by Mary Burton
Long fingers wrapped around her neck. ‘You shouldn’t talk to me like that.’ His grip tightened.
Quickly, her breathing grew labored. She didn’t want to die but knew there was no avoiding it. In some ways she’d known this day was going to come. She’d always thought she’d die young.
He squeezed hard.
Blood pounded in her temples and her body screamed for oxygen. Choking, she was aware of a clock ticking. Of life seeping from her body. The details in the room blurred into a pink haze and then nothing.
‘I’m sorry,’ he whispered.
Then he kissed her on the cheek and began to cry.
Chapter Seventeen
Sunday, January 20, 9:15 A.M.
‘Warwick.’ Jacob barked his name into the cell phone. He’d just returned from a run and his body was covered in sweat.
‘It’s Vega. We’ve got another victim. A woman. Strangled.’
‘Shit.’ He dropped his forehead to his hand and leaned against the kitchen counter. ‘Where?’
Vega gave the address. It was an office park near the Goochland County line. ‘And she’s wearing a charm. This one reads Rachel.’
‘Rachel. Another biblical name.’
‘The mother of Joseph. You know, the one with a coat of many colors.’
‘I’ll take your word for it.’ Jacob frowned. ‘I’ll be there in thirty minutes.’
He dialed Zack’s number. Zack’s wife, Lindsay, picked up on the fifth ring. ‘Hello?’
‘Lindsay. Is Zack there?’
‘Hey, Jacob. He’s in the shower.’
‘Get him out.’ His tone told her this wasn’t a social call.
‘Sure thing.’
Nearly a minute later, he heard, ‘What’s up?’
‘Another body.’ Jacob relayed the stats and the two agreed that Jacob would pick Zack up in twenty minutes.
Jacob showered quickly, dressed, and headed down the flight of apartment stairs to the first floor. He backed out of his parking space, pulled into Sunday morning church traffic, and headed west. Within a half hour he and Zack arrived at the murder scene.
A half dozen squad cars and the large white forensics van were parked in front of the low-lying office building. Most of the buildings in this wooded office park were covered in brick and glass. Jacob parked his car and both men hung their badges around their necks on lanyards. The uniforms nodded as the two detectives ducked under yellow crime scene tape and moved around to the back of the building.
Bitter cold air whipped around the corner of the building, bringing with it the sick smell of death. Tess stood inside red tape that she’d used to mark off the crime scene area. The red tape was her signal that no one but forensics entered the area. The flash of her digital camera popped repeatedly. ‘Shoot your way in and out of a scene,’ she always said.
Jacob kept a respectful distance. She needed to do her job, and if they were lucky they could pretend Friday night had never happened and they could get back to the friendship they’d had.
His number one question right now was, What did the victim look like? Tess blocked his view of the body’s face. Tension tightened the muscles in his back. He didn’t want the victim to look like the other two victims. He didn’t want her to look like Kendall.
Zack slid his hands into his pockets. ‘The shit’s gonna hit the fan when this gets out.’
‘I know.’ Jacob tore his gaze from the scene. ‘I need to find out who found this body.’ It took only a few questions to the uniformed officers to discover that a Jeff McNamara had found it. He was the CEO of JN Civil Engineering and he’d come in to catch up on work. He’d looked out his office window and seen the woman.
Immediately, he’d called 911. McNamara was a bookish guy with thinning blond hair and a lean, slightly stooped build. The discovery of the body had really rattled him, but he’d done his best to recount what he knew to the officers, which wasn’t much.
Jacob and Zack did a search of the surrounding office buildings and discovered they were all closed for the weekend. If McNamara hadn’t come in, the body likely wouldn’t have been found until tomorrow.
Zack pulled a stick of gum from his pocket and offered it to Jacob. When Jacob declined he unwraped it and popped it in his mouth. ‘Tess,’ he called out.
She came over to them, careful to keep her expression neutral when her gaze jumped between the two of them. ‘The bruising on her neck indicates that she was strangled.’
