“You need me,” Risa told him, folding her arms again and staring him down. And if she was with him, she wasn’t alone in her apartment, he mulled. If she was being followed—and he was growing more convinced she was—then maybe she was safest with him.
“Tell me about the ankle,” Ethan countered. He wasn’t as worried about her being with him as he was about her health. He had no concerns about his ability to carry her out of the forest, but he didn’t want her to hurt it again. Still, he grinned. “Nice knee socks.”
“Hiding my new, smaller brace,” she said. “The boot went off yesterday morning. I walked on this all day yesterday. In fact, I’m only in this brace so that I don’t re-injure myself.”
“Are you sure you’re okay for hiking?” he asked. “You know this trail. It’s not easy. I have a long path planned.” Pulling out his map, Ethan showed her all the places he had marked—all the locations where the bodies had been found.
“I’m okay for any of it, and you shouldn’t be out here by yourself, Ethan.”
He could agree with that statement, but he struggled with wondering whether he agreed with it because she wasn’t just anyone coming along. She was Risa. He was beginning to think she could handle anything, and the fact of the matter was she probably could, possibly better than him.
“So,” he turned to her, something in his chest twisting as he took in her smile at having won, “let’s get going.”
Chapter Thirty-Seven
Two hours later, Risa stood at a small summit looking out over open land. Her crossed arms helped hold up the backpack that was just a little heavier than it was when they’d started.
She pulled out a granola bar, unwrapped it, and handed half to Ethan.
“I’m good,” Ethan dismissed it with a wave of his hand. He was looking off over the land in front of them.
“You don’t have to eat this, but you need to eat something. I can tell you’re not quite the hiker.”
“Hey!” His protest was swift and sharp.
“No, you’re in good shape!” Her voice turned soft then. “And I do like the shape you’re in, but different activities call on different muscle groups and can wear you out much faster than you might expect.” She shoved the food back at him. “Eat.”
She could tell the backpack wasn’t his usual MO, either. While hers held hiking materials—food, water, and spare straps—his held almost nothing for the actual hike. She’d also packed first aid—bandages, as well as inflatable braces for a broken arm or ankle. She had learned that one the hard way.
His pack contained case files, maps, GPS locations, and pictures of crime scenes. She hoped nobody caught them and examined his bag.
They shared a water bottle, and Risa thought that was an intimate thing given that they hadn’t still decided what they might be to each other. The hike would have been a good opportunity to talk about that, except that they were literally now stuck with each other unless they veered separate ways in the woods. One—that would have looked terrible in his report, and two—it would completely undermine everything she’d said to get him to let her come along. So maybe later they could have a chat and see if she should call him her boyfriend. Or if maybe he thought they were just fucking and she misunderstood.
They’d first stopped at the site where Kaylee Schulte had been found. The yellow tape was broken again, the loose ends blowing in the light breeze. The area still bore the remnants of the mementos people had brought to memorialize the little girl. Leaves had fallen on top of it, but there was nothing new to find, evidence-wise.
Using her compass and her own navigational skills, Risa had led Ethan to the next site—where Missy Harrison’s body had been found. There wasn’t much to see here, either.
Once again, the crime scene tape was broken and the scene trampled by visitors, but with so much less evidence to collect, no one had bothered protecting it. Only a single candle sat here, snuffed out some long time ago. Hopefully, it had not been left to burn while no one watched it.
Ethan commented that he needed to get someone out to pick up the debris—particularly the candles—as they were a fire hazard. He’d suggested carrying the candles out themselves, but Risa convinced him not to.
“Mind the ounces,” she told him, “and the pounds will mind themselves.”
He’d looked at her oddly.
“You don’t carry anything you don’t need to. Your pack can easily get too heavy, and extraneous items make you more likely to have an accident, or wear out, or…whatever. Someone else can get the candles.”
He’d nodded in agreement, and they’d left that site quickly enough, heading next to where Ester Holtzclaw’s body had been found. They’d intended to make a loop, checking that site, then Janet Deevers’.
Ethan had pointed out on the map the way the scenes were clustered together. The visual was helpful, but his notes made it clear there wasn’t a consistent twenty-to-thirty-year turnaround. There were gaps. They had gaps of fifty years between some of the killings, but Risa now suspected there was another murder or more in that time span that they simply hadn’t matched up. She wasn’t sure they wouldn’t stumble over another body as they walked the area where all the kids had been found.
Ethan had intended to come out here on his own, but he needed her, she thought. However, her need for him was beginning to concern her.
When he’d invited her to stay over two nights ago, she hadn’t been able to say no, having just been thoroughly satisfied on an evidence room desk. She should have taken that satisfaction home and slept well. But he’d asked so wonderfully, as though he wanted her. He’d said he needed her there.
But last night, Risa had put her foot down. She’d slept in her own bed, alone, just to prove that she could, that she wasn’t afraid. But while she had stayed in her own bed all night, alone, it had not been mission accomplished. Though she even managed a little sleep, had she proven that she didn’t need Ethan Eames? Not in the slightest.
