constantly checking his surroundings, monitoring any people who might get too close. His gun only left his body at night when he slept, and even then it was within reach on the nightstand.
“And still no ideas who might have left it for you?” Richard asked.
Mark hesitated only a beat and then shook his head. The truth was he had some suspicions about who might have left the note, but he didn’t intend to share his instincts with the rest of the team because it went back to his theory of a guilty Melinda.
He’d given a lot of thought to the note left on his car. Whoever had written it had known that Troy Young wasn’t guilty, which implied the writer might know something about who was guilty. There were few people in the town who would write a note of warning to Mark rather than to Agent Flynn.
With startled surprise he realized the meeting had ended and everyone was leaving the room, apparently assigned by Richard to specific tasks.
Richard remained in the room and sank down next to Mark, his weariness showing on the lines that appeared deeper in his skin and the pallor that had taken over his complexion.
“The tail on Andrew Peterson has been pulled off,” Richard said. “According to the sheriff, he can’t justify one of his men tailing a person who has no known connection to the crimes, a man who for the past week has gone to work in the morning and then home every night.”
Mark frowned. He wasn’t convinced that Andrew Peterson wasn’t the man in the videos of Melinda, that the history teacher wasn’t Melinda’s partner in Mark’s nightmares.
“Give me something, Mark,” Richard said in a low voice. “Give me anything that we can work with.”
Mark looked at his friend and mentor in frustration. “I can’t give you what I don’t have. I can tell you what you don’t want to hear, what everyone refuses to believe, but I’m not pretending to toe the company line here.”
Richard leaned back in his chair and released a deep sigh. “So, you still continue to believe the kidnapping and murders are connected and Melinda Grayson is at the center of it all.”
Mark gave a curt nod of his head and Richard sighed once again. He leaned toward Mark, his gaze hard and demanding. “Then get me proof. Get me something that proves this theory of yours.”
Richard stood and walked to the door of the war room and then turned back to Mark. “Leave all other theories to the other agents. I want you to focus solely on your idea of the crimes. Either prove it or disprove it, but get me something other than your gut instinct, Mark.” With these final words Richard left the room.
Mark leaned back in his chair and tried to focus on what his next move should be. The new pressure that had just been laid on his shoulders once again made him feel as if he was failing the entire team.
Prove it or disprove it. The words rang in his ears. Richard had basically just given him free rein to work the investigation of Melinda his own way, without the support of the team.
That was fine with Mark. He didn’t have to pretend anymore that any other theory made sense, and he didn’t have to put in hours of investigative work trying to prove anything that he didn’t believe.
Prove it or disprove it.
That was exactly what Mark intended to do once and for all, and he would start by talking with the two people closest to Melinda...Ben and Amanda.
He left the courthouse with a new sense of purpose and a burning desire to find answers. He headed for the campus, a fresh determination in his soul.
It was time to fish, not cut bait, to either put Melinda in the middle of the murders or find the proof that she had nothing to do with them.
There was no question that the initial background check they’d done on Melinda had been sketchy and half-assed. At that time she’d been viewed as a victim, not a suspect.
Mark intended to ask her assistants some hard questions, to learn what he could from them, and then he would interview Melinda to fill in her background information, to find some definitive answers.
He knew the trick would be to see if he could connect with each, Ben and Amanda, by themselves. Dora had mentioned that the two assistants were competitive with each other. He could probably use that