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Relief washed over Kit, her shoulders relaxing. She hadn’t realized she’d stiffened, but she’d been holding her breath, hoping she’d been right about Sam.
“What about his boss?” Navarro asked. “Vivian Carlisle? We cleared him based on her corroboration of his story.”
“I know Vivian very well. We went to college together at UCLA and we both came back to the city to practice when we got licensed. We’re friends.” He lifted his brows. “I’m her daughter’s godfather. If Viv says Sam is telling the truth, you can take that to the bank.”
“That’s something of a relief,” Navarro said. “Thank you.”
“Glad I could put your minds at ease. Sounds like poor Sam was caught between a rock and a hard place that we psychologists hope to never encounter. Vivian should have come to me. I would have made sure the information was passed to you all in a way that didn’t endanger anyone’s career.”
“The trouble is,” Kit said, “we can’t prove that Reeves didn’t kill his dog walker. We can potentially show that his phone was in Joshua Tree all weekend, but he had opportunity.”
“I see that,” Levinson said grimly. “So... you were saying something about another victim.”
Kit nodded. “Right. When I was interviewing Dr.Reeves and mentioned the victim he believed was Driscoll’s newest target, he asked, ‘Did she like Avondale?’ It’s a TV show. Driscoll told Reeves that he and the young woman watched the show together. One of the runaways—Naomi Beckham—was last seen while wearing an Avondale T-shirt, according to her parents. I haven’t spoken to them yet, but they still live in the city. She disappeared three years ago, in February. She’s one of two victims to disappear in February, by the way. Jaelyn Watts is the other, of course. The other two we’ve ID’d disappeared in October—Ricki Emerson and Miranda Crisp. We have a potential third victim—Cecilia Sheppard—who disappeared in September.”
Navarro smiled with satisfaction. “Another pattern. Nice job, Detective.”
“Thank you, sir. That might go hand in hand with the park connection. Some of the planting happens then.”
“Then we need to follow up on the parks ASAP,” Navarro said.
“I will. Skyler Carville was killed in April, so not part of the pattern. I assume her murder was intended to frame Dr.Reeves.”
“Fair,” Levinson said.
“We have Cecilia Sheppard, who disappeared eight months ago; Jaelyn Watts, who disappeared fourteen months ago; Naomi Beckham three years ago; Miranda Crisp seven years ago; and Ricki Emerson ten years ago. We don’t have solid dates of disappearance for the two unidentified victims, but their time of death was estimated at seventeen to twenty years and fifteen years respectively. There are either a lot of victims we haven’t discovered yet, or he’s speeding up his frequency in recent years.”
“Lovely,” Levinson murmured. “What else?”
“Well,” Kit continued, “we know Driscoll knew about at least three of the victims, as he mentioned them indirectly to Dr.Reeves with references to Cecilia’s lacrosse, Jaelyn’s grave, and Naomi’s love of Avondale. Driscoll might not have killed them himself, but Dr.Reeves mentioned that he was making strangling motions with his hands while talking about one of the victims in their session.”
“So we don’t know in what way Driscoll was involved,” Levinson said.
Kit nodded. “Right. Driscoll’s killer either duplicated Driscoll’s MO or he had a hand in killing some or all the others, because Skyler Carville’s murder followed the same MO. If this is true, it means that Driscoll and his killer crossed paths at least three years ago because that was when Naomi disappeared. Maybe even before that.”
“Who do you think killed the women, Detective?” Levinson asked. “Driscoll or his partner?”
Kit had been thinking of very little but this question. “I think his partner did the murders. According to Dr.Reeves, Colton Driscoll was a pathological liar with an anger management issue. I’ve spoken with the man who Driscoll assaulted. Driscoll lost control and beat the man nearly senseless. It took two other neighbors to pull Driscoll off Mr.Epstein. Driscoll nearly hit Dr.Reeves in session as well. He held himself back because he knew that Reeves could have his probation revoked. The victims showed no sign of any kind of pummeling. They were raped and strangled. Every single one. I don’t think that Driscoll could have kept from hitting them if they fought back at all. He had the cuffs and spray paint in his house, but those could have been planted. Or he was the assistant. I don’t think he’s the main perp.”
“I agree,” Levinson said. “So let’s assume that the murders were all done by the partner. He’s been active for at least seventeen years, maybe twenty. I think it’s still correct to assume he’s male.”
“Because he sexually assaulted them,” Kit said. “But it could have been a woman. Using objects.”
Navarro shook his head. “Possibly, but the strength used to strangle them was more in line with a male.”
“And getting Driscoll into that noose would have required more strength,” Kit said thoughtfully.
“Exactly.” Navarro crossed his arms as he thought. “We figured he was educated or at least very smart. Probably white. When we found the first victim, we guessed he might have been twenty to thirty years old at the time of her murder.”
“Which put him at twenty-three to thirty-three years old at the time her body was discovered,” Levinson said, “so he’d be thirty-eight to forty-eight now. Add physically fit to the profile. He’s not young anymore, but he could still hoist Driscoll up.”
Kit noted it, then moved on to the next detail of the old profile. “You figured that the pink handcuffs were a snub to law enforcement. Is that still true?”
“Even more so,” Levinson said. “It’s not an open taunt. He never intended anyone to see his victims. They’ve all been discovered more or less by accident, except for the body that Dr.Reeves reported.”
“And possibly Skyler Carville, Dr.Reeves’s dog walker,” Kit said. “I was going to pay the kid a visit at home after school to find out why he was there at Balboa Park.”
“You think someone sent him?” Levinson asked.
