Chapter 5
Evie’s stomach twisted and rolled at the blue-gray skin of the slender arm with the flower tattoo encircling the wrist. A shiver snaked down her spine as she glanced around furtively. Bruno must have caught the killer’s scent from yesterday morning when he’d brought her Skye’s remains.
This poor woman had been killed recently. Not fourteen years ago.
Bruno nudged her leg, as if expecting to be rewarded for a job well done. She leaned down to stroke a hand over his silky fur. “You’re a good boy, Bruno.”
His tail wagged back and forth in acknowledgment.
A horrible thought hit her like a punch to the gut. “Do you think Bruno scented the killer while he was burying this poor girl? And when the guy slipped away, he brought me Skye’s bone to show me what was going on?”
“That’s plausible.” Cam’s green eyes held hers. “And it would explain why Bruno returned to this burial site.”
Her dog was amazing, although in this case, she almost wished Bruno was just your average pet. A dog who liked to romp and play rather than lead her through the woods to dead bodies.
“We need to report this,” Cam repeated. “Right away.”
“I’ll call the detective.” She straightened and pulled out her phone, eyeing Cam’s grim expression. This was bad in more ways than one. The worst being that if Detective Rueger believed Cam capable of this horrific level of crime, he’d be arrested and tossed behind bars by the end of the day.
She didn’t believe for one minute Cam was capable of killing young women and burying their bodies. She had called him. Cam had sounded surprised to hear from her. He’d come back to Grand Haven of his own accord.
Not because he was a killer, but because he’d been as concerned about Skye’s disappearance as she was.
Finding another dead body wasn’t part of the plan. For either of them.
She still had the nonemergency number in her recent call list and decided to use that to reach Rueger directly. It took several rings before her call was answered.
“This is Evie Tobin.” Her voice sounded strange to her own ears. “I need to speak to Detective Rueger.”
“I’ll pass along a message to him,” the officer said, clearly unwilling to put her through to his direct line.
“No, I need to speak to him immediately.” She used the same no-nonsense tone she used when dealing with the surgeons in the OR. “Tell him it’s Evie Tobin and that it’s important that I speak with him right away.”
The officer hesitated, then said, “Please hold.”
Her gaze drifted back to the exposed arm. The mottled skin. The flower tattoo bracelet. Who was she? Evie knew without a doubt the victim was another young woman. A teenager or young adult, although that was only a guess. Heaven help her, she didn’t want to see the dead woman’s face.
Would she recognize the victim? The thought brought another wave of nausea. She had seen dead bodies before, but not like this.
Not buried in the dirt.
“Rueger.” The detective’s clipped voice in her ear derailed her thoughts.
“Detective, Bruno found another dead body in the nature preserve.” Saying those words felt surreal. She swatted at a mosquito. “We only exposed the arm, which appears to belong to a young woman.”
“We?” His tone rose incredulously. “Are you telling me you’re with Cameron Walker?”
“Yes. We were hiking through the woods when Bruno took off through the brush.” She hurried to explain.
“We followed him, and he sat and barked near an area of recently overturned earth. Cam—er, we dug a little to see what caught Bruno’s attention and uncovered the arm.
I’m no expert, but I’m guessing she’s only been buried here a day or two at the most.” How fast did flesh decompose in the soil? She had no idea.
“Where are you exactly?” Rueger demanded.
“This burial site isn’t that far from where I found Skye’s remains.” She glanced over at Cam who was working on his phone. Then he showed her the screen that held GPS coordinates. Impressed, she quickly repeated them for Rueger. “We’ll wait here until you arrive.”
“You’d better be there,” he shot back. “Walker has some explaining to do.”
“This isn’t his fault.” Now it was her turn to be annoyed. “Bruno found this grave, not Cam. He isn’t a killer.”
“I’m sure he’s capable of that and more. Stay put. I’m on my way.” Before she could say anything more, Rueger disconnected from the call.
“So he thinks I’m a serial killer.” Cam’s mouth thinned. “Just because I killed Afghan insurgents in the line of duty, he thinks I did this.”
“He’s wrong.” She reached out to touch his arm. “I know you didn’t do this.” Then his words sank deep. “Serial killer?”
“Yeah.” He looked away, scanning their surroundings.
“I’m not sure two dead bodies buried within two hundred yards of each other are enough to designate a serial killer, but based on the fourteen-year time frame between them?
