Inside the lobby, Josh discovered it was still pouring outside. “I’ll go get the van and bring it around. That way, you guys won’t get soaked. Zoe, you hold the cake. The dogs will go wild if they get a whiff of that.”
“No problem. You left them in the van?”
“For some reason, they all seem happier there than staying back in the cottage by themselves. They like taking naps in the back.”
“What kind of cheesecake are we talking about?”
“Lemon raspberry. Guard it with your life,” Josh answered before dashing through the double doors to get the car.
While waiting, something occurred to Skye. “I wonder if Emmadine bothered checking out.”
“I’ll go ask,” Zoe said, making her away over to the front desk. A few minutes later, she came back. “Nope. The clerk said an Uber driver pulled up in front of the lodge around three-thirty, asking for directions to get to our cottage. She didn’t bother stopping to check out. Maybe she thought she didn’t have to. After all, you guys are footing the bill. The cottage was reserved in your name. Why do you ask?”
Skye lifted her shoulder. “No reason. I just…I don’t know. It’s still sinking in that’s she’s gone.” When she spotted the van pulling up, she added, “Come on. Let’s go cheer up Leo. And I don’t think I’ll mention Emmadine at all.”
“Me either. I say good riddance.”
After pigging out on cheesecake with Leo and Harry, they headed back to their bungalow, where Skye got Sierra ready for bed while Josh took the dogs for a walk. When things had quieted down enough, they both parked themselves in front of their laptops, catching up on work-related emails and paperwork that needed their attention.
But there were other emails Skye found in her inbox that required a response. “Winston is asking if I’ve had any luck tracking down his birth mother? I don’t know how to tell him that I haven’t had time.”
“Finding serial killers come before finding birth mothers. Maybe he was hatched,” Josh cracked.
“It’s not funny. The birth certificate search came up empty. The name Winston Reeker doesn’t appear until four years after he thought he was born. Now he thinks his birthdate is phony. He can’t be that young, Josh. Even he believes it’s probably somewhere in between. And when he asks his adopted parents, they play dumb, like they have no idea what he’s talking about.”
“Maybe they don’t. Someone could’ve offered them a baby, and they said yes, snapped up an infant, no questions asked.”
“But any way you look at it, that’s information. Handing over a baby versus a toddler would help us narrow down the real birth date. Why don’t they just cop to the circumstances surrounding his adoption and get it over with? We’ll find out the truth eventually.”
“Family secrets. Everybody’s got them. Question. Why isn’t Winston searching for his real mother himself?”
“Because I offered to help. And now, it’s bugging me. And besides, it’s better if I go wandering around these ancestry sites instead of Winston. What if I should find out something that has the potential to devastate him, something he isn’t prepared to know, something shocking? Look at how I reacted when I found out Daniel wasn’t my real dad. I didn’t take it well.”
“But you got over it. Winston will too. Whatever it is.”
“You’re right. But these things tend to make you lose a chunk of trust in the people who raised you. With him back in Seattle with no one to talk to about it, he needs us for support.”
“How’s the thing going with Jenny Mack? Doesn’t she support him?”
“Slow. But she hasn’t broken up with him yet, so that’s a good sign that she at least likes him.”
“Do you think we cheered up Leo earlier, or was he humoring us?”
“Humoring us. Zoe’s right. When you go out on a limb for family, and they cut off that limb in an awkward way, it’s disappointing, it hurts. Doesn’t matter why Emmadine decided to leave. She left the job early, and there’s nothing more to say about it. Leo’s let down. He’ll bounce back though. He always does.”
Skye spent the next few hours looking up birth records on a genealogy site. All his life, Winston had believed he’d been born in Eugene, Oregon. But Skye decided to veer off into other surrounding states to check there. Using his birth date and trying various years that might coincide with that date, she found several possibilities in California, another in Nevada, and one in Utah. She highlighted all of them and emailed the information to Winston with a note that read, “Is it possible you were born out of state? Check out the record down in Edgewood, California, and let me know.”