Ethan broke her line of thought, pointing into the distance. “Okay, somewhere between here and there, we leave national forest land, right?”
She nodded, holding the map out, tracing lines to show him where they were.
“Ester Holtzclaw’s site is in that direction?” he asked her as he pointed.
“Yes,” Risa told him. “Ready to head over?”
Ethan nodded, and they started down the hill. It was a beautiful day, the temperature low enough to offset the exertion of the hike. If only they’d been out enjoying it instead of running a macabre trail to all the sites where bodies had been found.
Risa shook it off and tried to enjoy the walk and the company for the thirty minutes it took to get to the next location. The distance itself was not long, but the hike was difficult. Ethan let Risa pinpoint the spot as much as possible given the GPS, but it wasn’t precise. “I think this is it.”
Ethan shook his head at her and pointed then moved them over another ten yards. He pointed to the ground.
“This is the spot,” he said. “And we definitely have a serial.”
Chapter Thirty-Eight
Risa was certain that they were being watched. She’d been feeling it so much lately it was getting familiar. And she certainly did not like feeling it out here in the woods with no cell service.
She turned to tell Ethan, though he’d never seen the man she was certain was following her. He’d found no evidence of it other than what she’d already seen. Though he’d not had that same sensation of being watched that she did, he’d never discounted hers either. “Ethan, they’re out here.”
“What?” His whisper matched hers.
“Whoever it is, they’re out here, Ethan.” She said it with a bit of a hitch in her voice. The sinking sensation in her heart didn’t make her feel any better. There were no good reasons for the person following her to be out here.
“You’re sure?”
She understood. It was ludicrous, really. “I am. Shit. Ethan, I feel like I’ve been seeing
someone out of the corner of my eye for the past forty minutes.”
“Why didn’t you say anything?” He put his hands on his hips and walked a tight circle. She hoped it looked like a normal gesture to whomever was watching.
“Because it’s like before. There’s no real evidence. I don’t come face to face with anyone. I can’t even identify a face. I just feel it. Maybe I’m paranoid. I did stumble over a body in the woods, after all.”
Ethan ran his hand over his short, dark-red hair and nodded at her. His frustration was clear, but so was his understanding. “Without gesturing that direction, look like you’re telling me something interesting. Now, where did you see him? Or them?”
Them? Risa hadn’t considered that possibility before. Maybe it was one of those things Ethan couldn’t tell her about. Trying to slow her suddenly rising heart rate, Risa pulled out her water bottle as cover for their talking. Unscrewing the cap, she forced a grin and told him, “Off to the right. Sometimes it sounds like they’re behind us.”
“Jesus, Risa,” he said. “You’ve been hearing this, and you didn’t say anything?”
“I think I’m paranoid, Ethan.” She was making her fake-grin face. “And it never occurred to me there might be more than one person.”
He completed several full circles before he spoke without moving his mouth. “I don’t see anything. Not even an odd movement.”
Even though Ethan had been taking stock of their surroundings all along, she appreciated that he was now doing so with more conviction.
Risa changed the subject for her own sanity. Surely, no one was out here. The idea was ludicrous. “What is it about this site that made you confident we have a serial killer? ...or killers?”
He took a deep breath. Though they’d come to where Ester Holtzclaw’s body had been found, they’d had only enough information to get to the right general area. Using the property lines listed in the original police report, they’d managed to narrow the location down to about an acre. However, Ethan had looked around a bit, walked over, turned a full circle and chosen a specific spot that he declared to be the site.
Risa pushed a little harder. “What is it?”
“It wasn’t in any of the reports,” he said, “but Kaylee Schulte’s body and evidence from the original site…” he was keeping his voice low, probably in case someone was following them. “Suggests she was lined up in an open clearing among five large trees.”
Risa tipped her head and blinked. He was right. She’d heard nothing about five trees.
“Her head was aimed north, the arms and legs splayed out like a starfish.”
Risa searched her memory. She’d seen that—not with Kaylee Schulte, but in pictures from the Ester Holtzclaw scene, from Janet Deevers. She could see it in her mind. “Yes, but not quite evenly?”
“You noticed that from the pictures from the old crime scenes?”
“Not until you said this now. But thinking back, I remember the bodies weren’t perfectly arranged. Sometimes one arm would be a little higher, one leg a little lower.”
“Correct. The limbs were pointed to the trees.”
Risa jolted at that. She’d not figured that out, but Ethan had.
Still, he concluded, “I don’t know what it means, but right here is the only spot in this area—at least the only spot about thirty yards off the property line—where we have a similar cluster of five trees. And if you look at the original drawing from the crime scene...” Reaching into his backpack, he pulled out the police sketch. “You can see the five trees. This is the spot.” He pointed. “Laying the bodies out toward the trees, not symmetrically…well, that’s one of those ‘signature moves.’”
“Which means,” Risa filled in, “this is definitely a serial killer.”
Ethan nodded, and she felt her heart clench. Even though she’d already figured that out, she’d wanted to be wrong. This case was three-quarters of a century old. One of the cases she’d dug up—the Berry Smith murder—was a hundred and sixty. So while everything in the cases pointed to a serial killer, the timeline didn’t. Unless there was more than one person…as Ethan had just suggested. Risa looked at each of the trees as they told her she’d been right.
