Stranded

instructions in her will for her executor todonate the farmstead for a wildlife preserve within ten years of her death. The deadline was coming up. The executor’s in the process of handing over the land to the federal government.”
    “Which makes me wonder if this killer has another place like this,” Kunze said. “Otis told Dr. Patterson that Jack has other dumping grounds. Otis claims to know exactly where another one is. If it’s like the Iowa farm and he feels comfortable enough to come and go, we might be able to take him by surprise. Or at least find something that could incriminate him, reveal who he is.”
    “You’re actually thinking of taking Otis up on his offer?” Gwen asked.
    “They’re digging up remains of possibly five more people on that Iowa farm. We already know of six victims. Four of them were murdered in the last month. Maybe that’s a fluke or maybe that’s his monthly kill number. Heaven forbid. Both Tully and O’Dell seem to think he’s accelerating. Could be he wants more bodies just for this crazy game he’s playing with us. I don’t know. What I do know is that we may not get this close again. If he gets bored with us, he could slip away to one of his hiding places. He’s a smart guy. He goes quiet for a while. Doesn’t mean he stops killing.”
    Kunze looked around the table at each of them. No one disagreed.
    “Otis was on target about the first woman with the orange socks.” Kunze looked at the whiteboard then added her name. “Selena Thurber. The Iowa farm is all over the national news now, but two days ago it hadn’t made the local news and yet Otis knew exactly where this dumping ground was. And he knew about the tattooed biker in the barn. Not just that there was a body in the barn, but a tattooed biker.”
    Kunze looked to Gwen. “What do you think, Dr. Patterson? Should we take Otis P. Dodd up on his offer?”
    All eyes were on Gwen. The director had given her a pass earlier. She may have been brought onto this task force for political cover, maybe even as a scapegoat, but Kunze was now sincere in eliciting her advice. Advice, not just her opinion.
    “When I met Otis he was quick to point out that he was a ‘powermaniac,’ not a ‘pyromaniac.’ ” Gwen tried to focus. Her mind had been scattered all evening. “I’ve studied a good deal of his arsons. They were big fires. They were dangerous ones. But for all his talk about power, his fires have amazingly had no casualties. That would indicate that he enjoys and craves the excitement and the attention. He’s been in prison for about a year now. He knows he has valuable information and he wants something in return.”
    “Actually he’s added a caveat to his original request,” Kunze said.
    “I won’t go along,” Gwen said quickly. “I’m not trained.”
    “No, no, it’s not you he wants to tag along. All the recent media coverage of the Iowa farm got his attention. He wants that pretty FBI agent to come along.”
    “Maggie?” But Gwen wasn’t surprised. She remembered how charming Otis had been when she suggested she was too old for him. Like a teenage boy with a crush.
    “He knows the two of you are friends.”
    “The CNN profile?”
    A reporter had done a profile on Maggie last month during the arson investigations in the District. He had been very thorough.
    “They’ve played the piece a couple of times already. It doesn’t matter. This trip would be part of O’Dell and Tully’s scavengerhunt. Of course, I would want them along. But does it affect your decision about Otis?”
    Gwen glanced at Racine, Ganza, and Alonzo. If she said no, there could be another dozen bodies that would never be found. And they wouldn’t be any closer to finding Jack.
    “Let Otis have his trip.”

CHAPTER 49

    When Tully suggested the three of them go out for a late dinner, Maggie welcomed the escape despite her exhaustion. Had they stayed in their adjoining rooms she knew the space would be too confining—two’s company, three’s a crowd, especially when two of the three were sending sparks off each other.
    Not far from the hotel and not far from the university’s campus was a section of the city called Aggieville that included shops, eateries, nightclubs, and bars and grills. They decided on New York style pizza, appropriate for a city nicknamed the Little Apple. Tully took the liberty of ordering them a large pizza called the 18th and 8th, one of the restaurant’s specialties that