Secret Prey

HENNEPIN COUNTY ATTORNEY, RANDALL TOWSON; his chief deputy, Donald Dunn; and Richard Kirk, head of the criminal division, met with Lucas and Frank Lester, deputy chief and head of the investigative division.
    ‘‘You’re telling us she’s a serial killer,’’ Towson said.
    ‘‘Everything points to it,’’ Lucas said. ‘‘I’m not sure we could prove it to a jury.’’
    ‘‘Make the argument.’’
    ‘‘You’ve all seen the memo. The major point is this: We have too many unusual deaths. First, her parents. She benefited directly from the death of her mother—a fifteenthousand-dollar life insurance policy that her sister apparently didn’t share in. She probably got insurance from the death of her father—her mother was weak, and Audrey seemed to be running things, even then, as a kid. We also have four obvious and unquestioned murders: George Arris, shot in the back of the head in St. Paul; Daniel Kresge, who you all know was shot while deer hunting last week; Wilson McDonald, who she admits shooting to death; and Susan O’Dell, who was shot to death in her apartment. Audrey McDonald was the last person known to have been with O’Dell.’’
    ‘‘I’d think that would almost be exculpatory, from what I get from your memo,’’ Kirk said. ‘‘She could prove that she was out of the building before the killing happened.’’
    ‘‘Things have changed in the last hour, since I wrote the memo,’’ Lucas said. ‘‘Detective Sloan and I have worked out a way she might have done it. There might even be the possibility of some physical evidence . . .’’
    ‘‘How . . .’’
    He explained quickly about the duct tape, then said, ‘‘Let me finish this other thought. In addition to her parents and the four outright murders, we also have four mysterious deaths: Andy Ingall disappeared and has never been found after a supposed boating accident; eleven-year-old Tom McKinney was killed while riding his bicycle; and Mr. and Mrs. Sheldon Baird were burned to death in their cabin. We also have two aggravated assaults in the past two weeks. One was on my former fiancee´, Weather Karkinnen; her house was firebombed, you’ve probably read about it. Normally, I wouldn’t suggest that there was a tie, but I would here. You can read the full reasoning in the memo— Audrey has a history of attacking people to distract, as well as to eliminate, and I believe that’s what she did here. We even have some evidence for this.’’
    ‘‘And it is . . .’’
    ‘‘When Mr. and Mrs. Baird were burned to death, investigators found the remnants of a glass jug in their front room, and the glass had been scored to make sure the bottle broke on impact,’’ Lucas said. ‘‘That feels like a pro job— but it happens that when my finace´e was firebombed, remnants of the bottle used in that bombing showed the same kind of scoring.’’
    ‘‘Jesus Christ,’’ Towson said.
    ‘‘Then, last week, another friend of mine was attacked, Sister Mary Joseph, from St. Anne’s College. As it happens, Audrey McDonald knew her. And presumably knew where she lived, and attacked her for the same reason she attacked Weather. To get me off her back.’’
    ‘‘And you can show that she benefited from all of these,’’ Dunn said.
    ‘‘She benefited financially from the killings of her father and mother—in addition to the money, she may have killed her father because he was sexually and probably physically abusing her, and she got rid of him. All the other deaths were done to push her husband’s career: when you put them down in outline form, you’ll find that he benefited from each of the other deaths . . . Look at page three of the memo, there’s a chart.’’
    ‘‘What about her husband?’’
    ‘‘I think her husband was killed because we were getting too close, and he was a rather notorious coward. If he knew about the killings, he might have ratted her out, if there was pressure. Also, she inherits, if she’s found not guilty of murdering him. Running through his files after he was killed, we figured he could be worth about seven, eight million.’’
    ‘‘I see one problem,’’ Towson’s deputy said, snapping the paper with his finger. ‘‘If I remember right, you guys had elected Wilson McDonald for the Kresge killing.
    Looking at this, I ask myself, couldn’t McDonald have done all of these? We know he was a brutal asshole. Look what he did to his own wife.’’
    ‘‘It’s