Jane Doe's Return (5 page)

One kill on the same date. It never changed.

Until today.

Taking a deep breath, he drew back the blanket, and then heard a sharp intake of breath behind him.

The young victim had been bludgeoned beyond recognition. Travis closed his eyes briefly and then replaced the blanket. Shauna had already turned away.

“You okay?” he whispered in her ear. He remembered his first violent case. Didn’t matter how well his training had prepared him, he could never shake any of the victim’s images from his mind.

“Yeah. Just trying to organize everything I’ve seen so far.” She pulled out a small note pad and scribbled in it. “Who was that guy you were talking to?”

“Detective Rosco Hutchensen. Good cop. Real good, but a pain in the ass.”

“Did he have any details about the girl?”

“Nothing concrete except the girl was into drugs and a possible runaway. He’ll file a report by the end of the day and send it to us. We’ll compare it to our findings, send over our thoughts and it will probably stay with local.” Before the joint task force, he’d done everything in his power to make up a reason why each murder should be the FBI’s case. Now, with the shared information policy he had greater access, although he had to be careful. Cops like Hutchensen didn’t like all Travis’s poking.

“How long has she been missing?”

He noticed she wiped her face before she turned. When her eyes caught his, he sensed how she struggled to keep her own personal feelings at bay and deal with the situation at hand. Sometimes the job hardened people to the point they couldn’t feel anything real anymore. He prayed that never happened to him. Or her. “About eight days. She’d gone missing before, so the exact day is off.”

“The killer preys on young runaways. He finds their weakness and gains their trust. He promises them fame or freedom, whatever it is they are running from. He promises to protect them. Only to rape and murder them in the end.”

“You want to tell me what you see here to make you draw that conclusion?” She had quoted him a textbook answer, and even if her conclusions were right on, there wasn’t an ounce of evidence to back up her findings. Either she wasn’t as smart as he thought or she knew something he didn’t.

He was banking on the latter.

She blinked and then looked around. “It’s not so much what I see here, but all the facts put together.”

“There are no facts. You’re going by emotion, not fact.” He touched the small of her back, edging her toward the truck.

“You heard the medical examiner, she was most likely beaten, raped, then bludgeoned to death. It’s a well-known fact that rapists are generally repeat offenders.”

“But we don’t have enough evidence to go on any theory yet. It’s important to close your mind off to what you think you know, or what makes sense. Bring things down to the simplest level. Do a full victimology report. Interview friends and family. Look over all the evidence at the crime scene and then start matching it up with what we know about rapists and murderers.”

“I’ve done extensive research on just this type of victim and murderer. Some of my findings have been published.”

“Impressed, but you can’t let what you think you know interfere with what the crime scene tells you.” He turned the key. “All I see is a girl who was beaten, raped, murdered, and left out here.” He waved his hand toward the sky. “For all we know it was a relative, boyfriend, or—”

“Is that what you believe?” she asked, but it wasn’t a question. She didn’t believe it any more than he did.

“Those kinds of theories are best kept to yourself until you have concrete facts to back them up. There isn’t a single law enforcement officer who’d base a case on what
you
think. As the old saying goes, ‘just the facts, ma’am’.

Collect the evidence and then prove your theory to yourself first.” He paused and made eye contact. She wasn’t the run-of-the-mill rookie, so her thoughts threw him. He expected more from her, but something told him she wasn’t being forthright with all her thoughts and he couldn’t figure out why. “We don’t know anything until we analyze the date and the victimology.”

She cleared her throat. “How many girls?”

“How many girls what?”

“This is a serial killer.”

“We don’t know that.”

“But you think that is exactly what we are dealing with.”

He would be hard-pressed to link this case to any that were still open. Maybe one, if he was lucky. “What I think is that we need to dig deeper before we go off halfcocked.”

“You gave me a really old case file last night for a reason. Why? And don’t tell me it was to test my ability to go over evidence secondhand.”

Smart girl. How much could he trust her and did he want to? He navigated the city streets while he collected his thoughts, thankful she waited patiently.

“This will make five cases the FBI is aiding the police in. Personally, I can’t find a connection strong enough to link the victims to one killer. Victim patterns don’t match up with the criminal patterns. So I guess the official answer would be this appears to be an isolated incident.” Travis pulled into the parking garage.

She stared out the window. She looked as if the weight of the world sat on her shoulders, which he thought was an odd reaction to the conversation, even though she’d been thrown into the pits of hell on her first day.

“Nothing is ever as it appears to be. I don’t

think we can rule anything out.”

“We’re not. However, we can’t jump to conclusions either.”

“I understand.”

“You okay?” he asked, just before he got out of the truck.

“Yeah.” She pushed back the door. “I didn’t expect to jump into the mind of a psychopath so quickly.”

“The only time I like dealing with rapists is when I get to help put them away. Worst kind in my book.” He didn’t try to hide the edge in his voice. “Long day.” He tried to smile, but couldn’t.

****

The office welcome overwhelmed Shauna. Everyone she met had been more than gracious. Well, almost everyone. It seemed Special Agent Jeff Wilcox thought of women as objects, and nothing more. He’d been nice enough, but made it perfectly clear he had something else on his mind when he offered to show her the town.

Sitting in Special Agent Scott Grimshaw’s office with Travis, she tried to focus on the conversation, but her mind kept drifting back to the recent murder and all the cases Travis had been trying to link together. How much did he know? More importantly, how could she get her to open up to him without making him suspicious of her motives?

