A Conspiracy of Bones (Temperance Brennan #19)(87)

Though the experience was loathsome, I learned one thing, perhaps useful, perhaps not. Margot Heavner’s betrayal of Hardin Symes was not an isolated instance of indiscretion. Dr. Morgue’s interview was one of many during a particularly virulent two-year period in which Body seemed fixated on the topic of murdered and missing kids. And he didn’t hold back. Who. Where. When. Some cases I knew. Others I didn’t.

Podcast after podcast. Blog after blog. Always the same message. Like a rabid zealot, Body spewed conspiracy hokum, warning parents of the dangers of losing their children.

By two a.m., I’d had it. Disgusted, I closed my laptop. Birdie and Ryan were already curled together in bed. I joined them and closed my eyes, at last mentally and physically drained.

Still, Body’s voice jackhammered through the fatigue. Names: Hardin Symes. Jahaan Cole. Timothy Horshauser. Images: Young faces in grainy print. A neon-pink sneaker deep in a dumpster. Milky-white teeth in a duct-taped pouch.

Questions fluttered like the moths that circled my porch light.

A coded reference to Jahaan Cole in Vodyanov’s notebook. Why?

Articles on Jahaan Cole and Timothy Horshauser at the fenced property. Why?

Body raging on Body Language, inciting fear about kids. Kindling parental paranoia. Why?

I sat up in the dark.

Could that be it?

The notion was so wild it needed a cage.

I hurried back to the kitchen and reopened my Mac.

By dawn, I was certain the pattern was real.

And horrified it might confirm my suspicion.





30


SATURDAY, JULY 14

Slidell was in my kitchen by 8:45. I walked him and Ryan through it.

“You’re both familiar with the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, right?”

“Their site posts info on missing kids.” Slidell’s face looked like jumbled laundry waiting to be washed.

I nodded. “NamUs?”

“Same deal.”

“Doesn’t NamUs also list unidentified remains?” Ryan asked.

“Yes. So searchers can try to put names to unknown corpses.”

“Jahaan Cole’s on both,” Slidell said. “So what?”

“And there are many other organizations, some regional, some national,” I added.

“Look, I been all over—”

“I spent several hours checking stats, plotting child disappearances by date, by locale, and so on. I also did an analysis of Body’s podcasts and blogs by topic, by airdate, and so on. Then I did some cross-tabulation.”

“How could you stomach listening to that douchebag?”

“Fortitude.” And a tanker truck of coffee. “From 2012 to 2014, Body was obsessed with the topic of missing and murdered children. I could give you the daily breakdown, but for now, trust me.”

“Where you going with this?” Slidell didn’t try to mask his impatience. At least, not effectively.

“From 2012 to 2014, Amber Alerts and other reports of missing kids rose sharply in some areas.”

“The guy plays off paranoia,” Ryan said.

“His harangues both followed and preceded the disappearances.”

“You suggesting Body goaded his listeners into snatching kids?” Slidell couldn’t have sounded more dubious.

“Hear me out.”

The laundry rearranged slightly, but Skinny held his tongue.

“I also tabulated child disappearances by geography and by year.” I was relying on the KISS principle: Keep it simple, stupid. “During the period Body was pushing conspiracy theories involving kids, most states maintained typical numbers for Amber Alerts, child homicides, MPs. In only two did those numbers rise sharply.” I slid a paper across the table so both men could see. “West Virginia and North Carolina.”

Four eyes dropped to the printout. Skimmed the heartbreaking catalog of names. Rolled up. “What are you saying?” Slidell.

“Jahaan Cole disappeared during a time Body was hammering on about kids being targeted. Timothy Horshauser. The others on that list. Children who vanished, never to be found.”

“Didn’t you say Horshauser lived in Pennsylvania?” Ryan.

“Uniontown is just thirty miles up the road from Morgantown, West Virginia.”

Ryan grasped it immediately. “Vodyanov registered his Hyundai in Morgantown under the alias John Ito. He was living in Charlotte under the name F. Vance. He links to both places.”

“He had Jahaan Cole’s name in his notebook.”

Slidell chest-crossed his arms, listening.

“I found baby teeth at the fenced property in Cleveland County. Articles on Cole and Horshauser. I photographed a child’s sneaker in the dumpster.”

“You making a point or just doing a recap?” Slidell, sharp.

“We know Vodyanov was working for his brother.”

“So?”

I swallowed. What I was about to say was almost too appalling for words.

“What if Body had Vodyanov grabbing kids to scare the crap out of people? To create an atmosphere of fear and drive followers to Body Language?”

“That’s pretty extreme.” Ryan, far more diplomatic than Slidell.

“I’m just putting it out there. Child disappearances spiked in only two states out of fifty during the period Body was raging on the topic. The very states associated with Vodyanov and his brother.”