Chapter 14

Lenny Stankovic pulled his Chevrolet Silverado to the curb and put the vehicle into park. He bent down slightly to look through the windshield. Memories of the past came back, and he was reluctant to go inside. The moment his uncle had given him the name, he'd wanted to tell him to send someone else, but then he'd been told there wasn't anyone else available and this was supposed to be an emergency.

Movement in the seat beside him had him looking over at his passenger. He shifted in his seat, uncomfortable with the look Rossi was giving him. He shrugged. "Betsy Gooley did some things to Mary Lou and me when we were in high school. I guess there are still some bad feelings, because I'm not thrilled to be getting anywhere near her."

Rossi frowned. "That's the name of one of the three women we're looking into."

Lenny sighed. "That doesn't make me feel any better."

"I'll be in there with you so you should be relatively safe. After all, from all we've been able to piece together, she tries to ingratiate herself into the family first."

Lenny met Rossi's gaze. "Betsy's already tried that when we were in high school. I didn't want anything to do with her then, and things haven't changed any since then."

Rossi nodded. "But it might be a good idea to give a hint that there are possibilities."

Lenny paused. "You're saying that I should let on like I'd be interested in getting together with her?"

"It could help us."

Lenny frowned. "I'm not hurting Mary Lou in any way, no matter what."

Rossi hesitated a fraction of a second before nodding. "All right. I can respect that."

The two men got out of the vehicle and headed for the front door. Just as they were stepping onto the front porch, the door opened and Betsy Gooley stepped out to great them. She smiled, hooding her eyes as she looked at Lenny. "Hello, handsome. It's been a long time."

Lenny's jaw clenched as he looked at the woman standing there in front of them in a barely there negligee, a terry cloth robe that had been left open, and a towel wrapped around her head, as if she'd just gotten out of the shower. "What's the emergency?"

A flash of what looked like anger crossed her face for a split second, and then she gave him a smug smile. "It's the sink in the kitchen. The baby's medicine went down the drain and has it clogged. I was holding the baby and trying to get the bottle opened. She started fussing, and when she flailed her arms, the bottle flew out of my hands, shattered, and the pieces went down the drain."

Lenny nodded. "All right. I'll take a look."

Betsy eyed Rossi. "Who's your friend?"

Lenny glanced at Rossi. "This is my Uncle Dave."

Betsy gaze was skeptical. "I don't recall you having an uncle that looks like him."

Lenny shrugged. "I doubt that you would have seen him. He didn't come to visit us while you lived here."

She looked at him for several seconds before lifting a shoulder. "I don't buy the uncle story…but he does look familiar for some reason."

Lenny glanced at Rossi and then said, "Show me where this drain is. I have three other calls to get to after this one."

She turned a sultry smile on him and then spun and sashayed into the kitchen with the two men following behind her.

Lenny got busy immediately, wanting to get out of there as fast as possible. It took him a matter of fifteen minutes to reach the clog, and when he did, he frowned. He moved his hands away from the item and, without looking away from the sink, said, "Hey, Uncle Dave."

There was the sound of footsteps, and Lenny felt the presence of someone beside him. He looked up to see Rossi standing there, and then he turned to glance and see if Betsy was in the vicinity. When he didn't see her, he took a relieved breath before whispering, "You have an evidence bag with you?"

Rossi squatted down beside him. "What did you find?"

Lenny kept his voice to a bare whisper as he answered. "A bloody rag. And with her head all covered up, it's possible she's the one that hurt Steph's grandma.

Rossi nodded. He pulled a bag out of his jacket pocket and glanced around before grabbing a pair of hot-dog tongs from the drainer. He carefully used them to lift the rag and put it in the bag before sealing it and placing it in the garbage bag that Lenny had set up to take care of the sludge from the pipes.

"How much longer do you think you'll be?"

Lenny jumped slightly at the unexpected question from behind but recovered quickly. "Just a few minutes. I found the problem. Now I just need to get the pipes back together and we'll be done."

A baby's cry was heard and Lenny lifted an eyebrow. "How old is the baby. I hadn't heard anything about it."

Betsy's eyes darted away. "I never said anything to my parents."

"So, where have you been all this time? I know you went to California…"

Betsy grimaced. "I need to get the baby. Show yourselves out when you're done."

They watched her leave the room, and then Lenny looked up at Rossi. "What do you think?"

"It's too soon to tell, but it's possible."

Lenny quickly finished up, and they left. As they were walking to the vehicle, Lenny said, "Next on my list is Lisa Brown."

Rossi's eyebrows went up. "Another name from our suspect list."

Lenny groaned. "That doesn't make me feel any better."

"What's the story with this one?"

"Lisa was always tagging along with the group. She was a wannabe. Most of us felt sorry for her because Betsy and the other cheerleaders made her life miserable."

"Did she ever approach you or single you out?"

Lenny shrugged. "The last time I saw her, she was running out of the high school gym with mascara running down her face."

"Any idea what happened?"

Lenny shook his head. "No. I was too focused on finding Mary Lou to give it any thought." He paused a moment and then asked, "Do we need to run the rag by the police station?"

Rossi nodded. "That might be a good idea."

