Southern Lights - A Novel Part 7

"I'll see what I can do. How's the investigation going?" He hadn't asked in a few days-he'd been too busy battling the FBI director about the case.

"We've got DNA matches on almost every victim. We're missing two, and we're waiting for the results from Illinois," Jack filled him in.

"And he still won't plead?" Joe looked surprised.

"No," Alexa answered. "What does the PD say?"

"That he's innocent and someone framed him," she said with a contemptuous smile.

"With DNA matches and seventeen victims?

What's she smoking?"

"Her shoes. He's very seductive, and I think he cast a spell on her. She's young, and he knows just how to do it. He's a perfect sociopath."

"Do we have a psych evaluation on him yet?"

"We have two. Sociopath right down the line."

"Does she know that?"

"We're in discovery now. She has everything we have. No surprises."

"This is going to be ugly. A jury's going to hang him, and the judge will sentence him to about a thousand years."

"I agree," Alexa said with a sigh. She was tired, but doing a good job on the case, and both men knew it. She always did. She was unbelievably thorough, and the DA liked everything he was hearing. He didn't want to take the case away from her if he could help it. He was going to fight harder to keep it. She had convinced him. She was the right prosecutor for the case. No federal prosecutor could have done better. "Quentin wants his day in court. I think he likes the media coverage," Alexa said wisely.

"I hate that," the DA said angrily, but there was no way to stop it. Luke Quentin was national news now. And so was Alexa. She had been extremely discreet about it. She didn't want to blow the case with anything she said in the press. She knew better, and the DA liked that too.

He rea.s.sured both of them then that he would fight to keep the case, and pull all the strings available to him. And after that they left his office. Both Jack and Alexa were still concerned.

"s.h.i.+t, I hope we don't lose the case," Alexa said as they stopped at the coffee machine for two cups, black. She was living on it, and candy bars, at her desk till midnight every night.

"Hopefully, he'll use his influence to keep it," Jack said as he followed her back to her office. He hardly saw her anymore, he was too busy working. He had just come back from Pittsburgh the day before, where he had gone to help with the investigation there, and trade information. "I must say, this sonofab.i.t.c.h is keeping us busy."

"That's our job," Alexa said as she smiled at him and sat down at her desk. She felt as though she lived there.

"Do you ever get tired of it?" he asked with a worn-out look, and sipped his coffee.

"Sometimes. Not this one. It's the shoplifters and the piddly stuff that gets me. At least with a case like this, I feel useful. I'm protecting society and young women. With the shoplifters, I'm torturing them for stealing panty hose in Macy's bas.e.m.e.nt. Who cares?" Some of the cases were bigger than that, she knew, but most weren't.

"How's Savannah, by the way?" Alexa sighed when he asked her.

"She's okay. She's with her father, in Charleston. She's not loving it, but she's a good sport about it. I miss her." It was lonely without her, and Jack knew it.

"If the FBI gets the case, you could bring her back," he said, but Alexa shook her head.

"I don't want her back here till this case is over, no matter who tries it. The guy is a maniac. He could still torture her for what I've done so far, and I think he would. I think he'll give it up when he's convicted and goes back to prison. Then it's all over, and he knows it. Now he's King of the Hill." Jack didn't disagree with her. Quentin was thriving on the attention. Jack had seen him several times recently, and Quentin got bolder every time. He was drunk with excitement. And his defense lawyer's blind innocence and admiration just added to it. He thought he had the whole world fooled, but he didn't. He just thought so. He was suffering from grandiosity in the extreme. Nothing could touch him, or so he thought. Until he was convicted.

"I think you're smart to keep her there," Jack said honestly.

"I hope so," Alexa sighed again. "To be honest, I worry about her falling in love with it, the way I did. The South is very seductive, particularly a city as pretty as Charleston. People are friendly and charming. Everything is beautiful. It's a different world, a different life. It's true when they say the South is gracious. I loved it when I lived there. And then it turned on me, and all that warmth and kindness turned out to be bulls.h.i.+t. They stick with their own. They'd rather have a bad Confederate than a good Yankee in their midst. I got screwed over by everyone I knew there." And she was still bitter about it. Maybe she always would be.

