Tainted Mind

by Schultz, Tamsen

  “What does Viv have to say about that? Surely she noticed?” Nick asked.

  Ian wagged his head and sat down. “Her uncle sometimes guest lectures at the university, Naomi and Brian do security for it, and Travis was scouting.”

  “And the fundraiser?”

  “It's one their whole extended family was involved in.” Ian's voice was flat, and judging by Nick's expression, he found it about as convenient as Ian did, but a knock at the door prevented him from saying anything. Ian sighed, then called for whoever it was to enter.

  “The information on the two houses you requested,” Carly said, holding up a file and stepping into the office. “One is owned by Simon Willard. He's a widower and an author. The other is owned by Timothy Howell. He's unmarried and a master woodworker,” she added, handing the documents to him.

  Ian flipped the file open and scanned the information. He could see Willard coming up on Naomi and Brian's radar. If he was a famous author, he probably did writing tours and traveled around. But a local woodworker? And then he saw it. Timothy Howell volunteered regularly with a low income housing organization—something that could take him all over the world.

  “Thanks, Carly. I'll follow up on these.” She eyed them both before nodding and leaving, closing the door behind her.

  “You want me to take those, too?” Nick asked, gesturing with his head to the file in Ian's hand. Ian shook his head.

  “No, if our board is anywhere close to being accurate, the killing started right around the time Vivienne was seventeen. I want you to look into all the people who might have known her since then. Not people she met in the last five or ten years, but people who have known her that long.”

  “Ah, guv, you know Viv started college when she was sixteen, right?”

  Ian blinked. He hadn't known that. He knew she must have started early in order to have finished everything by the time she was twenty-eight, but he hadn't realized it was that early.

  “Shit.”

  “She turned seventeen a few months after she started,” Nick offered. Ian looked up.

  “So maybe it was someone she met her first year?” he suggested.

  Nick lifted a shoulder. “Maybe.”

  “Then find out.” Ian issued the order easily. “Look at her professors, the kids in the classes, see if any of them crop up in her life over the years. If he's obsessed with her, I'd have a hard time believing he's stayed completely in the shadows all these years.”

  “Right, got it. Look into three of the people Viv trusts most in her life as well as her entire college class. When shall I report back?”

  Ian met the man's sarcasm with a flat look. “It's Vivienne.”

  Nick sighed. “I'll see what I can do. Call in some favors. I assume this is between you and me?” Ian nodded. “Don't you want to know about the shots fired at your Jeep?”

  “Not unless it's going to tell me who this son of a bitch is?”

  Nick frowned. “Probably not, but it does tell you he's a good shot.”

  “Military background?” Ian asked.

  “Possibly.”

  Ian considered this. It would be easy enough to add it to the list of factors to consider, and he told Nick as much. Nick seemed to agree and didn't put up much fuss, so within two minutes, the agent was out the door, headed somewhere more private to do his digging. And Ian was left in his office with only a file and the sounds of Vivienne and his officers moving around upstairs.

  * * *

  Vivi looked at the murder board, at the women's faces, their names, and the times and dates of their deaths. Something niggled in her mind, but she couldn't get it to focus into a coherent thought. And, since she'd agreed to keep the others in the dark about her possible involvement, she couldn't talk it out with anyone. On a sigh, she gave up and hoped that, in trying not to try so hard, it might come to her.

  She picked up her cell and dialed Naomi. “How's the recognition program running?” she asked without preamble when her cousin answered.

  “Well, hello to you, too. I assume, since you didn't call last night, Chief McStudly kept the boogeyman away. Not that I was worried.”

  But she was, Vivi could tell by the tone of her voice. “I'm sorry I didn't call you yesterday. It was a long day, to say the least.” She felt an almost overwhelming urge to tell her cousin everything, but calling on years of training, she managed to bite her tongue. “But I'm back at the station and I was hoping your miracle computers might have come up with something?”

  “Mmm, maybe,” Naomi answered, as Vivi heard the clack of the keyboard in the background. “Brian was double-checking some things, but he should be done in an hour or so.”

