Smoky Mountain Investigation

by Annslee Urban

  Nick gave a slow nod and his eyes narrowed. “This is the worst kind of predator. Psychopaths like him thrive on thrill-seeking, risk-taking behavior. The riskier the chances, the more the endorphin rush. They purposely leave clues and become experts in concealing their identity. The more they get away with, the more powerful they feel.”

  “I hope that’s not the good news.”

  Nick chuckled at that. “The guy thinks he’s invincible. He’ll get sloppy, cut corners somewhere. That’s when we’ll catch him.”

  She glanced Nick’s way. “And in the meantime?”

  “Wait.”

  That was the part she didn’t like.

  A shiver danced up her spine and Kylie jumped to her feet. She needed to get moving again, burn off some anxiety. Huffing a sigh, she lengthened her stride toward the living room. Saturdays used to be fun. She wished now that she’d gone in to work.

  “Okay. Time to go.”

  Kylie halted, whirled around to face Nick. “You’re leaving me?”

  “Nope. We’re going on a walk.” Nick grabbed their jackets off a peg by the door.

  “But I thought you were compiling facts and clues in a flowchart format.”

  “I already finished. If you had stayed seated long enough, you would have noticed.” He sent her another toe-curling smile.

  Brother. Give him a couple days without drama and he was all smiles and charm. She swallowed, refocused. “So quickly. Any revelation?”

  He hitched one muscular shoulder. “We need more facts.”

  “What are your thoughts so far?”

  “You’re not going to like them.”

  She wrinkled her nose. “Not Max again?”

  Nick nodded. “Nothing conclusive, but he fits the mold. He knows your schedule, your personal information and has a vested interest in a big story.”

  “Max, a stalker?” Kylie thought out loud, trying to digest the notion. It wasn’t happening. “He’s a lot of things, but not that.”

  “Okay, consider this scenario.” Nick squinted an eye and held up a finger. “The guy causes havoc in your life, then insists you write about it. He gets media coverage and also gets to watch his victim squirm. A serial killer’s dream.”

  “You really believe Max orchestrated this so I can report his brutal crimes, all the way up until—” she had to force the words out “—the time he murders me?”

  Nick instantly sobered. “Just a theory at the moment.”

  She appreciated Nick’s expertise and hard work, but she would reserve speculating on Max for the time being. She breathed deep, thinking she should feel some relief from that. Then again, they had no other leads. Meaning anyone and everyone she knew was still a suspect.

  Suddenly, she felt antsier than ever. She needed air. “What about that walk?”

  Nick tossed her jacket to her.

  * * *

  A clear blue sky made a nice backdrop for the endless sea of evergreens and majestic mountains. The air was crisp and refreshing. With all the banter about the killer’s motives and such, Nick needed a breather as much as Kylie.

  Nick rested against the porch railing and waited as Kylie zipped up her jacket. He caught the gleam of her silky dark curls, ruffled by the slight breeze. He couldn’t imagine anything happening to her.

  Something hard and tight lodged in Nick’s chest. He breathed through it, allowing the fresh mountain air to calm him and get his mind back on track.

  Nick refused to let fear creep in and distract him. He needed to stay calm for Kylie’s sake. He was a soldier who knew how to put his emotions aside, do what was needed—a perspective he needed to keep in mind.

  He glanced over at Kylie. “Steven told me about a trail about a quarter mile from here. It leads to a granite dome overlooking a valley. Great view, I hear.”

  Kylie’s face brightened. “What are we waiting for?”

  Nick took that as a yes. He fingered his waistband, making sure his phone was in place. “Okay, let’s go.”

  They hiked up a small slope, the roar of waterfalls and birds in the distance. For the better part of an hour they threaded their way through bristly trees and tangled vegetation, then followed a narrower trail of sparser growth and knobby tree roots. As Kylie stayed close by his side, the forest around them evoked memories of better times, when he and Kylie had explored miles of Blue Ridge trails.

  They had been young, so in love.