"They can't all be like that," Jack suggested.

"Maybe not. But that's how it shook out for me. Savannah is still in the honeymoon phase. She's discovering all the beauty of it. The bad stuff comes later."

"Sounds like marriage to me." Jack chuckled as he looked at her. "I'm not so sure things are any different here."

"The South is a special place. It's from another century. It was a great place to live when I was there. I don't want Savannah to stay there, or want to. I'm hoping I get her back here before she gets hooked. Hopefully her evil stepmother will take care of that for me. Her father is married to a real b.i.t.c.h."

"Sounds like he deserved it." Alexa nodded in agreement, and with that, she picked up her voluminous files on the Quentin case and they got back to work. They sat there till three, and ate sandwiches at her desk. And then Jack went back to his own office. Alexa was in hers until midnight yet again.

Savannah didn't tell her mother she was going to see her paternal grandmother that weekend. She didn't want to upset her. She knew Alexa had enough on her mind with the case. And Tom didn't tell Luisa. It was none of her business.

He drove Savannah there on Sunday afternoon. And he was surprised to see his mother sitting in her drawing room, instead of on the porch. There was a tea tray on the table. Savannah walked in behind him, and was startled by how shabby the room looked. She only vaguely remembered it. The house had been beautiful at one time, but there was an air of decrepitude about it. Like her grandmother, it had seen better days, and was fading.

Tom's mother was sitting in a large chair, waiting. Her hair was perfectly smoothed into the bun she wore, and her sharp eyes observed them both. She could see instantly that her son was protective of Savannah, and attached to her, and his mother didn't like it. As far as she was concerned, Savannah didn't deserve it. She had tried to erase Savannah and Alexa from their lives. And she felt that his feelings for Savannah were a betrayal of Luisa. But she hadn't told Luisa about the meeting either. They were all in collusion and felt guilty. And his mother resented that too.

"h.e.l.lo, Grandmother," Savannah said politely, extending a hand to her, and the old woman didn't take it.

"I have arthritis," she said, which was true, but not to that extent. She always shook hands with her minister when he came to visit. And she would have preferred it if Savannah had called her Mrs. Beaumont now, but she didn't say it. "I understand you're here until June," she said directly to Savannah, as her ancient maid came in to pour them tea.

"I might be," Savannah said quietly, sitting down carefully on a narrow chair near her grandmother. Everything in the room seemed fragile and dusty. Savannah hoped she wouldn't sneeze. "It might be May, if my mother's case goes more quickly. But it's a big case, it could take a while to try."

"Your mother wasn't a lawyer when I knew her," her grandmother said with an air of disapproval, and Savannah nodded. It was hard not to be daunted by this ancient, sharp-featured woman. She was old, but tough as nails.

"She went to law school after the"-she started to say "divorce" and then stopped herself instinctively-"after we went back to New York. My other grandmother is a lawyer too."

"I know." Eugenie Beaumont nodded. "I met her. She was a very nice woman." She was willing to concede that, but nothing about Alexa, out of loyalty to Luisa.

"Thank you," Savannah said politely, still holding the cup of tea. She had worn a gray skirt and a white sweater, and she looked neat, clean, and demure. Tom was proud of her, for wanting to come here, and being brave enough to do it. His mother wasn't easy.

"Do you want to be a lawyer too?" Her grandmother scowled at her. She was looking to find fault with her, Tom could see, but had found none so far. She was clearly a northern girl, and lacked the softness of the South, but she was polite and well bred, and Eugenie liked that.

"No. I think I'd like to be a journalist, but I'm not sure yet. I just applied to college, and I don't have to declare my major for two years." Her grandmother asked what colleges she had applied to, and was impressed by the list. They were all first-rate schools, including Duke.

