Little Girl Gone (An Afton Tangler Thriller #1)(94)

“Huh,” Max said.

Susan swallowed hard and seemed to fight for control of her emotions. “What I really came here for, what I really want to know, is do you still think we have a chance?”

“If we didn’t believe that, we wouldn’t be here,” Max said. “We wouldn’t still have an entire team working overtime to find your baby.”

Susan touched a hand to her chest. “Thank you. I guess I needed to hear that directly from you.” Her eyes glistened with tears. “I really do believe that my baby is alive and is coming back to me. I have to believe that.”

“We’re doing everything we can,” Afton said. It was the first time she’d given her assurance to Susan when she didn’t believe it one hundred percent.


*

AFTON and Max were halfway through their notes, everything spread out around them on the conference room table, when Thacker careened into the room. He was wearing khaki slacks and a maroon-and-gold University of Minnesota hoodie. It was the first time Afton had ever seen him in casual attire. She thought he looked decidedly untucked.

“Divers just recovered the snowmobiler’s body along with the duffel bag of money,” Thacker told them, sounding a little breathless. “Pulled out the whole damn sled, too.”

“Holy shit,” Max said. “Do we know who the guy is?”

“Was it a woman?” Afton asked.

“Not a woman,” Thacker said. “That’s the weird thing. Saint Paul just ID’d him and it turns out the guy’s a lawyer.”

Afton was confused. “Wait a minute, you mean Darden’s lawyer? Slocum?”

“No, no. Oh, hell no,” Thacker said. “This guy’s ID says his name is Lars Torbert.”

“Who’s Lars Torbert?” Max asked. “I never heard of him. Wait, you said he’s a lawyer?”

“Lawyer from Saint Paul,” Thacker said. “A firm by the name of Scanlon and Torbert.”

“No shit,” Max said. “So what’s his connection to the kidnapping?”

“We don’t know,” Thacker said. “The FBI is at Torbert’s office right now. They’re pulling it apart, top to bottom, trying to see if they can figure this thing out.”

“Torbert has a partner?” Afton asked. “What was the other name you mentioned? Scanlon?”

“Right,” Thacker said. “A woman. She’s in custody right now. Over in Saint Paul. But she’s not talking.”

A woman, Afton thought. Could it be the doll show woman?

“Do you think this Scanlon knows anything?” Afton asked.

“Possibly,” Thacker said. “But it’s hard to say. She’s not talking and she’s asked for a lawyer.”

“A double layer of lawyers,” Max said. “Are you going to charge this woman with anything?”

“Yes, but it probably won’t stick for very long unless the FBI uncovers a shitload of evidence.”

“Still, you’ve got her for the time being,” Max said. “Maybe she’ll crack. Maybe we’ll get some sort of confession.”

“And maybe a bunch of daffodils will pop out of my ass,” Thacker said, looking glum. “Hell, we don’t even know if this Torbert had anything to do with the kidnapping or if he was just the negotiator.”

“I wouldn’t exactly call that negotiating,” Afton said. “Grab the money and then try to punk Darden with a fake baby?”

“I say nail his ass,” Max said.

“Except that he’s dead,” Thacker said.


*

I hate to say this,” Afton said once Thacker had left, “but Torbert probably got what he deserved.”

“Karmic justice,” Max said. “In light of the slimeball move he pulled last night.”

“The problem being, if the female partner wasn’t involved, then we’re back to square one.”

“We’re back to square one anyway.”

Afton was studying the FBI’s interview with Jilly Hudson when the phone rang. It was Dr. Healy, the director of the Medical Examiner’s Office over in Hudson.

“Dr. Healy,” Max said. “How’s your brother-in-law?”

Afton stopped what she was doing to listen in.

Max listened for a moment and then said, “Good. Glad to hear he’s doing so well. So what’s up? You found something on the body?” He listened for a few more moments. “Uh-huh. Okay.” He made a few quick notes and then thanked Healy.

“What?” Afton asked, once Max had hung up.

“Dr. Healy says they ran a number of tests on Muriel Pink using a mass spectrometer and have some preliminary results.”

“Can he send them over to us?”

“He’s e-mailing everything right now,” Max said. “Grab my laptop and open the e-mail. It’s probably being dumped into my in-box right now.”

It was.

“Okay, this is interesting,” Afton said as she scanned Dr. Healy’s report. “They found tiny flakes of paint on Muriel Pink’s body.”

“Paint,” Max said.

“Ho, wait a minute,” Afton continued. “It also says that crystals of oxalic acid showed up.”