  A familiar ache clutched his chest. Nick let out a slow breath, tried to recover.

  There was nothing he could do to guard against the irrational feelings that came when he least expected. Ten years should have been enough time to move on from the past.

  But one look at Kylie and he was eighteen again.

  His life had spiraled out of control so quickly. One day he was a big man on campus, captain of the football team and boyfriend to the cutest girl in school. The next day, he was met by averted glances and shaking heads. He didn’t blame his classmates. He should have been there for Conrad.

  Rejection and loss had intensified the guilt and sadness that already saddled his shoulders. He hadn’t been able to sleep or eat, or even be around Kylie.

  Nothing in Asheville would ever be the same for him. So he’d given himself an ultimatum: stay cooped up in this little town where the shadows of the past would be ever present, or make a clean break and start fresh.

  His choice shut Kylie out of his life.

  Running away hadn’t been easy, but coming back was worse.

  The crest of the hill neared. He pushed all that aside as his focus changed. He stepped up his pace.

  “Hey.” Kylie’s voice came from behind him.

  Nick stopped midstride. He wheeled around. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to get ahead of you.”

  Kylie grabbed onto a branch to help her up the embankment. Her soft-soled shoes slipped a bit. “Good. I thought maybe you were trying to ditch me.”

  He chuckled at that, hoping that wasn’t really what she believed. “Never.” He caught her hand, pulling her up to a level spot.

  “Thank you.” She leaned against a tree and caught her breath.

  “You’re welcome.”

  Her long lashes flicked up at him. “It’s hard, isn’t it?”

  Nick studied her. “What’s hard?”

  She shrugged and walked toward him. “Being back in Ashville and being here with me.” The look on her face was both tender and apologetic.

  His pulse slowed. Had he been that obvious? “I’m sorry. I don’t want you think I was ignoring you. I just—”

  She shot up her hand. “No excuses. I understand.”

  Nick stared at her, feeling the fragile state of their relationship start to crumble. He’d never want her to think that he didn’t care about her. “Kylie, you don’t understand.”

  “Nick, I know that spending time with me, let alone protecting me from a raving lunatic, wasn’t what you had in mind when you arrived in Asheville.” She paused, her lips together for a moment. “And I realize how unfair it is that you got sucked into my problems.”

  True, his original plans hadn’t included seeing Kylie, but now that their paths had connected, he wasn’t going anywhere. “I have no intention of letting you walk through this alone.”

  A succinct answer, because the truth of his motives to get in and out of Asheville without stirring up the dust of the past was far more complicated.

  “No, Nick.” Kylie shoved back her hair. “You need to concentrate on keeping up Bentley’s Hardware Store and helping your brother get back on his feet.”

  That wasn’t even an option. He shook his head. “It’s not that simple.”

  She kept a glare of insistence on her face, making him uneasy. “Simple or not, I don’t want you involved in this as atonement for the past.”

  So that’s it. Nick didn’t like the way that sounded. Even if there was a thread of truth involved. “Kylie, I want you safe. Nothing more.”

  She started to speak, then fell s
ilent, but her green eyes told him all he needed to know. She didn’t believe him.

  Finally she shrugged, her voice even. “I decided to put in for some vacation time and go visit my family for a while. Maybe it will throw the stalker off and put him back into hiding, or make him so mad that he’ll make a fatal mistake that will lead to his arrest.”

  Nick huffed under his breath. “You know that’s not likely. He’s riled up and ready. No matter where you are, you’re not safe.”

  Kylie’s eyes misted over. “It’s just too hard, Nick.”

  Waiting for the stalker to make his move? Or being with him? Either way, he understood.

  “Kylie, listen.” Nick reached a hand out toward her, then dropped it when she shuffled back a step.

  “I’m serious.” Her firm words defied the uncertainty in her voice.

  He was serious, too. She wasn’t leaving and he planned to stick by her side through this ordeal. And he would have told her so, had it not been for the manic bleating of her cell phone.

  Kylie jerked, her eyes rounded. She plunged her hand into her coat pocket and retrieved her phone. She held it to her ear. “Hello.”

