The Seventh Victim

by Mary Burton

  “I don’t know who you are, Mr. D. Smith, but you have made my day.”

  Chapter 15

  Tuesday, May 29, 7 AM

  Lincoln’s incessant barking tugged at Lara’s concentration as she struggled to finish the last touches on the prints she’d been working on since three in the morning. “Five more minutes, Lincoln. Almost done.”

  The dog had an internal clock, which told him he should be walking now. She too loved the morning hikes, especially when she had finished her work for the day.

  But today, she needed just five more minutes. She’d been developing the photos from the last crime scene that she’d taken yesterday. In each print, she’d searched for a trigger to make the shadows veiling the truth vanish. But as much as she printed and stared at the crisp black-and-white images, there was nothing that sparked her memories. Nothing.

  Lincoln’s barking grew louder and louder until the distraction became too much. Shutting off the water she grabbed a rag and dried her hands before reaching for the gun she kept propped by the door. “What is bothering you?”

  The dog’s possessive growl drew her through the house toward the front door. Whatever he’d seen, it wasn’t a squirrel or a rabbit. Someone was on her property.

  The dog crouched in the front room staring out the window. The hair on the back of his neck was raised and his tail tucked.

  She glanced past the dog out the front window to see a Lexus parked behind her truck. Beside the car stood a woman whose dark pants and a silk top spoke as much of money as the gilded clip holding back neat gray hair. Behind dark sunglasses, the woman scanned the house as if wondering if she’d made a mistake.

  Lara patted the dog on the head. “Don’t worry, boy. She looks lost. We’ll get her back to the main road in no time and then be off on our walk.”

  The mention of a walk had the dog wagging his tail. He still barked, but the tone had changed.

  Lara unlocked the front door and through the screened door said, “Can I help you?”

  The woman shifted her gaze to Lara. “I hope so.”

  She slid her hands into the back pockets of her jeans. “Did you take a wrong turn? It happens when folks are looking for some of the smaller towns in Hill Country.” Lincoln muscled against Lara’s legs and pawed at the front door. Lara tugged on the dog’s collar, knowing she didn’t dare let him out.

  The woman, unmindful of Lincoln, approached with crisp, purposeful steps. “I’m looking for Lara Church?”

  Lara’s smile faded. Few knew she lived out here as the house title and phone remained under her grandmother’s name. “Why are you looking for her?”

  The woman pulled off her glasses and stared at Lara with red-rimmed eyes. “You are Ms. Church. You don’t look like you did in the Sunday Entertainment picture, but then I suppose an artist dresses differently for an opening.”

  Tension burned up her back. “Who are you?”

  She compressed neatly painted ruby red lips. “My name is Monica Silver. I live in Austin.”

  “Is this about Sunday’s article? Because if it is I have nothing to say.”

  “It’s not about the article. It’s about my daughter, Blair Silver.”

  “I don’t understand.”

  “Ranger James Beck came to see me at my home. He informed me that Blair was the latest victim of the Strangler. They found her body on the side of the interstate.”

  Heat rose up through Lara’s cheeks. “I’m sorry.”

  “Honestly, Ms. Church, sorry does not do me one bit of good.” She tapped her glasses against her thigh. “Sorry will not bring my daughter back, and sorry will not catch her killer.”

  A heavy sadness rose up in her. “Why are you here, Mrs. Silver?”

  “From what I’ve learned, you cannot remember what happened to you seven years ago.”

  She pushed Lincoln behind her and pushed through the screened door. “That is correct.”

  Mrs. Silver opened a slim black purse and pulled out a crisply folded piece of paper. “I made a few phone calls. There are experts that can help with memory loss.”

  “I met with countless ones in Seattle.”

  “Have you met with anybody since you moved to Austin?”

  “No.” Beck’s frustrated features flashed in her mind when she’d refused his offer of a forensic psychologist.

  Lines creased Mrs. Silver’s forehead. “Why not?”

  “It didn’t work before.”

  “That was seven years ago.” Anger clipped her words. “What about now?”

