The Crying Season: An edge-of-your-seat crime thriller

by D. K. Hood

  “No time, just grab your weapon and cred pack. I’ll help you get the horses loaded.” Jenna sighed and shrugged into her jacket. “So much for a lazy Sunday afternoon.”

  33

  Anger trembled through his fingers as he dismantled the last trail cam and pushed it into his rucksack. If his scope had not picked up the two men walking out of the forest, he would have gone in to make sure he made the kill, and they would have discovered him soaked in blood. Dammit, he would have enjoyed playing with Colter Barry.

  From the crimson spray, his target had taken a headshot, and the likelihood of him surviving would be remote, but soon the rangers would be out searching the area. It would take the two men at least an hour to get help, carrying a wounded man. He figured he had plenty of time to do the cleanup and get to his designated check station before going home.

  He retraced his steps, making sure he kicked dirt over any boot marks. Satisfied, he strolled back to take one last look at Lilly. After activating his body cam, he walked around her, bending close to get the shots he desired. When his prey went quiet and their eyes fixed on him, seeing nothing, his hunger to hear them scream was sated, but like taking the last lick of an ice cream, he wanted more. Careful to avoid the pool of congealing blood around her, he bent to kiss her mouth. It felt strangely exciting through the cotton mask, slack and cold against his lips. In a rush of euphoria, he decided the next guest he would take to his cave would be a woman.

  He would visit her often.

  Half an hour later, he reached his cave and deactivated the electric fence across the entrance. Pulling out his flashlight, he slipped inside and switched on the lamp hanging on one wall. Here he could wash up, change his clothes, and pick up his spare hunting rifle before reporting to the rangers and leaving the hunting area. He checked the power gauge on the solar battery and smiled. It never let him down. He turned in a slow half circle and removed his mask then scanned the line of plastic-wrapped corpses. Black, empty eye sockets watched his every move as they grinned at him. He chuckled at their welcome. “Hello, boys, did you miss me?”

  34

  Rain pelted down in a storm that seemed to come from nowhere and Jenna was glad to have had the forethought to grab their rain ponchos before leaving. The swish of the windshield wiper blades sounded melodic and almost soothing. Jenna leaned back in her seat, glad Kane had offered to drive them into town. She glanced over at him, noticing the way the nerve in his cheek ticked when he was thinking. “If this is another murder, our killer is escalating.”

  “Maybe.” He glanced at her before returning his attention to the road. “It could be a copycat. We had little choice but to give the information about Bailey Canavar’s murder to the media. It was the only chance to discover the whereabouts of her husband and the identity of John Doe.”

  “I only gave them basic information, no details.” Jenna chewed on her bottom lip. “I guess we’ll know more after speaking to Colter Barry.”

  “Problem is, when people go through this type of trauma, some of them block things out.” Kane pulled into the hospital parking lot and drove into their reserved slot. “It’s not intentional. I think our brains shut off the memory because we can’t cope.” He glanced at her. “If we believe the killer waited twelve months between murders, why would he suddenly start a killing spree now?” He scratched his cheek. “Unless something or someone triggered him.”

  Jenna snorted. “You’re assuming he hasn’t been killing all over the state. I’ve found similar unsolved cases and heaps of missing people going back four or five years.”

  “Yeah but if this injured guy is lucid and someone did murder his girlfriend… If she is the same type as the other two victims, then we have another serial killer in Black Rock Falls.”

  * * *

  The strong, distinctive smell of hospitals wafted over Jenna as she waited in the hall outside the ER of Black Rock Falls’ hospital. After making inquiries at the nurses’ counter about Colter Barry and discovering zero information, she waited for a doctor to step out from the ER and marched straight up to him, flashing her badge. “I’m Sheriff Alton, and this is my deputy, David Kane. It is imperative we speak with Colter Barry, a gunshot victim brought in by the rangers earlier. It’s concerning the apparent attack on his girlfriend.”

  “I’ll take you through.” The doctor slid his card through the scanner and opened the door for her. “He is in the room on the right, my colleague is with him now and there is a ranger guarding him; is he the man responsible?”

