Falling Awake

advantage of their dangerous, unstable natures to prod them into the kidnappings.”
    She drew a deep breath, a little stunned. “And afterward, no one was surprised to learn that those people had gone off the rails. Probably not surprised by the suicides, either.”
    “It was a brilliant piece of game playing on Scargill’s part.”
    “But didn’t the law enforcement authorities see the same patterns that you did?”
    “No,” Ellis said, “because the cases were scattered all across the country. The police in Arizona had no reason to compare notes with the cops in Kentucky or California.”
    “What about Mapstone Investigations? You said Lawson always gets his cases from that source. Didn’t someone there notice that something was wrong?”

    “Scargill was very good at setting the stages for his crimes. He loved to play computer games. I think that’s where he got some of his ideas. There were patterns, of course. Hell, the patterns are always there if you know where to look for them. But he managed to keep them concealed for months.”
    “What happened?”
    “There was one final kidnapping about three months ago,” Ellis said. “It ended with me getting shot up and Scargill supposedly dying as the result of an explosion.”

19
    s o that’s what happened to you,” Isabel whispered tightly. “I knew you had been hurt. I could see it in your dreams. That loud roller coaster sound in your gateway. Did you take all those vitamins and mineral supplements I told you to get?”
    The concern in her voice made him smile slightly. He had still not gotten beyond the novelty of having someone worry about his health and well-being.
    “In the past three months I’ve spent a fortune in health food stores,” he assured her.
    “What about the acupuncture? Did it help?”
    “Yes, although when I got a close look at all those little needles I almost walked out of the treatment room.”
    “I’m glad you went through with it.” She pressed her lipstogether, evidently not entirely satisfied but willing to let it go for now. “Okay, tell me about that last case involving Scargill.”
    “The kidnapper was another typical Scargill choice, a real nutcase. His name was McLean. He was one of those survivalist fanatics who was convinced that he had been appointed to found a new society based on a theory of government invented by him. His wife, Angela, had shown the good sense to divorce him. He was enraged when she left. I don’t know how Scargill found him, but he was perfect. Probably didn’t take much effort at all to talk McLean into kidnapping his ex.”
    “What did he do with her?”
    “He took her to the remote mountain area where he and his idiot followers had a small compound. I heard about the case from a friend of mine who works at Mapstone Investigations. I knew right away that it was destined for Vincent Scargill. It had all of the earmarks.”
    “You decided to look into it yourself?”
    “Yes. I didn’t tell Lawson because I figured Scargill would find out.”
    “Did you dream?”
    “No, I just did some old-fashioned detective work. McLean and his friends were not the sharpest knives in the drawer. They had bought so many guns and so much ammunition in such a short period of time that anyone could have followed their trail.”
    “So why didn’t the cops follow it? Why did the case end up on Lawson’s desk?”
    “Because the ex-wife’s relatives were afraid to go to thepolice,” he explained. “I told you, Scargill staged every aspect of his little games very carefully. It appears that he always hired a woman to pose as a psychic right after the kidnappings occurred. The fake psychic would contact the families, telling them she’d had a vision. She always warned them that their only chance was to avoid the cops and call Mapstone Investigations, instead.”
    “How could he be sure Mapstone would refer the cases to Lawson’s agency?”
    “Scargill knew what Lawson looked for in a case. He made certain each of his kidnappings had some aspect about it that ensured that it wound up being referred to Frey-Salter.”
    “Sounds like Scargill is not only very smart, he learns fast.”
    Ellis tapped his fingers together again. “I think that was one of the reasons it took Lawson so long to realize he had a problem. He kept seeing Scargill as just another promising young recruit with real dream talent but no particular street smarts. He had a hard time comprehending that the bastard could