  A knot tightened Lara’s stomach. “The memories aren’t there.”

  Mrs. Silver pulled a photo out of her purse and held it up for Lara. The image featured a young girl of about fifteen smiling into the camera. Her blue eyes sparkled with laughter. “This was my daughter. I spoke to her for the last time on Friday. And I used that precious time to nag her. I didn’t stop to tell her how well she was doing or how proud I was. And then some monster strangled the life out of her and left her by the road.” Her hand trembled as she spoke. “Blair was twenty-three years old. When she was younger she loved to ride horses, and she collected seashells from our family vacations. She wasn’t perfect, but she was my child, and I want her killer found. You owe my girl.”

  Unshed tears burned in Lara’s throat. “I have tried.”

  “Seven years ago. Seven years ago means nothing to me or Blair! You must try again, now. You must.”

  When the woman’s voice cracked, Lara’s tears broke free. “I don’t know if the memories are even there.”

  Mrs. Silver raised her chin. “But you will try again?”

  Lara glanced at the picture of Blair. A crushing sadness cut into her. “Yes, ma’am. I’ll try.”

  Mrs. Silver handed Blair’s picture to Lara. “You keep it. I want you to remember her.”

  With a nod the woman got back into her car and fired up the engine, vanishing in a cloud of dust around the bend.

  Lara sat down on the step and buried her face in her hands. Tears filled her eyes and spilled down her cheeks. She didn’t want to turn her mind back over to the shrinks. She didn’t want them poking in her brain.

  But she would. Not for herself, but for Blair.

  Beck, Santos, and Raines stood in the conference room at Ranger headquarters and stared at the collection of pictures divided into two categories. The first six were of the women killed in Seattle seven years ago. And the second three were of the Texas victims. An image of Lara Church straddled the two columns.

  Raines nodded to Lara’s picture. “Our Seattle profilers studied the characteristics of the crime scenes. The locations were remote. The victims were not buried and were posed. There were no witnesses. From that and other details, they developed a detailed portrait of the Strangler. They theorized the killer was male, thirty or older, Caucasian, had some education, and worked in a semiprofessional field. He is an organized killer and chooses his victims carefully.” Raines tapped his finger on Lara’s picture. “However, something drastic changed when he attacked Lara.”

  There’d been studies done on serial killers and the dark motives that drove them. But each killer, like each person, had quirks and life experiences that changed them. Cops had bad days that affected their work routines. They had fender benders, their wives got sick or angry, or their bosses read them the riot act. Killers were no different and just as susceptible to life’s ups and downs.

  “We can assume whatever changed when he attacked Lara became a permanent part of his ritual.” Beck circled his finger around the local dump zone. “He’s also moving closer to Lara. First he was twenty miles away. Then he was twelve miles away and now only ten miles away.”

  “He wants her to know he’s coming.” Raines twisted his wedding band around his ring finger. “He wants her to notice him.”

  Beck rested his hands on his hips. Knowing a lunatic stalked Lara dug at him not only as a cop, but also as a man. From the instant he’d met Lara, the urge to protect her had
been fierce. “Santos, did you find any cold cases that might have linked to Lara?”

  Santos glanced at his notes. “Lara spent twelve summers in Austin. During those years there were murders and violent crimes, but none associated with Lara or her grandmother, Edna Bower. Except for the suicide of her aunt, Leslie.”

  “Any details?” Beck said.

  “One single gunshot to the head. She’d checked herself into a local Austin motel and half an hour later shot herself. Medical examiner ruled suicide and the case was closed.”

  “Any notes left?”

  “No. Witnesses had reported a fight between Leslie and her sister, Barbara, the day before, but the sister was across town when Leslie pulled the trigger. Case was closed within a week.”

  So much violence around Lara, Beck mused as he traced the doodled letters LC on his pad. “Anything else?”

  “There was nothing else in the criminal files so I tracked down a couple of DPS officers who worked the I-35 area during those years. No murders fit, but there was a string of animal slayings during those years. Not during the summer but in September and October.”