  “We don’t have any details; this is why we need to speak with him.” Jenna moved inside with Kane close behind. After scanning the room, she found a ranger standing guard outside a bed surrounded by white drapes. She turned to the doctor. “Thanks, while I’m waiting for the doctor, I’ll speak to the ranger.”

  The ranger looked relieved to see her and stepped forward to meet them. At least he recognizes me. She led him out into the hallway. “What have we got?”

  “Colter Barry, twenty-six, out of Blackwater. He has a gunshot wound to the head and a knife wound in the back. Looks like someone gave him a beating and he is rambling about murder and blood. He keeps saying, ‘Lilly has been murdered.’” The ranger straightened. “We have a search party in the area with two wardens and at least a dozen volunteers. The doc is with him now; he said something about doing an MRI.”

  Jenna pulled out her notepad and pen. “Thank you for waiting for us. We can take it from here.”

  “Not a problem, ma’am. We had worries if the same man who killed the other couple is responsible, Mr. Barry might be in danger, getting away and all.” The ranger’s eyes held deep sorrow. “Seems our beautiful forest is being used as a killing ground of late. I don’t envy your job of apprehending this man.” He gave Kane a nod and headed down the hallway.

  Jenna stared after him with admiration then turned to Kane. “I’m starting to believe the park rangers are a different breed to us.”

  “They have to obtain a bachelor’s degree before they start training. So yeah, they are very committed to their work.” Kane shrugged. “ I figure we are lucky they are so willing to help us when necessary.”

  She tugged at the curtain around Colter Barry’s bed. “Doctor, this is the sheriff. May I have a word with Mr. Barry?”

  A balding man in his fifties wearing surgery scrubs and a stethoscope hanging around his neck peered through the gap. “Yes, Mr. Barry has been anxious to speak with you, although due to his injuries, he has been lapsing into unconsciousness and I’m not confident whether his recollections are fact or fantasy.” He stood to one side to allow them to pass. “I have scheduled an MRI. He has significant head injuries and suffered paralysis for some time after his attacker stuck him with a knife in the lumbar region. I would ask that you keep your questioning to a minimum. I’ll wait outside.”

  Jenna took note of the doctor’s name on his ID. “Thank you, Dr. Ross.”

  She scanned the battered face of the man lying flat on the bed, his bloodshot eyes swollen to slits and blond hair matted with blood. She moved to the bedside and remained standing. Kane stood beside her, his expression serious, notebook in one hand and pen poised.

  Jenna touched Colter’s hand. “Mr. Barry, I’m Sheriff Jenna Alton and this is Deputy Kane. Can you explain what happened to you?”

  The story, broken with sobs and tears, made her skin crawl. She asked him many times if he wanted to continue and he insisted. He appeared to be lucid and not raving, as the ranger had suggested. “Okay, now I need you to try and give me as much information as you can about the man who did this to you and Lilly.”

  Colter closed his eyes as if drifting off then looked up at her. His mouth turned down in disgust. “He was covered from head to foot in the camouflage gear the army wears and had one of those skull bandana things the bikers wear around his face. His head was covered with a woolen hat much like yours. He was white; I could see the strip of skin above his eyes, between his hat and sunglasses.”
Barry looked at Kane. “He wasn’t as big as you, maybe five or six inches shorter and not as heavy but he was in good shape.” He dragged in a ragged breath. “He threw me around as if I weighed nothing. I couldn’t do a thing to help Lilly.”

  “I’m sure you did everything you could, Colter.” Jenna squeezed his arm. “What about his voice, did he have an accent?”

  “His voice was weird, like distorted or something.” Colter made a strange gurgling sound in his throat then coughed and moaned. “Oh, God, I can’t get him out of my head.”

  “Take a minute and look at him.” Kane leaned closer to the bed. “He can’t hurt you now and we need every scrap of information to catch this animal.”

  “Okay, okay.” Colter seemed to fight a demon and his breath came in pants. “He had an earbud and one of those cop things on his chest.”

  Jenna glanced at Kane. “A com pack?”