  “Is he there with you?” Vivi moved to the window facing Main Street and looked down on the small town. And frowned. Daniel was walking up the street. She glanced at her watch. It was only nine o'clock. According to Carly, he'd gone to Albany that morning—to be back already would have made it an awfully short trip.

  “Hello-o?” Naomi's voice cut into her thoughts.

  “Huuh, oh, what did you say?” Vivi asked.

  “I was saying that Brian stepped out for a little while. Not sure where he went. I saw Travis this morning. I think he went to some bar last night, intent on scouting, but maybe had a bit too much to drink. Anyway, he was going to head down to New York today and will be back tomorrow.”

  Vivi heard Ian's footsteps on the stairs and saw his head appear over the rise. Turning her back to Carly and Ian, who'd started talking quietly, she continued her conversation with Naomi.

  “Okay. What are your plans?” she asked her cousin.

  “Vivienne?” She turned around at Ian's voice. At the look on his face, she froze.

  “Naomi? I'll call you back. Or you call me when Brian gets back. I have to go.” Not taking her eyes from Ian, she ended the call.

  She saw him swallow before he spoke.

  “We have another body.”

  CHAPTER 21

  VIVI GESTURED TOWARD THE STAIRS with her head. “Tell me about it on our way there.” And in an instant, she and Ian and his two officers were back down in the main station room, gathering their tools of the trade and a few extra items Vivi thought they might need. When Daniel walked in, they were headed out. Without asking, he turned and walked with Carly, climbing into the backseat of her police car as Wyatt slid into the front.

  Vivi and Ian went to his Jeep and as soon as they exited the parking lot, he began telling her the sparse details.

  “It's Meghan from the ice cream shop.”

  Vivi's heart broke. “How? When?”

  He shook his head. His good hand clenched and unclenched the steering wheel while his casted hand lay in his lap, his fingers curled tightly over the edge of the plaster. “We don't know. All we know is she was at work the day before yesterday. The shop was closed yesterday so no one thought anything of it.”

  “What about her mom or the baby?”

  Again, Ian shook his head. “I don't know, Vivienne. I don't know.” He made a fast turn onto one of the county's innumerable dirt roads with Carly right behind them.

  “And who found her?” Vivi asked.

  “Rich Caston. He owns a construction company but has a lot of property. He and one of his boys were up four-wheeling this morning and found her in a gully.”

  She could tell Ian didn't know much more; there wasn't anything more to say. Within minutes, they were bouncing up a track intended for the much smaller ATVs, but Ian was so focused, Vivi doubted he noticed.

  She was out of the car before Ian had even put it in park and jogging toward where an older man stood waiting for them. His eyes were cast down and his hands gripped his worn hat. He looked up when Ian and Vivi approached.

  “She's down there,” he said quietly with a gesture behind him. Vivi walked to the edge of the gully and looked down. With Ian beside her, she took in the body of the young woman.

  Lying naked on her stomach, it looked like Meghan had been rolled down the
hill. Vivi looked at Ian to point this out, to point out they'd want to protect the crime scene, but his eyes were already tracking up the hill in recognition of the same idea.

  Vivi turned her attention back to Meghan, her arms were raised above her head, one leg bent out. Bruises marred her backside, but there were no obvious fatal injuries. Vivi started to head down the hill. Ian stopped her with a hand on her arm.

  “I need to get down there,” she said. “I'll go first, scout the area, and then you can come down with a camera.” Ian looked at her and the surrounding area, as if assessing the threat to her, then let her go.

  With caution, she made her way down the hill—looking carefully, every step of the way, for evidence or anything that might tell them something about what had happened here. When she reached the bottom, she stilled about two feet from Meghan's head and studied the area up close. Her eyes fell to Meghan's wrists, which bore the same signs of shackling, then traveled up to her elbows. Her arms were splayed in such a way that Vivi could only see the insides of her elbows and not the outsides, not the part where they had found the slivers on Rebecca. Vivi was focused on the soft skin of Meghan's inner arm, lost in thought, when she froze.