  Beck leaned forward. “Right after she left Austin.”

  “The animals started off small. Cats. Dogs. Several were found at a time, which was why a report was filed. But as the years went on, the animals got bigger. Horses. Cattle. All were cut up badly with a knife.”

  Raines leaned back expelling a breath. The killer didn’t like it when she left. “What were the years of the animal slayings?”

  Santos glanced at his notes. “Ten of the twelve years Lara visited Austin.”

  “And they stopped.”

  “When she moved to Seattle for college.”

  “Eleven years ago,” Raines said more to himself. “The year my daughter went to kindergarten. I still remember the sick feeling I had in my gut when the school bus drove away. Wife and I cried like babies. We sent our kids off so they can learn, not so some nut can terrorize them.”

  The phone on the table buzzed, and Beck moved toward it. “James Beck.”

  “Beck, there’s a Ms. Lara Church here to see you,” the receptionist said.

  Tension coiled in the pit of his stomach. She wouldn’t have come unless something had happened. “Send her right up.”

  Santos raised a brow. “That must be Lara Church, judging by your expression.”

  He straightened, doing his best to shield fresh worries. “She wants to see me.”

  Raines stretched his shoulders as if a burden had been lifted. “You think she wants to help?”

  “It would be nice,” Beck said.

  Raines nodded toward the back door. “As much as I’d like to stay, I won’t because one look at me and she’s liable to lock up. Keep me posted?”

  Beck drummed impatient fingers on the conference table. “Can’t make a promise I might not keep.”

  Raines laughed as he opened the door. “Fair enough.”

  Santos followed Beck into his office. The men barely had thirty seconds before Lara appeared at Beck’s door. Her hair was back in a long braid and her face freshly scrubbed of makeup. She wore jean shorts, a red T-shirt, and sandals. She gripped the strap of a satchel purse, which grazed her hips.

  She looked so young and afraid. If he’d not known her age he’d have sworn she was barely twenty, a college student herself. He noted a slight tremble in her left hand, and he could see her breathing was shallow.

  Beck, the man, wanted to pull her into his arms and tell her everything would be fine. Beck, the cop, kept his expression neutral. “Ms. Church, this is Ranger Santos. We’re working with him on the recent murders along I-35.”

  She glanced toward Santos and nodded. “Ranger.”

  He nodded. “Ma’am.”

  Her gaze shifted quickly back to Beck. “Do you mind if we speak alone?”

  “Does this have to do with the cases?”

  She swallowed. “Yes.”

  “Then as tempted as I am to send Santos away, I can’t. We’re working this case together.”

  Her jaw tightened, and for an instant he thought she’d bolt. “I came here to talk to you, Ranger. This isn’t easy for me.”

  “I know that, Ms. Church, but I need all eyes and ears on this case. I can’t afford to miss any detail.” He pulled out a chair for her. “Why don’t you have a seat and we’ll talk? It’ll be casual, and there will be no pressure.”

  She released a tense breath and took the seat. Standing behind her chair he caught the scent of fresh soap and chemicals. She’d been in her darkroom so whatever had pulled her away from the art had been serious.

  Santos took a seat to her right, and Beck took the other to her left.

  “Did you remember something?” Beck said.

  She crossed and uncrossed her legs. “No. I haven’t remembered. I had a visit today from Monica Silver.”

  He frowned. It should have occurred to him that the older woman would track Lara down after she’d referenced the paper’s article. “What did she say?”

  “She told me about her daughter. She showed me a picture of the girl when she was fifteen.”

  Beck noted the way Lara perched on the seat as if she’d bolt at any second. “What else did she say?”

  “Not much more. But she wants me to remember.” Absently, she tugged at a loose thread on her purse.

  “We all want that,” he said carefully.

  She leaned forward. “I want to remember. I do. But I kept telling you that I don’t think there are any memories there.”

  “Dr. Granger is the one to help you with that.”