"You must be a good student," Eugenie conceded, "to apply to schools like that. In my day, young women didn't go to college. They got married and had babies. It's different now, though. One of my grandsons went to the University of Virginia, like his father. The other one went to Duke." She said it as though Savannah didn't know them.

"UVA is a very good school," Savannah said easily, but she hadn't applied there. Her mother had discouraged her and said she'd be an outcast if she wasn't southern. Savannah knew it was her mother's prejudice about the South but had decided not to apply anyway. She smiled kindly at her grandmother, and took her empty teacup from her and set it down, and then offered her the plate of cookies. The maid had gone back to the kitchen. Eugenie took one of the cookies and nibbled it as she looked at her grandchild. "You look just like your mother." It was hard to tell if it was a compliment or an insult the way she said it. A complaint maybe. She didn't want to be reminded of Alexa, or how much she had liked her in the beginning. Until Luisa came home for good, and her allegiance had s.h.i.+fted back to her first daughter-in-law, not the second. Savannah thought it wisest not to answer. "Do you know what the United Daughters of the Confederacy is?" she asked her, and Savannah nodded. She remembered hearing about it, although it sounded a little silly to her, but she didn't say that. "I'm the president general. They gave me that t.i.tle because my grandfather was a general in the Confederate Army." She said it with such pride that Savannah smiled at her. For all her toughness, there was a fragility and vulnerability that touched her. She was just a very old woman, and life had pa.s.sed her by. She was alone in a dusty old house now, proud of an army that had lost a war nearly a hundred and fifty years before, like the j.a.panese soldiers who had hidden in caves and didn't know the war was over for years.

Eugenie looked at her son then and nodded. He understood the signal. She was tired. It was time for them to leave. He stood up and told Savannah they should be going.

"Thank you for letting me come to visit you, Grandmother," she said politely as she stood up too.

"Are you in school here?" Eugenie was curious about her. She was a bright girl, and on closer inspection, she looked like her father too, not just Alexa. She had southern genes in her, after all.

"Yes, I am. I started this week."

"Do you like it?"

"So far. Everyone's been very nice. And Charleston is beautiful. Dad showed me around on Monday before I started school."

"I hope you enjoy your stay here," Eugenie said politely, letting her know that she would not be seeing her again. It was h.e.l.lo and goodbye in one meeting.

"Thank you." Savannah smiled at her warmly, and then they left.

Savannah was quiet on the drive home, thinking about her. She was so small and old and not the dragon she had expected at all. It hadn't been hard, it was easy.

Luisa was waiting for them when they got home. As usual, she ignored Savannah, and looked straight at her husband.

"I understand you just went to see your mother, and just took her with you." She always referred to Savannah as "her" and "she" and never by name.

"That's right. I did. I thought Savannah should see her. She's her grandmother, after all. Did she call you?" It surprised him, but maybe his mother had felt a need to confess to Luisa.

"Someone saw you turning into the driveway." Luisa had spies everywhere, and knew everything he did. "Why didn't you tell me?"

"I didn't want to upset you," he said honestly, as Savannah left them quietly and went to her room.

"It's a slap in my face to take her there, and you know it," she accused him.

"Savannah had a right to see her."

"She has no rights here," Luisa reminded him. "This is my home, and these are our children. She's not one of us, and she never will be. It's bad enough that you brought her here. You don't have to humiliate me further by showing her off, or taking her to your mother for tea."

"I'm sorry you feel that way. She's not the enemy, Luisa. She's a child. My child. Her being here is not going to hurt you or weaken your position." She didn't answer him, but gave him a quelling look and left the room.

Nothing further was said about it, until he visited his mother again two days later. He decided not to mention Savannah again, unless she did, and at the end of his visit, his mother brought it up. She amazed him by saying Luisa had called her, and was very upset about Savannah's visit. That didn't surprise him.

