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Connor wasn’t as bad as many of the men she’d worked with over the years. She’d show him that he couldn’t bait her, just like she’d shown the others.
But the man still irritated her.
Calling Sam Reeves her shrink. He was no such thing. And he never would be.
She’d ignore Connor’s verbal jabs. He was only temporary. Just until Baz got back. And if Connor could help her find this killer faster, she’d put up with him.
She didn’t have the time to worry about Connor Robinson, though. She’d made that damned appointment with Dr.Scott for eight o’clock that evening, so she only had eleven and a half hours to get three days’ worth of work done.
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
Clairemont, California
Tuesday, April 19, 2:15 p.m.
Thank you for seeing me,” Kit said to the principal of Naomi Beckham’s high school. Howard had taken Jaelyn Watts’s school and Connor was visiting Cecilia Sheppard’s.
Principal Larkin’s smile was crisp and professional. “Of course, Detective. Please have a seat.”
Kit took the offered seat and waited for the principal to go behind the desk, but she sat in the guest chair next to Kit’s.
“Now.” Larkin folded her hands atop the notebook she held. “What can I do for you?”
“Did you hear about the serial killer who was identified ten days ago?”
Larkin shuddered. “It’s all any of us were able to think about for days. He targeted teenage girls and that’s half my student population.”
The age of the girls had been included in Tamsin Kavanaugh’s article. At least that had been a good revelation. Parents and educators would be more vigilant.
Except that they still thought the danger was over because Colton Driscoll was dead. The interviews that she and Howard and Connor would be doing today might tip someone off that this was no longer the case. If that happened, they’d do another press conference.
Navarro already had his script planned. Until then, they’d investigate under cover of as much secrecy as they could.
“We’re not sure that we’ve identified all of his victims,” Kit began, “so we’ve gone back through missing-person reports for young women who fit the killer’s profile.” Or killers’. “We want to be able to give families the closure they deserve.”
Larkin’s face fell. “Naomi Beckham,” she whispered.
Kit nodded, startled but able to hide it. “Yes, but how did you know?”
“The teachers and I talked about it after watching the press conference and reading the paper. Naomi was a rather willful girl, and it was easy to believe at the time that she had run away. But when we heard about this Driscoll, we wondered if she’d been targeted by him.”
Kit managed to swallow her irritation. “Why didn’t you call us?”
“We don’t have any proof and it was only idle speculation. There really wasn’t a lot of information given at the press conference. What do you want to know about Naomi?”
“Well, I talked to her brother this morning.” It had been an emotional interview and Kit had seen exactly what Sam Reeves had. Nathan Beckham was so very fragile. She’d left him in the care of his school counselor, who’d vowed to get him the help he so desperately needed, and had made herself a note to let Reeves know. For his peace of mind.
She owed him that much.
Larkin’s brows rose. “Nathan? I wasn’t informed that you’d been here.”
“Because I didn’t meet him here at the school. I called the office first and they said that he wasn’t here today, that his mother had called him in sick.”
Larkin exhaled carefully, but her expression showed her concern. “His mother calls him in sick often. We’ve been watching Nathan for any sign that he’s being neglected, but he claims to be well fed and his clothes are always clean. We’ve called child welfare services a few times, but the social workers never found cause to remove him from the home. The office should have told me that you called.”
“I contacted the school counselor and she met me at the Beckhams’ house.” The interview process had taken three times longer than Kit had anticipated. That had delayed the other things on her to-do list, but the boy had needed care.
She’d just have to work later tonight.
