“Did he at least put down her phone number?” They would need to get in touch with her.
“He didn’t even put a name.” Heather let out an exasperated sigh. “Please tell me we aren’t heading to one of those incompetent stations where their skills are just as bad as their coffee.”
“Afraid so.” Heath sighed. “We’ll need to double check on everything. We need to find out who the woman was so we can question her.”
“Maybe the sheriff will remember her name,” Heather commented. “It was only yesterday when the woman reported the kidnapping.”
For the next few hours, Heather read through the file. There wasn’t much to go on. All they had were preliminary reports from the coroner. With luck, they could get the full autopsy report when they got into town. She described the pictures of the crime scenes to him, flashing him the pictures.
“I want to go by the crime scene and see if I can get any feels.” His empath senses were strong, so he may pick up on some residual high emotions.
“What about the dump sites?” Heather asked as he pulled off the interstate.
“Yeah, we’ll go by those, too. Though, if they were just dump sites, I doubt I’ll get anything from them.”
“But we may find something the crime scene techs missed,” Heather suggested.
Twenty minutes later, they came into Eutaw Hills. It was larger than Heath thought it would be. He navigated the streets, heading deeper into town. The historical buildings had murals on the side, depicting a battle from the past. The sheriff’s department was in the center of town, next to the bank. He pulled in front of the station and turned the SUV off. It was a two-story building, matching the bank. As Heath got out, he glanced around. The courthouse sat directly across the street. At the corner of the block was a coffee shop with a sign lit up advertising hot pastries. No doubt it was the local law enforcement’s favorite place to be. Two deputies came out with cups of coffee and white paper bags. Heath glanced at his phone for the time.
“We’ll grab some lunch when we get done in here,” Heath offered when Heather met him at the front of the SUV.
“I’m in no rush for food,” she commented as they headed into the station.
There wasn’t much activity going on, unlike most of the departments they had come in contact with. These murders were probably the most horrifying thing that had happened around here in years.
“What can I do for you?” an older lady asked from behind the reception desk. Her silver hair was in tight curls around her head. A pencil stuck out from behind her right ear.
“I’m Agent Cooper and this is Agent Rockfell. We’re here to speak with Sheriff Logan.” Heath flipped her his credentials, but she didn’t examine them.
“He mentioned the FBI was sending someone out. I’ll let him know you’re here.” She picked up the phone and dialed the sheriff’s extension. “Sir, they’re here. Want me to send them back?” With a nod, she put the phone back on the hanger. “He’s coming right out.”
“Thanks,” Heather said and leaned against the wall.
Heath leaned against the wall next to her and opened the file folder. He was finally able to take time to look at the photos. By the photos, there wasn’t much to go on. All the women were discarded like trash. Is that how the killer viewed all women? Like trash. Heather elbowed him when a large man approached them.
“Agents, I’m Sheriff Logan.” He shook their hands. “Welcome to Dorton. Thanks for coming today.”
“The quicker we get to work the quicker we can stop this killer,” Heath told him.
“I was more looking for help in identifying the cause of death. We’ve never seen anything like it before,” Sheriff Logan said as he turned toward the hall he just came from.
“Sheriff!” A woman came into the station with purpose on her heels. Heath could feel the panic coming off her. “Was it her?”
Immediately, the sheriff’s mood changed. Before, Heath had felt the man’s concerns over the killings, now, that had been replaced with sheer irritation. Heath narrowed his brows as the sheriff turned around to look at the woman. Heath and Heather stepped to the side, letting the woman come up to the sheriff.
“The body that was found, was it her? Was it the redhead from the store?” she asked, concern overwhelmed all other emotions coming from her. Her brown eyes were focused on the sheriff. This must be the woman that reported the kidnapping.
“No, it’s not,” Sheriff Logan gritted out at the woman then started to turn away.
“Are you even looking for her?” she asked.
