The Edge

He knelt down and hit the underside of the van with his light. Next, he got on his back for a closer examination. That looked like blood on the underside of the bumper. And was that human hair and bits of clothing? Yeah, it probably was.

He now knew who had hit and killed Alberta Palmer.

He called Campbell, who answered on the first ring, and filled him in.

“Add Benjamin Bing to your BOLO,” Devine said.

He next called Chief Harper and told him what he’d found.

“Holy shit! No sign of Fred or Françoise?”

“None,” said Devine.

“You think their uncle has them?”

“I’m far more concerned about Alex.”

“I’ve got the state police out looking. I’ll tell them about this.”

Devine hung up and called Dak’s cell phone. The man miraculously picked up.

In succinct sentences, Devine filled Dak in about everything.

“Motherfucker,” exclaimed Dak before Devine even finished. “You hang in there, Devine. I’m coming. Let me get dressed. I’ll be — Aw shit, I’m bleeding. Fuck!”

“You’re not going anywhere, Dak. It’s not why I called you. Ring for the nurse to fix your dressings. While you’re waiting, can you think of any place they might have taken Alex?”

Dak was breathing hard, and Devine could even hear some sobs from the man.

“Come on, Dak, I know this is hard. But just focus. I need some help here. Time is not on our side.”

“Okay, okay.”

He could hear Dak draw in one long breath and then let it go.

“Look, if Benjamin Bing is behind all this, do you think Harper is involved, too?”

“I hope not, but I don’t know for sure. I told him that your sister is missing. He said he has the state police looking.”

“What about Françoise and Fred? Where are they?”

“They might be dead. Ben’s rental car was in the garage, so they had to know he was there. I have no idea what the secret room was originally designed for, but someone was clearly being kept in there against their will.”

“Alex?” said Dak, his voice breaking.

“Maybe,” Devine said cautiously. “Or Jenny. But they wouldn’t have held her there long. She was seen leaving the Putnam Inn close to eight, and her death was only a few hours later.”

“So are Françoise and Fred helping him do all this?”

“I think their uncle might have them under his power, at least Françoise. He seems like the sort to threaten and intimidate and then carry out those threats. And he had an infatuation with Alex. If he attacked her way back then he would know there was no statute of limitations. So Jenny comes snooping around up here and he gets wind of it. He travels here, kills her, somehow frames Earl into ‘finding’ the body, then kills him as a loose end.”

“You really think he killed Bertie, too?”

“Maybe, But someone is fixing up the van and I doubt it was him. He could have flown up here to do that and then returned to Florida before coming back to Putnam. My people checked the airline database, but he could have used a fake identity. So, any places come to mind?”

“Would he have taken her to the funeral home?” asked Dak. “It’s the only other place up here with a connection to the man. He could hardly take her to the police station.”

“Good idea. Thanks.”

“Devine, please find her.”

“I will.”

Only Devine didn’t know if she would be dead or breathing.

Chapter 79

Devine didn’t make it to the funeral home. Not at first.

On the way he looked to his right and saw something blowing around in a field on the side of the road.

He parked the Harley, jumped off, and snagged the item. He recognized it instantly. It was the jacket Guillaume had been wearing at dinner. He looked around and saw a path through a stand of woods. He hustled down it. Then his training kicked in and he stopped. Devine listened as he crouched there in the pitch-dark Maine woods. He kept his target silhouette as narrow as possible and his viable sight lines the opposite of that. He checked his breathing and willed his heart rate to ratchet down to a level where he could do what might need to be done.

He moved forward, clearing every square inch in front of him, and not forgetting to sweep his rear flank every few seconds. He could hear nothing and he could see no one. And that was not making Devine feel good about anything.

He made it to the edge of the bluff without encountering anyone, then steeled himself and looked down. His heart sank as he saw the body splayed against the rocks.

He slowly took his optics out of his pocket and drew a magnified bead on the body.

It was Françoise Guillaume.

He pulled his gaze from her and closed his eyes for a moment.

You need to slow down for a minute and think. Running around like this and being solely reactive is what they want. You need to get ahead of them, not stay behind.