  “Vivienne?” Ian called. By the worried tone of his voice, he must have sensed her changed state. She said nothing, but continued to stare, not sure if she had seen what she thought she had. And then, again, she saw it.

  “Jesus,” she shouted and stepped toward the body. Kneeling down she felt for a pulse. “I think she's alive, Ian.” He was beside her in an instant, waiting for her to determine one way or the other.

  When she felt the faint pulse under her fingertips, everything seemed to jump to Mach speed. As if from a distance, Vivi heard her own voice confirm the presence of a pulse. She heard Ian barking orders and together, bracing Meghan the best they could, they turned her over. A shock blanket made its way down to them. Daniel was at Vivi's side, offering assistance. Their crime scene would be shot to shit, but nothing mattered more than keeping Meghan alive.

  What seemed like forever passed before an ambulance arrived. Vivi and Daniel, with help from Ian and the EMTs, moved Meghan to the gurney as gently as possible. Heedless of the fact she wasn't licensed to practice in New York, she started giving orders to the EMTs even as they rushed Meghan into the ambulance. Climbing in after them, Vivi caught one last look at Ian. His face was grim, he was pulling out his cell and he was pushing Daniel in after her. Then the doors closed, and she focused on the woman before her, praying that she could shift the delicate balance of life in the young woman's favor.

  Meghan managed to stay alive during the ambulance ride. Still at her side, Vivi monitored her vitals as the EMTs unloaded her. When they entered the emergency department, nurses flocked to Meghan's side, and Vivi felt herself being pulled away. She fought to stay but slowly became aware of a hand on her arm, holding her back. She looked down at the slender fingers then up into the face of Jesse Baker, the woman she'd met just a few days before. Ian's friend.

  “We have a doctor waiting for her. Ian called. Dr. Martinez is very good.”

  Vivi blinked, then regained her senses. Of course she couldn't take care of Meghan. Aside from the practical issues, like not having hospital privileges, she was an ME, not an emergency doctor. She could handle herself in an emergency situation and had many times before. But with a qualified emergency doctor on hand, it made more sense for her to turn over the reins. But there was one thing she couldn't let go of. She met Jesse's gaze head on.

  “Meghan may have been raped in addition to what was done to the rest of her body. She is a crime scene. Can you tell Dr. Martinez?”

  Jesse seemed to regard Vivi for a moment before the import of her words sunk in. Then she nodded and turned toward the room Meghan had disappeared into, talking as she walked away. “I'll tell Dr. Martinez, and we'll put a sexual assault nurse in there to gather and document evidence. We have the locker downstairs. We'll be sure everything is taken care of by the book.”

  Vivi let out a small breath as Jesse disappeared. It was the best she could do without being in there herself. Now all she could do was wait.

  “Dr. DeMarco?”

  Vivi turned to find Daniel standing behind her looking shell-shocked.

  “They'll do the best they can, Daniel,” Vivi told her student. She didn't know what Meghan's chances were. It hadn't looked good in the ambulance, but then again, Vivi knew Meghan was a fighter.

  “I don't understand. She doesn't look a thing like the other victims. And—”

  “Daniel,” she cut him off with a look of warning. No one knew they were after a serial killer and she didn't want it to get out, not like this. His eyes widened and she felt his pain. Apparently, Daniel had been spending more time than she knew with the pretty, young store owner.

  “Viv, luv.” She looked up to see Nick striding toward her. Taking her somewhat aback, he pulled her into an embrace. “Ian doesn't want you alone,” he whispered in her ear.

  She'd almost forgotten a killer was obsessed with her. With an understanding nod, she pulled away.

  “Vivienne?” Jesse came back down the hallway toward them. All three stood with bated breath. “I don't have any information on her yet, they're just getting started,” she spoke as soon as she reached them. “But I made it clear what you need and they'll do their best. Believe me, they'll do whatever they can to help you investigate who did this. It may be a while, so I wanted to offer you a room to wait in. We have one that isn't being used right now.”