“We have enough on our plates to worry about other than false reports just to get attention.” The sheriff tried to continue down the hall.
“False reports?” Anger rose from the woman. Heath could feel the thickness of the emotion. He nearly choked. “There was no false report. Believe me, it happened. If you don’t find her, she’ll end up like the rest of them.”
“If there was proof, then I’d be looking. There’s nothing to go on other than you saying so. Now, if you’ll excuse me, these agents are here to help with the real case, not your imagination.” Without further comments, the sheriff stormed off, leaving the woman fuming in her spot.
Heath nodded to Heather, motioning for her to follow the sheriff. He wanted to find out more from the woman. Heath turned to the woman, taking in her emotions as she stared after the sheriff. Her silken brown hair had his fingers tingling to run through it.
“Ma’am, I’m agent Cooper.” He held out his hand, but she didn’t immediately take it.
“You’re with the FBI?” she asked, looking him over.
He nodded and she shook his hand. Mid shake she let go of his hand with a sharp intake of breath. Her emotions went from anger to shock. Something took her by surprise. She took a hard swallow.
“I’m Ciara Carter.” She crossed her hands in front of her, tucking her hands under her arms.
“Are you the woman that reported a kidnapping yesterday?” He took a step toward her. Her brown eyes had golden starbursts bursting from the center. He could gaze into those eyes for hours.
“I am, but Sheriff Asshat doesn’t believe me.” She stepped back as if afraid he’d touch her.
“Tell me what happened,” he urged her to tell him.
“You’re not going to believe me either. No one does.” Her posture relaxed, almost defeated. “I need to get back to my store.”
“We’re not like these small town deputies, Ms. Carter. Our eyes are open to the bigger picture. Anything you can tell us may be of some help.” He took out his business card and held it out to her. With trepidation, she took the card and studied the front of it. “Can I get your contact information, so I can get in touch with you later?”
“It’s all in my statement from yesterday. I hope you find the killer before more women go missing.” She turned around and hurried out the door.
Heath watched as she left the station. He didn’t know what she felt when she shook his hand, but he knew what he felt. He knew the moment their hands touched that he was shaking hands with his mate.
Chapter Three
Heath went down the hall in search of Heather and Sheriff Logan. He found them in the Sheriff’s office. He could feel irritation coming off Heather. What’s changed? She was sitting in the chair across from the sheriff. She turned his direction when he entered the room.
“So, the sheriff was just telling me that they didn’t send us the complete file. Half of it was missing.” Heather handed him a folder.
“Well, we figured that much.” He eyed the sheriff then flipped through the file. “This isn’t complete either, is it?”
“That’s everything,” the sheriff assured him, but Heath could feel he was holding back.
“Where’s the statement Ms. Carter made yesterday?” Heath asked him and dropped the file back on the desk as he took a seat next to Heather.
“I didn’t include it because she’s a crazy loon. No one in their right mind would believ
e anything that coot says. She’s always making accusations about something. Any crime that happens, she swears she knows what happened. She’s a frequent flyer so to say.”
“Frequent flyer? You’ve arrested her?”
“I should for hindering our investigations.” Sheriff Logan straightened in his chair.
“Where’s the statement?” Heath narrowed his eyes at the sheriff. He’d like to smack some sense into the man.
“I assure you, Agent Cooper, it won’t help with this case.”
“The statement, sheriff.” Heath held out his hand. The sheriff let out a sigh and opened his desk drawer.
“She claimed that a woman was taken in the middle of the day. In broad daylight, from a damn grocery store. There’s no similarities to the other women.” He pulled out a paper and set it on the desk in front of Heath.
“Did you even look into what she claimed?” Heather asked, leaning over to look at the paper with Heath.
“I looked into it,” Sheriff Logan claimed. “I reviewed the store’s security footage. Nothing happened. No kidnapping.”
“Within view of that camera,” Heath commented, putting the paper in his folder. He’d make a copy for Heather later.
