by Paris Morgan
“I’ll find someone to pack one of the trucks and send the cadaver dogs with you. They aren’t doing any good sitting here. You both missed breakfast, so get something to eat and I’ll have them get you before they pull out. I’ve got to keep the press from following you.”
I smiled. Now that he was in charge, his confidence was growing. I only hoped that we weren’t going to get him into trouble by going on a wild goose chase.
***
Sand filled the horizon for miles. It was a much different experience to drive through it at night, than during the day, it made me want to run into the ocean to cool off. The smell of sweaty dogs was getting stronger by the mile, and I knew we should have volunteered to drive behind the van.
Gavin had sent the nerd with us, and he was directing the driver to turn left into the small town. Three miles outside of town, a gate stood open, welcoming visitors into the public woods.
A sign warned that hunting and fishing were prohibited activities. This was a bird park, and they welcomed those who wanted to watch the birds from any time after sunrise to sunset.
“This looks like the perfect place to bury bodies in plain sight.” I inhaled the fresh air as they opened the back doors to let the dogs out.
“Kevin,”—I’d found out the nerd’s name on the two-hour drive and it wasn’t Bart— “is there a cabin or building somewhere in the wooded area?”
“From these surveys, there should be one close to the lake. It would be a maintenance shack, so they didn’t have to bring tools in to keep the paths from being overgrown.” Kevin pointed to the barely visible lake through the trees.
“That’s where he’s buried them.” I could feel it. That’s where he’d think they were safe from instant discovery. But in just a few days, spring would be over, and they’d come out to do maintenance only to find the dead women.
Untrusting, the agents spread out, but they were making their way over to the lake.
Ignoring all the other paths, Leslie followed me on the most traveled one to the lake. I started running as we got closer. Not that it would do any good, but because I wanted to be the first to find the graves.
Just beyond the shack, hidden a little ways off in the trees, were five mounds. “Over here!” I yelled, catching myself before I did a victory dance. These women didn’t deserve that, even if I had figured this out without any real clues.
“You found them?” Kevin huffed as he caught up, carrying the laptop.
“We’ll have to let the dogs do their thing, but yes, I think so.” I couldn’t help but wonder what on earth he was going to do with that computer out here in the woods.
The other agents came over, and the two dogs nosed around before giving a bark at each mound of unsettled earth. If that hadn’t been enough to confirm it, the Aries symbols carved on the trees behind them should have been enough.
***
The new location helped to shed some light on what the killer was looking for in regards to a place to hide the bodies in plain sight. We would be here for several hours while the team dug up the bodies and persevered any evidence that might lead us to the killer.
I had to walk back out to the main road to call Gavin.
“We’ve got bodies, right where I thought they would be. Can you look for other areas that are closer to Salinas for the same idea?”
“Ryan, I would love to, but the problem is that the farther up the coast you travel, the more wooded it gets. Heck, up above San Francisco are the famous Redwoods, and its dense forest up there. We can add some search parameters, but there are lots of places that fit the profile,” Gavin apologized.
“Okay, it was worth a shot. I’ll see if your whiz kid Kevin can work some magic. If not, then we should be back later this evening.”
“That’ll work. I’m sending the techs down there, and I’ll have them take an extra vehicle so you can come back. I want you looking over these maps. If we can narrow down his current hunting grounds, that could be the edge we need.”
“I agree. We’ll keep working until you get back.”
Chapter 9
Leslie
While we’d made progress that morning, it was hours later before we got back to the conference room. All the dead bodies were starting to take a toll on me.
Two of the women were the owners of the cars we’d found up in Salinas. He was mixing them up depending on their birthdays. While he was putting them in a public place to taunt us, he was still very cunning.
Gavin had run the lists that I’d asked for days ago with all the missing women in the state for the past twenty years. I had a feeling that our killer had been doing this since his teens. If the profiler was correct, he couldn’t be over fifty, but twenty years could give us an idea of the scope of what we were working with.
Happy that something was moving in the right direction, I just couldn’t make myself start combing through three stacks of reports where I knew most of the girls or women hadn’t made it home.
I walked out for some fresh air.
My phone beeped. “Hey, gorgeous. What are you doing? Making progress?”
A smile crossed my lips as I dialed his number. “Hey.”
“I didn’t expect a call, but I’ll take it.” His deep voice was a welcome relief.
“You just had perfect timing. I’d just walked out for some fresh air and to clear my head.”
“Wonderful for me, but I guess that means things aren’t going the way you want them to?”
“There’s always some good mixed in with the bad. Criminals aren’t normally accommodating,” I chuckled.
“You know, I’ve gotten that feeling from you. I don’t understand why they don’t just say, ‘I’m here, come get me.’ I mean, they take all the fun out of locking them up when you have to find them first.”
“Oh, if only that would happen in a perfect world. We might actually save someone’s life.” I walked toward the hotel.