“Shauna?” A hand squeezed her shoulder.

“Sorry.” She coughed. “My mind is on the murder from this morning.”

“I understand it’s been a hectic day.” Scott smiled. He reminded her of her college roommate’s great uncle. A sweet, generous man who always seemed to understand, even if he didn’t.

“If there is anything I can do, just let me know.” Scott rose and shook her hand.

She liked Scott, not bad looking for an older man, but even if he appeared to be the understanding boss, something in his detached demeanor toward Travis made her nervous. Maybe it was just being back in this city.

“Am I interrupting?” a voice from the hallway echoed.

“Not at all. Shauna, this is Steve Ramsey. I think he’s about the only agent you haven’t met yet.”

Shauna shook Steve’s hand. Something about him made the hair on her neck stand up. When she looked him in his gray eyes, it was like looking into a churning sea of anger. She jerked her hand back when he smiled. It was happening too fast. Her counselor was right, sometimes slow was better. She needed some time to adjust to her new surroundings and the idea that the rapist,
her rapist,
was so close he could reach out and touch her sent her pulse raging.

“Nice to meet you, Shauna. You look familiar. Have we met?”

She swallowed, reminding herself that lots of men had blond hair and this man was an agent, not a raving lunatic. “I don’t think so.” She tried to put her best smile on as she allowed his voice to echo in her ears. She would’ve recognized the voice.

“Come on, Shauna. We still have a few things to cover today.” Travis motioned to the door.

“Steve, you need to stay and go over this court decision with me,” Scott said.

“No problem,” Steve said as he shut Scott’s door.

“What’s wrong?” Travis and those damn sympathetic eyes would drive her nuts.

“I’m overwhelmed.” She glided her fingers

through her hair, tucking a stray hair behind her ear. “What’s up with Steve? He seemed very cold.”

“Steve’s bark is worse than his bite,” Travis said. “He’s got big issues with women working in the field. Don’t take it personally. I’m sure Scott’s giving him a hard time as we speak.” Travis, true to form, waited for her to enter their office first. “You’re the new girl in town, don’t be surprised if you get a lot of attention.”

“I’m not fond of attention.”

“Me either.” Travis propped his long legs on top of his desk and leaned back in his chair. Most of the men she’d known in her life had been cocky and arrogant, with no real reason to be that way. Travis, on the other hand, was confidant and carried himself with an air of assurance, but didn’t act like he knew it all. Not bad to look at, either. She tried not to stare, but that proved to be impossible.

“I’d like to ask some questions about those cases.” She gave up trying not to gawk at him. She decided speaking to him would make it less obvious.

“Here.” He dropped his feet to the floor and took some files from his desk.

“These are the official files. Look them over and then come tomorrow with questions or comments.” He took a few steps, setting the folders in front of her before he sat on the edge of her desk.

She had to lean back in her chair. Looking up at him, she had a bizarre urge to ruffle his perfect hair. She smiled.

“What?”

“Oh, nothing.” She felt her cheeks flush.

“Would you like to get a bite to eat—partner?” He stood, knocking over a book. He tossed it back on her desk, then moved toward the window.

“Actually, I would, but I’d like to go and change first. Meet you at my place in about an hour?”

“Works for me. I’ll show you to your car.” Travis waved her in front of him. “On second thought, I’ve got a better idea,” he said from right behind her.

She could feel his warm breath on her neck. She liked it, a new feeling for her, but she didn’t know where to file it, so she decided to try to ignore it.

“How about I cook you dinner?” He opened the standard four-door sedan she had been issued.

“You cook?”

He nodded. “This will give us a chance to look over those cases. Maybe you can catch something I missed.”

She chuckled. “Another one of your tests?”

“I wish. This is the real thing.” He jotted something down and handed her the piece of paper. “That’s my address. You want directions?”

She looked down. She knew exactly where he lived, one block from the apartment she hoped to rent. “Give me an hour.” She climbed in her new wheels and drove off.

Once she left the parking garage, she let out a big sigh. She had no idea she’d been holding her breath. What was she doing? She would be alone, with a man, in his apartment. “He’s your partner. Get a grip,” she reminded herself, worrying about what she should wear.

Chapter Three 

On the way home, Travis stopped at his favorite small mom and pop grocery store to pick up the necessary ingredients for dinner. He had decided on a shrimp and rice dish his grandmother used to make. Looking around the shop, he had half a mind to cancel. Having his female partner over for dinner didn’t seem very professional.

He pulled a box of rice off the shelf, trying to convince himself that it was no different than having a male partner over for beer and a football game.

“Got a hot date?” Jimmy, the shop owner, asked.

“Nope.” Travis smiled at Jimmy as he set his items on the register counter.

“Enough here for two?” Jimmy teased.

“Just showing off to my new partner.” But why cook for her? If he’d been assigned a male partner, they’d probably end up at a hockey game, or more than likely, going their separate ways.

Jimmy started ringing up the items; holding the shrimp in his hands, he said, “Must be a woman partner. I bet she’s a real looker, too.” He whistled, placing the items in a bag. He tossed in a few extra things like always. “The wife is going to love to hear about this one.”

“Nothing to tell.” Travis tossed him several bills, then held his hand up to refuse the change.

“Right. Tell me about the girl.” Jimmy smiled, putting the money in the drawer. Half his teeth were missing and his face looked like an old scrunched up piece of paper, but he had to be one of the most genuine people Travis had ever known.

“Not bad, but she’s my partner. Strictly business.”