Jacob steeled himself. ‘What does the victim look like?’
Tess stared at Jacob. ‘Have a look for yourself.’ She stepped aside.
Jacob had his first good view of the body. She was blond. Petite.
‘She doesn’t look like the others,’ Tess said. ‘Or like Kendall Shaw.’
Kendall had been up most of the night. This time she’d stayed up intentionally. She’d been searching the Internet for any kind of old news story that would tell her about the woman in her dreams. If a violent crime had occurred, chances were the story had been covered.
She had scant details. Twenty-five or so years ago. Two small children. A woman with dark hair. Screaming. She had no location or manner of death. And not surprisingly, none of her searches had revealed anything.
Nicole’s plodding footsteps sounded in the hallway and she appeared in the doorway. She wore a pink empire top, maternity jeans, and her dark hair back in clips. Her stomach looked more pronounced and low. The baby would be here soon – a week or two at the most.
‘Are you working on a story?’
Kendall brushed bangs off her face with the back of her hand. ‘Yes. When I get a lead in my head I can’t sleep.’
‘No bad dreams?’
‘None.’ For the first time in a long while, she felt as if she was gaining a little control. She’d scheduled another appointment with Dr Christopher for Monday so she could be hypnotized again. The more details she got, the faster her search would go.
‘Do you ever stop moving?’
Kendall shook her head. ‘Not often.’ She’d barely gotten the words out when the doorbell rang. ‘Damn.’
Nicole smiled. ‘That’s probably Todd. He has tile samples.’
Kendall had forgotten. ‘That’s right. He said something about a supply problem with the tiles the designer had picked.’ The redesign had seemed so important last week and now she was sorry she’d jumped into the project. She didn’t need the interruption right now.
‘I’ll get the door,’ Nicole said.
‘Thanks.’ Grateful, she turned back to the screen. She heard voices downstairs but ignored them.
Seconds later Nicole reappeared, Brett following close behind. He was dressed in a sleek overcoat, a dark turtleneck sweater, and ironed jeans that topped polished Italian loafers.
He frowned when he saw her. ‘How soon can you be dressed and ready to leave?’
She minimized the computer screen. ‘Why?’
He glanced at Nicole as if he didn’t want to speak in front of her.
Kendall’s annoyance took root. ‘Go ahead, Brett. She can keep a secret.’
Nicole smiled and stood her ground. Nicole had said more than once to Kendall that she didn’t like Brett. She’d remain now just to irritate him.
Brett frowned. ‘There’s been another murder.’
Kendall felt sick. ‘What?’
‘I don’t have all the details, but I’ve got a friend who works in the office park where the woman’s body was found. She contacted me about thirty minutes ago. The cops are trying to keep a lid on this one.’
Nicole crossed her arms over her belly. ‘Go ahead. I can talk to Todd about the tiles.’
‘You have good taste and you know what I like. Just pick what you think is best.’
‘Will do.’
As Kendall moved toward the door, she realized her hands trembled slightly. God, another woman dead. ‘What can you tell me about the victim?’
‘No name or background – yet.’
; She was headed to her room, already mentally cataloguing the details she had on the last murders. ‘Right. Give me twenty, and I’ll be downstairs and ready to go.’
Kendall jumped into the hot shower and washed the sweat from her body. She skipped leg shaving and hair washing, knowing she could hide one and work around the other. Out of the shower, she toweled off, pulled her hair into a French twist, and applied her makeup. She dressed in a white silk blouse, dark pants, and high-heeled boots. She was downstairs in seventeen minutes.
Brett sat on the sofa in the living room. Nicole stood by the fireplace.
‘Let’s go,’ Kendall said. She dug her coat out of the front closet and grabbed her purse.
Brett looked stunned by her transformation. ‘Now that is the Kendall I know and love. Very nice.’
His compliment irritated her. ‘I’ll follow you.’
‘Better ride with me. It’ll save time. I want Channel Ten to have the scoop on this one.’