After hitting send, she turned off her laptop and called it a night.
****
While the June rain beat down on the pavement, he sat inside his car, kept it running, using the windshield wipers to wipe the glass clear so he could keep the bungalow in his line of sight. Watching. He liked to watch. He was always watching. He often wondered how much time he spent watching, surveilling, gaining intel on the opposition.
It didn’t matter now.
He’d already taken a prize.
What would Skye Cree say if she knew that he’d already won? She’d be going back to Seattle sooner rather than later with her tail tucked between her legs, beaten.
He’d read all about the infamous Skye Cree. Why couldn’t she have minded her own business and stayed in Washington? He’d teach her once and for all the perils of sticking her nose into things she could never understand. It was his life. He’d do what he pleased with it. He wouldn’t get caught. He’d been at it too long to let a woman scare him into stopping.
Especially now, on this rainy summer night, when he brought things to a finish.
Nineteen
Sierra and the dogs burst into the bedroom like a herd of elephants tromping through a jungle forest.
Josh bolted upright, his feet hitting the floor with a thump, ready to do battle with an intruder.
“Wake up, Daddy!” Sierra hollered, scrambling up into the middle of the queen bed. The dogs followed, putting their snouts as close to faces and crotches as possible.
Skye soon found herself pawed and licked. All but poor Cody, who stood next to her side of the bed, tail wagging, hoping for some love, one on one. Obliging with a scratch under his chin, the silver Labrador responded by slapping a wet tongue all over her hand.
“I guess everyone’s ready for some chow,” Josh stated as he jack-knifed and flipped Sierra upside down to tickle her belly.
The dogs wanted in on the wrestling. For the next ten minutes, they all played tug of war with the bedding.
Skye rolled out of bed to get away from the action. “You guys straighten up this mess. I’m headed out to start food. Come on, Cody. Leave these crazy people and stick with me.”
“Pancakes,” Sierra requested at the top of her lungs.
“With blueberries,” Josh added. “I saw some in the fridge.”
“Booberries,” Sierra repeated.
“I’ll see what I can do.”
Cody followed Skye into the kitchen, limping behind her. She filled his dish with crunchy bits of kibble and stood back to watch the Lab crunch his way into breakfast.
By the time she’d filled up the other two dishes, Atka and Bella joined Cody at the trough. She began setting out the ingredients to make the batter and noticed the bowl of blueberries. But when she went to add them into the mixture, Cody jumped up, despite his bad leg, to knock the bowl out of her hand.
“Cody, what did you do that for?” Skye yelled as she got down on her hands and knees to gather up the balls of blue fruit that were now scattered all over the floor.
“Stop,” Josh said. “Stop picking them up. Look at them, Skye. They’re coated with some sort of fine white, powdery substance.”
“Oh, my God, they are. What is that? They didn’t have that on them yesterday when I washed them and put them in the bowl.”
“I don’t know what it is, but you need to wash yo
ur hands and get out here. Take Sierra and the dogs with you. I’ll deal with it.”
“You sure?”
“Yeah. Go. The restaurant’s open. Or better still go over to Zoe’s. She’ll at least have cereal. I’ll meet you there after I call Harry and get this stuff to a lab for testing.”
Skye grabbed her bag and herded everyone out the door. Out on the sidewalk, she thought she spotted a police car parked across the common area with a man at the wheel watching the building. But as soon as she rounded the knoll, trying to get closer, the car took off.
Cody had a hard time catching up, so Skye made a beeline back for the dog and picked him up. “You saved us from eating something bad. You’re such a good dog.”
Sierra skipped back to hug Cody. “Told ya he was a good dog.” She ran up to Zoe’s door and knocked. “Zoe, we need Cheerios.”
Zoe opened the door, still wearing her PJs. “What are you guys doing here? It’s not even seven o’clock yet. Go away.”
“Lookin’ for breakfast,” Sierra said, running past her into the house, Atka and Bella trotting like soldiers behind their leader.
