Hell's Highway

by Gerri Hill

  “Okay,” she said with a nod, knowing that was Murdock’s way of saying Reynolds would be joining them in a few days.

  “Welcome to the team, Andrea. Try to keep her in line. Safe travels.”

  He signed off before either of them could reply as was his habit. Cameron closed the laptop, embarrassed now to be alone with Andrea. Murdock had completely blown her cover.

  “Anything you want to explain?”

  Cameron shook her head. “I think Murdock pretty much covered it, don’t you?” She stood, running her fingers nervously through her hair, trying to find the words to explain why she’d lied.

  “So you thought you needed an excuse for me to come with you?”

  “Didn’t I? If I’d told you I didn’t want to leave Sedona without you, would you have just given up your job and come with me?”

  “I’m not sure. When you found me crying in the bathroom I was asking myself how I could just let you walk out of my life so easily.” She shrugged. “I don’t know what I would have done. I only know I was hurting because you were leaving.”

  “Well, this was all I could think of. I wanted you with me, but I knew you needed a purpose. Joining the team seemed to make sense. We work well together.”

  “Yes. And Murdock went along with it?”

  Cameron took Andrea’s hands and pulled her to her feet. “His team is ex-military but I convinced him your training in LAPD was sufficient.” She squeezed tightly against Andrea’s fingers. “I’m sorry I lied, Andi. But I just couldn’t leave without you.”

  Andrea tilted her head, eyebrow cocked. “I pulled my weapon on my captain. Does he know that?”

  “Yes, of course. Who do you think put together the files on you?”

  She shook her head with a smile. “The thing that got me fired with LAPD probably helped get me hired with the FBI. Amazing.”

  Cameron hesitated. “Are you angry? I mean, about the whole thing.”

  “Of course not,” Andrea said. “Truth is, I think it’s sweet.”

  “Sweet, huh? Well, it seems kinda silly now. I mean, I should have just told you how I felt and we could have talked about it.”

  “But?”

  “But I was afraid you’d turn me down,” she admitted honestly. “This way, if you said no, it was about the job and not about us.”

  Andrea was studying her, and Cameron did her best not to shift uneasily under her gaze. It had seemed like a good idea at the time. Now, she was feeling a bit vulnerable over the whole thing.

  Andrea’s gaze softened and she moved closer, linking her hands behind Cameron’s neck. She kissed her softly, then moved her mouth to her ear. “I love you,” she whispered before pulling away. “The thought of you and Lola walking out of my life was killing me. So I’m glad you asked Murdock to let you have a partner. And I’m even happier that I’m that partner.”

  Cameron closed her eyes and held Andrea tightly, feeling the completeness she always felt with her. She’d thought—after Laurie died—that her chances of finding some happiness in her life were gone. But Andrea filled her, heart and soul. She’d only been half a person before Andrea. Andrea was the part that had been missing. She’d recovered after Laurie. That’s because, while she loved Laurie, it was never like this. She didn’t feel it deep in her soul like this. If anything happened to Andrea, she didn’t think she’d survive.

  And that scared her to death.

  CHAPTER TWO

  Andrea moved quietly through the tall trees, along the same trail she and Cameron had taken yesterday. Dawn was already chasing the shadows away, and she noted how much her morning routine had changed since she’d met Cameron. In Sedona, she always had such a deep-seated compulsion to race along the trail, getting to her rock slab before dawn, as if she had somehow failed if she wasn’t there in time to greet the sunrise, to meet the new day head on. She knew that was a necessity then, that was how she survived mentally, emotionally. That was how she lessened the guilt that she carried.

  All that changed when Cameron came into her life. She still felt like she needed this time alone—and Cameron encouraged it, in fact—but she wasn’t as compelled to find a spot for her early morning Tai-Chi sessions and reflections as she had been in the past. It was no longer a necessity to survive. She found she needed it now, if for nothing else, than to enjoy the solitude and to take time to give thanks for the peace in her life. It gave her a time to look inside herself and recognize the changes there.

