Indigo(9)

“Okay, you’ve got me intrigued, so out with it.” She walked to the kitchenette with the phone to her ear, and as Sam started talking, she poured a glass of water.

“You’re reporting on these child murders, right? Another one tonight?”

“Yeah.” She blinked and saw the mutilation, the horrors inflicted on the girl’s innocent body.

“I’ve been working on a piece, too, for the Indie. More directed at the police investigation than the murders themselves—the cops’ inability to catch the killer, drifting off into politics and bureaucracy. Whether or not there’s a human-trafficking angle to the abductions of these kids who end up dead.”

“I’d been wondering the same thing. But I don’t think they’re related. These kids … there’s a ritual element to this, I think. Just between us, not for print. I don’t think traffickers were behind this.”

“Ritual … like that cult stuff with Indigo last year?”

“Maybe.” She hesitated. Sam was fascinated by all things Indigo, and she didn’t want him digging too much. “I’ll keep you posted. But unless it’s a smoke screen, disposing of the bodies like this, I don’t think it’s related.”

“Maybe not. But you know I’ve got some decent police connections—hell, some of them are your connections, too. They don’t like me too much after all the focus I’m throwing on the trafficking stuff, the vanished kids, but with these murders … well, they’re putting everything into trying to catch the bastard.”

“So far ‘everything’ isn’t enough.”

“Anyway, a name came up last night: Bullington. One of the lawyers who repped the cultist couple who abducted Andy Chesbro last year.”

Nora almost dropped the glass. Chesbro had been the fancy attorney’s kidnapped husband. Police had arrested a Scarsdale couple for the actual kidnapping but could never link them to the cult assassins who’d murdered Chesbro’s wife—the ones Indigo had killed. The Scarsdale couple had gotten off after a grand jury inquiry showed police misconduct in the investigation—the lead detective had botched the whole thing.

A month later, the Scarsdale couple had been murdered in their home.

Indigo hadn’t been responsible for those deaths. She had assumed it was the Phonoi, cleaning up their mess.

She leaned back against the kitchen worktop and blinked rapidly a few times, trying to shake the memory of blood gushing across her hands, and fear in the faces of the assassins as she put an end to them.

“Nora?”

“Yeah, I’m here. Tell me about Bullington. He was part of the legal team for the kidnappers?”

“After the Newells were killed—”

The Newells. The Scarsdale couple. Somehow she’d managed to forget their name, but there it was.

“—Chesbro sued the estate in a civil case, figuring it was like O. J. Simpson. Jury found O.J. not guilty, but he got clobbered in a civil suit by the families of his victims. Chesbro sued, and I guess he was pretty surprised when they settled almost immediately. The lawyer who represented the Newells’ estate, who negotiated that settlement, was Bullington.”

Nora frowned. “I don’t see where you’re going with this.”

“Thing is, prior to that, Bullington had a rep as just some sleazebag ambulance chaser. And when the case was over, he went back to being exactly that.”

“So why’s his name come up again now?”

“He’s showing an interest in these killings, talking to the uniforms who found two of the kids’ bodies. There’s evidence he’s been tracking the case electronically, though he’s good at covering his trail.”

“Has he approached the families? Maybe he wants to represent them, get them to sue the city?”

“That’s what’s weird—no approaches that I can uncover, at least.”

“If he’s out to make a quick buck, that’s who he’d talk to.”

“So I figured,” Sam said. “Thought I should tell you, in case you’ve got more influence with the investigating officers than I do. It’s Mayhew and Symes.”

The names rang a bell. “Wait, Mayhew as in the detective who fucked up the Chesbro case?”

“One and the same. Way I hear it, this is her shot at redemption. You should ask her about Bullington, see if they’re looking at him for anything. Worth a shot, right?”

Nora smiled. “And worth working on together, I suppose?”

“If you insist. I mean, I know you’ll do anything to spend more time with me.”

Nora drank some water, taking the quiet time to think about what Sam was saying.

“So, are we going to catch up soon?” he asked.

“Yeah. Yeah.” But Nora’s mind was already spinning. Bullington had represented the Newell estate, which meant he’d been hired by someone connected to the Children of Phonos. Now he was sniffing around the murdered kids in Kingsbridge. If she wanted to root out the core membership of the cult, it looked as if the lawyer would be the best place to start.

“You sound tired.”

“Two a.m., remember?” She tried to inject some humor into her voice, but knew he could hear through the fa?ade.

“Let’s do lunch tomorrow,” he suggested. “Noon, Lucy’s on the Square.”