Alliance

by S. R. Franklin

  “Is it always like this, Sam? Always behind, losing victims?” Tristan pressed the palms of her hands against her eyes. “Do we ever win?”

  Samantha threw the towel in the car and slammed the back. “Yes, we get to win. Every time we catch the scumbags.” Sam’s tone was rough. “You need to decide if you can handle this, Tristan. It gets worse.”

  Tristan removed her hands from her eyes and crossed her arms. “I can handle it.”

  Stevens approached the car. “Hannah will be there in fifteen.”

  “Good. Tristan, Stevens, I need you both to stay here and make sure no one gets to Sarah. Kirkland will have her parents brought here.” Samantha got in the car and headed to the sheriff’s office.

  Chapter 30

  The sheriff’s office was buzzing with officers. Doesn’t anyone patrol this county? Samantha thought. She looked for the rest of her team, squeezing through the officers. They gave her a wide berth. The secretary gasped as Samantha passed. Sam remembered the blood-soaked clothes she was wearing. Tristan was standing close.

  Cameo walked out of the conference room with Samantha’s go bag and pointed her to the bathroom.

  Without saying a word, Sam took the bag and walked to the bathroom. She put the bag on the floor and began to remove her clothes. Sarah’s blood had soaked thru her shirt. Her bra was red. She found some towels and pulled her body wash from her bag. Standing naked in front of the mirror, she looked at herself. This is one screwed-up life, she thought.

  She washed her face, arms and chest. She took out her ponytail and her scrubbed her head. She let the water run until the light red color turned clear.

  She quickly dried off and dressed. Picking up her clothes, she removed the tape recorder from her jacket and put everything in a trash bag. She thought of her shopping expedition just a few days ago when she had bought that outfit. Life had turned on a dime. Just like it always did.

  She left the bathroom with her go bag and approached the secretary.

  “Let someone know that there’s bio-waste in the bathroom and it needs to be addressed immediately.”

  “Yes, ma’am.”

  “Where is the conference room? The teams are waiting for me there.”

  “Um.” The secretary pointed behind Sam. “Down there to the right. You can’t miss it.”

  Sam saw Morgan out of the corner of her eye.

  He took her go bag from her.

  “Where’ve you been?”

  “I’ve been here. Trying to see if anyone here knows anything relevant.” He looked deep into her eyes. “How’s my baby girl?”

  Samantha smiled wanly. She wanted to lean into him and let him hold her. Samantha pushed back the desire and walked to the conference room. Entering, Samantha headed to the front of the room. “Listen up, team. The witness’s name is Sarah Boll. She’s a waitress at a diner two blocks from my apartment in Quantico. Which is beyond strange, but so far we don’t know if there’s a connection.”

  “Is it possible we know the killer from Quantico?”

  Sam shrugged. “Anything’s possible at this point. We’ll be exploring that option. As for what Sarah told me, she only remembered getting into a car with a guy who knew her name. She was either drugged or knocked out because she woke up here. She had no idea where she was or how she got here. She was originally from Washoe, Nevada. As for her injuries, she had more than a dozen lacerations on her torso. She was missing her right ear and left thumb as well as most of her right hand. She appeared to have been bound and gagged. Preliminary tox screen shows nothing unusual. So far, we now have four victims and a seriously sadistic serial killer. He travels and likes remote areas. He is familiar with this area. I need to find out who owns the land where we found the first three victims. What else?”

  Everyone looked around at each other. Sam knew this was not going to be easy for the new team. They were all pros, but they weren’t used to working together.

  The silence was starting to become deafening. There were too many people on this. Samantha needed to separate the teams. And possibly herself.

  Chapter 31

  Diane and Alexandra walked over every inch of the shallow graves. They took pictures and retook pictures. The graves were almost perfectly square. Each one was only a little over two feet deep. They had been carefully cleaned. Diane walked over to the last grave. “This guy spent a lot of time with these victims. Look how meticulous he was in arranging the bodies so they’d be hard to find, even in an area where he had no need to.”

  Alexandra nodded. “There are footprints all around these graves, but none of them are intact. I don’t think there’s any way of telling which ones belonged to the Handyman.”

  Diane bent down over the last grave to get a better idea of the way these girls were buried. This grave was more shallow than the other two. Diane got down on her knees, peering at the soil. She was sure she saw something just under the dirt. She removed a pair of tweezers from her kit. Carefully brushed away the dirt, she saw it. “Hey, I got a piece of cloth. Maybe t-shirt material.”

  “I thought none of the bodies had clothes.”

  “They didn’t. They were all wrapped in sheets and plastic.” Diane put the cloth on an evidence bag.

  “Good find.”

  “Yeah.” She brushed over the rest of the grave tops. There were no other materials.

  Alexandra was at the middle grave, measuring the depth of the grave. “Two feet,” she said. She sat up on her knees, looking out over the field. “I’m trying to imagine the Handyman bringing the bodies here. Did he carry them or were they dragged? Had he already dug the graves? Did he already have everything prepared?”

  “No clue.”