  Nick scratched his jaw and waited. Long moments passed like an eternity. Kylie didn’t speak, didn’t budge, until finally, she said, “Thank you, I’ll be right over.”

  She clicked off the phone and took a deep breath.

  “What’s going on, Kylie?”

  She blinked up at him, disbelief chasing across her features. “That was Dave Michelson. They’ve found another body.”

  Nick narrowed his gaze. “And why do they think this body is related to our case?”

  Kylie paused, swallowed. “His throat was slit.”

  NINE

  Kylie struggled to think. As a journalist, she’d reported on plenty of homicide cases. Careless, impulsive acts, usually the result of family disputes or drug-related crimes. But the senseless slayings over the past few days, coupled by a possible connection to Conrad’s murder, took on a whole new dimension. This was out of her league—and her comfort zone.

  Too bad she was stuck in the middle of it.

  Yellow crime-scene tape marked a section of dense forest adjacent to the Black Hawk rest area. The crime scene, just two miles from her home, swirled with blue-and-red strobe lights, nervous energy, officers and dogs.

  Kylie sighed and leaned against the front fender of a police cruiser. Hands shoved into her coat pockets, she refrained from checking her watch again. At last glance, two hours had passed and of that time ninety minutes had elapsed since Nick took off with Dave to investigate the area where the body was found.

  This time she couldn’t convince Dave to allow her into the crime scene. Thankfully, he’d enlisted Nick’s help. His expertise gave her some comfort.

  Kylie balled her fingers into fists in her pockets. Waiting for answers was brutal. She’d tried to relax, prayed, did a few stretches. Nothing helped.

  She drew in a deep breath, the air muggy and heavy. Not quite the revival she hoped for. “God will prevail,” she muttered under her breath. A trace of solace trickled through her.

  To her right, a branch snapped, underbrush rustled. Dave poked past a dense section of trees and strode into the clearing, brushing dirt from his hands. A distant crackle of thunder punctuated what she feared was a precursor to more bad news.

  She lifted her gaze. In spite of the storm looming in the distance, the sky above them remained an indigo-blue, with only a few wispy clouds. She felt a little better.

  Two seconds later Nick emerged from the same path and headed toward her, following at Dave’s heels.

  “We scoured the area. Pretty clean. Nothing in the way of evidence.” Dave removed his hat and swiped a bead of sweat from his forehead with the back of his thumb.

  “How about footprints?” Kylie asked.

  “A lot of fresh dirt was scattered around, but no definable shoe print. Looks like the victim was killed and then dumped here. No other signs of foul play.”

  “A dead body is enough foul play for me.” Nick nodded at Dave, then looked at Kylie. He raised one eyebrow. “You okay?”

  “I’ve had better days.”

  Nick smiled. “I’m right there with you, Ky.”

  Ky. He hadn’t called her that in...forever. Her chest tightened and breathing became a whole new challenge. The logical side of her brain reminded her that life with Nick was over.

  Too much time and history between them.

  Too bad emotion trumped sensibility at the moment.

  “Just remember, this guy’s days are numbered. He may think he’s brilliant, but we have a lot of brainpower on our side.” Nick sidled up to her, and his comforting arm slipped around her shoulder. This time she didn’t pull away.

  His optimism comforted her almost as much as his presence. Kylie wanted nothing more than to melt into his arms and erase the past ten years of their lives. Start anew.

  No more unsolved murders. No more guilt.

  Of course, that scenario wasn’t going to happen. Her irrational thoughts brought tears to her eyes, sparked her anger and made her heart ache all at the same time, reminding her of how much she’d lost.

  And worse, the nightmare that had started ten years ago still continued.

  Fighting a sigh, she raised two fingers to her throbbing temple, rotating them in gentle circles.

  This man standing beside her definitely had the power to break her heart again.

