“Evil to him who evil thinks,” I said.
It was then that I offered my theory about Deborah Harvey’s purse.
“I think it’s possible the killer knew who Deborah was,” I said. “Perhaps not when the couple was first abducted, but he may have known by the time he killed them.”
“Please explain,” Wesley said, studying me with interest.
“Have either of you seen the fingerprints report?”
“Yeah, I’ve seen it,” Marino replied.
“As you know, when Vander examined Deborah’s purse he found partials, smudges on her credit cards, but nothing on her driver’s license.”
“So?”
Marino looked perplexed.
“The contents of her purse were well preserved because the nylon purse was waterproof. And the credit cards and her driver’s license were inside plastic windows and zipped inside a compartment, thus protected from the elements and the body fluids of decomposition. Had Vander not picked up anything that would be one thing. But I find it interesting that he picked up something on the credit cards but not on her driver’s license, when we know that Deborah got out her license when she went inside the Seven-Eleven and tried to buy beer. So she handled the license, and Ellen Jordan, the clerk, also handled it. What I’m wondering is if the killer didn’t touch Deborah’s driver’s license, too, and then wipe it clean afterward.”
“Why would he do that?”
Marino asked.
“Maybe when he was inside the car with the couple, had the gun out and was abducting them, Deborah told him who she was,” I answered.
“Interesting,” Wesley said.
“Deborah may have been a modest young woman, but she was well aware of her family’s prominence, of her mother’s power,” I went on. “She may have informed the killer in hopes that he would change his mind, think that in harming them there would be hell to pay. This may have startled the killer considerably, and he may have demanded proof of her identity, at which point he may have gotten hold of her purse to see the name on her driver’s license.”
“Then how did the purse end up out in the woods, and why did he leave the jack of hearts in it?”
Marino asked.
“Maybe to buy himself a little time,” I said. “He would have known that the Jeep would be found quickly, and if he realized who Deborah was, then he was also going to know that half the law enforcement world was going to be out looking for them. Maybe he decided to play it safe by not having the jack of hearts found immediately, so he left it with the bodies instead of inside the Jeep. By placing the card inside the purse and putting the purse under Deborah’s body, he ensured that the card would be found, but probably not for a long time. He changes the rules a little but still wins the game.”
“Not half bad. What do you think?”
Marino looked at Wesley.
“I think we may never know exactly what happened,” he said. “But it wouldn’t surprise me if Deborah did exactly what Kay has proposed. One thing is certain – no matter what Deborah may have said or threatened, it would have been too risky for the killer to free her and Fred because they probably would have been able to identify him. So he went through with the murders, but the unforeseen turn of events could have thrown him off. Yes,” he said to me. “This could have caused him to alter his ritual. It may also be that leaving the card in Deborah’s purse was his way of showing contempt toward her and who she was.”
“Sort of an ‘up yours,’ ” Marino said.
“Possibly,” Wesley replied.
Steven Spurrier was arrested the following Friday when two FBI agents and a local detective who had been tailing him all day followed him to the long-term parking lot of the Newport News airport.
When Marino’s call woke me before dawn, my first thought was that another couple had disappeared. It took a moment for me to comprehend what he was saying over the phone.
“They popped him while he was lifting another set of tags,” he was saying. “Charged him with petit larceny. The best they could do, but at least we got our probable cause to turn him inside out.”