“In other news, today we’ve decided to send the groundhog to check his readings because there were snow flurries this morning.”
“Snow? You’ve got to be kidding me. It’s April,” I huffed, incredulous.
“I said flurries. Not that they didn’t melt when they touched the ground. It got cold, though, and warmed back up this afternoon.”
“We spent the afternoon in the woods looking for bodies, and it’s hot here. I’m not complaining, because we made progress, but still, I could use a shower to wash off all the extras that are coating me.”
“Wish I was there with you. I could help you get all good and soapy.”
“Ugh, that would be wonderful, but everything was booked up so I have a roommate. I don’t think it would be too nice if they couldn’t get in the room because I was getting it on.” I sped up, suddenly wanting a little alone time in the shower.
“Wow! They don’t have enough rooms for you to be on your own? You’d think the FBI could afford not to make you sleep with strangers.”
“It’s a small town, and most of the hotels and motels were taken up with press when we got here. I’m just grateful that I have a bed with a door that locks. It’s better than some places would be.”
I felt bad that I wasn’t telling him who my roommate was, but we were in such a good place, and that small piece of information wouldn’t help things. There wasn’t anything I could do, and honestly, Ryan and I were both safer together considering that someone wanted to kill us.
“Everything okay, babe?”
“Yeah. Sorry, it’s just been a long few days, but I’m good. A little tired, but good.”
“Okay. Well, go get that shower and turn in early. It might help clear your head the rest and give you the direction you need to move to close the case,” he commanded all the way from Texas
“Thanks. I’ll check in tomorrow night unless we get caught up. I’ll at least text you.”
“You got it. I’ll look forward to it. Bye.”
I leaned against the door as it closed behind me. The mirror
on the closet door was looking at me from a tired body. A bruise had formed around my stitches, and other parts of my face were a yellowish tint. It was a good thing that I’d told Jerome no pictures for sexting, because one look at me and he’d lose all desire.
This killer was making this more personal every day, and it was making me really mad. I’d known going into law enforcement that I would come out some days with injuries. They were expected, but this was on a whole new level. I hadn’t lost anyone yet, but somehow, I didn’t think that he was going to leave me unscathed.
Since he’d gone after Jesse, and it had been years in between when Ryan had been his partner, evidently, no one was off-limits. The problem was that my closest friends were Jerome, Ryan, Flora, and my sister, which meant when he came after my family, it was going to hurt a whole lot more than it was right now.
I wasn’t just tired, I was ready to give up. Trying to get justice for people was so overwhelming. How could the little bit of a dent we made in trying to make things right even matter?
The shower washed my tears away, but it didn’t do anything for the hole in my heart. I wanted to make a difference, not dig up dead bodies. Maybe Jerome had the right idea, that I could choose a different career and help a lot more people.
I couldn’t hide in the shower forever, and I really wanted to be in bed before Ryan made it back. Forcing my body to move, I dried off and crawled into bed.
Tomorrow was the start of a new day, and with any luck, Agent Perez would be back to make my life miserable.
***
The Killer
I stood at the diner smoking a cigarette, watching the sheriff’s office. They weren’t doing a very good job of keeping watch over their prisoner. In fact, the minute that Agent Perez had had left town, the security surrounding their suspect had dropped to almost nil.
That lady detective had been fun to watch, and I could have grabbed her at any moment. I wouldn’t have been able to make it very far, but the idea was intriguing. For now, I would have to enjoy watching the FBI and the detectives chase their tails.
They had found my burial grounds, but I had another one they should stumble over in the next few days if they continued to dig. It was the last one that needed to stay hidden until the month was over. I couldn’t afford for anything to go wrong. I had a lead on the man who had hired me, and I was going to take him out before I finished my assignment.
The women in the truck might not agree with my methods, but they could wait just a little longer before I dropped them off to wake up in their new home for the next few days.
“Hey, Dave said to tell you he’s got your order ready. He’s also got some scraps if you want them for your dogs.” A waitress stuck her head out of the diner door.
“Thanks, sweetie. I appreciate it.” I gave her a peck on the cheek and slipped her a five-dollar bill for her trouble.
“That the food for the prisoner they’re keeping at the jail?”
“Yeah. I’ve got to run it over there when I get a minute.” She waved to the take-out containers sitting next to the sacks with my order.
I lifted the lid and took a whiff. “Even if you’re guilty, you gotta eat, right?” I smiled and headed out the door with my meal.
She waved from across the room. I was a regular that tipped well, not like some of these guys who didn’t appreciate how much work it was to cook and wait on us every day. She’d earned every penny I’d ever spent by giving me a little extra here or there.
It smelled so good. The girls and I were going to eat well tonight. After all, they needed their strength for the run of their lives.
Chapter 10
Leslie
The sound of an ambulance woke me up, and I started to ignore it until I realized that it had stopped outside the sheriff’s station across the street.
