The Missing Page 0,92

investigator described as ‘the most horrific thing I have ever seen in my thirty years in law enforcement.’ A specialized unit made up of forensic archeologists had been called in to search for unmarked graves in the extensive woods behind Boyle’s home.

Carol Cranmore was being treated at an undisclosed facility. In a taped interview, Dianne Cranmore discussed her daughter’s condition: ‘Carol’s still in shock right now. She’s got a long road ahead of her, but we’re going to get through this together. My baby girl’s alive, and that’s what matters. She wouldn’t be alive if it wasn’t for Darby McCormick of the Boston Crime Lab. She didn’t give up hope.’

The news reporter mentioned that the mothers of the majority of victims weren’t so lucky. Next they played an interview with Helena Cruz.

‘I’ve been wondering what happened to Melanie my whole life,’ Helena Cruz said. ‘I’ve carried all these questions about what happened to my daughter and now, more than twenty years later, I’ve come to find out that the man responsible for killing her wasn’t Victor Grady but a federal agent. The FBI won’t answer my questions. Someone there knows what happened to my daughter, I’m sure of it.’

Darby was staring at Helena Cruz’s face when the house phone rang. It was Banville.

‘Have you seen the news?’ he asked.

‘I’m watching NECN right now. They’re talking about the connection between Evan and Boyle.’

‘It gets even better. The mother, Cassandra Boyle? Turns out she was Boyle’s sister.’

‘Jesus.’ That certainly explained why the family had shipped her all the way up to the boondocks of New Hampshire. ‘Did Boyle know?’

‘I have no idea. As for the mother packing up and running off, everything I’ve seen so far looks legit, but who knows? I also pulled the case file on the grandparents’ deaths. No suspects or witnesses. Someone came in, shot them while they were sleeping and cleaned them out.’

‘And Manning provided the alibi,’ Darby said.

‘Yes. I also got a look at Manning’s BlackBerry. There were several text messages on it that confirm that he helped Boyle with the bombing. And that number Boyle called? It belongs to Manning. Boyle must have been calling to warn him.’

‘What’s the status on Boyle’s laptop? You have any luck breaking the passwords?’

‘We did. He did all his banking online. We can’t access a lot of the information – he has a private bank in the Caymans – but what we did manage to find were the pictures. Boyle stored the pictures of his most recent victims on his computer. We also found some maps of his burial locations. They span the country.’

‘What about Melanie Cruz? Did you find anything out about her or the other women who disappeared in eighty-four?’

‘We haven’t found a map for Belham. But I know Melanie Cruz is dead. We found Polaroids in Boyle’s filing cabinet. If you want to see them, swing by the station. I’ll be here all day.’

‘What’s in the pictures?’

‘It’s best if I show them to you in person.’

Chapter 72

Banville was talking on the phone when Darby showed up with Coop. Banville saw them standing outside his doorway, motioned them to come in and pointed to the two chairs set up against the wall, near the coat rack.

Fifteen minutes later, Banville hung up. He rubbed the fatigue out of his face. ‘That was the state’s forensic anthropologist. I sent Carter out to the woods early this morning to take a poke around the area where the feds found the set of remains. There’s nothing else buried out there.’

‘I’m surprised the feds allowed him access to the site,’ Coop said.

‘Oh, they put up a fuss. Problem is the cat’s already out of the bag. Manning’s all over the news. The feds pounced on his Back Bay apartment. I know this is going to come as a total surprise to the two of you, but our good friends from Fart, Barf and Itch aren’t sharing any information on Manning or that white supremacist asshole they killed. These guys have a huge public relations nightmare on their hands.’ Banville looked to Darby. ‘Get ready for your close-up. The media is going to be all over this story forweeks.’

‘Carter found a full set of remains?’

‘A full set,’ Banville said. ‘Definitely a female, buried out there between ten and fifteen years, maybe longer. He wants to carbon-date the bones to establish a timeline.’

Banville leaned back in his chair. ‘I told Carter about the women who disappeared around here during the summer of eighty-four. The

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