“You want to waste time viewing the footage? Fine, but I still have murders to solve.”
“We’ll have one of our guys go through the footage. We’re focused on those murdered women. Those women are our purpose for this visit.” Heather placed her hand on Heath’s arm, stopping him from speaking. She could always tell when he was about to flip his lid even though she wasn’t an empath like him.
“You now have everything. The medical examiner is finishing up with the autopsy reports now.” Sheriff Logan got up from his chair. “We’ll have to go down to the basement.”
As the sheriff passed, Heath peered over at Heather. “Play nice,” she warned.
“That’s my line.” Usually, she was the one that needed to be calmed.
“I have a feeling this case is going to be different,” she said as they followed behind the sheriff.
Heath didn’t say anything on the ride down to the basement. The sheriff had explained how records were upstairs and the medical examiner and evidence was in the basement. They had a few jail cells in the rear of the first floor. As they stepped off the elevator, Heath glanced down the hall. To the left, was a door labeled as evidence. A man sat at a desk just to the right of the door, ready to check evidence in. The man smiled when Heather stepped off the elevator. His lustful emotion had Heath grinning over at Heather.
“I think he wants to take you out for a night on the town,” Heath whispered to Heather.
“Oh hush.” She elbowed Heath as they followed the sheriff to the right.
“In here.” Sheriff Logan opened the door halfway down the hall.
Two metal autopsy tables sat in the center of the room. One occupied by a blonde covered to her hairline in a white sheet. No doubt it was their latest victim. The wall to the left was lined with body coolers. A man peered up from the desk at the rear of the room and pulled the earbuds from his ears.
“Sheriff, I was just about to call you.” The man stood up and made his way to them.
“Dr. Bishop, this is Agent Cooper and Agent Rockfell. They’ve come to assist in the investigation.” The sheriff introduced them. “Do you have anything new?”
“I sent blood samples to the lab for a tox screen. So far, only one has come back. The first victim, Adelinda Barren, had neurotoxins in her system. It would have made fighting back difficult. She would have been incapacitated within a minute of two.” Dr. Bishop stepped over to the body cooler and pulled open one of the drawers.
“Is the neurotoxin what killed her?” Heath asked as he stepped up beside the medical examiner.
“Her heart stopped, but there wasn’t enough of the toxin to cause it.” Dr. Bishop pulled the sheet back, exposing the woman and her injuries.
Heather came up next to Heath and examined the woman. She was young. Too young to have left this world under these circumstances. Her black hair was bunched underneath her. Her face and body were marred with bruises from the attack and torture. She had a small tattoo on her right shoulder made prominent by her paled skin. Her autopsy had already been performed, but Heath could still see the circular burn mark on her chest. It was a perfect circle, but it wasn’t a branding.
“What can you tell us about the burn?” Heather asked.
“We were hoping the FBI could help us with that one,” Dr. Bishop replied. “It’s unlike anything I’ve ever seen. I’m sure it’s the cause of death, but I can’t identify what caused it. Whatever it was, sent enough voltage to her heart, frying it on contact. She would have died within seconds.”
“It must have been excruciating,” Heath commented.
“Very much so,” Dr. Bishop agreed. “She has signs of torture. All ten of her fingers were broken and her left foot was crushed, all the bones were shattered.”
Heath lifted the sheet exposing the woman’s feet. “If the killer was after information, he got it after her foot was crushed. He didn’t touch the other foot.”
“That’s what we were thinking,” Sheriff Logan concurred. The medical examiner pulled the sheet back over the victim and closed the cooler drawer.
“Now, Beatrice Birchum, she had more extensive trauma.” Dr. Bishop opened another drawer two spots down. “Both her feet are smashed, and the bones in her hand are also broken.”
“She held out longer,” Heath commented. The burn to her chest was the same as the first. It was the final blow. “How long did he have them?”
