What Have You Done(79)

“Every day is a good day with my husband.”

“You got that right.”

Joyce put the pot on the stove. “You want some tea?”

“No. I’m just gonna grab what I need and get out of your hair. Let you get back to sleep.”

“You sure you’re okay? You don’t look so hot.”

Again, Sean forced a smile and choked down the scream that wanted to escape. “Yeah. Just this Liam stuff has me all messed up. I need to find him. And we all need to understand what happened.”

“Yes, we do.”

There were a few beats of silence before Sean held up the picture. “You mind if I keep this?”

“It’s yours if you want it. Don has a blown-up version on his desk upstairs.”

Sean folded the picture and slipped it into his back pocket. He took out his phone and found a stock image of a flash drive. “Speaking of Don’s desk upstairs,” he said. “Any chance you’ve seen something like this laying around?”

Joyce looked at the picture on the screen and shook her head. “No, I haven’t seen anything like that, but then again, I haven’t been looking. Don didn’t tell you where to get it?”

“No. He just said it was at the house.”

“Probably in his office. Why don’t you call him?”

“He turned his phone off. He’s conducting witness interviews for possible sightings, and we’re not allowed to have our phones on in the interview rooms. How about I just poke around? Can’t be too far, right?”

“Sure,” Joyce replied. “Knock yourself out. You know where his office is, and you can check his work area in the basement too. Although I don’t think he did much computer stuff down there. Used it more for storage and his tools, but you can look.”

“Thanks. I’ll be back in a sec.”

Joyce turned back to her pot of water, which was starting to boil. Sean made his way upstairs and into Don’s office. After a few seconds, the house was filled with the sound of drawers being opened and closed, papers being rustled, and items being moved around. The serenity of the late night had been disturbed, and there would be no turning back until morning.

Things had been set in motion that could no longer be undone.

For Sean, this was now or never.





60

Lieutenant Phillips stood on Sean’s porch, looking down at the cluster of police cars and unmarked units. New Jersey State Police were there along with a few uniforms and a pair of detectives from the local Gloucester Township Police Department. His own car was still parked in the driveway from when he’d initially tracked Liam to the house. Heckle and Keenan were inside. They’d found everything Liam had promised.

They’d found the truth.

After Liam had disappeared, Phillips called out for help until a neighbor appeared with a flashlight and a shotgun. Phillips had identified himself and instructed the neighbor to call for assistance. Police units arrived shortly thereafter and unlocked the cuffs. They found what Liam had told him would be there. Along with the hair, they also discovered pictures of the victims taken in a surveillance-type setting and a box full of new orange extension cords, same make and model that had been used in the other murders. One of the cords had a Prusik knot on one end and a slipknot tied in a figure eight on the other. He’d been practicing.

A new BOLO had been issued with Sean’s information on it now instead of Liam’s. The street had been closed off in both directions, so the element of surprise was long gone. This hadn’t hit the news outlets yet, but if Sean happened to be coming home, it wouldn’t take him long to see the aura of emergency lights floating over his house. He could make a clean getaway before they even knew he was in the vicinity. With that in mind, Phillips had stationed officers beyond the perimeter in case Sean did, indeed, try to come home.

Keenan came out onto the porch. “We’re all done in there,” he said. “Bagging it up and taking it back to the station. We’ll get Forensics on it right away. We also got a team at Sean’s boat. We had it dry-docked after Liam took it. They’ll process it again now that things have changed.”

“Good. Keep me posted.”

Keenan walked back into the house as one of the New Jersey State Troopers came up the steps to the porch. He was slim and looked young, but the stripes on his arm showed that he was a sergeant and the senior man on the scene.

“We have perimeters set up in a ten-mile radius. My men are aware of make and model of his truck, license number, and suspect description. If he tries to come home, we’ll get him.”

Phillips shook the trooper’s hand. “Thank you.”

“You have no idea where he might be?”

“No, but I’ll check in and see if anyone has spotted him.”

He took out his phone and dialed Don’s cell phone, but it rolled to voice mail. He then tried the station house. Neither the dispatcher nor the desk sergeant had seen or heard from Sean or Don. He called the owner of Sullivan’s and asked if Sean or Don had been in there for a drink. They hadn’t. He tried Liam’s cell, but that number had been disconnected. A call to Vanessa went unanswered. Finally, he tried Don’s house again. He had to let him know what was going on.

Joyce picked up on the third ring. “Hello?”