  She pursed full lips and released a sigh. “I’ll talk to her if you’ll set it up.”

  Suspicion overrode relief. “Why the change?”

  She shook her head as if chasing off the last bits of resistance. “Maybe the last seven years have loosened something up.”

  His gaze never leaving her, he leaned forward and picked up his phone. He punched a couple of numbers. “This is Beck. Ms. Church is in my office. Can you come down? Great.”

  “She’s coming?” Lara sounded surprised and a bit panicked.

  “Be here in a minute. Can I get you a coffee or water?”

  “No thanks, I’m fine.” She tightened her hand on her purse. “Mr. Raines found me while I was shooting yesterday.”

  A muscle tensed in his jaw. He wasn’t sure what pissed him off more: Raines’s silence or her ignoring his command to stay away from the crime scene. “You were at a crime scene?”

  Blue eyes flashed. “That’s not the point.”

  “It is the point. I thought you agreed not to go to the scenes alone right now.”

  “You told me not to. I didn’t agree. And again, this line of questioning is about Raines.” Her tone, peppered with sass, told him she wanted a fight.

  He’d not give her one today. He needed her on his side. “He’s an asset.”

  “I don’t like him.”

  He spoke carefully. “I told you from the get-go that I would do whatever it took to catch this killer, Ms. Church. If that means working with Raines then so be it.” To shift the conversation, he said, “What reaction have you had to the article?”

  “My answering machine is full of calls regarding it. The messages are mostly from old friends and acquaintances digging for dirt. Reporters.”

  For a moment he was silent. “No one that gave you the creeps?”

  She sat straighter. “Lots of nosy, goofy people, but no one that set off alarm bells.”

  “Where’s Lincoln?”

  The conversation shift had her relaxing a fraction. “I dropped him at the gallery. Cassidy is not thrilled, but she’s dealing, seeing as I’m turning into a moneymaker for her.”

  “You’re selling prints?”

  Amazed pride strengthened the tone of her voice. “Four since the article came out. And a large online order.”

  “Do you know what pieces sold?”

  “I didn’t ask. I was too stunned t
hat any sold.”

  “Let me know when you find out. I want to know which of your crime scenes are catching folks’ attention.”

  Color drained from her face as if she fully understood the meaning behind his questions. “Do you think he’d buy one of my prints?”

  “What better memento of a crime than a print created by one of the victims?”

  Her voice lost its edge. “I didn’t think about that.”

  Before he could respond there was a soft rap on the door, and they turned to see Dr. Granger. She wore a dark blue skirt, a white shirt, and sensible heels. Red hair twisted into a ponytail and dark-framed glasses emphasized green eyes. “Gentlemen, to what do I owe the honor?”

  “I was hoping you could help me to remember,” Lara said.

  Beck stood beside Lara. “Dr. Granger, I’d like you to meet Lara Church. I mentioned her to you earlier.”

  Dr. Granger crossed the room and extended her hand to Lara. “It’s nice to meet you. I read the article in the Sunday paper and some of the case files.”

  Lara cleared her throat. “My life is an open book.”

  Dr. Granger shook her head. “The facts are helpful, but they don’t tell the whole story.”

  “Everyone thinks key pieces are in my head.” Lara moistened her lips. “I can’t promise, but I want to try to remember.”

  “Excellent,” Dr. Granger said. “We can do it now if you wish.”

  Lara nibbled her bottom lip. “Better now before I lose my nerve.”

  Dr. Granger knit long, slender fingers together at her waist. “Gentlemen, Ms. Church and I can go back to my office, or we can talk here. Either way you two need to leave.”

  “Santos and I would like to observe,” Beck said.

  “No,” Dr. Granger said. “This doesn’t work so well given Ms. Church’s history with the police and psychiatrists.”

  Lara lifted her chin. “You’ll tape whatever I say, right?”

  “Yes.”

  “Then they’ll hear it anyway. They might as well stay. Like I said, my life is an open book.”

  “We’ll sit back and out of the way,” Beck said, making an effort to soften his tone.