“Why didn’t you tell him?”
“I couldn’t deal with him on top of everything else. Nana helped me leave Cimarron City. I went to stay with her. I should have spoken up all those years ago. Now I know that, but I wasn’t in a good place. And I certainly wasn’t thinking rationally.”
“Hunter said you don’t want your father to know.”
“Not at the moment. I don’t want any drama. Knowing my dad, there would be drama.”
Hunter cleared his throat a second before a voice behind Sarah said, “What drama am I accused of?”
Sarah closed her eyes and inhaled a calming breath. The secret was out, and there was no way she could control who knew anymore.
Hunter approached Sarah, leaned toward her ear and whispered, “I’m here with you.” He held his hand out to her.
She clasped it and slowly faced her father in the doorway. “The night before my wedding I went with my girlfriends to a party at the lake. Someone spiked my soft drink. The last thing I remember until I woke up hours later was sitting by a tree, trying to keep the world from spinning out of control. A guy said he could help me.” A faint vision of the man wavered in her mind. She gasped. Then everything went black. “I saw him. Not his face but he had a medium build and—” The image hovered just out of sight, and no matter what she did, she couldn’t bring it forth.
“What?” her dad asked in a tight voice.
“I can’t remember.” She looked her father square in the eye. “When I woke up early the next morning, I knew that I had been raped. I—I was lying where Terri’s body was found at the dumpsite.”
The color washed from her father’s face. He grabbed the doorframe and steadied himself.
“Then today, Sarah received flowers with a note and the engagement ring I gave her attached to the bouquet.” Hunter pointed to the vase behind him. “Our conclusion is that the guy who killed Terri also assaulted Sarah years ago.”
“And now he has Alicia,” her dad said in monotone.
She squeezed Hunter’s hand. “I became pregnant and had a son. David died six years ago from juvenile Huntington’s. It’s a genetic disease. I had myself checked to see if I carried the gene, but I don’t. David got it from the man who raped me—a man who has a fifty-fifty chance of developing the disease. Usually it begins to appear after age thirty. It’s possible he has it and is seeing a doctor about it, but people who get it have relatives who’ve come down with it. It runs in families. It’s a long shot, but we might be able to track the killer using that information. There isn’t any cure for it. If he develops the disease, he’ll slowly die from complications, from not being able to walk to losing his memory.”
“But he might only be a carrier?” Mark asked.
“Yes, but there will be evidence of it in his family lineage. He might not even know he has the gene.” Sarah watched the play of emotions flash across her father’s face from shock to anger, which finally won out in the end.
“You were raped. You had a son, and you kept that from me.” He clenched his hands at his side. “Did everyone know but me?”
“Nana and Rebecca and later Alicia knew. David loved having Alicia come visit.”
Her father opened his mouth but snapped it closed without saying anything. He pivoted and charged up the stairs. Seconds later, the front door slammed shut, the sound so loud it reverberated through the house.
Sarah blew out a loud breath. “My decisions when I was nineteen weren’t always the best ones. I can’t change the past. Believe me. I would if I could. I have to live with my choices. David was a special kid, and I wish he was here today.” The memory of the last time she held him inundated her. David died in her arms. Tears of sorrow and regret welled into her throat, threatening to be released. She couldn’t now. Alicia’s life depended on her finding the killer.
Hunter slipped his arm over her shoulders and drew her close. “I’m sorry he isn’t.”
Mark walked to the whiteboard, flipped it over, and wrote, “possible Huntington connection,” at the bottom of the short list of clues they had on the killer. “I’m going to study the disease and see how we can use it. Without a court order, we can’t get medical records, but possibly we can start by looking into any suspect’s family. That disease will be hard to keep quiet for long.”
Hunter pressed her even closer to him. “The problem is, we don’t have any good suspects. We thought we did, but the guy was in jail when Alicia was taken. Sarah and I will go and interview Richard and Nora Bennett again. Maybe they’ve remembered something about their daughter’s movements in the last day or so before she was taken. We’ll also talk with her best friend, Rhonda.”
Sarah crossed the room and added Donna Conroy’s name to the clue side. “I think she was a would-be victim, but the killer was interrupted while taking her. We have video of people who were at the library when she was. Her drink was spiked, and when she walked to her car in the parking lot, she went down. Two young men helped her and possibly saved her life.”
Mark frowned, emphasizing the tired lines on his face. “I want those men interviewed. Maybe one or both is our killer. They could have gotten cold feet and didn’t go through with it.”
“I don’t think so. They both would have been a young child when I was attacked. We’re looking for someone around my age or older.”
Mark walked toward the exit. “Still check them out. I’ll look into the Huntington’s angle. Time is running out.”
Officer Harris passed Mark as he left. When she came into the rec room, she waited until Mark had climbed the steps. “The lab is rushing the DNA analysis on the gum you found in the yard.”
“Let the lab know we’re under a deadline. I need to know if the gene that causes Huntington’s Disease is in the DNA,” Hunter said.
“Will do, and I’m here to collect the flower vase.”
“Did Mark agree to put an officer on Donna?” Sarah asked as Officer Harris left with the bouquet.