  They all agreed and shortly she, Nick, and Daniel were ensconced in a small room that somehow managed to feel a million miles away from the hustle of the emergency room. Knowing Ian wouldn't call her, wouldn't want to interrupt her if she were working on Meghan, she pulled out her cell and dialed him.

  “Is she alive?” he asked without preamble.

  “For now. She made it to the hospital. Jesse made sure that everyone working on her knows to do the best they can to save her and preserve any evidence. Now we're waiting. What about her mom and son, Ian?”

  “Marcus and Carly are on their way over to their house. I'm not sure why her mom didn't report her missing, since I don't think there's a day that goes by without Meghan helping her out,” Ian answered.

  “I don't like the sound of that,” she said.

  “Me neither, but I'm not going to invite speculation. We'll have to wait until we hear from them to know. Nick there?”

  Vivi mumbled an affirmative then asked about the scene.

  “There are tire tracks we're casting. Maybe a couple of boot prints, but it's hard to say how old they are. Could be from the owners. I think they might be, but we'll see.”

  “Why do you think they are from the owners?” she asked.

  Ian let out a deep breath. “I think whoever dumped her pulled up to the edge of the gulley, opened the doors, and tossed her out. Judging by the tire marks, that is.”

  Vivi recoiled at the callousness of the image. She'd seen a lot of ugly things in her work, and for good or for bad, it still got to her. With nothing much more to report on either end, they hung up, promising to call if anything new developed.

  “She doesn't look like any of the victims,” Daniel repeated. He was slumped in a chair, eyes cast down, shoulders hunched.

  Vivi looked at him, then at Nick, who was watching the younger man. Nick's eyes transferred to hers, and she gave him a small nod.

  “You're right, she doesn't.”

  Daniel's gaze shot straight to Nick's. “Then, why her?” he demanded.

  “Because he's crazy. His mind is fucked up. She was in the wrong place at the wrong time. Who the hell knows?”

  It wasn't what Daniel wanted to hear. And when his eyes shot to Vivi's, she saw the boy she met all those years ago. She wished she could fix this for him, but this was the world he was walking into. He'd already lost his sister, and while she didn't want him to get used to it—no one should get used to it—he would need to f
igure out how to cope. They all had to figure it out at some point.

  “I'm going to get something to drink.” Daniel stood abruptly then stalked out. With a look at Nick, Vivi finally sat.

  “Is this his first real case? First time he's seen a body somewhere other than the dissecting table?” he asked.

  Vivi thought of the remains of Daniel's sister they'd found and shook her head. “No, but this is the first active crime scene he's been to. It doesn't help that he has a bit of tendre for Meghan.”

  After that there was nothing left to do but wait. Daniel came back with his coffee, and every now and then Nick pulled out his cell. But other than that, the room was silent for close to two hours. Just as Vivi was contemplating going in search of someone, her cell rang. Glancing at the number she answered.

  “Where are you?” she asked.

  “Do you need me?” Ian replied.

  “No, we're fine. Still waiting. No word.”

  Across the line Ian was silent for a heartbeat. “I called in some assistance from the sheriff, and we're almost done with the evidence collection. I'm going to leave Marcus and Carly here to finish up and head back to the station. There are a few things I want to check into, and I need a better computer than my cell phone.”

  “Sounds good. I'll give you a call when we hear something, and we can figure out where to go from there. Any news on her mom or the baby?” Vivi asked.

  “Yeah, well, at least that was good news. Meghan was supposed to head down to the city for a seminar associated with her online classes. She'd arranged for a neighbor to come in and care for both her mom and the baby, which is why she wasn't reported missing,” Ian answered.

  “So they're both okay?”

  “They're not physically hurt, but as for okay? This is going to be rough on that family given everything else going on.” Vivi couldn't agree more and hoped that, like in a lot of small towns, the community would come together to help. But that, of course, remained to be seen.

  “Let me talk to Nick.” Ian's voice interrupted her thoughts, and with a look, she handed her cell over. Nick's gaze shifted away from hers.