  What she needed was a little space from him. Or better yet, a whole new life, complete with a husband, a couple kids and a dog or cat, maybe even a gerbil. After this mess was over, that would be her goal. Find a nice guy, settle down. Maybe Florida would be a good place to—

  “About the last phone call, Kylie.”

  Dave’s voice broke up her rambling thoughts. He shifted his weight from one foot to the other, looking tired. Apparently, this case was wearing on him, too.

  “Although we have your cell tapped, there was a lot of static on our end. So, let’s go over what the caller said. Did he mention anything about another murder?” Dave continued, “Even a remote hint from him could help us.”

  Kylie shook off the chills racing through her extremities as she thought over Dave’s question. Even as each word of the dreadful conversation replayed in her head, nothing stood out as a hint. “Sorry, Dave. The caller didn’t insinuate anything about another murder. How long do you think the victim has been out here?”

  Dave gave a shrug. “Not too long. Three, maybe four hours tops. Rigor mortis hadn’t set in yet. Blood was still oozing from the wound when he was found.”

  Great. Kylie swallowed against a dry throat. More detail than she cared to know. “The person who found him didn’t see anything?”

  “No.” Dave shook his head. “It was a man and his wife. They spotted the body when they walked to the picnic tables to have lunch. There were no other vehicles in the area. They probably just missed the culprit.”

  “So you both agree that this crime is related to the airport murder and most likely Conrad’s?” She looked at Dave and then Nick.

  Dave gave a single nod and Nick’s frown deepened the creases around his eyes and answered her question even before he replied, “Afraid so.”

  As much as she was inclined to agree, she still held an inkling of hope that this was an unrelated murder. She hated to believe that the man who was stalking her was on a killing rampage.

  “Too many similarities.” Dave fixed his smoky gaze on her as if he could read her mind. “One precision slash across the neck. No other injuries noted, like the last victim and Conrad.”

  Kylie’s pulse quickened and she shoved the images of the other victims from her mind, afraid of what her churning stomach might do if she allowed them to surface.

  “Detective Michelson, look at this.” A voice rose above the commotion around them.

  Dave turned on the heel of his boot as a police officer, short and thick, with a harried expression on hi
s face, hustled toward the detective. “One of the dogs uncovered this.” He held up a wallet tangled in slimy moss.

  Dave dug a pair of gloves from his pocket and pulled them on. “Can’t beat those canine noses.” He took it from the officer, peeled away the green bog, then opened it and went through the contents.

  “This guy’s getting bolder all the time and not as careful.” Nick brushed up closer to her, tightening his hold around her shoulders. A warm charge zipped up her spine. Of course, Nick was merely attempting to calm her, although it was completely backfiring.

  “He’s pushing his limits, ditching a body in a rest area off the parkway in broad daylight,” Nick said, then added, “It is just a matter of time.”

  “Sooner rather than later, I hope.” Kylie eased away from him, out of the warmth of his embrace, hoping to clear her thoughts and create a safer distance between them.

  Crossing her arms, she eyed Nick, waiting for him to elaborate about the crime scene. He wasn’t looking at her, though. His attention was on Dave as he went through the wallet.

  For the first time since they’d left the mountain, Kylie studied Nick. Mud caked the soles of his scuffed boots and the green camo jacket over his white polo also bore splotches of dirt. He had a placid look on his face and his dark gaze seemed to haze over, revealing concern.

  Kylie’s insides twisted into a tight knot. She was appalled at how irritable and insensitive she’d been earlier. He wasn’t to blame for this nightmare or the fact that her heart still clung to the past. He’d moved on and owed her nothing. Yet he continued to walk through this trial with her, helping her stay safe and strong. A man of noble character. If nothing else, he was a good friend.

  That would have to be enough. Before she had time to fully convince herself of that fact, she heard Dave mutter, “Well, I’ll be.”

  Kylie whirled toward him. “What is it?”

  Dave waved a small card. “The victim’s ID. Thomas Crosby, from Hampton, Virginia. Have you ever heard of him?”

  Kylie took the laminated card and studied the picture on the front. “He doesn’t look familiar.” She handed it back to Dave.