25. Dom
Chapter twenty-five
I can’t believe that a girl has died with us watching this town, not only that, but we were staking out several places last night and saw nothing. Are we completely on the wrong track with Mina and Jeff? I knew it wasn’t her committing the murders, but the information she gave us on where she’s lived is too similar to the locations of past murders to ignore.
Remembering the phone call I got this morning from Chief Walters sends a shiver down my spine, and I roll my shoulders to try to rid myself of the feeling. When he told me they found another body, I experienced fear like I’ve never felt before. To think of my little kitten being taken from me before I’ve so much as kissed her is not something I was prepared to feel. I barely know her, really, but she’s gotten under my skin. The way those soft eyes look up at me with so much emotion. I truly felt like she was begging me to take care of her, and lord, do I want to. But I can’t mess up this case, lives are at stake, including hers.
Thank god the body isn’t Mina’s, but it still isn’t a good thing. Once we know the identity, we might be able to get some more clues as to why this victim was chosen. But this will be the third murder and this guy’s MO is to leave town after three to six bodies show up, so we might have lost our chance here.
My knuckles tighten on the steering wheel in anger. I’m not ready to move on yet. You’re going to botch this case, just like you did your first one , my inner voice chides me. No! I won’t let a mistake like that happen again.
It was early in my career, and I latched onto a suspect early in the case, sure that he was the culprit. But that led me to ignore key pieces of evidence from the team I was working with at the time. Not only did I have the wrong suspect brought into the police, but the real criminal managed to kill another innocent person before the police could find and arrest him. If I hadn’t been so fixated on the wrong suspect, I would have seen the evidence I had right before me, pointing to the real criminal.
But this wasn’t the same. I didn’t have any concrete evidence. And, although I do think Jeff and Helen are our prime suspects, I don’t have any blinders on this time. I wouldn’t make that mistake again. It’s part of the reason I built this team, my family. I trust each of them and their individual opinions, even when they differ from mine.
I pull our SUV up to where I see the cop cars, ambulance and news trucks are parked. “We can’t all be caught on the news cameras. Me and Atlas will go, the rest of you stay here.” They grumble but agree, leaning back in their seats as Atlas and I get out.
We head over to the police chief, who’s talking to a couple of cops. When he sees us, he dismisses them and turns to us with a worried look on his face. “Chief Walters.” I nod to the older man who has been helpful in letting us stay here, investigating these murders, even though we were hired by one of the past victims’ families and not the police.
“Rossi, Volkov.” He nods at us, looking upset.
“What’s the situation?” I ask him, not wanting to beat around the bush .
“She’s a high school student, Lisa Sanchez. Found dead by a jogger around five fifteen this morning. Her body was cold, so it probably happened last night. Looks like sexual assault before she was strangled. CSI is on the scene now, so they will make a report on their findings to confirm it all.”
“Fuck!” Atlas says, pushing a hand through his hair in aggravation. Walters looks at him in question as I tilt my head to the side to crack my neck, a bad habit I do when I’m frustrated.
“We had Lisa on our radar, she was supposed to be at a party last night and we had a couple guys there, but there was no sign of her. There were rumors of her dating a college guy.”
Walters nods his head in thought. “Do you think he’ll move on now? Three to six has been his limit, right?” He asks. It’s true, but I’m not ready to leave yet. And not just because I can’t get a certain brown-haired girl out of my head, but also because I feel like there might be more to find here.
“I’m not sure,” I reply. But I know I’m not planning on leaving until we have a new lead and we’ve exhausted all trails here.
“Chief!” Someone yells and he excuses himself as heads over to one of the cops.
“We need to catch this guy,” Atlas says angrily as we head back to the car.
When we climb in, I give the guys the update as we start driving home. “The victim was Lisa Sanchez.”
“Fuck.”
“Shit,” the twins swear at the same time .
“She wasn’t there last night, we should have staked out her house,” Max says, sounding frustrated.
“We would have if we thought she could be the next victim,” I say calmly.
“But we knew she was apparently seeing a college guy,” he argues.
“A quarter of the female population of the senior class says the same thing,” Ben reminds him, which was true. I didn’t think it could be true, making our ability to spot the liars from potential targets to be incredibly difficult.
“There has to be a connection to Mina. Her list of past addresses and their proximity in location and timing to the murders can’t be a coincidence,” Tucker says, thankfully diverting the conversation from Max’s self blame.
“But she wouldn’t have told us all that if she was involved with the killer,” Max presses.
“I know, but maybe she is protecting someone,” I reason.
“No,” Ben adds, shaking his head. “I think if she knew she was protecting someone who was doing the killing, she wouldn’t have told us anything.”
We’re all quiet for a moment as we consider what options are left.
“So,” Tucker says, leaning forward from the back seat, “she likely doesn’t know anything about the murders…”
“Which means,” Gideon continues for him. “That either she’s living with the murder, unknowingly, or…”
“Or she’s being stalked by one,” I finish for him before swallowing the lump that’s formed in my throat from fear of what that could mean for her.
That settles it, we definitely aren’t done in Blue River yet.