Fireproof

Patrick without taking her eyes from the big screen.
    “I really don’t know him that well.”
    “But you spend a lot of time together. Is he married?”
    “No.”
    There was something about the delivery of his “no” that made Maggie glance at her brother. He was staring at the screen, too, but to avoid her eyes.
    “What is it?”
    “He asked about you. It felt a little weird.”
    “About my being an FBI agent?”
    “No. About whether or not you were married. He’s a player. He likes women.”
    She could see he was uncomfortable talking about this with her. “What exactly does that mean?”
    It was Ramirez who answered. “It means every woman he meets he thinks about screwing her.”
    “Did he hit on you?” Patrick wanted to know.
    “I can take care of myself.”
    Maggie studied the man. Ramirez had left the film frozen on an excellent view of Wes Harper. While others around him displayed that wide-eyed look of shock and awe—one with a furrowed brow, another held a hand over her mouth, still another bent over with hands on his knees—Harper stood straight, hands in his pockets and a placid, almost content look on his face.
    He looked to be in his thirties, square jaw, medium height, thick-chested, and muscular. He wore trousers, not jeans, and a nice jacket. Maggie stepped closer to examine the logo on the pocket.
    “Is that a Members Only jacket?”
    “Yeah, he loves that jacket.” Patrick came up beside her. “Idon’t know how many times he’s told me that the company’s tagline was stolen by a condom manufacturer. Laughs every time he tells me. Thinks it’s pretty cool.”
    “What’s the tagline?”
    Patrick hesitated, uncomfortable again. “ ‘When you put it on something happens.’ ”
    “Does he have a degree in fire science?”
    “He started a program but said it was lame. Quit after a year.”
    “The other night he was telling Jeffery and me what fire does to a body,” Ramirez said, and Maggie could see the woman was uncomfortable even with the memory of this. “He seemed to take great pleasure in describing it. It was almost like he had seen it himself and …”
    “And what?” Maggie asked.
    “And that he enjoyed watching a body burn.”
    Maggie pulled out her cell phone as she told Patrick, “I need you to tell me everything you can think of about Wes Harper.” Then she punched in Racine’s number.
    “Hey, I was just getting ready to call you,” Racine answered. “Virginia State Patrol just located Gloria Dobson’s SUV.”

CHAPTER 66

    VIRGINIA
    Maggie was surprised to find the rest area backed to woods. No meadow or pasture with the funky yellow weed that Ganza had found. But it did look like a place deer would frequent.
    She and Tully had made the hour-and-a-half drive while Racine put out another alert on Dobson’s travel partner, Zach Lester. She also had started a background check on Wes Harper. Maggie had to stop Racine from bringing Harper in for questioning, telling the detective, “We don’t have enough and you don’t want to tip him off.”
    They parked at the far end of the rest area and got out to walk.
    “The State Patrol already towed the car to their crime lab,” Tully told her. “I’m not sure what else we’ll find.”
    “He had to have taken her from here. It’s a crime scene.”
    “The car may have been the only crime scene.”
    Maggie stood on the edge of the sidewalk and took a good look around. Down here she could barely hear the interstate traffic. The exit divided cars from trucks right before they drove down into the rest area surrounded by beautiful and remote woods.Even the brick building with the restrooms was nestled in the trees. Well-kept sidewalks meandered all around, leading separate paths from up above where the trucks parked. She could hear the faint hum of their engines running. Through the trees she could see only five semitrailers occupied the area that, by Maggie’s estimate, could accommodate at least a dozen big rigs comfortably. She also noted that there were mulched trails leading into the woods.
    “If it was her coworker, Zach Lester, why leave her car behind?” Maggie asked. “And how did he take her to the District?”
    “Maybe he has an accomplice.”
    “So they meet out here?”
    “Or he called him. It’s possible. Might explain why the car doesn’t show any sign of a struggle inside. The State Patrol will be able to tell us if her car had been tampered with. He could have done something