Killer Moves (13 page)

Ryan shook his head. “We’ll never find her alone. Davis, let me call for help. We might be able to save her if we have enough people combing the area.”

“You’re right, we can’t do this alone. Okay, call it in. Kara and I will search the barn closest to us. Ryan, you take the one on the southeast part of the property.”

“Got it.” Ryan dialed his cell phone and walked away, while Davis and Kara headed toward the barn some fifty feet away.

“Kara, I hope to God you’re sure about this.”

“She’s here. I can feel her here.”

He took her hand as they made their way inside the dark barn. From the beam of Davis’s flashlight, the shadows of the barn stretched out around them. The place was covered in years of dust and abandonment.

“Do you feel anything?”

Kara clutched the earring and moved instinctively toward the place where she felt Jessica’s presence the strongest. Her fear and pain continued to grow. Jessica was terrified.

“God, he’s here with her, Davis. The Angel’s here!” Kara whispered urgently and watched as Davis drew his weapon. She did the same.

The voice of the killer and victim warred with each other. Jessica tried to scream but he was there preventing her. “He’s laughing. God, he’s laughing at her pain.”

“Where is she, Kara? Can you tell me where she is?”

She stepped inside the barn and lost contact with Jessica. She wasn’t there, which meant…

“We’re in the wrong place. She’s in the other barn.” She and Davis ran toward the direction Ryan had disappeared. When they reached the barn, they found Ryan standing outside, finishing his call.

“What is it?” he asked.

Kara moved to the side entrance of the barn and Jessica’s fear became more pronounced. Kara tried to focus on the girl alone but suddenly she went silent. She could still hear his laughter though.

“The door’s open.” Kara pointed to the entrance where a weathered door stood ajar.

“Someone had the damn thing locked. Look,” Ryan said, and his light hit the lock that lay open on the ground. Fresh blood covered the doorpost of the place.

Davis drew his weapon. “Ryan, cover the back. Don’t let this creep get away. Kara, stay here.”

Davis cautiously entered the barn. Kara couldn’t stand by and wait so she followed Davis. The flashlight caught something. Jessica. Her warm body lay positioned in the Death Angel’s standard pose. Her hands secured with the white scarf. The bunch of white lilacs clutched within them. The Bible quote lay haphazardly, placed near the body as if the killer had run out of time. Gotten sloppy.

“Dammit.” Davis knelt close to her, searching for a pulse. Her throat had been slashed. He’d taken his time with her. She’d been tortured for days. “Call an ambulance!” Davis yelled out to Ryan who had joined them and stood looking down at Jessica, a hook of horror on his face.

“Dear God,” Ryan whispered to himself.

“Davis, she’s dead,” Kara told him quietly.

“No, dammit!” She knelt next to him as he began to perform CPR. The blood pulsed from Jessica’s body with each compression.

“Davis. She’s gone. You can’t help her now.” Kara somehow managed to pull him away from Jessica’s body.

Within a matter of minutes, the small room filled with agents. They descended on the crime scene and began analyzing everything, asking dozens of questions. It seemed like hours before the team finished examining Jessica’s body and released her to the coroner.

Davis and Kara stood a little ways away from the bustle, watching.

“I need to tell her parents. Dear God, I don’t know how to tell them this.”

“Let someone else do it, Davis.”

“No, I owe it to Jessica to be the one.”

“Then I’m coming with you.”

He turned to Kara and smiled wearily. “Thank you. I need you, Kara. I need you with me. I’m so glad you’re here.”

The drive to the Youngtree’s house felt as if it took forever. Just getting out of the crime scene clogged with emergency vehicles seemed endless.

“Have they been told she’s missing?” Kara asked as they stopped in front of the house and someone obviously watching through the window stepped outside.

“No. God, Kara, how am I going to tell them their only child is dead?”

In the end, no words were necessary. The minute Mrs. Youngtree saw Davis’s expression she knew. She screamed and collapsed onto her knees. Her husband caught her in his arms and managed with Davis’s help to get her back inside.

Everything slipped into slow motion. Mrs. Youngtree’s doctor arrived soon after her husband called. Once sedated, the doctor sat with her while Davis asked his friend some difficult questions, starting with the last time he’d spoken to Jessica.

“We talked to her Sunday evening when she had dinner here. It wasn’t unusual for us not to hear from her during the week. Jessica kept busy with work and friends and school. We understood that.”

“Has anything unusual been happening in her life? Anyone new that you know of?”

“No, not as far as we knew. She seemed happy with her life the way it was. Said she wanted to pursue her law degree. She had started taking classes again, as you know.” He stopped for a second and then asked, “Davis, did that son of a bitch rape her? Tell me what happened to my baby.”

“Mark, don’t go there. This won’t help you or Nancy. Just let me take care of this.”

“I swear I’ll kill him if I ever find out who did this to her. You tell him that, Davis. You tell him I’ll kill him.”

Outside the Youngtree’s house, Davis told Kara he needed to go back to the command center.

“Kara, you should go back to my place and get some sleep. I can’t. I can’t even think about sleep right now. I want to stay and help. There’s going to be lot of evidence to process. This could take hours.”

“No, I’ll stay with you. Maybe I can help.”

He lowered his head, accepting her answer. He started the car and then asked, “Have you talked to Ava lately?” Kara knew he wanted to be sure Ava was safe without giving her location away.

She hadn’t told him about Ava earlier because she didn’t want to worry him. “She’s okay.” When he looked at her questioningly, she added, “She’s fine, Davis.”

“Thank God for that. I can’t imagine going through what Mark is going through right now. I don’t think I could bear it if anything happened to either of you.”

The evidence from Jessica’s crime scene began to arrive shortly after their return. Dozens of evidence envelopes had been collected at the scene. The taskforce spent the rest of the evening and well into the morning sifting through their contents to no avail.

