled him daily. Henry and the others discovered nothing linking Bobby Karl to Sanchez, Kwalwasser, Hunt, or Soto.

Ryan headed north.

I turned to new cases. Remains unearthed by a beagle namedFlorence in her owner’s crawl space. A mandible fished by middle schoolers from an abandoned septic tank.

WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY23

Three days after Kramden’s arrest, Henry strode into my office, an uncharacteristic grin on her face.

“You won’t believe this. It is totally bitchin’.”

“Believe what?” I asked, covering my annoyance at the constant lingo.

“I went back to Kramden’s bunker and found something the search team missed.” Clearly pleased with herself.

“Lay it on me.” Take that, lingo queen.

“The kid’s earrings.”

I was lost.