"She said she'd prefer it if I don't see her again," his mother said calmly. "I've thought about it, and I've decided I'd like to anyway. She seems like a very nice young lady. And it was kind of her to come to see me." He was floored by his mother's decision, and a.s.sessment of Savannah. She liked her. "I told your wife not to meddle in my business." It was the first time in years she had taken someone else's position, and not Luisa's. "There's no reason I can't see her again if I want to. No one is going to tell me what to do." Tom smiled at her as she said it.

"No one ever has, Mother. I have complete faith in you to stand up to anyone who would try. And I'm glad you liked Savannah."

"She's intelligent and polite, and a lot like you." He didn't challenge it, but the truth was that she was a great deal more like her mother, and they both knew it. She was far more courageous than he was. He had sold his soul to the devil years before, and had allowed his mother and Luisa to influence him into betraying someone he loved, and even abandoning his own child. He had nothing to be proud of, and he wasn't. "You did what you had to do, and you did the right thing," she said, reading his mind, as she so often did. She did it better than anyone, and sometimes she used it against him, but not this time.

"No, I didn't," he said quietly.

"It seemed like the right thing to do at the time." He wondered if she regretted it too, but he didn't ask her.

"They both suffered for my stupidity and weakness," he said honestly. "There's nothing right about it." And Luisa was the winner and didn't deserve to be. Everyone else involved had been losers, including him. And he had allowed it to happen.

"Maybe it will do you good to have her here now." And then she added with a wicked grin, "If Luisa doesn't make life too miserable for you. She's not happy to have the girl here." Tom laughed at what she said.

"No, she isn't. And she's making life miserable for Savannah too."

"She looks as though she can handle it. How is she with Daisy?" She was curious about her. Seeing her had whetted her appet.i.te for more information.

"Very sweet. Daisy loves her." His mother nodded.

"Bring her to see me again. She ought to learn more about her own history. There's more to her life than those two women lawyers in New York. She should know about our family too." It was a huge sign of acceptance that she wanted to share that with Savannah, and Tom was stunned as he thought about it when he drove away. He told Savannah that night that her grandmother wanted to see her again. Savannah looked pleased.

"I liked her too. Maybe she can tell me all about the United Daughters of the Confederacy next time, and the generals in her family."

"That's just what she wants to do," he said, as he gave Savannah a hug and left the room.

He moved back into his bedroom that night, with Luisa. She was still furious with him, but it was his bedroom too, and his house. He had no intention of sleeping on the couch in his study forever, because his daughter had come to visit. He took Daisy and Savannah to a movie that night, and invited Luisa. She didn't want to come, but he had asked her. He had a great time with both his daughters.

When he got into bed when they returned, Luisa turned her back on him, but she hadn't moved into one of the guest bedrooms, which he had thought she might do. She wasn't speaking to him, but he had reclaimed his territory, and his life. He felt like a man again, for the first time in ten years. Luisa no longer had him on the run, and she no longer owned him. He wanted to let out a shout of victory, but instead he just turned over and went to sleep.

Chapter 11.

The week after Savannah's visit to her grandmother was another crazy one for Alexa. The FBI had backed down about taking the case, after a lot of pressure from Joe McCarthy, but they were still waiting to pounce and grab it if anything went wrong. So far nothing had. But Alexa felt she had to be constantly on her toes. And they had just gotten word of a link between Quentin and another murder, this one in a state where they didn't think he'd been. As it turned out, he hadn't, and the forensic evidence didn't match. She wanted to be particularly careful they weren't just throwing things at him to see what would stick. She had to be absolutely sure that the murders he was accused of were in fact crimes he had committed, and all the evidence matched up, beyond a reasonable doubt. She didn't want to lose this case, or try to convict him for crimes he didn't commit. She wanted to be absolutely, totally, completely sure that she was on the right track in each case, and she believed she was. Without solid conclusive evidence from other law enforcement agencies in other states, she would not add their cases to her own. It was her cautious thoroughness so far that had convinced the FBI director to let her keep the case. He didn't think anyone could have done a better job, and Joe a.s.sured him that was true. All of which put additional pressure on Alexa to not make one minute slip or mistake. She looked and felt worn out. The trial was ten weeks away. And Quentin was continuing to hold court with a hungry press. Alexa refused to make further comment, which the FBI liked too, and at every opportunity she thanked them for their help, gave them credit where it was due, and was grateful for their enormous investigative machine that she was benefiting from to build her case.