He was right. Traveling with him was more time efficient. But she didn’t like it. ‘Okay.’
Brett opened the door to his sleek, black Audi and she slid into the seat. He got behind the wheel and fired up the engine. His eyes gleamed. ‘The cops are gonna be pissed when we show.’
‘They’d expect media.’
‘Yeah. But not this soon. They’re only about an hour ahead of us.’
‘How’d you hear about the story?’
‘Got a text message. A tip.’
‘Who?’ Last time she’d received the tip. She wondered if the informant was the same person.
‘Don’t know. Don’t care.’
Thick aftershave coiled around her. ‘Why do you look so happy about this?’
He showed no hint of apology. ‘Nothing would make me happier than to rattle Detective Warwick’s cage. I didn’t appreciate his insinuations the other day.’
‘He was doing his job. Just like we are.’
His grip on the steering wheel tightened. ‘Yeah, well some cops take the authority thing too far, if you ask me.’
‘Maybe some. But not him.’
Brett shot her a glance. ‘It sounds like you like the guy.’
She did. A lot. But that was the last thing Brett needed to hear. ‘He saved my life last summer. I’d have bled to death if not for him.’
That mollified Brett a fraction. ‘Just don’t go soft on him. I want you to attack this story. This story will go national now that there are three victims, and I want Ten to get the credit.’
She wanted to report the story because the murdered women deserved to have their stories told. They deserved to be heard, to be remembered, and to have justice. Fame or the need for publicity did not drive her on this case.
Fifteen minutes later they pulled onto the office development’s main road. They had wound down the neatly manicured road about a half mile when they spotted the flashing blue lights of the police squad cars. Brett parked in the lot of a midrise building a hundred yards from the crime zone. The Channel 10 truck with Mike behind the wheel arrived seconds behind them and parked near Brett’s car.
Kendall got out and braced herself against the cold. She was anxious to find out more about the victim. She spoke briefly to Mike and they crossed the lot and a grassy patch of land to the next parking lot, where crime scene tape held back the growing crowd, made up mostly of morning joggers and contentious professionals anxious to get to their offices.
The crime scene appeared to be extended far beyond the norm, and try as she might she couldn’t see past the collection of officers or around the low brick building where she guessed the body was found.
It took only a few minutes of questioning the crowd to discover who had found the body. When she spotted the man, standing by the tape smoking a cigarette, she went directly to him.
Kendall held out her hand. ‘Hi, my name is Kendall Shaw. Could I ask you a few questions?’
The man looked nervous as he puffed on the nearly spent cigarette. ‘Yeah, sure.’
‘And your name is?’
His face was pale. ‘Oh, yeah, sorry. Jeff McNamara. I’m a little rattled.’
‘I would be too if I found a body. Can we get you a soda or a coffee?’
He dropped the remnants of the cigarette to the ground and crushed the glowing tip with his tennis shoe. ‘No. No. I’m fine.’
‘Jeff, what were you doing here so early on a Sunday?’
‘Catching up on work.’ He laughed nervously. ‘No good deed goes unpunished, right?’
She flashed a practiced smile. ‘Tell me about it.’ She didn’t want to sound too anxious but her nerves were wound tight. ‘Jeff, can you tell me what the victim looked like?’
‘Oh, yeah. Fact, I doubt I’ll ever forget her face.’ He reached in his breast pocket and pulled out a packet of cigarettes. He removed one, lit it, and took a deep puff before he said, ‘Petite. Young. Blond.’
‘Blond?’ That was different from the profile. ‘Can you tell how she was murdered?’
He shuddered. ‘No. But I didn’t see any blood.’
Brett came behind Kendall and looked at the man. ‘Do you think she could have been strangled, like the other two women?’
The man gasped. ‘What?’
Kendall glowered at Brett. ‘We don’t know the others were strangled.’
Brett looked unapologetic. ‘My texter said they were.’
Kendall grabbed Brett by the arm and pulled him away. ‘Why didn’t you tell me this earlier?’
