Ashley’s eyes widened at her boss’s pronouncement as he took refuge behind his menu.
“Partner? I have to work with a partner? I’ve never worked with a partner. I don’t work well with others,” Ashley declared, stopping just short of going into a full blown rant. “Who is this partner?”
Cowell admitted he didn’t know who would be assigned to work the case, noting FBI field agents had been present at the crime before Ashley arrived.
“You’ll cooperate in every way possible with the agent, whoever it is,” Cowell ordered as he motioned for the waitress, ready to place his order. “This isn’t just about Agent Ferrell; it’s about stopping a killer who’s preying on high school kids. Our missions are one and the same. You need to check your ego at the door, ranger.”
Ashley realized the veteran lawman was right. Working together for the common good would be the best way to stop the bloodshed and catch a cop killer.
“And one more thing, Agent Reynolds,” the major said, his voice again lowering. “You report only to me, no one else. Remember, we have to assume there’s someone on the inside until we find something different.”
Lunch proved to be anti-climactic as the duo ate in relative silence. Ashley contemplated the death of her friend and the mission that was ahead of her while Major Cowell dwelt on what he would tell the media at the press conference later that afternoon. It was something he didn’t look forward to, although even at its worst, it would be only the second toughest thing he did today. The first was knocking on the door of Jana Ferrell’s mother to notify her of her daughter’s death in the line of duty.
The hum of rotors greeted the pair as they stepped outside the diner and headed back toward the police station after lunch. The major offered the younger ranger one last piece of advice.
“I know you and Jana were close but we don’t have the luxury of mourning,” Cowell said. “There are too many people depending on us.”
Walking to the square Ashley saw the department’s helicopter already sitting on the ground in the parking lot behind the police station. It was Major Cowell’s ride home, the lawman ducked under the spinning blades as he shouted out one last admonition.
“You need to get over that fear of flying, Agent Reynolds,” Cowell declared as he took a seat in the chopper. “Texas is a big state and you have statewide jurisdiction. Own your fear, ranger, own your fear.”
Ashley watched as the major’s helicopter lifted off. Dirt and dust sprayed her, leaving her glasses glazed with debris churned up by the chopper’s blades. The drive back to Austin, Ashley reckoned, would give her much-needed solitude. As her father used to say, sometimes the fast way isn’t necessarily the best way.
I WORK ALONE
The procession stretched for over a mile. Representatives from every law enforcement agency in the Lone Star State attended the fallen ranger’s funeral. The haunting sounds of Amazing Grace played by a band of bagpipers rose to the heavens as the pallbearers marched to graveside carrying her coffin draped with the Texas flag.
It had been a whirlwind three days since her murder. The press painted Jana as a hero, killed in the line of duty while trying to save the life of young Jimmy Granderson from the clutches of a psychotic killer. The media had yet to make any connections between Rock River murders and those that happened the preceding four weekends. Ashley knew it would be only a matter of time before they put the killings together and realized a serial killer was lurking the sidelines under the Friday night lights. For now, a state-wide advisory had been issued recommending enhanced security at public gatherings, using a vague excuse regarding the interception of chatter amongst known terrorists groups. It wasn’t a fix-all but at least it was doing something without sparking a widespread panic.
Meanwhile, Ashley knew the killer would strike again in less than four days regardless of beefed-up security. She had seen his kind before in her line of work, as she had helped catch a couple of serial killers in her short career as a criminal profiler. She was fascinated by the working of such warped minds so much that she wrote her master’s thesis on the psychology of serial and spree killers. Her background work for the scholarly paper included interviews with several convicted serials, all of whom admitted the excitement of the hunt was one of the driving forces behind their crimes.
Her advanced knowledge of the mind of a serial made her realize her quarry enjoyed the hunt and the thrill of skirting exposure. The danger of being caught only enhanced his pleasure, further solidifying his addiction to taking lives. He would continue his spree until he was stopped, Ashley had no doubt.
While she figured his schedule was set in stone, the whereabouts of his next victim could be anywhere within the 268,820 miles of the country’s second-largest state. From El Paso to Houston and from Lubbock to Corpus Christi, the breadth of the killing field was mind boggling. If only she had a motive, then maybe she could narrow it down. How had Jana ended up crossing paths with the killer in Rock River? What did she know?
She asked her friend that very question as she stared down into her casket, whispering her good-byes. Jana’s throat, which had been laid open by the killer’s blade, was concealed under the collar of her formal ranger uniform. Her time of reflection at Jana’s casket at the funeral home was the second time Ashley looked into a casket to see a fallen ranger.
“What did you know, Jana?” Ashley quietly whispered as she looked at the flag-draped coffin.
Aim! Fire! The crack of the honor guard’s twenty-one gun salute snapped Ashley back to reality as she stood in the sea of black that ringed the graveside. The wind of an approaching storm sent a chill though the masses gathered at the cemetery serving as a harbinger of things to come.
