Aries

by A P Morgan

  “Also, you’re the one who invited me. I mean, I can see how threatening it is for detectives to come in and lend a hand with a serial killer. Being petty is such a great idea when women are dying, and we still don’t have the person responsible. I’ve already seen what this person is capable of, and I’m not talking about the local guy,” I calmly stated, and waited for her to respond.

  “Well, you’re going to regret this when I prove that we have the murderer locked up.” She turned and left the room with a trail of steam following her.

  The past twenty-four hours were catching up to me, and I was in serious need of some food and sleep.

  “Agent Watson, is there any way we can get our luggage out of the car? I think we’re going to stay here tonight, just in case the old-fashioned form of lynch mobs makes a comeback.”

  “Certainly.” He leaned in to whisper, “She’s going to be getting a phone call from her boss shortly. The sheriff and I are both going to be making calls tonight. In the meantime, there’s a diner across the street where you can get some food while I arrange for a place for you to stay tonight.”

  “Thank you. I don’t know which is more important right now, food or sleep. I can eat while you work on the sleep.” I walked out of the temporary headquarters with my head up. I wasn’t going to let that woman beat me.

  Chapter 8

  Ryan

  Leslie had been right the night before. We needed to get some sleep, but I was still having problems, and it was only seven at night. I’d made sure that she was settled in before I left the room.

  The only thing that Gavin had been able to find was one lone room with queen beds. One of the news crews had been called back to L.A., leaving the room empty. Housekeeping had given us new sheets and Lysol spray, but they wouldn’t be able to do a deep clean until the morning.

  Leslie hadn’t cared. She’d been asleep before her head hit the pillow. I had to admire the way she lived. All passion and go until her energy died, and then she was down for the count.

  Not only were my thoughts keeping me up, but I wanted to see if the sheriff had any ideas on where another local burial ground could be located.

  He was taking the first shift of guarding Tom to keep the FBI from absconding with him in the middle of the night.

  “Sheriff Turner, got a minute?” I knocked at the door of the cells.

  “Yeah. What’s on your mind, Detective?” He closed the door between the cell and the hallway. “Have a seat.”

  “I’m curious. If you don’t think that Tom’s responsible, who do you think could be capable of something like this?”

  “That’s a really hard question. I don’t want to believe that anyone I know could be capable of this type of horror. I think that he’s got everyone fooled. He might be a resident that’s on the newer side, but not many people would have used those two burial sites unless you’d lived here most of your life.” He ran a frustrated hand through his hair.

  “I’m starting to doubt everyone but my mother at this point. Since she’s a woman and doesn’t fit the profile, I think it’s safe for me to trust her.” He gave a wry grin. “Seriously, I asked the FBI to step in, but I didn’t know what I was going to get with Agent Perez.”

  “I think she means well. She’s just going about it backwards.” I hated to give her credit, but she wasn’t a dumb woman.

  “What would you suggest we do next to prevent him from taking more women?” He got up to glance through the small window into the cells.

  “We need to think like a hunter. Where would he feel comfortable hunting, even with all of this publicity going on? Someplace that he’d done it many times before, right? He might not have stayed here, but maybe he grew up in the area? It takes years of running through the woods in the dark to be able to hunt others in them. He might even live somewhere else and come back here just for this purpose.”

  “It would need to be somewhere that if she escaped, she couldn’t make it to safety. That’s why the camping area where that father and son found those graves made sense. It’s not heavily populated, and he couldn’t have known they were going to go hunting. He made a mistake,” he said thoughtfully, considering the possibilities.

  “What if it wasn’t a mistake? What if he wanted them to possibly be found? Where would be someplace sort of obscure, but someone might find the graves before they had been there very long?” I broached the question, “It doesn’t have to be in this county, but could be in a bordering one.”

  “Nothing is coming to mind, but then again, I’ve been at this for over a week now. I think we lost our opportunity to get our missing woman back, but I don’t want to give up hope.”