Pennsylvania had found another victim, and the body had been exhumed, although her family had been reluctant to do it and had to be convinced. Jack flew out to see them, and begged them to cooperate, which they finally did, in tears. And it was a match with Quentin. That brought his number of victims to eighteen, and Alexa had a gut instinct that they had found them all. She wasn't sure why, but they had combed every state he had been in since leaving prison and checked him against every murder, rape, and missing person. There were no loose ends anymore. The twenty-two-year-old medical student in Pennsylvania was the last one. Eighteen beautiful young women, all dead because of him. It was unthinkable, especially to the girls' parents, but it happened every day. Alexa was grateful daily that she had sent Savannah away. There had been no letters since she left. She had decided to take Savannah to Europe in the summer, with the vacation time she had, and after that Savannah was leaving for college, and would be even harder to find. Quentin had robbed her of her last months with her daughter, but she was safe, and he had done worse to others, and robbed them of their lives. Talking to the parents of the victims had nearly broken Alexa's heart.

And throughout, his public defender was insisting they were wrong, in the face of evidence, victims, DNA matches, and three psych reports now that confirmed he was a sociopath. Alexa almost felt sorry for her, she was completely under his spell, and could have been yet another victim if they met when he was outside. He was a textbook sociopath, and every time he saw Alexa, which wasn't often, and too frequently for her, he undressed her with his eyes, just to let her know he could, and to let her know that she had no power and he did. He was a terrifying man, and smooth as silk. This was a case Alexa wanted to win, more than any case she'd had before.

They were interrogating him again that afternoon, about the latest Pennsylvania victim, and as always he strutted into the room. He had been working out, for lack of anything better to do, and his heavily developed muscles rippled in his jail-issue jumpsuit, and he observed everyone in the room with his now-familiar glacial eyes. This time Alexa decided not to hide behind the two-way mirror in the observation room. She sat among the cops across the table from him in the small stuffy room. The smell of male sweat hung heavy in the air. It wasn't pleasant, but Alexa didn't care, and Judy Dunning was there too, and gave him a sympathetic smile. With a half smile, Luke looked at the others as though to show them what he could do. He had completely turned her around, on her head, and upside down. There were also two special FBI agents in the room, Sam Lawrence and a new one she hadn't met, and Jack's original investigation team, Charlie McAvoy and Bill Neeley. The room was jammed, and the questioning began.

They asked him about the victim, about whom he claimed to know nothing, and showed him a photograph of her. She had apparently been approached on a dark street near her apartment, coming home late from the library of the medical school. Like the others, she had been raped and "snuffed" out, strangled during s.e.x. Her body had been found in a shallow grave in a park. She hadn't been found for four months, and the body had deteriorated badly by then. And Luke had been in town when it happened. Luke shrugged when he looked at the picture of the girl when she was alive, and tossed it back on the desk. His eyes hooked Alexa's, and he paused for a long moment when he looked at her. She could have been wrong, but she had the feeling this time that he was silently saying "Watch out, that could be you...or your kid." Her eyes didn't waver, nor did his. This was becoming a personal vendetta between them now. She was not going to be bested by him, or fooled.

"Where do you guys keep coming up with these women? My d.i.c.k would have fallen off by now if I'd screwed them all." The senior detective conducting the interrogation didn't comment, and Alexa noticed Charlie McAvoy s.h.i.+ft in his seat. He was still on the case and doing good work. He had handled his sister's case and several others and was working hours of overtime. He looked as tired as everyone else. Only the defendant looked rested, in top form, good spirits, and great shape. He was the center of attention and a star. He cast several glances at his attorney, who smiled at him encouragingly as the interrogation wore on.