“Yes. He called the station and had one sent to her house.”
“I’m going to call her and let her know. I’m not sure if she would answer the door otherwise even with the officer wearing a uniform. I wouldn’t.” Sarah had put Donna in her contact list when she left the young woman’s house. She tapped Donna’s name and listened as the phone rang. Finally, it went to voicemail. “Let’s swing by her place. She didn’t answer. I’ll feel better knowing everything’s okay, and I’d like to introduce her to the officer. Then we can go see the Bennetts.”
On the short drive to Donna’s house, Sarah tried to tamp down the pounding of her heartbeat. She didn’t have a good feeling about this. What if the killer found out they’d interviewed Donna? Maybe she’d seen more than she realized. When Sarah talked to her dad, she’d remembered the medium-build guy clearer. As he held his hand out to her, he’d been wearing a long sleeve shirt. Donna could have seen the man who is the rapist, and she didn’t remember. Sarah wouldn’t be surprised because the mind often tried to protect a person from a traumatic experience by blocking it. She’d dealt with witnesses who’d seen a perpetrator and couldn’t actually describe him.
Hunter pulled into the driveway while Officer Martin parked at the curb. The second Sarah climbed from the SUV, she ran toward the porch with Hunter right behind her.
Please, Lord, let Donna be safe. But a couple of minutes later, Donna still hadn’t answered the door.
Sarah peeked into the living room window. The curtains were drawn although there was a small opening. What little she spied didn’t tell her anything. “We need to check all the windows and any other doors into the place.”
“Officer Martin, stay here. Continue to knock and ring the bell while we go around back.” Hunter started toward the side of the house, a few steps behind Sarah, each one putting on latex gloves.
When she reached the back door, she tried the knob. It turned. A chill streaked down her spine.
Chapter Eight
Hunter surged past Sarah, his gu
n drawn. Together they went through Donna’s house, clearing rooms as they progressed.
In the foyer, Hunter opened the front door and briefed the police officer on what he was doing. Officer Martin contacted the station while Hunter and Sarah continued through the rest of the house. Tension gripped Hunter as he moved through the bedrooms with Sarah behind him. Approaching the last one, the only closed door in the hallway, he glanced over his shoulder at her. She’d been through the wringer the past few days. She nodded once, and he pushed the door wide and moved inside, his weapon raised.
Empty. He made his way to the half bath off the master bedroom. Nothing out of place. “Clear.”
He returned to Sarah. “She isn’t here, and her car’s in the garage. Check her dresser and see if anything looks like it’s been moved like Alicia’s stuff had. I’ll look in the closet.”
In the small walk-in, clothes were tossed on the floor with only half hanging up on the rods. Was that normal for Donna, or was the killer leaving them a message?
“Hunter, her lingerie is gone.”
He hurried into the bedroom and inspected the top drawer, which was pulled open with only two panties in it.
“Do you think the killer knew we talked to her?” Sarah asked as she completed her search of the dresser.
“Maybe, especially if he’s connected to the college. He might have seen us there and followed us, although I didn’t see anyone tailing us.” He thought back to the trip between the school and Donna’s house. Even with Sarah in his SUV, he kept his usual vigilance when he drove. “He could have decided to take care of a loose end.”
“I’m a loose end.”
His chest constricted. “I know. That’s why you can’t go off by yourself. We’re a team working this together.”
Although he didn’t ask a question, Sarah nodded. “When Dad and I were talking earlier, I got a brief image of the guy who offered to help me at the lake party. Medium build. On the thin side but after fifteen years that could have changed.”
“You didn’t remember anything about his face?”
“No. I don’t remember what he looks like. I’ve blocked it from my mind—if I ever got a glimpse of him. I was too woozy.”
“I’m calling this in. This house will need to be thoroughly examined from top to bottom.” The urgency doubled, solidifying his gut into a huge knot. Two women’s lives were at stake. Make that three. He didn’t want to lose Sarah again. That thought came unforbidden into his mind, taking him by surprise. When had he stopped being angry with her for leaving him?
Hunter exited Donna’s bedroom and strode toward the foyer. “Officer Martin, I’m taking Sarah to Chief Kimmel’s house. Then I’ll be back. Don’t let civilians inside. This is a crime scene.”
Hunter opened the front door and stepped out onto the porch, waiting for Sarah to do the same. She moved to the living room entrance and scanned the area then joined him outside.
On the walk to his SUV, she stopped halfway there. “I think Donna knows the killer. The same for Terri and Alicia. He took her today because he fears she could identify him.”
“Why didn’t he try to take her earlier?”
“With Terri’s death, he stepped up his game probably because he couldn’t take the chance she would remember something. Like me, she might be blocking something from her mind. Trauma will do that to witnesses and victims.”
“You still haven’t heard back from the FBI about a similar pattern in other places in the U.S.?”
“I should soon. Even though it seems like an eternity since this case began, it’s only been a few days. The agent working on this is one of the best at tracking down information. He’ll call, hopefully, today.”
