Julia
“Ms. Prescott,” a voice clipped out the second Wes and I stepped into the coffee shop around the block from Wes’ office in Downtown Atlanta on Sunday morning.
When I spied Agent Curran sitting at a table in the corner, Ethan beside him, unease filled me. I knew Ethan had offered to assist Agent Curran in his investigation, allowed him access to everything he and Claire had uncovered in the hopes it would help him figure out what happened to not only her, but over a dozen other women.
Still, I couldn’t shake the feeling there was another reason for Ethan’s presence. And why we were meeting here.
In the seven years I’d known the federal agent, he’d never asked to meet anywhere but his office.
Wes touched a hand to my elbow, giving me a reassuring smile as he steered me across the busy coffee shop.
“Mr. Bradford.” Agent Curran stood and offered Wes his hand. “Good to see you again. I just wish it were under different circumstances.”
“As do I,” Wes answered, then shifted his attention to the lanky blond at his side. “You must be Ethan.”
“Ethan Shore.” He held out his hand for Wes, the two shaking cordially. “Nice to meet you. Julia speaks very highly of you.”
“Thank you.”
“Have a seat.” Agent Curran gestured to the two chairs opposite him and Ethan. It didn’t escape my notice there were no files on the table. No notepads. Nothing.
Which increased my gut feeling that this wasn’t exactly a meeting to discuss the progress he’d made on the case. If anything, I feared he was about to tell me there wasn’t a case. But Ethan’s presence made me question that, too. I’d witnessed his tenacity firsthand. He wasn’t going to walk away from this without a fight.
“Thank you for coming down here today, and on a weekend.” Agent Curran adjusted his tie.
It may have been a Sunday, but the dark suit, light blue button-down, and black tie made it appear as if this were any other workday for him. Come to think of it, I couldn’t recall ever seeing him wearing anything other than a dark suit and blue shirt.
“It’s not a problem at all,” I said with a forced smile. “Especially if you’ve been able to get some answers.”
He licked his lips, his expression falling.
“Were you able to get answers?” I glanced at Wes, noting his own unease. “Wes mentioned you were able to confirm that two other pieces of jewelry I’d received did, in fact, belong to two of the other victims on Claire’s list.”
“That’s true,” Agent Curran replied evenly. “Unfortunately, I’m being asked to…walk away. At least temporarily.”
“Walk away?” Wes repeated. “Why? This is a serious matter.” He lowered his voice, leaning across the table. “There’s a potential serial killer out there repeating Nick’s kill cycle. But you’re telling me the FBI is just going to walk away? Isn’t this what you do? Chase serial killers and bring them to justice?”
“As a matter of point, serial killers aren’t as pervasive as they once were. Not with all the forensic advances we’ve made over the past several decades. But that’s not the issue here.”
“Then what is the issue?” Wes pressed. “Why are you abandoning this when you know there’s something here?”
“Trust me. I don’t like it any more than you do. But there are jurisdictional concerns.” Agent Curran looked from Wes to me. “As much as I wish I could order every local law enforcement agency to reopen their investigation, I can’t. Homicide investigations are strictly the province of local and state law enforcement. The only time the FBI can get involved is if there’s evidence of serial murder—”
“Which there is,” Wes insisted.
“And we’re invited in by the local powers that be.” He leveled his stare on my brother. “That hasn’t happened here. Not yet. While I did reach out to each individual jurisdiction, most of them weren’t happy with the idea of some outside agency coming in and telling them their initial determination of suicide was wrong, especially when my assertion is based on what some would consider a pretty tenuous theory that most likely wouldn’t even satisfy a single judge enough to issue an arrest warrant.”
“Tenuous?” Wes shot back. “What about the fact that each time, an important piece of jewelry came up missing after they allegedly took their life? On the same day as one of Nick’s victims did the same? And that piece of jewelry ended up being sent to Julia? How could that be considered ‘tenuous’?”
“It’s certainly something,” Agent Curran assured us. “But local law enforcement agencies want more than a connection that could be described as circumstantial, at best. Their case files are filled with indisputable scientific evidence supporting their determination that these women took their own lives. I need more than a piece of jewelry, which anyone could have replicated after even a cursory look through their social media profiles. Not to mention, these women were from different backgrounds. Different races. Different ages. Hell, a few of them even identified with different sexual orientations.”
“But they each shared a characteristic with one of Nick’s victims,” Wes argued. “And allegedly took their life on the same date as in Nick’s case. That’s got to count for something.”
“And it does. But in conducting my due diligence, I ran some numbers, just to see what we’re dealing with here.”
He pulled a pair of glasses and a small notebook out of the inside pocket of his jacket. After sliding on the glasses, he flipped open the notebook, stopping when he found what he was searching for.
“Suicide is the tenth leading cause of death in this country. On average, approximately 150 people die by suicide every day.” He looked up. “Every. Day,” he repeated to emphasize his point. “So let’s look at this, starting with March third.”