  “Yeah, and the other thing was a body cam.” Colter seemed to get braver. “He kept asking questions like, ‘What do you want me to do to her next?’ but I was gagged, he knew I couldn’t speak.”

  Jenna squeezed his arm gently. “Okay, we have everything we need for now. We’ll be back to speak to you again. I’m having you moved upstairs into the restricted ward for your own safety and I’ll have a deputy on duty twenty-four hours a day. I’ll notify your parents; they’ll be able to visit you there.”

  “Just find Lilly, she is all alone out there.”

  “We’ll find her.” Kane’s expression was set in stone. “We have a search party there now.”

  Feeling nauseous, Jenna turned to go and looked up at Kane. “Get someone out here ASAP.”

  “Roger that.” Kane pulled out his cellphone and moved into the hallway.

  Jenna walked up to the doctor waiting outside. “I’ll arrange to have a deputy here soon. Can you call security and have someone guarding him until he arrives?” She lifted her chin. “I want him up in the secure ward as well. He is our only witness and the killer might return to finish him off.”

  “Not a problem, I’ll call someone now and we’ll take him there directly from the MRI.” The doctor headed toward the nurses’ station.

  Jenna waited for Kane to disconnect then moved to his side. “We’ll wait until a security guard arrives.” Her cellphone vibrated in her pocket and she pulled it out and stared at the caller ID. “It’s Wolfe.” She accepted the call. “Hi, Shane, did you find anything in the barn?”

  “We have taken samples but I’ll need time to analyze them before I can give you anything conclusive. I’ve just had a call from one of the park rangers about a possible body near here. We are riding over to join the search party now. It’s been raining pretty hard and we’ll have one hell of a time collecting evidence.”

  “I’m at the hospital with Kane. We have interviewed the boyfriend of the victim. There are similarities between his story and the previous murder. The killer poured gas over him and stabbed the female victim. The missing woman is Lilly Coppersmith, twenty, five-six, dark hair, blue eyes. We’re waiting for a security guard to watch him until one of our deputies can take over then we’ll be heading your way.”

  “I’ll send you the coordinates of a firebreak that runs parallel to the mountain. It’s some ways in from the road and you’ll need to travel up toward Bear Peak from there but I’m told it’s faster than taking the regular trail. It would have made life a lot easier if we had known the firebreak existed for the other murder, but it’s not on any of the maps yet—it was cut through the forest the end of summer.”

  Jenna breathed a sigh of relief as two security guards marched into the corridor. “Security is here now. We’re on our way.”

  “Roger that.”

  35

  Jenna caught sight of the crows circling before Wolfe called her on her cellphone to update the coordinates. They had found Lilly Coppersmith’s body, and from Wolfe’s preliminary examination alone, he had concluded they were dealing with the same sadistic killer. She relayed the information to Kane and took the chance to inhale the mountain air, fresh and fragrant after the rain. As they left the firebreak and moved down a narrow trail, it was like traveling through fairyland. Each hanging branch or delicate spider’s web glistened with raindrops and the abundant wildlife was scampering around as if excited the rain had ceased.

  She absorbed the beauty of the mountain as a shield against the horror she would encounter at the crime scene. After the last grisly murder, she assumed the killer would have found more ways to entertain himself with his latest victim. He must have been absorbed to allow Colter Barry to crawl away undetected. As they rounded the bend, she pointed to an orange flag in the distance. “That’s Wolfe’s marker and I can hear horses.”

  “If this murder comes close to what Colter Barry described, it’s going to be brutal.” Kane’s concerned gaze examined her face. “If you feel a flashback coming on, take a step back and catch your breath. Don’t forget you have a great team to lean on if necessary.”

  Her last flashback, a leftover from being a victim of a kidnapping, had occurred some time ago but sometimes she found them lurking unexpectedly and she hated having a weakness that interfered with her job. She forced her lips into a smile. “Thanks but I’ll be fine. Nothing happened last time and I’m confident I can handle murder cases. The flashbacks were a temporary glitch, nothing more.”