“I’ll explain later,” Skye told her as she put Cody down on the floor. “Hungry munchkin and critters here.”
“I see dogs. I’ve only got people food. And no Cheerios. I do have Honey Bunches of Oats. It’s the only kind that little general store down the road had that I’d eat.”
“No problem.”
Zoe got down bowls and milk. “What happened?”
Skye told her about the berries. “Cody saved the day.”
Zoe scratched the Lab behind the ears. “You’re such a sweet boy, aren’t you?”
“And then on the way over here, I saw a cop car in the parking lot. As soon as he spotted me, he took off. And before you ask, I didn’t get a plate number because of the way he was parked. But I do know it was a County patrol cruiser with the insignia on the side.”
“So, either Jaynes or Osborne, right? Merrick doesn’t have access to an official car. And you’ve eliminated Streeter, correct?”
“That’s today’s mindset. Yeah.”
“Bold guy, whoever it is. He’s bound to start making mistakes.”
“He’s arrogant,” Skye spat out. “How does he keep getting into our cottage anyway?”
“Maybe he has an inside track with the desk clerk.”
“Could be. Or maybe he’s scored a master room key and cloned it.”
“Would explain how he comes and goes whenever he wants.”
“Especially while we’re sleeping. Gives me the creeps. What if he’d taken S-I-E-R-R-A?”
“With Kiya to protect her? I don’t think so. Not to mention these mutts would guard her to the death. Get real.”
“Okay, then how do you explain him getting into the bungalow and messing with the blueberries?”
“We did spend time with Leo and Harry last night. The dogs were with us. Maybe that’s when he got in. Did you check the berries before you went to bed last night?”
“No. Why would I? I put Sierra to bed, did some work, and turned in. At this point, I’m not even sure checking the surveillance from the lodge will help. It hasn’t up to now.”
“You sound like you’re giving up. That’s not like you. Look, I need to fix coffee.”
“I’ll do it. You sit down. I think better when I’m busy anyway. Besides, it’s my way of saying thanks for letting us barge in like this.”
“Barge in whenever you want. But should I be concerned that this guy is lurking around at night? He obviously has an agenda. Josh said it the other day. He doesn’t like the idea of getting bested by a woman, so he’s pushing the envelope, trying to spook you to leave.”
Skye looked over at her and smiled. “Doesn’t know me at all, does he?”
“He thinks he does. He probably believes he’s figured you out. There are certain things on the Foundation website about you. Exploit that before he does.”
“Good idea. After cereal. After coffee. Then I go to the office and check the CCTV. Again.”
Across the grounds, Josh and Harry were still surveying the mess.
Harry sniffed the white powder before dipping his little finger into a smidgen of residue then placing it on his tongue. “Pure dust, no baby powder here.”
“Cocaine? Why?”
“Probably thought it’d be funny.”
“His sense of humor sucks. Sierra could’ve eaten these berries.”
“That was the point. He obviously doesn’t care.”
“Bastard. Another mark against a cop involved. Cops could get their hands on cocaine.”
“It doesn’t take a cop to get his hands on pure dust. These days on the street, it’s as common as selling fake watches.”
“True. How is it possible he got in here in the first place?”
“Best guess is he somehow managed to get his hands on a master key card, and he waits until you guys leave, comes in, makes himself at home.”
“I guess it’s past time for a trap. We’ve put in cameras before, we’ll do it again.”
Between Leo and Reggie, they got the cameras up and working before noon. It wasn’t a perfect solution because they couldn’t cover the entire perimeter. There were still blind spots because of the design and the layout, things they couldn’t do anything about.
“Next time we do this, we should rent one big house,” Reggie suggested. “And check out the floor plan ahead of time.”
“Next time,” Josh muttered as he inspected each camera for himself to make sure they were operable. “It’s better than nothing. Although anyone could still be helping him keep tabs on our comings and goings.”