Alexa had recently demanded that he have a further medical exam to see if his body e.j.a.c.u.l.a.t.ed sperm, or if it remained trapped elsewhere, as happened sometimes with men who had severe kidney problems and had been on medication for years. There was no evidence that he was, and he had refused the exams, which he had the right to do, and had offered to come in their eyes.

Everyone was tired of it, and him, as the interrogation wore down. He was so completely without remorse or concern, claiming he'd had nothing to do with any victim, and had neither raped nor killed them, that if anything, he looked bored. And in pa.s.sing he made a comment that all the women he'd met in Iowa had been dogs, s.l.u.ts, or cheap wh.o.r.es. Alexa saw Charlie tense as he made the comment, and sat there willing him not to react. For some reason then, maybe knowing that one of the victims was Charlie's sister and wanting to goad him, he said that he wouldn't have stuck his d.i.c.k into any girl in Iowa, or most of the states where he'd been.

Charlie was tired and had been up all night, after meeting with the parents of several victims, and trying to get more information from them. His sister had been dead for a year that week, and his own parents were still devastated and so was he. But Quentin wouldn't give it up. He kept talking about "dogs" and "s.l.u.ts" and "cheap wh.o.r.es" and what he would and wouldn't do to them if he had the chance. And before any of them could grab him, Charlie was out of his seat like lightning, had literally flown across the table and had Quentin by the throat, and he was in even better shape than Luke. Charlie had a choke hold on him, and Quentin responded in kind. The two men were literally strangling each other, as every cop in the room and even Alexa dove toward them to break it up.

Someone hit an alarm, and there was chaos in the room as people shouted, grabbed, scuffled, it was nearly impossible to drag Charlie off him, but two of the men finally did. Jack was standing there sweating profusely, his own s.h.i.+rt torn from his attempts to break up the two men. He said not a word to Luke but shouted in his detective's face, who was choking and spitting on the floor. Luke was back in cuffs and being dragged away, spluttering too.

"What the f.u.c.k f.u.c.k were you thinking? Are you out of your mind? You're off the case. were you thinking? Are you out of your mind? You're off the case. Now!" Now!"

"I'm bringing charges!" Luke shouted through the door as it closed, with no time to cast smoldering looks at his attorney, or menacing looks at Alexa or anyone else. It had been an incredibly dumb thing for Charlie to do, and would probably win him a year's suspension for attacking a suspect, but he clearly needed the time off, and Jack was furious with himself for not taking him off the case before. He was quietly talking to Sam Lawrence and the other special FBI agent, who had actually been the ones to pull Charlie away from Luke. Jack explained again about his sister, and they nodded, and finally one of them laughed.

"Look, relax. I would have liked to do it myself. I just didn't have the b.a.l.l.s. I have three sisters, and this guy is a piece of s.h.i.+t." But they also had a responsibility to protect him, and not kill him themselves. "I'm not going to file a report," Sam said. "He had it coming. You guys can do what you want." Jack knew he had to file one anyway. He told Charlie in his office half an hour later that he was suspending him for a year and sent him home. He had done a great job until then, but the stress had been too much for him. Quentin had killed his twin. Charlie had apologized profusely to Jack before he left, and said he would fly back to Iowa that night, but he and his family were planning to attend the trial.

Jack looked even more exhausted when he showed up in Alexa's office after Charlie left.

"s.h.i.+t. That's all we needed. Thank G.o.d the FBI guys were nice about it. McCarthy is going to kill me when he hears it. I should have taken Charlie off the case as soon as we knew his sister was one of the victims. I don't know what I was thinking. I must have s.h.i.+t for brains."

"You're human, like anyone else," she rea.s.sured him, but it had been a tense moment, and a very stupid mistake on Charlie's part. He had totally lost control. "This case is getting to all of us." It had impacted everyone's life, including hers.