  Alexandra stood and walked around the graves. “There are no indentions in the ground leading to any of these graves. The grass isn’t pressed down. And the perfectness of the graves meant that he took his time.”

  Diane nodded. “He knew he was going to kill these women.”

  “He’s a hunter. And he likes to play with them for a while and take his time. You know, he had to have a place that was close and quiet. Killing was what he knew. It was what made him feel strong and in control, powerful.”

  Diane walked over to Alexandra. “Did we miss anything, sis?”

  “I don’t think so. You know, he really enjoys this. He’s been doing this for a long time. And he will keep doing this until he’s caught. “Alexandra picked up the camera. “Let’s get back.”

  The two walked back to the car. The terrain was hard. The tree covered any sign of trails leading in and out of the burial site.

  Diane stepped over one tree root and directly onto another, twisting her ankle. “Ow. Man, it is rough out here.”

  “You all right?”

  “Yeah.” Diane was aggravated with herself. She never was much of one for hiking off road. “You know this is the perfect place to hide the bodies. There are no roads that could be seen by the cars. And it’s a rough place to get in and out of. This killer would have to be very strong and familiar with the area in order to get into and out of here.”

  “He’s got to have good outdoor skills, too.”

  “He’s not going to be easy to find, Alex. And he definitely won’t give up easily.”

  Alexandra reached the car first. She turned to her sister, a solemn look on her face. “That’s what worries me. Since he lost Sarah, who’s next?”

  Chapter 32

  Samantha paced while she waited for everyone to get back to the sheriff’s office. They had all of the information she craved. She had to get her mind on this killer. She never wanted to meet another family member of a child that this man had taken. It was hard to try and explain to a grieving mother that her child would not be coming home. She knew that conversation all too well. Then having to explain how they died. No matter how much you tried to hold back, or how strong you try to be, telling a parent that her child’s life was taken never goes over easy.

  Samantha found herself staring a
t the dozens of pictures that were pinned up all around the conference room. She began to place them in order in her head. She was starting to put a picture together of how this man worked. What made him tick. How was he getting these women? What made them trust him enough to get into a car with him? She put them in lines matching the faces with the bodies. She lined them one on top of the other.

  After what seemed like hours, the team gathered in the conference room. The sheriff’s deputies and sheriff entered last. The small conference room buzzed with conversation. It was standing room only.

  Samantha turned to the crowd and asked for Cameo to come to the front of the room and set up her laptop on the table. The crowd shuffled to let her through. Cameo sat down closest to the wall and did as she was asked. There was no one better with computers than a hacker and Cameo was the best Samantha had ever seen.

  Samantha took a deep breath and began. “Okay, we have a lot of information to go through. Please take notes. Anything you can add as I talk, please do so. Don’t be afraid to interrupt. Now, we will start with the three bodies we have found. All of them were white females in their mid-twenties to early thirties. All of them were posed with their heads turned to the side; all had at least a dozen cuts on their torso and were missing digits on both hands. Toxicology shows all three victims were sedated with the drug Seconal. It is a prescription medication used for insomnia. If mixed with alcohol, the effects are faster. That is what I have. What else?”

  Morgan spoke up. “These women were left in a remote area alone for long periods of time. Tied and bound. After he rapes them, he calls them things like whore. He cuts off the parts of the hands one at a time each time they disappoint them. The cuts on the chest and torso are punishment. They had to be kept in an area like where they were found. He demeans these women. These are not athletes. They are slightly larger. This means that he leaves them for long periods of time. He starves them to make them even more dependent on him. He moves these women easily. The latest victim Sarah had 19 cuts on her body. And she escaped, which means he was not done with her. We need to find out if there is an airstrip close or a field where a small plane can land. Does anyone know if one exists? There’s no way this man could carry these women too far.”

  Alexandra began. “There are no drag marks around the bodies so he has to carry them some distance. That means he is in good shape and maybe has a partner. Make no mistake, he likes killing. He likes control. The cutting is a form of torture and a way to make his victims submit to him no matter what he does. He probably tells them they are nothing. Nobody will miss them. Things to make them give up and not try to escape.”

  “So what do we do? None of these women were even from here, right?” The sheriff shrugged. “I mean, what can we really do? He is bringing them here, which means he is hunting somewhere else. He is not here regularly. How can we find a drifter who blends in? I think we need to get the state police.”

  Samantha narrowed her eyes. “So are you saying since the victims are from elsewhere, it is their problem and not yours? This man is dumping bodies in your county. He is kidnapping, torturing, maiming, and hiding in YOUR county. And I don’t give a rat’s rear end if he’s from Nigeria, he’s your problem. He’s OUR problem. And we will find him. I will not look at another parent and tell them their child was raped, tortured, brutalized and killed. I want regular patrols around the dump site.”

  Sam continued. “This man takes pride in the burial of his victims. Cameo, have you scanned all of the photos into the computer? I would like to see them in sequence and then in comparison to one another. Now, the fourth victim was Sarah she was a waitress that lived in Quantico. She could only tell us the man knew her name. The man also knew her boyfriend’s name. She didn’t know where she was held or how she got here. Preliminary toxicology showed she also had the drug Seconal in her system. And she reported that he gave her a beer when she entered the vehicle. So, he gets them in a vehicle, drugs them through the beer he gives them, and then brings them to his playhouse until he is tired of them. Then he dumps them in one of the shallow graves that he maintains.”