I have no doubt in my mind that there are more bodies buried out here.
” He threw his arm wide to encompass the area. “This is likely his burial ground.”
“That’s sick.” She frowned. “And it doesn’t make any sense. I can’t believe several women went missing over the past fourteen years without someone noticing.”
“Depends on the circumstances.” He shrugged. “Everyone assumed Skye took off. Maybe there are others who supposedly left town without looking back. Or tourists who were thought to have returned home but hadn’t.”
She shook her head, unable to assimilate what he was saying. “One or two women, sure. But more than that? No way. Someone somewhere would have raised the alarm. Grand Haven isn’t that big.”
“It’s not. But it will be interesting to see if this woman is a local resident or a tourist.”
She shivered again. “It’s awful. Do you think the gunman is responsible?”
“Yeah, maybe.” Cam’s voice had dropped to a low rumble. “If this guy thinks you’re onto him, you’re in grave danger.”
Swallowing against the hard lump lodged in her throat, she tried not to imagine how Skye and this young woman had died.
With Skye, the cause of death remained unknown, unless the bones they’d recovered were enough to determine a cause of death.
Glancing at the blue-tinged arm, she realized that finding this victim would likely help them understand exactly what had happened.
It was easier for her to accept that someone like Dan Johnson had gotten angry enough to have killed Skye in a fit of rage, then buried her to avoid being caught.
Her only experience with serial killers was what she’d read in books or seen on television.
But she knew one thing for sure, the average serial killer didn’t necessarily kill out of a fit of anger.
They killed because they enjoyed it. Or because it was a compulsion they couldn’t stop.
Her knees went weak at the image of someone hurting Skye like that, and she stumbled back a step, nearly falling to the ground. Cam quickly reached for her. “Hey, are you okay?”
“Not really.” How could anyone be okay with a dead body buried a few feet from where they stood? Her vision blurred, and it took all her strength not to collapse against Cam. “If there are more victims . . .” She couldn’t finish. She swayed, unable to focus on her surroundings.
He must have noticed, because suddenly she was in his arms, held tightly against his chest. “Take a deep breath,” he murmured.
Unable to resist, she rested her forehead against his chest and tried to do as he’d suggested. Her chest was so tight it took several attempts before she could drag in a huge gulp of air. The reassuring beat of Cam’s heart helped steady her nerves. His musky scent teased her senses.
Any man who could hold her so tenderly couldn’t possibly be a serial killer. Granted, she’d read that Ted Bundy was known to be handsome and charming, but that was only a facade he’d worn to lure women into trusting him.
Okay, she needed to stop thinking about Ted Bundy and any other famous serial killers. This was going to give her nightmares as it was. She didn’t need to add to them by imagining the worst.
Bruno bumped his nose against her leg again. Drawing another slow deep breath, she lifted her head and forced herself to take a step back. As much as she liked being nestled in Cam’s arms, he was just being kind.
A friend, the way he had been back when they’d worked as lifeguards together.
“I’m fine now.” She did her best to smile. “Sorry to fall apart like that.”
“You don’t have to apologize. It’s been a rough couple of days.” His brow was furrowed with concern.
Talk about an understatement. A rough couple of days was working the OR on the Fourth of July weekend when trauma patients streamed in one after the other in an endless blur.
Stumbling upon two dead bodies in two days? That was beyond comprehension. Evie longed to lean on him again but forced herself to take another step back. She reached down to stroke Bruno.
Cam was here now, but he wouldn’t be glued to her side forever. She needed to remember they were only together now to uncover the truth about what had happened to Skye.
As friends, nothing more.
Cam longed to pull Evie close, but the distant sound of muted voices reached his ears. He frowned and scanned the woods over Evie’s shoulder. He mentally braced himself for the interrogation to come.
Detective Rueger had made his opinion clear that Cam was still at the top of his suspect list. Maybe even more so now that they’d found another dead body.
Okay, technically Bruno had found the young woman.
Evie’s theory about Bruno scenting the killer as he’d buried the dead body was a good one.
It made sense to him that Bruno had latched onto the killer’s scent.
What didn’t make as much sense was that the serial killer had tried to shoot Evie several times. Serial killers didn’t often change their methods of killing.
Then again, he assumed the guy was trying to silence Evie and Bruno as potential witnesses. Not because she fit his victim profile.