Part 12 (2/2)
Miranda held the letter up. ”Does that sound like a threat to you?”
”Not really.” Landry shrugged. ”Besides, Channing is dead and . . .” He paused for a moment, then said, ”Oh. I see. You're wondering if maybe mine was one of the three names?”
”The thought is crossing my mind.”
”What an intriguing idea. Me, a victim.”
Regan looked up sharply.
”Dad, I don't think you should be so cavalier. If this man was part of this killing club, and there's reason to believe that you might have been singled out-”
Landry waved a hand as if to dismiss her. ”Those letters were written six or seven years ago. I'd be surprised if Channing even remembered writing them,” Landry told her. ”And I'd be surprised if this was all that important to him even when he wrote them.”
”It's been thirty years since Unger killed Channing's mother,” Regan reminded him. ”And Unger's now dead.”
”True, but that's entirely different. According to the news reports I read, Channing watched from a closet as Unger murdered his mother. He was eight years old at the time. Of course he would harbor a long-term resentment.”
”Not for the reason you might think,” Will said. ”He told our profiler he hated Unger for killing his mother because he, Channing, had wanted to kill her himself.”
”Oh.” Landry mulled over this information. ”That might put just a slightly different spin on things.”
”Mr. Landry, we're trying to locate people who we think might have angered Channing at some point in his life. It sounds from those letters that your books set him off.”
”Well, then, supposing you're right, Agent Fletcher. What do you suggest we do about it?” Landry's daughter's eyes clouded with worry.
”I think the first thing we need to do is get your local police involved,” Miranda said. ”And we need to a.s.sess your security here.”
”I a.s.sure you my security system is top of the line. I have all faith in it.” Landry smiled and added, ”As for the local police, well, let's just say I have more faith in my alarm system, and we'll leave it at that.”
”There's always private security, Dad. You can always hire someone.”
Landry made a face. ”I think you're getting a bit carried away, honey.”
”And I think you're being a little too c.o.c.ky about the possibility of your name being on a hit list. It isn't a game, Dad.”
”Oh, but apparently that's exactly what it is.” Landry appeared unfazed.
”Any other red flags in those letters?” Will asked Miranda.
”No. It's interesting, though, that he wrote at least one of them right around the time I interviewed him about the Ohio murders.” Miranda pa.s.sed the file on to Will.
”The Ohio murders?” Landry turned his attention from his daughter to Miranda.
”About six years ago, there was a series of murders in southern Ohio. Several suspects were picked up. Channing was one of them. I interviewed him, couldn't get a thing from him, so we had to let him go. But at the time, he just gave me the feeling that . . .” Her voice trailed off.
”That he was involved?” Landry completed the thought for her.
”Yes. But it was my first case, and I didn't know at the time if I just had unusually good instincts, or if I was seeing things that weren't there because I wanted to crack the case. I just hadn't learned to trust myself then.”
”These are the cases that were recently linked to Channing through DNA, the ones I read about in the paper?” Landry asked.
”Yes,” Miranda said.
”So your instincts were right on, after all.” Landry leaned over and patted her arm.
”Fat lot of good it did us.” Miranda shook her head. ”After he was interviewed, he disappeared.”
”So you scared him off,” Landry noted. ”You could possibly have saved the lives of several unsuspecting women.”
”Only to put others in jeopardy,” Miranda replied. ”We now know that later that same year he killed four women in Kentucky, and several other women in other locales. There are probably more. We're still piecing his movements together.”
”Well, then, it appears you may have stymied him at a critical time. Stopped his forward motion, so to speak. I doubt he'd have been too happy with you at the time.” Joshua Landry leaned forward, his arms resting on his thighs. ”As a matter of fact, I imagine it would have made him quite angry. Aren't you just a bit worried, Agent Cahill?”
”Worried about what?” Miranda frowned.
”Worried that perhaps your name is on that list as well.”
CHAPTER NINE.
”So what did you think of him?” Will asked as he settled into the front seat of Miranda's car.
”Landry? I liked him,” she replied. ”I liked him a lot. The daughter, too. She seems pretty sharp, don't you think?”
”Sharper than the old man, in some respects. But I liked him. I hope we're wrong.” He hesitated for a moment. ”I hope he's wrong.”
”About what?”
”About Channing being p.i.s.sed at you.”
”I doubt Channing ever gave me another thought once he'd left that interview room. I can't think of one good reason why he would.”
”Well, as Landry pointed out, you did stop his forward motion.”
”You think it made a difference to him? He just moved on and started over.” She turned on the ignition and backed the car out of its spot near the barn. ”Now, Joshua Landry, he's a different story. You read those letters. Landry really had old Curtis p.i.s.sed off.”
”You think he's taking this seriously?”
”Not as seriously as Regan is.”
”That was my impression, too.”
”He did seem almost amused by the prospect of a killer coming after him, didn't he?” She shook her head. ”Writers. Every one I've ever met has been just a little off, you know what I mean?”
”Yeah. But I feel better knowing that the local police will be keeping an eye on things.”
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