She stood next to Major Cowell. The stone-faced, grizzled lawman refused to shed a tear during the graveside services. He was flanked by his son, Randy Cowell, the apple of Ashley’s eye. She had maintained a crush on the handsome, square-jawed son of her boss since first meeting him at the academy. His chiseled features and old school sideburns caught her eye at the first assembly. Her interest was not shared by Randy. Ashley realized she was not in his league but she still dared to hope. Instead, Randy’s interests were exclusively on Jana. He was smitten by the tall, leggy beauty queen. However, much like a Shakespearian tragedy, his admiration was not returned by Jana since she was out of his league. It was a vicious cycle which left them all sleeping alone.
The funeral was the first time Ashley had seen Randy in over a year since he was assigned to Company C, based out of Lubbock, while Ashley and Jana were attached to headquarter command in Austin. It may be a small world but Texas is a big state.
“Hey, Randy,” Ashley said timidly as they walked from the graveside. The young Cowell, as far as she knew, never realized the crush she had on him. “It’s been awhile.”
Unlike his battle hardened father, who had stopped to talk to others at graveside, Randy allowed himself to cry during the services. His red eyes told the story of saying a tearful good-bye to the girl of his dreams.
“I hate this so bad,” Randy said, shaking his head. “She was such an angel. I don’t know if you knew, but I always had a thing for her, all the way back to the academy.”
Ashley played ignorant, feigning surprise, hiding the fact she and Jana had talked about his advances. Jana didn’t know about Ashley’s secret crush on him, so she took her friend into confidence. Jana admitted to Ashley that she didn’t want to get involved with the son of a high-ranking official in the department. She wanted to make her own way without preferential treatment. She feared, if word got out of a relationship with Cowell’s son, it would hamstring her career and her reputation within the agency.
“Oh really?” Ashley responded to Randy’s statement, biting her lip and looking at the ground. “I didn’t know that.”
“Yes, we had a thing for a while,” Randy continued, his words a blatant lie, at least from what Ashley knew.
Given the circumstances, she wasn’t about to call
him on his inconsistent recollection of events.
“I hear you’re taking over the investigation,” Randy said without segue.
His change of subject struck Ashley as odd, especially since she was under the impression that only a small circle of department members were in the loop regarding her involvement.
“I’m not allowed to talk about that,” Ashley responded. “Your father would have my head, and my badge for that matter.”
Their conversation was broken up by Major Cowell as he came up behind the pair, placing his arms around their shoulders as they walked.
“I hope you don’t mind, son, but I need to steal Agent Reynolds away for a moment,” the major said, pulling her aside as Randy continued on to the car.
“Here, take this,” Cowell said, pushing a keycard into her hands. “It’s the key to Agent Ferrell’s office. First thing tomorrow you need to review her records and see if there’s anything we can use. Be discreet.”
Ashley had put off rifling through Jana’s office, feeling like an intruder even after her friend’s death. She realized, however, that if she was to find out what Jana had learned about the killer before her death, the answers may lie in a note pad, laptop or file cabinet in her office. Since the first two days of the probe had yielded nothing, Ashley was ready to grasp at straws. The crime scene, she learned from the forensics experts, was clean. The killer left no trace of his identity, no clue or leads to follow. The murder weapon, they believed, was a large hunting knife. The autopsy revealed the killer had nearly decapitated Jana. The ranger was likely dead before she hit the ground. There were no signs of a struggle in her death. The evidence suggested Jana had been ambushed.
The boy’s fate was not so immediate, however, as the pathologist found eighteen stab wounds to his arms and torso. The teen put up a fight before the killer landed the fatal knife blow to the side of his neck, killing him before he had an opportunity to bleed to death from the sum of his wounds. In short, Jimmy Granderson was hacked to death.
“Let me know immediately if you find anything,” Cowell ordered as he passed her the key. “And remember, you report to me only. There are folks asking questions.”
Against her better judgment, Ashley shot back.
“How did Randy know I was on the case?” Ashley asked, already biting her tongue as the words came out of her mouth.
Stopping to give Ashley a quizzical look, the husky lawman was obviously surprised not only by her question but the fact she had the courage to make such a query.
“It’s need to know and he needed to know,” Cowell answered, taking his hat off and running his hand through his hair as he did when he was out of his comfort zone. “He had a thing for Jana; I’m sure you know that, and he took her death awful hard. He wanted to know what we were doing, so I told him. I felt I owed that to him.”
Planting his hat back on his head, a stubborn look on his face, irritated he was being questioned by his subordinate, Cowell continued.
“He’s family,” he declared. “You can trust family. Rest assured Agent Reynolds, I can count on one hand how many people know the whole truth about this case.”
Ashley was a bit embarrassed she even brought it up. She realized the major had personal reasons for letting his son in on the secret. Besides, Randy was a sworn law enforcement officer. If you can’t trust a cop, who can you trust?
“I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have said anything,” Ashley responded.
“I’m glad you did,” Cowell shot back. “It shows your attention to detail. That’s what makes you a great investigator. Now, go solve our murders and bring me our killer.”
If it were only that easy.
Ashley’s eyes crossed after four hours of poring over the case files at Jana’s desk. A picture of Jana with the governor hung behind her desk, along with her framed degree in Criminology and another picture of Jana with her brothers and sisters. The personal effects, still in her office, served as a reminder to Ashley of her solemn duty.
