CHAPTER SIXTEEN
As he and Paige pulled up outside, Christopher had to admit that the Sunshine Care Agency wasn’t quite what he expected of it. The offices were bright and shiny, upmarket and clearly aimed at attracting an expensive clientele, but were in a neighborhood that was a little rundown and grubby.
Christopher guessed that most of the clients didn’t go there in person; they would arrange everything in a call or two and find the staff member they needed within a day or two. Yet they obviously wanted the place to look good just in case anyone did drop in to find staff personally.
He and Paige went up to the agency and stepped inside. They quickly found themselves greeted by a young male receptionist with a bright smile and spectacles. He was dressed in a dark suit that might have been better suited to someone working at an investment firm, he and seemed polished to an almost improbable degree.
“Hello,” he said. “Can I help you? Are you looking for someone to care for an older relative, or perhaps for your child?”
Christopher felt a flicker of embarrassment at the assumption that he and Paige were a couple. He found his thoughts flickering to Justine, his wife. They’d talked about having children before, but they both led such busy lives. If they ever did have children, would they need an au pair to let them handle everything? Would Christopher still be able to run around chasing after serial killers?
“We’re not a couple,” Christopher said, taking out his ID to show the receptionist. “I’m Agent Marriott, and this is Dr. Paige King. We’d like to speak to a manager, about Zoe Wells and Amelie Pichou.”
He could see from the shock on the receptionist’s face that he’d heard those names on the news and understood what this was about.
“If… if you’ll just wait here for a moment,” he said, and hurried off into the rest of the place, leaving Christopher and Paige standing there in front of the reception desk.
“I can’t believe he thought that we were a couple,” Christopher said, looking around at Paige. “Sorry. I should have cut him off before he got to that.”
“No, it’s fine,” Paige said, but she seemed slightly flushed, as if embarrassed by it all. Of course she was; she was only just starting out in the FBI, and was probably determined to be taken seriously as a professional. Christopher wanted to make this all as easy as possible for her.
A prim woman in her fifties came out to the desk, dressed in a dark skirt suit, with her dark hair tied back, and a discrete silver necklace strung around her throat.
“Hello. I’m Madeline Evans, the manager here. Please, come through to my office.”
She hurried them through the main offices of the firm, past several desks where people were working at computers or making calls, presumably to place more care staff in suitable positions with absolute discretion.
Ms. Evans led the way through to an office that was furnished in modern style, with a wide glass table to hold her computer screen and a large leather office chair set behind it. There was a wide white leather couch on one wall, with a smaller table set in front of it. Christopher guessed that it was for client meetings, and it was there that the manager of the Sunshine Care Agency led them.
“What can I do for you, Agents?” she asked as they sat down.
“Have you heard the news about the recent murders?” Christopher asked. “Marta Huarez, Zoe Wells, Amelie Pichou?”
He watched her face as he said the names, trying to see if there was any hint of recognition there in response to them.
“I’m sorry, I don’t understand what that has to do with us here,” Ms. Evans said. “What do murders have to do with us?”
Christopher looked over to Paige, letting her take this moment.
“Amelie Pichou and Zoe Wells both found the jobs they were doing at the time of their deaths through your agency,” Paige said. “So did Linda McCarthy and Tammy Khorikian. Those two were murdered by a serial killer named Lars Ingram.”
“A serial killer?” Ms. Evans said. Now Christopher could see the horror and fear on her face. “I really don’t understand. If you know who this killer is…”
“We believe that another killer is copying his work,” Christopher explained. “We also believe that he might be using your agency as a way to locate his victims.”
“But that… that would mean…”
“Someone who works in the agency, or at least who has access to your files,” Paige said.
Again, Christopher saw a look of horror cross the manager’s features.
“No, that can’t be right,” Ms. Evans said. “It’s simply not possible that someone here would do something like that. We wouldn’t hire a killer.”
She made it sound as if they would just put it on their resume for everyone to see. As if it were obvious just from looking at people whether they were killers or not.
Christopher suspected that the hardest part of this wasn’t going to be getting information out of this woman; it was going to be convincing her that her agency could ever have had anything to do with all of this.
“We’re not saying that any of this is your fault,” Paige said. “But you do have the chance to help us now.”