“Their bodies showed up three days after they went missing,” Sheriff Logan replied from memory. “I was surprised there weren’t more injuries.”
“No, the killer let them agonize over the pain. The pain is what breaks them.” The brunette before him had more bruises than the last. Her face was swollen from the broken bones in her face.
“I was just about to start the autopsy for Macy Micheals. Her parents haven’t made it in yet for the confirmation, so her identity hasn’t been released.” Dr. Bishop walked over to the autopsy table and pulled back the white sheet. “She suffered the same injuries as the first victim. She must have given up after the first foot.”
“Did you send samples off to your lab?” Heath asked, taking a closer look at the burn mark on the woman’s lifeless body.
“From the other victims? Yes. From her? Just her blood. I was just about to get started on her.” He wheeled a cart over with all his needed equipment.
“Send the samples to our lab.” Heath wrote the address down. “We’ll be able to get results faster.”
Dr. Bishop eyed the sheriff, waiting for approval. It didn’t take an empath to tell the sheriff wasn’t happy about his speed comment. The air thickened as if he was holding back from saying something. After a moment, the sheriff nodded his approval.
“I’ll get those sent once they’re all collected.” He grabbed a couple of vials out of the drawer and set them on the cart. “The first two reports are on my desk. I’ll probably have a preliminary for Ms. Micheals in the morning.”
“Thank you, Dr. Bishop.” Heather smiled and went over to Dr. Bishop’s desk. She picked up the reports and headed to the door.
Not wanting to see the autopsy process, Heath walked out with Heather, leaving the doctor to do his work. Sheriff Logan came out and joined them on the elevator.
“Take the report to Cindy at the front desk and she’ll make you a copy. Leave the original with her.” The elevator dinged as it stopped on the first floor. When the doors opened, the sheriff stormed straight to his office, clearly not wanting to be followed.
“Ok, then.” Heather peered after the sheriff. “What’s that all about?”
“I imagine he’s mad that his labs aren’t up to speed,” Heath commented on their way to the front desk.
They waited while Cindy made copies for them. As she handed Heath the copied paperwork, her fi
ngers brushed his hand. Her smile grew and she gave him a wink when she withdrew her hand. She was at least twice his age. When they left the sheriff’s department, Heather burst out laughing.
“Maybe the cougar in there will take you out on the town.” Heather laughed again.
“You know, I should have asked her where’s a good place to get some food,” Heath said when he opened the door to his SUV. Heather got in the passenger seat and shut the door.
“Hold on a second.” She flipped through the reports in her folder. “Macy Micheals was last seen at a restaurant. Let’s go to Boudreaux’s.”
“With a name like that, it better be Cajun food,” he commented as he started the vehicle.
“Oh, now, I could go for some good gumbo,” Heather agreed and rubbed her stomach.
After putting the address into the GPS, he pulled out of the parking spot. On the way to the restaurant, Heath remained quiet. His thoughts were filled with the woman he met only hours ago. Ciara was a beauty for sure. Most men would bend over backwards for a woman like her. So, what made the sheriff so infuriated when she came in? There was something he was missing. Something maybe the sheriff didn’t even know about her. There was more to her than just a human.
“You just missed the turn,” Heather spoke from the passenger seat.
“Damn it.” He turned down the next street. “We’re just taking the scenic route.”
“Yeah, okay.” Heather rolled her eyes. “What were you thinking about?”
“Nothing,” he replied quickly.
“You know you can’t lie to me.” She crossed her arms. “I can spot your lies a mile away.”
“I was just wondering about Ciara Carter.”
“The woman that claimed a kidnapping happened?” she asked, turning toward him.
“Yeah, there’s something about her. Something she’s not saying.” He pulled into the restaurant parking lot. It was early supper time, so the parking lot wasn’t full. He parked a few spots away from where the victim’s car was found.
“You think she’s hiding something? Maybe she was there when the kidnapping happened,” Heather suggested.
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