She and Ethan examined the scene, the heavy feeling in her heart lingering long after it should have faded. Though she tried to ignore it, the feeling of being watched persisted.
Ethan was snapping pictures with his phone, gathering evidence to support his current case. Standing in the center of the trees, Risa turned occasionally to check the area around them in a different direction and moved out of the way as Ethan needed to get certain pictures.
As she stood there on the hallowed ground where Ester Holtzclaw had been laid out, she tried to distract herself. The day was beautiful, and if anyone was following them, shouldn’t she have really seen something?
Her breathing was finally starting to settle down. She was just telling herself that she felt secure with Ethan on the case when the tingling and prickling feelings in her bones told her their watcher was getting closer.
She’d experienced that sensation before as a firefighter. It was that extra something that told her to dive under the bed and look for an extra kid. Or to head back in to find a dog or a cat that had been left behind. But in most of those cases, it had been her doing something to save someone else. This was about saving herself.
Risa sighed. The feeling was a mistake. No one was in the woods with them. And Ethan had just offered a very earthly explanation for the ongoing deaths in her community.
That was when she saw Ethan’s head snap up just as she heard the noise, and behind her, a voice said, “Don’t move.”
Chapter Thirty-Nine
Ethan froze at the command.
His mind thought several things at once. One, Risa had been right. Two, how had he not heard this man approaching? He was a trained federal agent. He should have been more aware of his surroundings. And three, this man must know the woods very, very well.
He was capable of sneaking up on Risa, even though she’d been relatively aware of his presence already. But it worried Ethan more that the man was capable of getting the drop on a trained federal agent. Ethan’s instant concern shifted to worry that there were more people in the woods that neither of them had detected.
Slowly, Ethan put his hands in the air. It was intended as a show of good faith. He hadn’t looked at the man yet.
He could still see Risa standing to his side, slowly moving to face the intruder. As she did, Ethan motioned to her with his shoulders and his own hands, to put hers into the air. The two of them needed to show this person they weren’t any threat.
Right now, Ethan was going to follow orders. He didn’t want a sniper shot taking him out.
Turning, Ethan found a man in jeans and a plaid flannel shirt, his shotgun aimed straight at Ethan’s chest. At least it wasn’t aimed at Risa.
Ethan waited for the question, the “What are you doing trespassing on my property?” But it didn’t come, and that worried Ethan more. If he didn’t ask why Ethan and Risa were trespassing, it meant he either knew or thought he knew. Neither option was good.
Though Ethan kept his eyes on the man, in his peripheral vision he scanned Risa head to toe to see how she was doing. She was following his lead. However, he was afraid she might make a sudden move—dive for the gun or something heroic like that. While it was a great tactic for a lone offender, he didn’t think this man was alone.
Risa managed to look more irritated than anything, but he could see the beat of her pulse at the base of her throat. He was thanking God for her training right now.
Both of them still wore their backpacks, and hopefully it made them look like harmless hikers. That they might have simply wandered off a trail and onto this property.
Doing a quick assessment of the man in front of him, Ethan decided he looked perfectly ordinary. Probably forty or fifty years old, although it was hard to tell at a glance. Though he looked for it, Ethan saw nothi
ng that indicated that this man murdered Berry Smith almost a hundred and sixty years ago.
As the three of them stood there, the man with the gun in charge, Ethan stayed silent, waiting and hoping the man would give something away. But he didn’t. He just kept the shotgun aimed at them. Eventually Ethan realized that if they were going to get out of this, he had to speak. He started with an attempt at being friendly.
“We’re just out hiking today. Can you put that gun down?”
“No, sir, I can’t,” the man said. “And you’re not out hiking. You’re that FBI agent.”
Shit, Ethan thought. He did not like getting recognized, but, to be fair, the red hair didn’t help. It probably was why he was no longer under cover.
This time the man spoke, punctuating his question with movements of his gun. “Why are you out on my property?”
Ethan’s eyes flicked to Risa. Hers to him. He couldn’t have helped it. He didn’t mean to give away how much she meant to him and that she could be used as leverage. But right now, the job he’d worked so hard for—the position he’d wanted so desperately not to lose—didn’t mean anything if it came down to someone hurting Risa.
The man, though he did not take his aim off Ethan, swung the butt of the gun a little bit toward Risa. “She’s that firefighter.”
Ethan swore in his head again. They had been following Risa. He had no doubt of it now, and he wanted desperately to ask her if this was the man she’d been seeing.
He didn’t have to ask. With the smallest of movements, Risa shook her head. Her shoulders hunched in a small quick shrug, and Ethan read that to mean she’d never seen this man before.
And that made the single killer theory even less likely. As stupid as it was, it was the theory Ethan preferred: a lone killer, a man with a bizarre and evil need that he tried to quench. But that was wrong. This was a group. One Ethan had not found in his research and he didn’t like those odds.
Dark Echoes: (Dark Falls, CO Romantic Thriller Book 7) Page 15