  “Sheriff, I speak from personal experience with this, but we can’t save everyone. I’d like to, but we just have to hope that we can save someone.” I stood and stretched. “I think I’ll get some sleep. You might want to see if you can switch out with someone and get some rest yourself. I don’t think Agent Perez is going to do anything before morning. It’s a long way to transport someone to L.A., and a lot of things can go wrong.”

  “I heard about what happened with you and your partner. You guys were lucky. There isn’t much traffic on that old highway these days. Most people take the interstate, and those who want to fly under cover take the back roads.” He slapped his forehead. “Of course that’s why you were followed. The killer is using the old highway to transport the women from where he picks them up to his hunting grounds.”

  “Glad I could help, but I’m not sure what you figured out. Most of the delivery or transportation trucks would only use the freeway unless they stopped in all of the little towns. You guys were right. He’s got some type of delivery system, and that’s how he hides the women until he gets back here.”

  “Now if we could just figure out what profession he’s working in that would make people trust him enough to not question his presence, that he could come and go easily.” He checked on his prisoner again. “He’s just watching the TV.”

  “You look exhausted. Go get some sleep.” He started pacing again.

  “Thanks for the vote of confidence, but you’re right, I do need to rest. Night.” I walked out through the very quiet station and down the street to the hotel.

  Leslie was asleep when I got inside, and she didn’t even move when I tripped over the edge of the bed in the dark.

  I laid there, trying to think about our killer. What was motivating him? I understood the idea of hunting something and the satisfaction of finding your prize at the end—a reward. But this was more of job, something he had to do, which also brought a little bit of pleasure.

  Our killer had been doing this for years, and he was enjoying trying to outsmart us. He would never have left graves for us to find, and that’s what we’d been missing. Concentrated areas with missing women that would follow the California highway.

  At some point, my body had gotten still enough that I’d dozed off fitfully.

  My head was pounding like a drum when I rolled over to see Leslie letting Gavin into the room. It wasn’t my head doing the pounding, which was at least a slight improvement.

  “Still asleep? Well, the missing town’s girl just showed up.” Gavin had a smile on his face. “Perez got called back to L.A., so the sheriff is going to take over and see where she’s been the past few days.”

  Leslie was dressed already, but she didn’t have any coffee yet.

  “Why don’t I go with Gavin while you get a shower?” she suggested.

  “I stink, huh?” I didn’t even have to do a sniff test to know that it was needed. “Go on without me. I thought of a couple ideas that I’m going to try to remember in the light of day. I’ll meet you over there.”

  “If you’re sure.” She waited for me to protest, and when I didn’t, she grabbed her badge and room key off the dresser.

  When the door clicked shut, I flopped back onto the bed, wishing for just one moment that I led a normal life, where everything wasn’t so life or death. I almo
st envied those that held down nine-to-five jobs.

  Unable to just lay there when parts of the case were coming unraveled, I jumped up and headed for the shower. We were going to have to take advantage of the cleaning services if we wanted to have another change of clean clothes.

  Thirty minutes later, I felt fresh and ready to see the better side of the job. There wasn’t a line at the diner next door, so getting two coffees went quickly.

  It was obvious why there’d been no one around as soon as I left the diner. Every news station was facing the entrance to the sheriff’s office. They were waiting like vultures for the poor woman to come walking out the door so they could make a sensational story for their deadlines.

  Bypassing the police lines that were holding them back, I went to the headquarters to stare at the boards.

  Maps covered a large amount of space, while another wall held the victims and the possible suspects. No one even bothered with me as I sat perched on the edge of the conference table, looking at the facts before me.

  We were twenty days into the Aries cycle, and only had ten bodies. That meant at least one, if not two more burial sites were waiting for us to discover them. The map had both locations marked out where we’d found bodies, but there wasn’t any specific thing that made them stand out.

