Memory Man

The look on the ME’s face gave Decker the answer. He showed them the spot. “The killer used a very rough knife to do the mutilation.”

Lancaster looked at Decker. “Like before. With…”

Decker said, “Yeah. Like before.”

Three black SUVs pulled into the parking lot.

“Here come the Feds,” said Lancaster nervously. “I called them on the way over.”

Bogart headed the pack, taking the steps two at a time. His hair was disheveled and he was dressed in jeans and a pullover with canvas boaters on his feet and no socks. The men behind him were similarly dressed but wore their blue FBI windbreakers.

Bogart walked directly over to the body and looked down. Then he rubbed his eyes, then his chin, and looked away, over the railing at the darkness beyond.

Decker heard him mutter, “Shit.”

Then the FBI agent turned to them. “What do we know so far?”

Lancaster told him the time and cause of death. And also about the mutilation the ME had discovered.

“You see or hear anything?” asked an ashen-faced Bogart as he looked at Decker.

Decker told him what he knew. He added, “I was half-asleep. The scraping noise could have been going on for a while before I heard it.”

Lancaster said, “Do you know her movements this evening?”

Bogart didn’t seem to hear her.

Decker added, “If we can pinpoint her movements we might be able to get a lead on whoever did this.”

“I know that!” snapped Bogart.

Lancaster said, “We know this is extremely difficult, Agent Bogart—”

Decker cut her off. “But you know better than most that the sooner we get a lead the better our chances are. And the reverse is also true.”

Bogart glanced once more at Lafferty and motioned them down the stairs.

They climbed into one of the black SUVs, Bogart in front and Lancaster and Decker in the back. Bogart drank down a small bottle of water that was sitting in the front console, wiped his mouth with his hand, and turned to look at them.

“Lafferty was a good agent. A protégée of mine, in fact. Not just a note taker,” he added with a sharp glance at Decker, who said nothing in reply.

Bogart sat back, let out a long breath, and said, “I’ve never lost an agent. It’s difficult to process.”

“I’m sure,” said Lancaster.

“But her whereabouts?” said Decker. “Were you all staying at the same place?”

“Yes. The Century Hotel.”

“Were you all on the same floor?”

“No, we were spread over three separate floors. But Lafferty was next door to another agent.”

“When was the last time anyone saw her?” asked Lancaster.

“I asked everyone that on the way over. It looks like nine-thirty. She was working in Agent Darrow’s room going over some files. She said good night and went back to her room.”

“But do we know that she actually went to her room?” asked Decker.

“As a matter of fact she mentioned to Darrow that she was running out for some things she needed.”

“Did she say what and where?”

“From what she said, he thought it might be stuff at a pharmacy. I don’t think it was the first time she’d done it. We were called out on this pretty fast. Agents don’t have a lot of time to prepare.”

“So she’d gone to get things before?” said Lancaster. “Maybe from the same place?”

“Right. Just travel stuff, probably,” said Bogart, staring out the window, his mind evidently a long way away.

Decker sat back, closed his eyes, and thought for a moment. “There’s an all-night pharmacy two blocks over from the Century. That’s where I would go to pick up stuff I’d need while traveling. And it has video cameras in the parking lot.”

“Well, let’s go see if it shows anything,” said Bogart.

The drive only took about twenty minutes at that time of the morning and with Bogart exceeding all posted speed limits. It was not yet 4 a.m. and thus Burlington was still very much asleep. Traffic was scant, pedestrians nonexistent.

There were two people in the open-all-night pharmacy. One was behind bulletproof glass with the cash register, the other was stocking deodorant on a shelf. Both had been on duty since 8 p.m. Bogart showed the photograph of Lafferty and asked if either employee had seen her.

“I haven’t seen her tonight. But she came in the night before.”

Decker said, “Which means she might not have made it here.”

They asked for and were given the DVD from the surveillance cameras for the parking lot.

“She would have walked here,” said Decker. “It’s too close to drive.”

“And none of our vehicles are missing,” said Bogart.

They loaded the DVD into a laptop Bogart had in the SUV. There was a time stamp on the feed and Bogart fast-forwarded to right before 9:30. The frames ran as they all huddled around the screen watching intently. When they got to 9:58, Decker saw it.

“That’s her.”

Lafferty had emerged from an alley next to the pharmacy. She had taken two steps when she was abruptly pulled back into the alley.

“Run it again and slow it down,” said Decker.

Bogart did so, playing through the scene five more times and enlarging the images as much as he could on the small screen.