  Today she climbed along the trail, the high altitude making her breathing labored and she stumbled over a rock, catching herself on a limb. She paused, looking for the spot they’d found yesterday, a side trail that would take her to an open space and provide a view of the mountains...and the sunrise.

  She tried not to feel guilty that she wasn’t back at the rig helping Cameron get ready to move. She had planned to help this morning, but Cameron had said she could do it just as easily and had nearly pushed her out the door with a quick kiss and a “please be careful.” Andrea couldn’t help the smile that came to her face. Cameron would never admit it, but she suspected Cameron needed her alone time as much as Andrea did. She usually took a run in the evenings while Andrea started dinner, much like Andrea took her morning hikes while Cameron took care of breakfast. It was a practice that had now become habit, which seemed to suit both of them.

  She pushed on, finding the break in the trees after ducking under a low-hanging pine. While certainly beautiful here, she did miss the unobstructed views and the red glowing sunrises of Sedona, the earth flaming in color around her as she raised her arms to the new day, her skin bathed in the reddish hues. She closed her eyes, picturing one of the hundreds of sunrises she’d seen, not surprised by the clarity of it in her mind’s eye.

  She took a deep breath, not minding the tall Ponderosa pines blocking her view. In fact, the sweet aroma added to the stillness of the morning as it came alive with chirping birds and chattering squirrels. Finally, those sounds receded to the background as she shifted into form, her practiced movements coming without thought and she glided through her routine, her focus turned inward as her slow, even breathing chased all thoughts from her mind.

  CHAPTER THREE

  “Christ, this is in the middle of nowhere,” Cameron said as she peered through the windshield at the endless Mojave Desert—sand, cactus and a smattering of creosote bushes stretching out for miles in every direction, the hulking shape of distant mountains the only bump on the horizon. “Who the hell lives out here?”

  “Desert dwellers,” Andrea said. “Some people love this.”

  “Where the hell are we going to park the rig?”

  “I vote for Joshua Tree. I’ve been there a few times hiking. They have good campgrounds, both in the northern section and southern.”

  “If we camp close to where the body was found—in the southern section—that’s a hell of a long way from Barstow,” Cameron said.

  Andrea had spent some time in the desert when she lived in LA, but it wasn’t until after the ambush that she ventured as far out as Joshua Tree and the Salton Sea. She knew they could find camping—and water—in the National Park, but yes, it was a long way from their first body.

  “How about this,” she suggested. “Go to Barstow first. Find the local police who Murdock said would show us the site. Then visit the county coroner and go over the autopsy report. We can just park for the night somewhere.”

  “And then go to Joshua Tree?”

  “Yes. I don’t think we’ll be able to sit in one place like you did in Sedona,” she said.

  “Okay,” Cameron agreed. “Find the email with the name of the police chief who we’re to contact. Give him a call and let him know we’re about an hour from Barstow.”

  Andrea nodded, moving Lola off of her so she could open her laptop. The kitten hopped down and moved to the back of the rig, finding her favorite spot on the loveseat. Andrea turned her attention back to her email, her gaze going to Cameron occasionally.


  Something was up with Cameron and she wasn’t quite sure what it was. She could tell it was a relief for Cameron to leave Canyonlands. Once they were away from people and alone again, she was back to her old self. But now, since Murdock’s call, she’d reverted back to being a bit distant from her. It was as if each mile that brought them closer to Barstow increased her apprehension. She wanted to find out what was going on in that beautiful head of hers but she didn’t want to push. She knew Cameron’s past affected her, knew of the protective shield she put up around her.

  But that shield had dropped in Sedona. It surprised her now that Cameron was trying to put it back in place.

  “This is it?” Cameron asked, hands on her hips as she stared down at the spot he pointed out.

  Andrea’s gaze followed Cameron’s, seeing nothing but rocks and sand. The heat of the midday sun baking the already crisp desert—the temperature was still stifling, even for September. Andrea was used to the desert around Sedona where September finally brought a relief from the summer heat.

  “Yep, this is it.”