After Sarah slipped into in the front seat, Hunter started toward the back of his SUV, putting on a latex glove. He paused at the right rear wheel and checked for trackers. Nothing. He rounded to the side and ran his hand over the places a tracker could be. His fingers encountered a small rectangular object held in place with magnets. He withdrew an evidence bag from his pocket and dropped the tracker into it.
When he slid behind the steering wheel, Sarah reclined in her seat, eyes closed. Hunter secured what he’d found then started the car.
Her eyes popped open. “The lack of sleep is catching up with me.”
He gestured toward the console where the bag sat. “I found a tracker on my car.”
Sarah folded her arms over her chest. “Well, now we know how he’s following us. What made you look?”
“The fact I didn’t see anyone following us from the college to Donna’s.”
“We have to find her, too. We led the killer to her. Gave him a reason to go after her again.” She scrubbed her hands down her face. “I need lots of coffee. I can’t afford to rest until he’s caught.”
“I have just the place, and it has a drive thru window. I could use coffee, too.” Hunter gripped the steering wheel tighter. Although the killer most likely knew where Donna lived, he should have called for an officer before they left Donna’s home. Was his sleep deprivation causing him to make mistakes? That fifteen minutes from her place to when he left after talking with Mark could have made the difference between life and death for Donna.
* * *
While Hunter returned to Donna’s house, Sarah sat at the computer in the rec room reviewing the library surveillance tapes from the night Donna was setup. She’d gone through all the camera footage from the entrances to the building and noted when people came in and left. The process was time consuming and tedious.
She drank the last of her extra-large cup of coffee as someone she knew came through the library’s main double doors. Sarah straightened and paused the tape. Ben Woodward. Why had he been there? He worked in administration at the college.
As she watched him cross the main floor to the stacks on the left, her cell phone rang. She stopped the tape again and answered the call from the FBI agent in her office working on scouring the records across the country for similar crimes.
“I hope you have good news for me, Dale. Have you got any cases?”
“Four cases of multiple rapes and deaths in an area by one killer all over the United States—Oregon, California, New York and Colorado.”
“In one area in those states?”
“Maybe two victims from the same city but others spread out over the state.”
Sarah stared at the still screen on the computer. It wasn’t possible for Ben to have committed this crime. For just a second she’d considered him. Although Ben had moved to Cimarron City from New York, he wasn’t in this town when she was fifteen years ago. He was too young. “How many victims are we talking about?”
“Sixteen. In Oregon, there were three women. The same in Colorado. In New York four victims and in California six.”
“Send me the information you believe shows a connection to what’s happening in Cimarron City.”
“I have.”
“Thanks. Let me know if you find any other information that might be related.”
When she hung up, she immediately started the video again. Five minutes later, Alicia and Ben came from the back of the library and made their way to the main front doors, Ben’s arm slung around Alicia. Sarah hadn’t realized that Alicia had been in the library. She must have arrived prior to the times Sarah had requested for the tapes.
A few feet from the exit, Donna entered and stopped to talk to her niece and Ben. Sarah quickly wrote down on her pad Donna’s time of arrival and where she went.
For the next half hour, she followed Donna’s progression through the library until she couldn’t see the young woman on any tapes. Chief Scott had said there were no cameras in that part of the library where Donna had been. She’d listed everyone Donna talked to. She would have to track down who they were. She hoped the campus police would help her with that. They’d gone through this footage already.
She printed out two sets of pictures of those who entered the library that she was unable to identify. After
placing them into a folder, she made a call to Chief Scott and informed him Donna was missing.
“You think the killer’s taken her?”
“Yes.” She hoped they were wrong. “I’ve been reviewing the video from the evening she was drugged in the library. Can you come over and help me ID the people she interacted with and who went back to the area of the library where she was studying?”
“I can’t believe she’s been taken. Why was she?”
“Don’t know. Come around to the patio and use that door. It’s locked, but you can knock, and I’ll let you in.”
“I’ll be there in twenty minutes. I’ll help you any way possible. I can show pictures of the ones I can’t ID around the campus and in the library as well as to my officers. See you soon.”
After she disconnected the call, Sarah rose and stretched, her muscles aching from sitting for so long, her eyes tired from looking at the computer screen for hours. She needed more coffee. As she left the rec room, she nearly ran into Officer Quinn near the doorway. “Why are you standing out here?”
“Detective Davis asked me to watch you while he was at the crime scene.”
“I’m going upstairs to get coffee. Do you want some?”
“Sure.”
When she started for the steps and the officer did too, she stopped. “I’d prefer you stay down here and keep an eye on the evidence in the rec room. I’ll be fine. My brother-in-law is your chief, and he’s upstairs.” She patted her weapon she’d removed from her purse and placed in a holster at her side. “I’m armed and can take care of myself.”
“Yes, ma’am. I will.”
“I should be back down here soon, but if I’m not, I’m expecting Chief Scott from the college campus police to come to the back door. Let me know if he arrives.”
Sarah continued her trek to the kitchen and poured two tall mugs of coffee. The smell invigorated her momentarily as she exited the room and headed for the stairs.
Mark came down the hallway from the bedrooms. By the exhausted look on his face, she didn’t know how he was upright and walking. “Has Hunter returned from Donna Conroy’s house?”
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