“I struck out,” Amanda said as she stepped into the conference room. “I spoke with Betsy McManus and Gina Overshaw and neither of them had any idea they were being filmed. And both were very concerned about those videos getting out and blowing up their marriages.”
Spenser sat back in her chair and tapped her pen on the table. “Seems that Hamill had a real penchant for sleeping with married women.”
“They’d probably be the least likely to blow the whistle if they ever found out he was filming them on the down low. They wouldn’t want the public humiliation or their marriages to implode. It’s smart in a disgusting way,” Jacob offered.
“But why run the risk?” Amanda asked as she took her seat. “I mean, all it takes is for one of them to take the blowback and report him for filming them. Washington is a two-party consent state. If he gets busted for it, that’s five years in prison.”
“Probably because he assumed the risk was minimal. He profiled these women before engaging in an affair with them and knew they weren’t likely to make a big fuss if they found out. Of the women we’ve talked to so far, they’re terrified of those tapes coming to light and their husbands finding out,” Spenser replied.
“My God, he’s a predator,” Amanda said.
“And predators often make the best profilers. They know their marks. And in this case, he picked out women—married women—who were missing something in their lives then positioned himself to fill those needs. He’s a chameleon who can be all things to some people,” Spenser replied.
“But what does he get out of it? Did he get his rocks off just knowing he’s got these undercover recordings or what?” Jacob asked.
“It’s power. Control,” Spenser answered. “He will forever have this hold over them, even if they don’t realize it. But at any time, he can blow up their entire world by just sending an email to their husbands. That’s power.”
“The more I learn about this guy, the more disgusting I think he was,” Amanda said.
“I agree. As reprehensible as he was, though, somebody murdered him, and he deserves justice for that. It’s our duty to get that justice without passion or prejudice,” Spenser stated.
“I know, I know,” Amanda muttered.
“Also, the flip side of that is if one of these women found out, he gave them all the reason they needed to kill him. If he’s dead, those videos die with him,” Spenser said.
“All we need is to find a woman angry enough who was willing to get her hands dirty like that,” Amanda noted.
“How many of the others have you been able to identify?” Spenser asked Jacob.
“Of the twenty-seven other non-repeating women in the videos, I’ve been able to identify twenty-two of them,” he reported. “Of those twenty-two, fourteen meet the height parameter of the person we saw in the video. Three are locals and the other eleven live in surrounding towns and in Seattle. I also cross-referenced the client list from Hamill’s training business and only six were former clients.”
“Good. That’s exceptional work,” Spenser said.
“Thanks, boss,” he replied, beaming.
“So, were these other women groupies or something?” Amanda asked.
“Maybe. Ultimately, it doesn’t matter if they’re groupies or if he picked them up in a bar,” Spenser said with a shrug. “Jacob, do any of the women you’ve IDed have criminal sheets?”
“Not that I’ve found. They’re all clean,” he said.
“So, we’re looking for a woman who went from zero to murder just like that? I mean… that seems a little unlikely. Right? Isn’t there usually a gradual increase in offenses?” Amanda asked.
“Usually. Sure. But you’d be surprised how quickly somebody can flip that switch when their whole world is being threatened. Even the most mild-mannered person can do monstrous things when faced with the possibility of their entire lives being set on fire. Passion can drive a person to do the unthinkable,” Spenser responded.
Spenser’s mind lingered on the word passion, and she felt a tickle of familiarity in the back of her mind. It was as if a door in her mind had been unlocked and pushed open, flooding those dark corners with fresh sunlight. Spenser felt as if her subconscious had suddenly recognized something she’d only glimpsed before, and now that she’d fully seen it, she couldn’t turn away.
“Okay, so what’s next?” Amanda asked.
“Uh… we’re going to divide up the list of women and start knocking on doors,” Spenser said. “Get ready to put in some long hours.”
“Hey, it’s the job.”
“It’s the job,” Spenser said.
Amanda’s computer chimed with an incoming email, and she turned to it. Spenser watched as she called up her email, her eyes flicking back and forth as she read whatever had just arrived. After a minute, she looked up.
“Arbery printed the gate like you asked,” she said. “He was able to pull two prints that are so far, unidentified. But he did get two prints that he was able to identify—Hamill and his girlfriend, Layla. The two people whose prints we expected to find on it.”
“Yeah,” Spenser said as she tapped her pen against her lip. “And he ran those unidentified prints through every available national database?”
She nodded. “According to his email, yes.”
“Damn,” she muttered. “Okay, when we talk to these other women, make sure you get prints and DNA from them to see if they match the unknowns on the gate.”
“But what will that prove? The person in the video was wearing gloves. Even if we get a match, it’s not going to prove they were the person in the video,” Amanda said.
“Maybe not. But I don’t believe for a second that was the person in black’s first time there. They were just too familiar with the layout of the cameras and how to get into Hamill’s home for that,” Spenser said. “You might be right that it turns out to be nothing, but if we get really lucky, it will give us a pressure point we can exploit. In any case, it doesn’t hurt a thing.”
“That’s fair.”
Jacob sat forward. “Just to throw another log on the bad news bonfire, I’ve been wrangling with the phone company, but they won’t unlock Hamill’s phone. I’ve threatened them every which way I can think of, including firebombing their offices—”
“Please tell me you didn’t actually do that.”
He chuckled. “No, I didn’t.”
Spenser shook her head. “Don’t give me a heart attack like that.”
