I See You (Criminal Profiler #2) - Mary Burton Page 0,16

the front desk, piled high with files, was metal.

A door behind the desk opened to a stocky man with a thick crop of gray hair held back with reading glasses. His face was round and wrinkled and reminded her of a bulldog.

“Can I help you?” the man asked.

“We’re looking for Mr. Henry Slater.” Vaughan held up his badge and made introductions.

“You found me.” The man arched a brow. “What’s this about?”

“We wanted to ask you about Larry Prince.”

Slater pulled off his glasses and moved behind the desk. “He’s been dead seventeen years. Died of a heart attack.”

“I understand you two had a good working relationship,” Vaughan said.

“He was my boss,” Slater replied. “He treated me fairly, taught me the business. In return, I gave him a solid day’s work. Our relationship was strictly professional. When the whistle blew, we went our separate ways.”

“What do you remember about Marsha Prince?” Zoe asked.

“I’ve done my best to forget about it all.” He sighed and rubbed the back of his neck with his hand. “She was a great kid. Hardworking, and all the customers loved her. Broke her father’s heart when she vanished.”

“Hadley also worked in the shop?” Vaughan asked.

“Not as much, but she was gearing up to run the register full time. But when her sister went missing, she got married and left town. I tried to keep up with Hadley and even sent her a Christmas card that first year she was out west, but she never wrote back. I figured it was just as well. Larry and Edith weren’t exactly the best of parents.”

“Why do you say that?” Vaughan asked.

“Larry was super controlling with his girls. Didn’t like boys looking at them at all. If Mark hadn’t been working here, I’m not sure Larry would ever have let him date Hadley. But Mark was a hardworking guy, and Larry liked him. Why are you asking about Marsha now?”

“Marsha Prince’s remains were found eight weeks ago. It’s taken this long to identify them.”

“Shit. Where?” Slater asked.

“About five miles from here in a storage unit,” Zoe said.

“I remember a reporter doing a story a couple months ago,” Slater said. “She found bones in a box.”

Unfortunately for them, the public videotape of the discovery had revealed many key details. Law enforcement normally held back facts they believed were known only to the killer, but in this case, there were few secrets they could now keep.

“The remains belonged to Marsha Prince,” Zoe said.

Slater rubbed his hand over his jaw. “How did she die?”

Nikki McDonald still didn’t know the answer to this question, and Zoe wanted to keep it under wraps for now. “We haven’t determined that yet.”

“Jesus.” Slater rubbed the back of his neck as he shook his head. “The bones on the video were all black.”

“They had been burned.”

“Why?”

“Either someone didn’t want her found, or they were sending a message.”

“What kind of message?” he asked.

“You tell us,” Vaughan countered.

“If you’re suggesting that Larry Prince was into anything shady, you are wrong.”

“I’m not suggesting anything. You bought the business a year after Marsha vanished,” Vaughan said. “If anyone knew what was in the books or if Larry had owed anyone a lot of money, you would. Did he make anyone angry?”

“He got on well enough with the clients. He wasn’t the warm and fuzzy type, but he was professional. And no, there wasn’t anything funny about the books. I was able to keep the crews working and the business open because he had given me signature power on the accounts soon after Marsha vanished. He was a total wreck, and so was Edith. You can go back and check all the statements. I never did anything funny or off color with them.”

“How did you afford the company?” Vaughan asked.

“It was a matter of meeting the banks and accepting the existing loans on the business. I had a track record, and I put my home up as collateral. The bank didn’t want a default on their hands. I called Hadley and offered to send her money each month, but she said her husband made enough and for me to keep it.”

Zoe pulled out the last picture taken of the Prince family and handed it to Slater. “Hadley said her father took the family out for a big splurge. Why was he in such a good mood?” Zoe asked.

Slater stared at the picture a long moment before handing it back to Zoe. “The cops asked me that question a dozen times back in the day. He