“I can meet your guys at Levine’s,” Broome said.
“I appreciate that. I want to keep you involved in this, Detective. We do need a local guy to coordinate with us.”
“I’m at your disposal.”
The two men shook hands. Using his flashlight, Broome started back down the path toward his car. His cell phone buzzed. He saw that it was from Megan Pierce.
“Hello?”
But it wasn’t Megan Pierce. It was a homicide investigator from Essex County telling him that someone had just tried to murder Megan Pierce.
IT TOOK ERIN A WHILE, but she’d finally found the home number for Stacy Paris, the exotic dancer Ross Gunther and Ricky Mannion had fought and, in Gunther’s case at least, died over. Stacy Paris had changed her name to Jaime Hemsley. She was single and owned a small clothing boutique in the tiny suburb of Alpharetta, Georgia, half an hour from Atlanta.
Erin debated making the call but not for very long. Despite the hour, she picked up the phone and dialed.
A woman with a light Southern drawl answered the phone. “Hello?”
“Jaime Hemsley?”
“Yes, may I help you?”
“This is Detective Erin Anderson from the Atlantic City Police Department. I need to ask you a few questions.”
There was a brief silence.
“Ms. Hemsley?”
“I don’t see how I can help you.”
“I hate to call you out of the blue like this, but I need your help.”
“I don’t know anything.”
“Well, Jaime, or should I say, Stacy, I do,” Erin said. “Like, for example, your real name.”
“Oh my God.” The Southern drawl was gone. “Please. I’m begging you. Please let me be.”
“I don’t have any interest in harming you.”
“It’s been almost twenty years.”
“I understand that, but we have a new lead in Mr. Gunther’s murder.”
“What are you talking about? Ricky killed Ross.”
“We don’t think so. We think someone else did it.”
“So Ricky is going free?” There was a sob in her voice. “Oh my God.”
“Ms. Hemsley—”
“I don’t know anything, okay? I was a punching bag for both of those psychopaths. I thought… I thought God did me a favor. You know—two birds, one stone? He got both of them out of my life and gave me a fresh start.”
“Who gave you a fresh start?”
“What do you mean, who? God, fate, my guardian angel, I don’t know. I had two men fighting over which one would eventually kill me. And suddenly they were both gone.”
“Like you were saved,” Erin said, as much to herself as the witness on the phone.
“Yes. I moved away. I changed my name. I own a clothing store. It’s not much, but it’s all mine. Do you know what I mean?”
“I do.”
“And now, what, Ricky is going to get out? Please, Detective, please don’t let him know where I am.”
Erin pondered what she was hearing. This situation again fit a certain profile that had been emerging in connection with the missing men—that is, most of these men were not exactly model citizens. Several of the wives or girlfriends had been equally up front, begging Erin not to find their missing partners.
“He won’t find you, but I need to ask: Do you have any idea who may have done this?”
“Killed Ross, you mean?”
“Yes.”
“Other than Ricky, no.”
Erin’s cell phone sounded. It was Broome. She thanked Jaime Hemsley and told her that she’d call her if she needed anything else. She also promised to let her know if Ricky Mannion was released from prison.
After they both hung up, Erin picked up the cell. “Hello?”
“They’re dead, Erin,” Broome said in the strangest monotone. “They’re all dead.”
Erin felt a cold stone form in her chest. “What are you talking about?”
He told her about the photograph of the hand truck, the trip back to the ruins, the bodies in the well. Erin sat unmoving.
When Broome finished, Erin said, “So that’s it? It’s over?”
“For us, I guess. The feds will find the guy. But there are parts that still don’t fit.”
“No case is a perfect fit, Broome. You know that.”
“Yeah, okay, and but here’s the thing. I just got a call from an investigator up in Essex County. Megan Pierce was attacked tonight by a young blond woman who matched her description of the woman who was in Harry Sutton’s office.”
“Is she okay?”
“Megan? She has some injuries but she’ll live. But she killed her assailant. Stabbed her in the gut.”
“Wow.”
“Yeah.”
“Definitely self-defense?”
“That’s what the county cop told me.”
“Do they have an ID on the blond woman?”
“Not yet.”
“So how do you think it fits?”
“I don’t know. Maybe it’s unrelated.”
Erin didn’t think so. Neither, she knew, did Broome. “So what do you want me to do?” she asked.
“Not much we can do about the Megan Pierce situation. When the local cops come back with an ID on this blond attacker, maybe we can go from there.”
“Agreed.”
“I also think we still need to figure out how exactly this Ross Gunther’s murder is tied into all this.”
“I just talked to Stacy Paris.”
“And?”
Erin filled him in on her conversation.
“That doesn’t help much,” he said.
“Other than it fits a loose pattern.”
“Abusive men.”
“Right.”
“So look harder at that angle. Abusive boyfriends or spouses or whatever. Mardi Gras is linked into this somehow. That day set this whole thing off. So widen the scope a little, see if there are any other Mardi Gras cases we missed.”
“Okay.”
“More important, though, the feds are up at the ruins right now gathering the bodies. They’re going to need your help with the IDs.”
Erin had figured as much. “No problem. Let me work up the details and get the names to them. What about you?”
“I’m going to stop by Ray Levine’s, but then I have to talk to Sarah before the media contacts her.”
“That’s going to suck,” Erin said.
“Maybe not. Maybe she’ll welcome the closure.”