“Any luck with the CCTV from last night?” Leo asked Skye as he gathered up his tools and packed them into a bag.
“Same as before. Hoodie-wearing guy creeping outside our door while we ate cheesecake at your place. The timestamp fits. From here on out, we need to keep our guard up. Be more vigilante. Our lives might depend on it.”
“By the way, I overlooked a detail on the DOE Network about the remains found in Clearwater County,” Reggie tossed out.
Skye’s brow knitted. “And?”
“Both the coroner’s report and the information uploaded to the website states that the DNA results were African American.”
Skye winced. “That means they’ve had DNA on file since the girl’s autopsy. Why hasn’t it been uploaded to the database? Those remains could belong to either Julia Newburn or Kamena McToyler from 2012. The timeframe can’t be a coincidence.”
“Those two were taken back to back,” Reggie said, looking over at the whiteboard. “And I thought…if he put one there, he might’ve put others. Judy and I could drive down there and check out the exact location.”
Skye angled toward Judy. “That’s an idea. But do you really want to go traipsing off into the woods like that, though?”
“We could take Atka and Bella with us, use them like tracking dogs,” Judy suggested.
“I suppose if you can get them away from Sierra long enough. Why don’t we do this first? Get in touch with the medical examiner down in Clearwater County. Tell him we have samples from the Newburn family and the McToyler family for comparison. See if he or she is interested in comparing them to get an ID on their Jane Doe.”
“You got it.”
After Judy and Reggie left, Skye turned to Josh. “That idea about using the dogs isn’t such a bad one. I wonder, with Kiya’s help, if she could track this asshole.”
“You want to use Kiya to pick up his scent from here?”
“It’s worth a try. Nothing else has worked. Why not shoot the moon?”
“Okay. Now that we have this place looking like Fort Knox minus the cracks in security, I think we should pile in the van, all of us.”
“Probably a good idea. I don’t feel comfortable leaving Zoe and Sierra alone.”
“That’s not saying much for my bodyguarding skills,” Harry sniped from where he stood in the kitchen
, working on his third cup of coffee.
“It wasn’t a dig, mainly because you’re tagging along, too. We’re all going.”
“Your plan is to drive up and down a highway with a kid and a pack of hounds, and see if, what, anything looks strange or out of place?”
“Okay, then you stay here and don’t let Sierra and Zoe out of your sight. You’ll have to walk the dogs if we leave them behind. How’s that? Better? Happy now?”
“At least I won’t be wandering around the countryside watching out for something to drop out of the sky, maybe hit you over the head like a brick.”
Josh held up a hand. “Okay, guys. Chill. Go to neutral corners or something. The situation is getting to all of us, putting us all on edge. Sniping at each other isn’t the answer.”
Skye scrubbed a hand over her face. “You’re right. I’m sorry. I do this every time, every case. I swore this time would be different. But finding out the guy keeps showing up here is freaking me out. If we’d eaten those berries…”
“I know. I know,” Harry noted. “It’s okay. I’m getting testy in my old age. Don’t worry, I’ll keep an eye on the kids. You guys go do your thing. We’ll be all right back here.”
Their thing was to rely on Kiya to guide them to someone of interest or something out of the ordinary. A long shot maybe. But they had to do something instead of sitting around waiting for the guy to grab another girl. He seemed to be on the defensive, getting bolder, willing to make mistakes. They needed to bring the battle to him, wherever that was, to try and force him out in the open. Easier said—filled with raw hope—than what happened in the real world.
But sometimes a shot in the dark was better than nothing.
They returned to the Osborne house, the place with the boat dock in the back. After circling the acreage several times before Lydia and her kids arrived back home, they realized the spread wasn’t as large as they’d first thought.
From a distance, they watched Lydia and the kids carry in sacks of groceries until they’d emptied the back of an SUV. It was all so ordinary. Nothing jumped out at them that indicated this was where a serial killer did his dirty work. And no vibe came from Kiya that said otherwise.
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