Looking at that coffin made Mallory face some hard realities of her own.
As painful as this funeral was, as awful as it was to bury someone you loved, it was worse not to bury them. For them to just disappear like smoke in the rain and to never know what became of them. The thought of Payton’s remains being abandoned somewhere—it was like an ulcerous sore inside her gut.
Not that she was going to share those thoughts with anyone else, especially not today. This was about
their
grief.
Their
loss. Hers was old and ingrained. Theirs was a fresh bloody wound.
She stood at the back of a crowd of mourners, shivering despite her thick woolen coat. Her leather boots crunched the grass beneath her feet. Winter was nipping hard at the Mountain State. She wouldn
’t let it hamper their investigation, but it might slow down this serial killer.
And maybe she was grasping at straws.
She’d arrived early and taken photographs from the privacy of her car as people had arrived for the service. She didn’t recognize any of the mourners except for some of the cops she’d met last week. She’d go talk to them after the service. See if they’d come up with anything new.
Alex stood beside her, offering silent support as if he
’d been part of her life forever. He’d vetoed objections that she was working and offered to ride along so he could advise her on where her personal security weaknesses lay. It was actually a good idea, not that she’d told her colleagues in Quantico about it.
She wasn
’t sure where “they” as a couple were going, but right now she was willing to take a chance on something, anything, that gave her a moment’s respite from the tangled mess of past and present her life had become. She didn’t know how Alex felt about her, she just knew that after being grilled by Barton yesterday he hadn’t left in a huff, or bitched like a teenage girl.
He
’d stuck.
She was pretty sure she was falling in love and this had never happened to her before. Sure, she
’d dated in college and had boyfriends, but she’d never felt like she’d jumped off a cliff onto an emotional rollercoaster.
It scared the crap out of her.
Part of her wanted to hang on tight and see where it led. The other part wanted time and space to try and figure out exactly what was happening. But if she’d learned anything over the years it was time and space didn’t always provide answers.
All she knew for sure was Alex was gorgeous, sexy, great in bed, and just plain
nice
—basically too good to be true. Like she’d told him the other day, he had a hell of a lot going for him and she’d decided that, in spite of her responsibility toward her sister, she’d be a fool not to give the spark between them a chance because life didn’t give you many chances like this.
Not that she could shake him right now
even if she’d wanted to. Mallory doubted this killer would actually attempt to kidnap a federal agent in broad daylight. Considering she had some martial arts training and carried a Taser, two Glocks as well as her FBI shield, she felt a little bit of a fraud letting him accompany her at all. But as she didn’t know which of her FBI colleges to trust it was nice to have someone watch her back. That this psycho was out there gave her the creeps, but it was also an opportunity.
Bryce Keeble sobbed loudly as
Lindsey’s coffin was lowered into the ground. Hidden in the folds of their heavy coats Alex’s fingers once again found hers, offering silent support. She blinked away the sudden onslaught of tears. She was here as a professional and no matter how difficult it was, she wanted to do her best by Lindsey and the other women this UNSUB had killed.
She felt eyes
on her and looked over toward Sheriff Williams and a couple of his deputies who stood with their heads bowed. Sean Kennedy caught her eye and she nodded a greeting. He nodded back but there was an impatience in his stance, a tension in his face that suggested something had happened, something beyond burying a victim of cold-blooded murder.
Excitement shifted along her
skin. Maybe they’d brought someone in for questioning or identified a suspect?
The pastor started winding things up and she shifted her weight from one foot to the other.
Alex released her hand and she slipped it into her pocket, immediately missing his warmth.
As mourners
began to drift away she hung back, then made her way across to Sheriff Williams who waited for her.
“
Special Agent Rooney. Good of you to come all this way,” he said it with a smile but he knew it was standard procedure to take a close look at the mourners at the funeral of any unsolved murder victim. They’d be doing the same.
“
Sheriff. Deputy Kennedy. Deputy Chance.” She nodded to deputies she recognized from her visit last week and introduced Alex as an FBI consultant, but didn’t elaborate on his role. “Any developments?”
“
There’s been an incident but I don’t know yet if it has anything to do with Lindsey Keeble’s murder. You heard we found her car?”
Mallory shook her head.
“Did the crime lab find any prints?”
“
Still processing the sucker. It’ll be a few days before they get back to us.”
How was the killer luring them out of their cars?
“What was the incident you mentioned?” Alex asked from beside her.
The sheriff looked him up and down, and then back at her.
“Double homicide.”
“
You don’t think it’s connected?” Alex spoke with the same cool authority Frazer had mastered. Must be a gene for it.
“
Too early to tell for sure but totally different type of crime. Looks like a robbery gone bad. No sign of sexual assault. Two seniors knifed to death. Niece found them this morning.”
“
Can I view the scene?” asked Mallory.
“
Sure, I’ve got to head back there right now.” His radio went off and he turned the volume down. “Pretty horrific. You need to brace yourself. Hell of a lot of blood everywhere.”
Mallory nodded even as her stomach roiled. This was the job.
“We got prints on the murder weapon. Running them as we speak.”
“
Hopefully they’re in the system.” She added, “We’ll follow you over there.”
The mourners were long gone and the grave diggers were starting
to throw soil on top of Lindsey’s coffin. The sound of it hitting was a dull thump that echoed through Mallory’s chest. Death was so final. The audacity of the killer hit her with renewed force.