‘I’m telling you now.’ He leaned toward her. ‘Since when did you become so spineless?’
‘I’m not spineless,’ she said, her teeth clenched. ‘But if you start blurting out facts to people while I’m interviewing them you make me look like a fool. Now back off.’
He held up his hands, a glint of pleasure in his eyes. ‘Now that’s the fighter instinct I want to see. Go for the jugular.’
Disgusted, she turned from him. ‘Jeff, I’d like to interview you on camera.’
Jeff sniffed and took another drag. ‘Yeah, sure. Why not?’
She motioned to Mike, who headed toward them. He clicked on his light and started taping. Kendall asked Jeff a dozen questions and he answered them well. It was a good interview.
When they’d wrapped up, she and Mike moved toward the ring of police cars that stood as a barrier between her and the yellow tape. The police had seen to it that no one was going to get too close. They were careful with all their crime scenes, but this one was locked up tight like Fort Knox.
She started to work the crowd, moving among the few bystanders trying to find out what she could about the victim. After an hour, she had little more to go on than when she’d started.
And yet, as the moments passed she felt a tremendous sense of loss as she thought about the dead woman. She’d not known her but she felt as if she had. What was wrong with her?
When she spotted Jacob, who was ducking under the yellow tape, she jogged, with Mike in tow, after him. ‘Detective! Sources tell me that the latest victim was strangled, like the other two victims.’ She didn’t know for certain the women had been strangled but was looking for a reaction.
At the sound of her voice, his head whipped around and he glared at her. He strode toward her, mindful that the camera was trained on him. ‘We have no comment, Ms Shaw.’
‘Was she strangled, like the others?’
Jacob didn’t speak, but the subtle shift in his expression told her that she’d hit her mark. The women had all been strangled. Dear God. ‘The county has a serial killer in its midst, doesn’t it?’
His expression turned fierce. ‘We don’t know that.’
She knew he was just mad enough to lose it and give her a quote. ‘The other two victims were in their mid- to late thirties with dark brown hair. This victim had blond hair. Do you think the serial killer is changing his M.O.?’
Jacob ground his teeth. She sensed that controlling his temper required all his resolve right now. ‘No comment
.’
Mike kept taping, but Jacob didn’t rise to the bait. He ducked back under the yellow tape.
‘Why do you think he’s killing them?!’ she shouted after him. The need to know felt more personal than professional.
He kept walking.
‘Come on, Detective! Give me a comment!’
Silent, he disappeared around the side of the building. She turned away from the tape and shoved out a breath. Mike stopped taping.
Why was he killing them?
The question replayed over and over in her head as she headed back toward the crowd to ask more questions.
From a distance, Allen watched the chaos at the crime scene. The text messages had certainly stirred things up today. He smiled as he stared at the worried faces of the crowd. Their worry and fear excited him. He felt more alive than he had in years.
Chapter Eighteen
Sunday, January 20, 1:00 P.M.
Kendall got under Jacob’s skin every time she was in shouting distance. The woman was a damn pit bull who’d push any button to get a quote. He’d have asked her how she knew the other victims had been strangled, but the damn camera was rolling and the last thing he needed was for his comments to end up on the news.
Tess approached him, her face bright red from the cold. ‘Jacob.’
‘Yeah.’
He was so consumed by Kendall and the case he didn’t even feel awkward about their kiss on Friday night. ‘What do you have?’
She was all business. ‘I’ve found a driver’s license tucked deep in the victim’s pants pocket.’ She handed him the license, now sealed in a plastic evidence bag. ‘The victim appears to match the picture. Her name is Amanda Sorenson.’
Jacob shoved out a sigh. ‘Right. Thanks.’
He flipped open his phone and dialed the missing persons officer on duty. He quickly learned that the parents of an Amanda Sorenson had filed a missing persons report on their daughter thirty-six hours ago when she didn’t show up for work on Friday night.
He tucked the phone back in his pocket and glanced around at the growing number of cops for Zack. When he spotted him talking to Ayden, he made his way to him.