  I added a dot to the map where we’d found the vehicles the day before. Feeling bold, I added another dot where we’d had our wreck. I was willing to bet if we looked for land that had public access near the area where we’d been run off the road, we’d find one of the two burial grounds.

  He invited them to celebrate, and then, just like a spider weaving his web, lured them in while he spun them into a trap.

  A road block would just make him go to plan B. These killers had specific instructions, and didn’t deviate unless it meant not getting the job done. They couldn’t continue if they were in jail or dead.

  I was willing to bet that he had someplace to stash the women close to where he’d buried them. Changing locations would make the hunt more fun because he’d be at a disadvantage as well. That wouldn’t mean that he’d be dumb and use it without scoping it out first, though. He’d have done his homework.

  The area on the map near our wreck was mostly beaches, with very little vegetation, except for one spot near a lake.

  “Um, excuse me.” I waved my hands at those in the room in case being polite didn’t get their attention. “Who can look up land titles for me? I think I have a possible burial ground.”

  All the others had looked up, but the one guy still working was who they all pointed to. “Bart’s the one who’s been doing that for us on this case.”

  When I started toward Bart, who was huddled over a laptop attached to the lone outlet near the corner, I smiled. Maybe I hadn’t lost my mojo after all.

  “Bart, can you help me out for a minute?” I tapped him on the shoulder when he didn’t respond, causing him to jump three feet.

  He landed back in his chair and pulled his earbuds out. “Dude, all you had to do was ask without scaring me.”

  “I did.” I pointed to his ears.

  “Oh yeah, right. What can I do for you?” He pushed his glasses back up onto his nose.

  “Here, follow me.” I walked over to the map and pointed to the one tree filled area. “Can you tell me who owns that and where exactly it is?”

  “Sure. It’ll take me about five minutes.”

  I slapped him on the back. “Great. I’ll owe you one.”

  “Owe me one what?” He looked puzzled.

  “Nothing. Great job. Thanks for doing it.” I was pretty sure that I was speaking English, but maybe nerd was a different language.

  Agents started filing in, so while I waited for Leslie, I continued to look for other spots where he could hunt unrestricted.

  She and Gavin walked over to the wall I was staring at.

  “Well, was it the local girl?”

  “Yeah. She and her boyfriend had decided not to wait for fall and went to Vegas to get married. They had phones, but because they left in a hurry, forgot their chargers. Then they were married, and didn’t really need the phones if you know what I mean.” She wagged her eyebrows suggestively at me.

  “I don’t need the details. Why did we think she was one of the murdered women?”

  “We didn’t. When she went missing, it wasn’t a big jump from that to she must be dead because of her birthday. That’s why they went ahead and got married. She’s old enough to gamble now.”

  I just shook my head. “Oh, young love. At least she’s alive and back home. We can use those man-hours that we were spending to find her on the other women who don’t have much time left.”

  “Why is that guy watching us?” Gavin whispered without turning around.

  Glancing over my shoulder, I saw the nerd waving. “He’s got a potential burial site for us to go check out.”

  “What are we waiting for?” Leslie started for the corner before I could stop her. “Did you find it?”

  He looked to me for permission before answering. “Yeah, it belongs to one of the founders of the town. It’s a place where everyone is allowed to go camping and hang out as long as they clean up whatever they bring in.”

  “Where is this wonderful wooded land?” Gavin asked, looking at the map on his screen. “It’s about twenty minutes from where they ran you off the road.”

  “Maybe he wasn’t trying to kill us, but he wanted us in the area since he was done using it,” Leslie suggested with excitement.

  “I think we should check it out.”

  “There’s no one here to stop us. Agent Perez is going to be busy for the day, so I’m in charge. I can’t leave everyone here, but I can send a few people with a team to help you look.” Gavin grinned. “It’s good to be in charge for a change.”

  “Is she coming back?” I wondered casually.

  “Unfortunately,” he whispered behind his hand to us. “She had to go home on a personal matter.”

  “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, as 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— “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.”