  “Crime scene tape?”

  “Took it down a week ago,” the officer said as he spit a line of tobacco juice a couple of feet away from Cameron’s boot.

  Andrea saw the expression on Cameron’s face, and she quickly stepped forward before Cameron took the man’s head off.

  “Officer Burke, the crime scene investigators went over the area though, right?” she asked, watching as he packed his wad of tobacco tighter in his lower lip.

  “Oh, yeah. After they took the body—what was left of it—they took a bunch of pictures and some soil samples or something.” He spit again. “Wasn’t nothing here. No blood, nothing.” He shrugged. “Bet you a hundred bucks she was just a fender lizard,” he said.

  Cameron’s eyebrows shot up. “Fender lizard?”

  “Hooker. That’s what the truckers call them. They hang around truck stops, go knocking on the cabs at night.”

  “Soliciting?”

  “Yep. My brother is a trucker. He says sometimes those girls won’t take no for an answer.” He spit away from Cameron this time as his eyes raked over both of them. “You two really FBI?”

  “Really,” Andrea said as his eyes lingered on her chest. She had ditched her shirt earlier and was left in only a tight white T-shirt. She glanced at Cameron, wondering if she had more questions for him but she shook her head as she turned her back to them, her gaze moving across the desert. “Well, Officer Burke, thank you for showing us the spot. We’ll find our way back.”

  “If you need something else, just swing by the station.” He tipped his hat politely at them, then spit one more time before leaving them.

  “Déjà vu,” Cameron murmured as his car pulled away. “Dumped body and no evidence.”

  “Yeah. Eerily familiar,” she said as she wiped the sweat that threatened to roll down her cheek. “At least in Sedona, we had trails.”

  Cameron took the now familiar GPS gadget from her shoulder pack and marked their location, then glanced at Andrea. Andrea dutifully pulled up the notes on her cell phone where she’d jotted the location from the report Murdock had emailed them. She showed it to Cameron who nodded.

  “This is the place.”

  “Did you doubt him?”

  “Didn’t you?” Cameron asked as she walked a circle, her eyes scanning the desert floor.

  Andrea waited patiently. She’d been through this routine with Cameron in Sedona and knew she just wanted to be thorough.

  “Why behead them?”

  Andrea wondered if this was a test or if Cameron simply wanted her opinion. “To prevent identification would be the logical answer,” Andrea said. “But he left the fingers so he’s not concerned with fingerprints.”

  Cameron nodded. “So then why?”

  “Trophy?”

  Cameron smiled and nodded. “Some serial killers keep trinkets, an article of clothing, a picture, something of each victim so that they can go back and relive the kill.”

  “Keeping the head is a bit extreme. Not to mention the smell and decomposition.”

  “Yeah. If he’s a trucker, he’s not keeping the heads in the truck with him. He’d have to have a place somewhere, somewhere remote.”

  “If he’s beheading them, he’d also have to have someplace to carry out his crime in private. You’re not going to do something like that in a truck either.”

  “So maybe it’s not a trucker.”

  “A local?”

  Cameron shrugged.

  “Maybe he’s not keeping the heads,” Andrea said. “Maybe he dumps them someplace else.”

  “Why go to the trouble of cutting off the head if you’re just going to dump it?”

  “Well, we learned from Patrick Doe that serial killers like to toy with the police. Maybe that’s all he’s doing.”

  “And maybe he’s keeping them as trophies,” Cameron said. “Let’s go visit the coroner.”

  CHAPTER FOUR

  The county coroner was located in Apple Valley, about thirty-five miles from Barstow. Instead of leaving the rig in Barstow and driving the truck, Cameron wanted to be closer to Joshua Tree so they pulled into the small city in the motor home, towing the truck behind them. Andrea sat back and watched as Cameron handled the rig with expert ease, maneuvering through traffic as the GPS guided them to the coroner’s office. Parking, however, did not prove as simple.

  “I hate cities,” Cameron murmured as she circled through the parking lot and back to the street.

  “Park illegally? We have government plates,” Andrea suggested.