Ryan hadn’t come to bed yet, but I wasn’t about to run out the door in a T-shirt and shorts. The sirens had stopped by the time I got dressed and across the street, but the news channels were filming like their awards depended on it.
Gavin was standing next to Ryan as they watched a stretcher come out of the station with a body.
“Tom’s dead? How did that happen?” I demanded.
“We think it was either a heart attack, or someone put something in his food,” Ryan answered.
“Crap. I really liked the old guy and was pulling for him to get out.”
“Yeah, I think we all were. At least the sheriff can’t blame it on Agent Perez.”
“How could something like this happen? He was guarded.”
“Someone didn’t want him talking, or they were trying to take out a killer. Either way, it won’t bring him back,” Gavin sympathized.
The waitress was giving one of the TV crews an interview.
“We were pretty busy, and I had the food ready to bring over, but I wasn’t able to because one of the other ladies had already called in, and I was working the whole front by myself. When I got a second to take it over, it was gone, so I assumed that someone from the sheriff’s office had come to pick it up.” She fanned herself. “I’m just so sorry. Tom was a good guy. Strange, but he didn’t deserve to be murdered.”
I raised an eyebrow at her reaction. “Her opinions sure changed from this morning when I heard her tell someone that he was getting what was coming to him.”
“There won’t be any way to find out who did it. This town doesn’t have cameras, and they never expected someone to be dishonest so they aren’t prepared for it.” Ryan shook his head in frustration.
“I guess now’s as good a time as any to start going through those missing girls.”
“Kevin and I are going over the maps. We may have a couple of places to try out tomorrow.” Ryan turned back to the conference room as the ambulance drove away without lights. He’d join the already dead women waiting for an autopsy just in case they could find out what he was drugged with.
***
I rolled up a section of the maps so that I could look at the missing girls’ reports. There was a one-page sheet on each with basic details, so I started sorting them into cities where the girls went missing first.
The larger cities had bigger stacks, but after three hours, I had noticed a pattern developing.
A girl would go missing in the bigger city, followed by two smaller towns, then around to the other larger city. There were a few cases that didn’t, so I’d put them into a separate stack that didn’t seem to match the M.O. or general areas where the rest had disappeared from.
He had been kidnapping a different girl every two months before grabbing another one. None of the women were married, and they lived alone. He did his homework before taking them. He knew what women wouldn’t be missed so quickly.
The timing between women those first ten years was only three or four a year, and I’d only gotten through the first stack. I felt like he would be gaining momentum now that he’d figured out his methods. He had to have a large track of land available to house that many bodies.
These new bodies were for show, and he wanted them to be found. He wasn’t giving us his trophies, but his finished works of art. It was apparent to me that we were going to find a place that held women who had been missing for years.
It was going to be somewhere he could look at them on a regular basis and watch over them.
Even with the short nap I’d managed, it was creeping up toward 1 a.m., and I was going to need my eyes again in the morning.
“How are things going over here?” I asked, walking over to where Ryan and Kevin were still poring over descriptions of public places that could hold more bodies.
“Eh, we’re making progress. We have four or five possible locations, and one of them should be up closer to Salinas where we found those cars.” Ryan pointed to a couple of pins that were sticking out of the state map on the wall.
“Are they going to check them out in the morning?”
“That all depends on the mood of Agent Perez when she gets here. We’d lik
e to pin it down a little more.” Ryan grinned over at Kevin. “He’s been telling me a few stories about the good agent.”
“Oh, really?”
“She’s been a real mover up in the ranks, but last month she had a case that didn’t go well. Since then, she’s snapped at the team even if they’re doing their jobs. She’s been on edge,” Kevin explained in a low voice.
“That might explain a few things. We’ll just have to play things by ear and hope that a day away will relieve a little of the pressure.”
“So what have you come up with?” Ryan pointed to the two stacks of papers that were still sitting on the table.
“I’m starting to see a pattern. I think he started out with just a few and practiced until he could tell if anyone noticed they were missing. By choosing different cities, he didn’t dip out of his zone too often. He was able to stay off the radar, and when a new woman would disappear, it wasn’t connected to anything else because they just vanished.” I started to take another sip of coffee, and then thought better of it if I was headed to bed.
“So he has a certain type.”
“You could say that. He didn’t take those who were super successful or strong-willed, at least not in the beginning. It didn’t matter what they looked like, as long as they were single and under thirty.”
“He was more interested in the chase. He needs women who will run around and give him something to hunt without them possibly escaping and getting help.” Ryan nodded in agreement.
“Yes, he didn’t pick larger women either. They wouldn’t have given him the hunt he was looking for or the stamina to intrigue him.” I was the right size to interest him, actually. I shivered because I didn’t want to think about that possibility.
“Based on the other three places he’s hidden his bodies, I’m thinking that over here on the other side of the highway would be the opposite of where we’ve focused.”