“It’s like he’s getting better with each new victim. There’s no footprints, no fingerprints. No hair samples. No semen,” Ryan said once all the evidence had been processed.

“She was raped?” Davis asked. Kara could tell he knew the answer already.

“Yes. Looks like repeatedly. This is one sick bastard,” Ryan told them both.

“He’s a monster but he’s also human. Sooner or later he’s going to screw up.”

“I hope you’re right, Davis. But so far, with four bodies behind us, he hasn’t shown any signs of screwing up.”

Davis flinched at Ryan’s choice of words. “They’re more than bodies, Ryan. These are women I knew personally. And you were close to both Rachel and Jessica.”

“I’m sorry, I know that. I only meant that he’s perfecting his MO and expanding upon it. I think we have to face some facts here.”

Davis sat down on the edge of the table, covering his eyes for a moment. “What are you getting at?”

“Well, think about it, Davis. During the original case, we saw some evidence that seemed to indicate the Angel, or as we suspected at the time, Frankie, might not have acted alone. Maybe there are two killers. Maybe we should be looking for someone close—”

“To us? Someone working the case, Ryan? Why not just say it? You’re starting to believe all the stories about me now as well. Do you really think I’m capable of doing such horrendous things to anyone, much less the people I know?”

“No! For Christ’s sake, Davis, that’s not what I’m saying at all. Of course not! But you have to admit this is starting to look less like the original killer acted alone, even on the old cases. I’m thinking someone connected to the Angel case maybe leaked evidence without even realizing it. What I’m saying is I think we need to tighten the circle of people who have access to this case to only those we know we can trust. Like it or not, someone is exposing information that could prove crucial to solving the case. We can’t afford another scandal like the last one. You know this, as well as I do.”

“You’re right,” Davis said wearily. “I’m sorry, Ryan. I’m just upset about Jessica. I’ve let this get too personal.”

“It
is
personal. You knew all these women. Maybe…”

“Maybe what?” Davis met his gaze unflinchingly.

“Maybe nothing. Maybe we’re all tired.”

“Ryan, I want to find out who’s behind this more than anyone. I have a huge stake in this as well. But you’re right. Go over the files of the people involved in the past cases as well as this one and let me know what you find. Oh, and Ryan, do it quickly. I want to let Jessica’s parents know something soon.”

“Of course, I’ll get right on it. Why don’t you go and try to sleep. You look terrible. I’ll call you when we know something.”

“I’m fine. Just get me some answers soon. Where are you on re-interviewing the people connected to the first murders?”

“We’ve gone through just about everything in the files. There’s nothing new. I talked to a few of Frankie’s acquaintances from the past. I was hoping that maybe we missed something in his life that might help us now. It was a dead end.”

“I know it’s difficult, Ryan, and I appreciate all your hard work, but still he’s out there. We both know it. And we’re running out of time.”

Davis turned to Kara. “You feel up to a little ride?”

“Sure. Where do you want to go?”

“Let’s go back to that barn again. It’s almost daylight. I’m thinking maybe we overlooked something. Something critical.”

“Davis, we went over every inch of that place,” Ryan told him. “We didn’t miss anything.”

“Maybe, but I’m hoping we missed something important that can’t be seen through normal eyes.”

Chapter Seven

“He was only trying to help, Davis,” Kara told him quietly once they were heading back to the crime scene.

God, he dreaded going back there again but knew they had little choice. They’d missed something. He hoped Kara could find it.

“I know.” He glanced her way then finally smiled. “I know I’m being super sensitive about this, but dammit, Kara, I knew this girl. Hell, I knew them all. I was married to Rachel. This creep has made this personal for me. It feels as if he’s turning everyone I care about against me.”

“He hasn’t turned me against you. And he never will. And Ryan still believes in you. He’s just frustrated. Like Ed. We’re all frustrated. I just wish I could see his face for once, but he’s too powerful. I don’t understand it. Before the Angel, always in the past, I’ve been able to get some insight on the killer.”

“It’s okay, babe.” He stroked his thumb along her cheek. His eyes held hers. “Right now I wish for nothing more than this to be over. I want out, Kara. I need out. Once we’ve solved this case, I’m done. I can’t do this again.” He could tell his confession surprised her. Kara believed he bled Bureau blood.

“I don’t blame you for not believing me, but the Angel case destroyed so much. It cost me you, Kara. I would have given anything—I still would—if I could just go back and do things differently between us. I never wanted you to leave. I thought you knew how I felt. Now I realize I couldn’t have been more unclear and I’m sorry for that. I’m so sorry I hurt you. That I wasn’t there for you when you needed me.”

He was stunned to see tears in her eyes. Davis pulled into a parking lot and took her in his arms.

“Please don’t cry.”

“Davis, I want to believe you mean that. It’s just hard.” When she tried to move away, he held her tighter.

“No, don’t. Please. Just let me hold you for a moment.” He felt her slowly relax against his chest.

“When this is over, I want you and Ava to be with me. I want us to be a family.” She still didn’t trust him not to hurt her again. He hated that she couldn’t believe him.

When his lips met hers, just for a moment, she gave herself to him completely. She tasted like forever. He wanted to hold her this close and keep right on kissing her, believing that her sweetness could somehow drive away the bitterness of the past.

When she pushed against his chest he let her go.

Davis understood how hard it was for Kara to believe he meant what he said about leaving the Bureau, but that didn’t stop the pain. Or the fear in knowing there might be a chance one of them wouldn’t survive this case again. When she looked into his eyes, he knew she would see the tears in his as well.

“This is a nightmare. But it’s one that has to be solved if you and I are ever going to be able to put this thing in the past once and for all.”

For a long time neither said a word. They were still close. And for the time being it was enough.