She and Alex got in her car and followed the sheriff down country roads she
’d never traveled before. Alex didn’t make small talk and she appreciated the silence. Leafless trees and hills surrounded her, the Alleghenies preparing for winter. There were houses set back in the trees, but scattered far apart. If a killer wanted to hide in this sparsely populated state it wouldn’t be difficult. Her sister’s laughter teased the edges of her mind.
The
pajamas and ring that the killer had sent had traces of Payton’s DNA—Mallory’s DNA—but nothing else. The labs were pulling out all the stops testing for touch DNA transferred to the plastic wrapping and envelopes. It wasn’t much to hold onto, but it was better than nothing.
She drove down another quiet road and then the sheriff took a left and parked the car along the verge. She followed suit.
She unclipped her seatbelt. “You better stay here.”
Alex surveyed the quiet woods and multitude of squad cars lining the r
oad. “You should be safe enough. Take your cell.” He pulled out his phone. “It’s a miracle, but we’ve got a signal.” He grabbed his laptop off the back seat. “Take your time. I’ve got plenty of work to do.”
Her mouth went dry.
How could she not fall for a guy who went out of his way to protect her while also giving her the space she needed to do her job? Just looking at him made her ache. “Tell me you aren’t as perfect as you seem, Alex.”
“
Not even close to perfect.” His blue-gray eyes darkened. “Not a complete asshole either.”
She huffed out a quiet laugh and opened the door before she did something unprofessional like kiss the guy at a crime scene. Not the sort of law enforcement officer she wanted to be no matter how grateful she was.
Or how smitten.
She headed over to
the two deputies she knew. “Did you know the victims?”
“
This is West Virginia, ma’am. Everyone knows everyone.” Deputy Chance gave her a look that clearly stated this was difficult for him.
It was never easy to work scenes that involved people you knew.
The sheriff waved her over. She excused herself, signed a log, and put on some booties over her shoes before she entered the quaint rustic looking cottage.
“
Watch your step. I’ve got a blood spatter analyst coming in today to help me try and figure what went down.”
The bodies had been removed but the sheriff handed her two enlarged photographs as she walked through the entranceway. She looked at the walls and the floor. Heck of a lot of blood.
“Did he hit an artery?”
“
Yup. Sliced the carotid right through. Bob McCafferty died almost instantly which is more than I can say for his poor wife, Angie.”
She followed him down the narrow corridor to the kitchen. She held up the image and stood back, superimposing the body on the scene.
“He stabbed her from the front? Think she knew him? Or he cornered her in the kitchen?”
“
There weren’t any defensive wounds. He must have took them both by surprise. Kitchen knife was found beside Bob’s body. We think the killer stabbed Angie first and then Bob came home and disturbed the sonofabitch as he tossed the place. Friends say he was down at the local tavern until about ten.”
“
You have a time of death?”
“
Medical Examiner reckons shortly after he arrived home, between ten and eleven, but that was off the record and his best guess using temperature, lividity and rigor mortis.”
“
Makes sense though.” And in her limited experience MEs only hazarded a guess when they were almost certain they were right.
The sheriff tipped his chin down and folds of skin gathered around his neck. He was a big guy who took up a lot of space.
Mallory followed him through to the kitchen. “If I was speculating what might have gone down I’d say some passing scumbag saw the light on and decided to investigate. Saw an elderly woman home alone in an isolated cottage and figured he’d kill her and toss the place. Bob surprised him so he killed him as well and then fled.”
It was always easier to think the killer was a drifter rather than someone you might know. Someone you might like.
Lots of blood had pooled and dried on the floor and there were footprints too. “You’ve got some good impressions here.” She looked up. “Big feet. He left through the back door?”
Sheriff nodded.
“Looks like. I hope this sonofabitch’s fingerprints are in the system.”
She raised her eyes to look out the back.
“Did you search the woods?”
“
Had a couple of teams go out to look for evidence, but there’s three hundred acres of forest. Plus, he stole the McCaffertys’ car and took off in that. Got a BOLO alert on the vehicle.”
She pressed her lips together. Could this be the PR-killer? MO was totally different but to have all these murders in this small sleepy community?
A Titanic-sized coincidence. “Where are these woods on the map? Can you show me so I can get my bearings?”
He hitched his belt.
“I’ll do better than that. Follow me.”
He took her out the front door, careful to leave the footprints uncontaminated. She followed
him down steps and around a woodpile. The Alleghenies rose all around them, cold and barren. A crow cawed from a branch and a shiver of unease rippled over her flesh. She followed the sheriff along a path through the majestic trunks of oak and hickory and pine, out of sight of the other cops and Alex. The scarlet bark of dogwoods provided the only drop of color on this grim day, the deep red reminding her of the blood smeared all over that rustic log cabin.
“
Where are we going, Sheriff?”
“
You’ll see.”
A chill ran down her back. The clouds had that look of burgeoning snow. Chance
s were they were going to get another dump before the day was over. The sheriff finally stopped at the top of a hill. And pointed northwest, beyond a narrow creek. “See that chimney over there?”
She could just make out some tall red bricks and felt her pulse kick.
“Is that Eastborne?”
He nodded.
“County line runs through these woods which is why Greenville County Sheriff’s Office has jurisdiction for this double homicide.” She turned to look down at the cottage belonging to the murder victims and the chill deepened. She’d run wild in these woods every summer until Payton had been stolen. “They were almost our nearest neighbors but I don’t remember those people or that cottage.”