Page 68 of Fatal Mistake
She recalled the earlier sense of peace and let it settle in as the group continued to chat. Had God been there all along for her, and she’d let her fear keep her from sensing His guiding presence?
Brynn charged into the room with several pieces of paper and a roll of tape. “I enlarged the map so you can see the roads. Just let me tape the pages together first.”
Brynn knelt at the coffee table and set to work. The tip of her tongue peeked out of the corner of her mouth, and she looked far more relaxed than normal. When she’d finished connecting six sheets of paper, she turned them over and dug a red marker from her pocket.
“I thought it might help if you used red to do this.” A shy smile on her face, she handed the marker to Tara.
Tara finally got that Brynn wasn’t standoffish; she was shy. Maybe socially awkward. Tara smiled her thanks and received a swift nod of acknowledgment in return.
Tara bent over the map and closed her eyes. She willed her mind back to the pump house and the maps. “There were ten Xs. I remember thinking they went with the ten names, but I knew I’d never remember all of the addresses. So I figured the first three went with the women he’d already killed and focused on the last—that’s it! I came up with a mnemonic for two of them like I did when I was learning foreign languages and couldn’t remember certain words.”
“What exactly do you mean?” Rick asked.
“You know, like the old ‘thirty days hath September’ rhyme many people know for remembering the number of days in each calendar month.”
“So what did you come up with?”
“Lone Wolf.” She shifted the map and tapped on L Street. “L Street NE for the L and NE in Lone. The word ‘lone’ has four letters and the cross street is Fourth.” She looked up, expecting to see that the team was impressed with her mnemonic. She received skeptical looks instead.
“Not that I doubt your abilities,” Rick said, his hesitant tone in direct contrast to his statement, “but you were terrified for your life, and you managed to create something like that?”
“First, I saw this before I heard Oren come home. Second, after using this memory system to learn three new languages, the process is second nature to me.”
“Okay, say you’re remembering this right,” Rick said. “We only have cross streets.”
“Oren’s map had buildings on it like you see when you zoom into Google Maps. If I have a map like that, I might be able to find the exact house.”
Brynn jumped to her feet. “I’ll print one out.”
“You said you remember two locations.”
She nodded. “The second one is W Street and Flagler. You know…the W and F from ‘wolf.’”
“These aren’t addresses from earlier bombs and could be the break we need in the investigation,” Rick said.
“Great work, Tara,” Cal said.
“Agreed,” Shane added. “You really came through for us.”
She felt herself beaming under the compliments, but she couldn’t pat herself on the back. “I haven’t found the actual houses yet, and there are still more names and addresses on his list.”
Brynn returned with the detailed map. “I zoomed in on and printed both intersections.”
Tara stared at the square boxes of connected homes. She was familiar with the area of row houses that D.C. was so famous for. She located the exact location of the first home and drew an X on it, but the other one failed her. “That’s all I can do. Sorry.”
“No worries,” Rick said. “We can review property records for the area and even go door-to-door if we have to.”
Tara sat back. A good thing she did, as the others scrambled to peer at the X.
“I’ll call out the address,” Cal said. “Who wants to look it up?”
“I will,” Shane volunteered.
“And I’ll take notes on what we discover.” Kaci took out a notepad.
Tara watched and listened as they worked.
Cal leaned back on his haunches. “We can provide protection for the women at this address, and I’ll arrange agents to stake out the house.”
