“Dead before,” Kipp agreed. “Killed by a hatchet embedded in his head. He looks to be the right age to be your missing teen. I think I should take this teen, along with Edward Janse’s body, back to Bristol for a full autopsy. Maybe something will be found that will help you identify who provided the provocation behind all these killings.”
Grimshaw felt relieved that Kipp had phrased it that way—especially when there was no way of knowing if an Elemental was listening in. “Be sure to have them tested for drugs, especially Edward Janse.”
“Will do.” Kipp pushed out of the chair. “We’re about done here, and my men would like to go home—if we can get home.” He paused before adding, “Try not to get blown up. You’re the ringmaster trying to control a circus of crazy, and the humans in this village would have a much harder time if you weren’t here.”
“I’m not the only ringmaster,” Grimshaw said.
“That’s true—you’re not. But you and Ilya Sanguinati were both out there today, and I don’t know if it’s sunk in yet just how close you were to getting caught by the blast.”
“It’s sunk in.” A lot of things were sinking in. “Thanks for the help.”
“Stop the killing, Wayne. Stop it while there is still a chance that people like you and me can stop it.”
“I’ll do my best. Let me know if you have trouble getting back to Bristol. If you’re stuck, I’ll talk to Vicki DeVine about having you and your team stay at The Jumble. She’s full up with guests, but . . .”
“Sleeping bags and travel kits are standard equipment these days when we get a call from Lake Silence.” Kipp gave Grimshaw a half wave and walked out.
It wasn’t until Grimshaw got up to relieve himself that he realized he hadn’t seen Viktor in a while.
* * *
* * *
He called Ineke Xavier and emphasized that Paige and Dominique weren’t to blame for the explosion. If they hadn’t come in to tell him about that flea market, which he was sure was a front for something else, someone else would have. Or he would have received an anonymous tip that would have brought him and Ilya to that store to investigate. It was a trap, and nothing that happened was the Xavier women’s fault.
He called Vicki DeVine to get a tally on her guests and helpers.
He called Captain Hargreaves to give the Bristol captain a rundown of what was happening—and to confirm that Kipp and the CIU team were still in one piece.
Then he called Stavros Sanguinati to confirm they would be meeting tonight.
By the time he ended that call, Viktor had returned to the front room of the station and sat on the chair at the computer desk.
“You okay?” Grimshaw asked. The boy wasn’t okay, but he was alive and unhurt, and that was a place to start.
“You told us the teaching story about what can happen when young police don’t follow orders,” Viktor said. “You told us, and Julian told Karol to stay in the bookstore. Why didn’t he stay?”
That was one of the questions he wanted answered, but not by this youngster.
“And Kira . . .”
“Is fine. She’s fine, Viktor. She’s at The Jumble with Vicki.”
“But someone said she was in that building, calling for help.”
“A recording,” Grimshaw said. “Bait for a trap. Not the real girl.” He waited a moment for that to sink in. “Who told you Kira was in the building? Another terra indigene using that silent communication you all can do?”
Viktor shook his head and pointed to the phone on Grimshaw’s desk. “Phone call. Male voice. Didn’t recognize it, but I wouldn’t recognize human voices but yours, Officer Osgood’s, and Julian Farrow’s.” He paused. “And Miss Vicki’s, of course, but the voice was definitely male.”
Just because Viktor hadn’t recognized the voice didn’t mean he hadn’t heard the voice before. Which didn’t eliminate any of Vicki’s guests or the remaining professor staying at the Mill Creek Cabins. “What did you say in response to that information?”
“I said I would give you the message, that I was manning the phones and couldn’t leave the station. But he kept insisting that I had to help Kira. He sounded . . . distraught. When I insisted that I couldn’t leave, he hung up.”
“Anything else? Did you hear any sounds in the background? Cars going by, or music playing, people talking?” He waited a beat. “Bobcat singing?”
“Caterwauling, you mean?”
Grimshaw smiled at the boy’s effort to make a joke. “Yeah, that.”
Viktor shook his head. “I told Paige and Dominique what the man said and was about to contact Ilya—I figured it would be faster and you might turn off your mobile phone so you wouldn’t give away your location—when Paige saw Karol run out of the bookstore and head in the direction of the flea market building. So I contacted Karol instead, told him we were supposed to stay put. He said Kira was in trouble and needed him to save her, and he knew where she was.”
“Do you think there was enough time in between your hanging up and Karol running out for him to receive a similar call? Something that might have provoked him into acting?”
“Maybe. I’m not sure.”
If whoever had made those calls wanted a Sanguinati in that building at the time of the explosion, would the second call have been made if the first call had produced the desired response? He’d had the impression that Karol was the more impulsive of the two males. Would the boy have hesitated, thought things through long enough for the person to make another call and try to lure Viktor to the scene? Why involve either boy? The cry for help was aimed at Ilya, by name.
The timing was off in Viktor’s account of what had happened. If Karol had left the bookstore when he and Ilya and the other two men had been in the lane moving toward the storefront, why hadn’t he been in the store when Boris entered? Why was Paige the only one to see Karol when Boris had been watching the street by then? Of course, he had only Viktor’s word that Paige had seen anything.
Had there been a phone call to the station? Or had luring Karol into that building been part of someone’s plan all along?
He put those questions aside for a time when a predator wasn’t paying close attention to his heartbeat and breathing.
“Did Karol have . . . romantic . . . feelings for Kira?” That would explain some of the hasty decision to rush in, regardless of when the phone call had been made. Would Ilya have allowed himself to be delayed by the human caution of a police officer and Julian’s Intuit gift if Natasha’s voice was on the recording?