  Morgan lowered his voice and looked around the room. “Don’t forget, he claims these women are his property and he is adamant about getting them back no matter what the cost. He is going to blame someone for moving his property and he will get even. He is good at this and has probably been doing it for a long time.”

  The room got quiet. The officers and agents exchanged glances and shifted from foot to foot.

  Samantha walked to the center of the room. “Yes, but he made a mistake. Sarah escaped. So he isn’t that good. He’s getting sloppy. We will catch this monster. And I want him caught before he has time to kidnap another girl. We all have a job to do. I want this guy in prison or in the ground. Max, CJ, Stevens, Ford, I want you four back in Quantico. Nail down the timeline for Sarah. Find out if anyone saw the guy she got in the car with. Lisa, Diane, ID the two remaining bodies and nail down the time of death. Morgan, JJ, Sheriff Taft, Alexis I want you to comb through this town. This man cannot be totally invisible. He uses construction materials and small hand tools. Kirkland, Tristan, get the geological of the dump site area. Cameo, you and I will analyze on the pictures.”

  Samantha stood in the middle of the room while the team cleared out. She hoped she had made the right decision on sending the more experienced team back to Virginia. But if her sisters were going to be the top team then she had to know as fast as possible if they could handle it.

  She walked over to stand behind Cameo.

  Cameo was uploading the last few pictures that had been collected.

  Neither was talking.

  Samantha’s mind was rolling over and over everything she had heard and seen the past few days. She was staring at the large screen of Cameo’s computer.

  Something caught her eye. “Wait, Cameo, do that again.” Samantha pointed to the screen.

  Cameo lifted her hands off the keyboard. “What, do what again?”

  “Go back to the three bodies you had on the side of the screen.” Samantha was moving closer to the table. “Alexis, get her back in here.”

  Alexis and Cameo walked back into the room.

  “What’s up? We’re just about to leave.” Alexis pointed to the others waiting on her.

  Sam stuck her head out of the conference room. “Everyone freeze. No one goes anywhere.”

  Every officer and agent turned to look at her.

  “Cameo, put the pictures of the three bodies we found, one on top of the other.”

  Cameo did as she was instructed.

  “Yeah, like that. Now bring up the dump site pictures on the other side. Alex, tell me what you said about the graves.”

  “They were precisely dug, and the dirt was packed under each body. It was hard, like they were laying on a rock.”

  “STOP, that son of a ---. That’s why he poses them.” Samantha walked towards the screen and motioned for Cameo to move the pictures. “Can you see?”

  The officers and agents gathered around the screen.

  Sam continued. “He’s stacking the bodies. He poses them. It allows for extra room. The ground is packed and the graves are too perfect. He isn’t maintaining the graves. He’s reusing them.”

  Someone whistled low.

  Sheriff Taft whispered under his breath, “Oh my living God.”

  “God has nothing to do with this, my friend.” Sam’s voice was edged with rage. “There are more bodies there. We need people and we need shovels. Kirkland, get everyone back here and ready to move. Diane, Lisa, we need serious CSI preservation. Everyone takes orders from you two, everyone.”

  Chapter 33

  Morgan, JJ, and Sam spoke as they headed to the dump site. They drove fast, blaring the sirens.

  Samantha was trying to get further into the head of this killer. So many things…what was his process? Why did he kill?

  Sam saw the site just ahead. There were several sheriff deputies at the mouth of the road.
It seemed that none of the other team members had arrived yet.

  As they left the car, Samantha decided to follow Morgan since this was her first time at the site. He walked as if he had known this place for a long time while Sam stumbled along behind. They walked up the hill. At the top, the ground opened up to a large field that was almost flat. It was beautiful. Sam could tell it had been well kept over the years. The field seemed to go on for miles.

  Samantha was trying to map out the terrain in her mind as they walked to the spots were the bodies were found. There was a small patch of trees lining the edges of the field. It gave perfect protection for the bodies and the killer. He could take as much time as he wanted and could come in and out as he pleased without worrying about being seen.

  If she was right, there could be dozens of bodies.

  She hoped that she was wrong. But this was too well planned. He had perfected his method. That meant he had to have tried several times. He came back here over and over to make everything was perfect for “his property.”

  They reached the section of the field where the bodies were found. The crime scene tape was still around each grave. Samantha took her time and walked around each grave without saying a word.

  The others stood back out of the way. They were waiting for the rest of the team. Samantha got down on her knees beside one of the graves. She took her hands and ran them around the edge. She pushed back dirt. It took several minutes to get through the hard dirt, but then she found the edge of something hard. Once she found one corner, she began to push down the edge to reveal a line. JJ joined her and started from the other side.

  JJ looked over to Samantha.”How could we have missed this?”

  “Who would have expected there to be other bodies under the ones we found? This guy is smart. I just hope not too smart.” Samantha stood up and dusted off. “Who has the brushes and shovels?”