It was all so sad. Her friend was barely in the ground before she was picking through her private things like some kind of raider picking the bones of the dead. But, it had to be done and it was better for her to do it rather than some stranger.
Her first order of business was to familiarize herself with the other killings that led up to the Rock River murders. The first victim, Ashley learned, was the captain of the Sun Prairie Jackrabbits football team. The high school senior was found stabbed to death inside the locker room shower. His body was riddled with knife wounds. The gaping injuries were believed to be inflicted by a large hunting knife, matching the Rock River murder weapon. Witnesses reported seeing the stocky football player go into the shower after the game only for his body to be found less than ten minutes later. How the killer got in and out undetected remained a mystery.
The second victim was an eighteen-year-old student at Crossroads Academy. The small school where they still played eight-on-eight football was located near the Panhandle, over three hundred miles away from the site of the first murder. The victim in that case was found in his car when his friends arrived to join him for a night of drinking after a big win by the home standing Crossroads Warriors. He was last seen stepping out to his car early in the second half of the game to fetch a can of dip.
The third week saw the killer mark a female for death. Once again, the victim was a senior, this time a petite drum major with the Highland Falcons Band. She disappeared shortly after their half-time performance and was found stabbed to death inside the band equipment room. Her remains were found stuffed inside a tuba case.
It was at that point Jana was assigned to the cases once a correlation between the slayings was discovered. However, her assignment didn’t stop the fourth death. This one was an eighteen-year-old, all-state wrestling champion from Arrington Pass. He was found, his throat cut, inside a stall in a field level bathroom after the Cougars were victorious in their homecoming game.
“What do they have in common?” Ashley asked herself as she looked at the four files spread out in front of her on Jana’s desk.
The four crime scenes were scattered out all over the state with no apparent link to one another. The only similarity was that each of the towns was small, all about the size of Rock River. Why was the killer concentrating on smaller towns? Was it by design or just by happenstance? And, most importantly, which town would be next?
Ashley’s probe turned to trying to discover how Jana had apparently figured out the location of the killer’s next target. However, a scan of her office laptop and an exhaustive search of her filing system brought nothing. Ashley thought she would surely come across a note or file giving her insight into what Jana had learned. If only Jana had told somebody about her discovery. Why didn’t Jana tell her? They were close friends, friends who had shared many secrets over the years. But now, as she sat at her late friend's desk, it was all crying over spilled milk.
Feeling a headache coming on, her eyes strained from her hours of reading, Ashley decided to make one more dive into Jana’s filing cabinet before giving up for the day. Her plans were interrupted by an unannounced visitor. A well-dressed, nicely-groomed man stuck his head in the office door, flashing a mouth-full of pearly whites.
“Hey darlin', I’m looking for an Ashley Reynolds,” he announced in a loud voice.
He looked around as if he wasn’t sure he was in the right place. His southern drawl was the thickest she had heard since watching re-runs of the Beverly Hillbillies. “Tell him Jack Looper is here to see him.”
Ashley turned toward her visitor, giving him a blank look, the man again speaking before she could get out a word.
“That’s Jack Looper, with two os in the middle if you need to write it down, honey,” he continued. “Jack, well that’s spelled just like it sounds.”
Entertained by the spiel of her visitor, his southern accent making Ashley’s Texas accent pale in comparison, she simply raised her eyebrow realizing the visitor assumed Ashley Reynolds
was a man.
“Um, I’m in kind of a hurry, sweetheart,” Jack continued. “So why don’t you get your pretty little self on the phone, intercom or Dixie cup - whatever y'all use around here - and tell Mr. Reynolds that Jack Looper is here to see him.”
An awkward silence ensued as the pair stood there looking at one another. Ashley was fascinated by the stranger’s cocky behavior and Jack in disbelief that the woman was simply standing there staring back at him, not jumping into action to find Mr. Ashley Reynolds.
The silence snapped moments later by his nervous laugh.
“How rude of me, darlin’. I didn’t even ask your name,” Jack said with a smile on his face, a smile that Ashley was sure he thought was charming. “And you are?”
Slamming the filing cabinet shut, shooting Jack a stern look, Ashley responded.
“I’m Agent Ashley Reynolds, Texas Ranger,” she declared, her announcement causing a red flush to race over Jack’s face.
“I’m sorry honey. I just expected that you’d be, well …” Jack said trailing off, avoiding an admission he had assumed she was a man.
“You thought Agent Ashley Reynolds was a man,” Ashley said knowingly. “I suppose women can’t be rangers, huh?”
“Well, the name Ashley is kind of like Francis or Jodie. They can go either way,” Jack said in a sheepish tone. “I didn’t mean to ruffle your feathers there, sweetie.”
Ashley shook her head as if she saw through Jack’s explanation and took a step toward the visitor.
“I don’t believe I caught exactly who you are or what you’re doing here,” Ashley said. “I already know you’re Jack Looper and I can even spell it, thank you very much, so you can skip that part.”
Taking another step into the office, Jack donned a wry smile.
Friday Night Frights (Jack and Ashley Detective series Book 1) Page 4