There was silence in the vehicle while they made their way to the station and dropped off the evidence and then headed across town to where Lisa Brown lived. Once again, Lenny pulled to the curb and the two men got out and headed for the front door. Unlike at Betsy's house, this time Lenny had to ring the doorbell for the front door to open. When it did, the two men looked at each other for a moment before following Lisa inside.

Lisa Brown was dressed in an oversize teal sweatshirt and pink sweatpants that looked like they were three sizes too big for her. She had a Penguins baseball cap on her head, which seemed odd since she was inside and most women didn't wear hats in their own home.

Lisa's gaze didn't meet theirs as she said, "It's the shower drain that seems clogged. I don't understand what could be wrong with it."

Lenny gave a nod of his head. "I'll take a quick look and see."

Without looking at them, she nodded. She seemed to hesitate for a few seconds and then started moving down a hallway. "It's this way."

They were three quarters of the way there when the sound of a baby cooing had Lisa stopping for an instant. Still not lifting her head to look at them, she bit her bottom lip and said, "I need to tend to the baby. If you could find your own way, it's at the end of the hall on the right."

Lenny smiled. "Sure. No problem."

Lenny worked on the drain for nearly thirty minutes before he found the cause of the clog. He leaned forward to peer into the pipe and then hurriedly backed up as if he'd seen a ghost. "Shit!"

Rossi stepped closer. "What is it?"

Lenny shook his head. "It looks like part of someone's scalp."

Rossi moved in even closer. "Can you open the pipe up so that I can get it out?"

Lenny shook his head. "No, I don't have the equipment here with me. But I can replace this pipe with another one and we can take the whole pipe."

The sound of heels on the tile alerted the two men that they were going to have company soon. Lenny put the pipe in one of the unused trash bags he carried in his tool box and set it to the side as he grabbed a new pipe and went to work connecting it in the gap left by the other.

"Were you able to find out what the problem was?"

Lenny finished connecting the pipes before turning to look at Lisa. "Something must have been blocking the pipe. I put a new one on, and everything should be fine now."

Lisa looked like she wanted to say something else, but cries from somewhere in the house had her turning back to the door. "I need to get back to the baby. If you could see yourselves out…"

Lenny grinned. "Sure. No problem."

They waited till Lisa had left the room, and then Lenny stood and joined Rossi. Carrying his tool box and the garbage bag with the pipe inside, the two men left the house and made their way to Lenny's vehicle.

Once he had his seat belt on, Lenny started the vehicle and pulled out into traffic. "I have two more calls to get to today."

Rossi nodded. "Let's stop by the police station again on the way and drop off the pipe."

Lenny nodded and once again headed in the direction of the police department.

Rossi called Hotch en route, and when they pulled up in front of the building, he and Morelli were there waiting for them.

Morelli walked around to Lenny's side and leaned in to rest his forearms on the open window. "We seem to be seeing a lot of each other today."

Lenny shook his head. "Crazy, isn't it."

It didn't take long to transfer the evidence, and then they were on their way to the third home on Lenny's list.

As they neared the house, Lenny frowned. "You know, all three of these women live within a couple of blocks of where Mary Lou and I live."

Rossi nodded. "Who's house are we visiting now?"

"Laurie Deckman. She just moved in. This house has been vacant for nearly two years…" Lenny broke off in the middle of what he was saying as a thought occurred to him. "As a matter of fact, Alexis Denton used to live here when we were in high school. Like Lisa, she was always tagging along, trying to be one of the crowd. The family moved when the father committed suicide."

Lenny pulled to the curb, and they got out and headed to the house. As they got close, the front door opened. Laurie Deckman stepped out onto the porch. "I'm glad you could make it on such short notice. I don't know what could be wrong with the drain."

Lenny smiled as he took in the pristine black slacks, two-inch black pumps, charcoal-gray button-down blouse, and expertly made-up face. The only thing that seemed incongruent was the oversize yellow floppy hat that she was wearing at an angle that totally covered her hair. "I'll take a look and see what I can find."

Laurie frowned. "When the house was inspected, I was told I might need to replace the plumbing. Although the house has been renovated thirteen times over a period of forty-three years, it still has the original plumbing and wiring."

Lenny frowned. "It's possible the plumbing might need a makeover."

She nodded. "How long would it take to do that?"

Lenny shrugged. "That depends."

Laurie frowned. Before she could say any more, a baby's screams were heard, causing her to turn her head to the side.

The movement caused the hat to fly up on one side, and Lenny felt like he was going to be sick. There was a chunk of the woman's scalp that was missing, and if he wasn't mistaken, it looked fresh. He turned to Rossi and, from the narrow-eyed way the other man was studying Laurie, knew he'd seen it as well.

She turned back to them quickly and said, "Take a look. The one that's giving me problems is in the bathroom. If the pipes need overhauled, though, I'd rather get everything done at once. I'll find you when I've taken care of the baby."

Lenny nodded. "All right."

They watched her hurry away and then made their way to the bathroom, where he did an assessment to see what might be causing the issue. It was as he was checking the shower drain fifteen minutes later that he found it. "Hey, Uncle Dave."

Rossi moved over beside him and squatted down. "What do you have?"

Lenny looked around and then pointed.

Rossi looked in the drain and said, "We don't seem to be narrowing down the suspect list."

Lenny chuckled. "That's just what I was thinking."