  “I never had any doubt.” Kane’s smile was genuine.

  The others had hitched their horses to the trees along the trail and she could hear Wolfe’s deep voice barking orders. “Okay, we’ll leave the horses here and go in on foot.”

  They took an overgrown path through the forest and she noted the way Kane stopped to check the trees along the way. She waited for him to catch up. “Find anything?”

  “Yeah, the same marks on the tree trunks as before. Trail cams, I would guess, and back there I found the remains of a hunter’s blind. It looks fresh, and this is not a designated area for hunting, but we can’t discount the people who use trail cams and blinds for birdwatching and the like.”

  Jenna caught the distinct metallic smell of blood on the breeze and her skin prickled. “Maybe, but Colter Barry mentioned the killer used a body cam. He is filming his kills.”

  “They all have trophies of one kind or another.” Kane’s attention moved past her and he shook his head in disgust. “It looks like our killer is escalating way faster than I imagined.” Kane pulled two face masks out of his pocket and handed her one.

  In trepidation, Jenna turned toward the small clearing set to one side of the trail. She gasped at the horrific sight before her then pushed on her face mask to filter out the smell of death. The sound of Wolfe’s voice came through the buzzing in her head. She dragged her attention away from the gruesome remains of a once pretty young woman and looked at him. “What can you tell me?”

  “The victim is Lilly Coppersmith. I found ID in her pocket and she bears a striking resemblance to the last two victims. The time of death is consistent with Mr. Barry’s story. I don’t have a cause of death with so many injuries to consider. I’ll determine that after the autopsy.” Wolfe’s pale gray eyes moved over her face as if gauging her reaction. “This is not the same as either of our other murders and yet there are similarities. I gather the only gunshot wound on Mr. Barry occurred during his escape?”

  “Yeah, he has a deep knife wound to the lower spine and has facial injuries consistent with suffering a beating.” Jenna cleared her throat. “She looks pretty messed up too.”

  “He didn’t shoot her. I think the killer was playing with her.” Wolfe led her closer to the body. “I’ll know more after the autopsy, but the wounds on her arms and legs are not defensive wounds.” He waved Webber to their side. “Show the sheriff the images we took of Paige Allen’s bones then the difference in Bailey Canavar’s.”

  “See on Paige’s arms the wounds are randomly placed?” Webber pointed at the deep lacerations in the bones. “They are all over, in different dir
ections and of various depths.”

  Jenna peered at the close-up images. “Yeah, the wounds on Paige’s forearms are placed as if she was holding them up to protect her face.”

  “Now look at Lilly’s arms and legs.” Wolfe crouched down beside the body, avoiding the pool of blood. “Look here and here. These are the same as Bailey Canavar’s wounds.”

  Jenna swallowed the rising bile in her throat and bent closer. The deep cuts seemed to be the same distance apart in a straight line. She glanced up at Wolfe. “That looks methodical.”

  “And difficult to achieve if she was struggling.” Kane leaned over her shoulder. “He restrained her but from the bruises, he held her still then cut her. Those are finger marks on her wrists.” He shook his head. “This happened just as Colter Barry explained.”

  “Yeah.” Wolfe shook his head. “And we know it’s not the first time he’s done this. He knows how to keep a person alive and still inflict the maximum amount of pain.”

  “Do you think he raped her?” Webber’s Adam’s apple moved up and down. “Did Mr. Barry mention that?”

  “Nope.” Kane’s brow furrowed as he glanced at Wolfe. “Can you tell?”

  “Not until after the autopsy. There is no evidence as such but we did find an empty condom packet, so it’s likely.” Wolfe cleared his throat. “It might be difficult to determine as they were lovers.”

  Jenna swallowed hard and tried to get her mind around the grisly details. “What are we up against?”

  “The killer has unusual traits.” Kane shook his head slowly. “He leaves some of the bodies for the animals and others to rot. I wonder if he likes to visit them.”

  “Is that why he used the gas to protect his victims from the wildlife? So he could come back and look at them?” Webber glanced at Kane, his eyes filled with disgust. “Oh, that is gross.”