Page 98 of M for Murder

The private investigator had been hired by a woman called Barbara Hyde, whose only son, Marcus, had been Rodney Boone’s eighth victim. Marcus had spoken with his mother only hours before he was murdered, and she remembered how he had mentioned to her that he’d found an envelope stuffed into the door of his locker that contained a playing card of a joker. At the time they’d both found it strange, but neither of them had thought any more about it. After Marcus’ murder, Mrs Hyde became convinced that the playing card must have been some kind of calling card sent by the killer. When she learned about Scott Jagger’s murder, she was convinced that Boone had returned to his old hunting ground to finish his alphabet. Not trusting the police to catch him, she had asked Lamb to help her trap the killer, using the intended victims as bait.

She told the investigator that she suspected the new killer would send his victims the playing card once he had made his selection and asked Lamb to try to find out who had been chosen. The plan was to use the victim to lure Boone out of hiding, catching him when he attacked so Mrs Hyde could personally avenge her son’s death.

Lamb had researched the original killings thoroughly before undertaking the task, but it wasn’t long after arriving in Juniper that he got side-tracked by a pretty, blonde student called Kylan Parker. A little personal research of his own revealed that she was Jennifer Isaac, Boone’s one surviving victim.

When he told Mrs Hyde this information, she became convinced that Boone knew Kylan’s true identity and would go after her again, only this time as victim P. Although she still wanted Lamb to try and catch Boone through one of the earlier victims, Kylan Parker became her safety net and she believed that if all their other chances failed, they would definitely be able to catch the killer when he went for her.

Unfortunately, the whole plan fell apart when Kylan got spooked and left town. Lamb admitted that it was his fault, because he had spent most of his days following her around instead of concentrating on finding the killer’s other victims.

Rebecca had asked him if Barbara Hyde had been right about the killer’s calling card and whether he had known of any victims who had received a joker playing card.

It was then that he told her about Justine Orton. About how he had seen her by her locker with the playing card the day before she was killed, and how he had followed her when she went shopping and talked her into meeting him under false pretences. They had met Saturday evening and he had been taking her to meet Barbara Hyde when Justine had gotten spooked and jumped from the car.

Lamb claimed that he tried to find her, but to no avail.

Rebecca suspected he wasn’t telling her the whole truth but decided not to push. Hickok wasn’t as easy on him and grilled the investigator until he finally broke down and confessed that he had returned to the college. He had gone to Justine Orton’s room, only to find that someone else had beaten him to it.

Hickok had gone nuts at Lamb for not calling them, before finally placing him under arrest for withholding evidence and obstruction of justice. There was every possibility that Richard Lamb had not just seen Justine Orton’s dead body but had been the one who had killed her. Rebecca didn’t think it likely, though, and she suspected that Hickok didn’t either.

His whole story was so crazy it had to be true.

At least he had decided to come forward now and tell them what he knew. She suspected it was because of the crush he had developed on Kylan Parker and that he was scared that she really was in danger.

Given Kylan’s past, Rebecca had a feeling that he could be right. After throwing Lamb in the holding cell, Hickok had spent twenty minutes with Lawrence Parker. Again, it seemed that Parker had been holding back on them. He knew all about Kylan’s change of identity and all about how Boone had attacked her.

When Hickok demanded to know why he hadn’t mentioned any of this before he had given a bored smile and casually explained that it was a matter between himself and his wife and one that they preferred to keep private. He did give them a list of numbers where Kylan might be, and Rebecca spent Wednesday evening trying to track her down. Having had no luck, she went home to get some sleep and then tried them all again first thing Thursday morning.

When she called Kylan’s sister, Tania, again at the number she had in Seattle the answer machine clicked on. Rebecca hadn’t left a message the night before, as there were several other places to try, but having exhausted them all she decided this time to leave a message for Tania Isaac asking her to call. Even if Kylan wasn’t with her it was possible that she might know where her sister was.

She waited for the beep and spoke into the receiver.

‘Hello. My name is Rebecca Angell and I work for the Juniper Police Department in Oregon. We’re trying to locate your sister, Kylan Parker, and wondered if you had any idea where she is. I’d appreciate it if you could call me. My number is…’

Rebecca paused, hearing the sound of the phone being picked up. A voice came on the other end of the line.

‘Hello? Rebecca? It’s Kylan.’

Rebecca caught her breath. ‘Kylan? Are you okay?’

‘How did you know I was here?’ Kylan asked, ignoring the question.

‘Your husband, Lawrie, thought you might be. He gave us the number.’

There was a long pause. ‘Why? Is he okay?’ Kylan’s voice sounded shaky.

‘He’s okay.’ This time is was Rebecca’s turn to pause, as she decided the best way to break the news to Kylan. ‘He’s at the police precinct with us,’ she explained, having concluded it best just to be truthful. ‘We’ve been questioning him about the Juniper College murders.’

‘You’ve arrested Lawrie?’

‘He’s a suspect, Kylan. We have evidence that suggests he’s guilty.’

‘My husband is not a killer,’ Kylan said, her voice carrying an edge of uncertainty that didn’t make her words convincing.

‘We need you to come back, Kylan,’ Rebecca said hastily. ‘Lawrie said he was with you on the nights of two of the murders. If that’s true, then we can release him.’

‘What nights?’

‘The twenty-sixth of April and the third of May,’ Rebecca told her, consulting the notes on her desk. ‘That’s last Saturday and the Saturday before.’