  “Murdock hates when I do that,” Cameron said with a smirk. “Sounds like a plan.”

  “You enjoy pushing his buttons, don’t you?”

  “What? You mean now that Collie is out of the picture?”

  Andrea noted that Cameron rarely mentioned Collie’s name since his murder. Even though she claimed their love-hate relationship was mostly hate, Andrea suspected Cameron missed Collie more than she let on. Of course, Collie just added to a long list of comrades and team members who Cameron had lost over the years.

  “Was Murdock always in charge? I mean, did he recruit you?”

  “He’s ex-military too. They formed two units to begin with. He was going to lead one of them, but the guy heading the operation dropped dead of a heart attack at fifty-two. They pulled Murdock in to take over and only raised his level as high as Special Agent. We have more clearance and leeway than your typical agents, but they wanted to keep us on the back burner,” Cameron explained.

  “Are there still two units? You only mentioned Collie’s team. Now Reynolds’s.”

  “He’s got another team that stays pretty much on the East Coast. I’ve never worked with them.” She pulled the rig to a stop along a curb plastered with no parking signs. “Will this do?”

  Andrea grinned. “Yes. Perfect.”

  “Great. And we’ll be sure to tell Murdock it was your idea when we get a ticket.”

  “Dr. Agnew?”

  “Yes, yes. And you are?”

  “FBI. Ross and Sullivan.” Cameron showed him her FBI badge as did Andrea. Dr. Agnew appeared to be in his eighties with a head full of thick, white hair. She found it hard to believe he was still practicing.

  “FBI?” He looked them over head to toe, both dressed in jeans and boots, although Andrea had put her shirt back on, covering the tight T-shirt. “Are you sure?”

  Cameron arched an eyebrow. “Yeah, quite sure. Are you sure you’re Dr. Agnew?”

  Andrea stepped forward and held out her hand to him which he shook vigorously. “Special Agent Ross and I are here about an autopsy you did a few weeks ago.”

  “I’ve done a lot of autopsies, missy. You’ll have to be more specific.”

  “Headless female found east of Barstow,” Cameron supplied.

  “Oh. That one. Yes. I remember. Jane Doe 23, I believe.”

  “Twenty-three? That many?” Andrea asked.

  “Som
e years more, some less. The desert can be brutal if you’re not prepared. Of course, the desert didn’t take them all,” he said as they followed him into an office. “Gunshot, knife wounds, strangulation. The occasional car accident,” he continued as he motioned to the visitor’s chairs. “Some will get identified over the course of the year so we’re not really left with that many truly unidentified bodies. May I ask why the FBI is interested in this one?”

  “Serial killer,” Cameron said.

  “Not in this county,” he said with a shake of his white head. “I would have surely heard of another victim matching this one if it was in one of the other districts.” He scratched his head. “Although I recall something similar seven, eight, maybe even ten years ago now. We seemed to have had a rash of headless victims. That’s not something you forget.”

  “The one we’re referring to is recent. Riverside County,” Andrea said. “Near the southern border of Joshua Tree. Just last week.”

  “Oh? That would be Dr. Copeland’s area then. Indio?”

  “Yes.”

  “I’m surprised I wasn’t consulted. But he’s good. A little on the young side, but competent.”

  Cameron hid her smile. Young to this man would be someone in their sixties. Instead, she leaned forward. “Can we see the file, please?”

  Dr. Agnew looked from one to the other. “FBI and all, I’d have thought you’d already hacked our computer and taken a look.”

  “There is certain protocol to follow,” Cameron said, glancing at Andrea, hoping for a little help. She was ready to get the file and get out of there.

  “Dr. Agnew, if the file is electronic, a copy would be helpful. You can just email it and we’ll be out of your hair,” Andrea said.

  He smiled at her, the kind of smile a grandfather might give a young child who’d asked a silly question.

  “The official copy is on the computer. They insist on it. My copy, however, is kept locked in the file cabinet. As it should be.”

  “And the two copies are different?” Cameron guessed.