CHAPTER ONE
Dr. Alison Payne sat at the dining table in her Oakland home, looking out the large windows at the front of the house at the city below.
Her house was up in the foothills of the city, offering her some privacy and great views.
She'd made the decision to move up there years ago after multiple death threats from inmates she had helped to imprison or the ones she hadn’t recommended for early release.
Alison was forty-four, stern-looking, with piercing green eyes and dark hair.
She was a serious person, but that had begun to change over the past couple of years since working with California Bureau of Investigation agent, Derek Sullivan.
Derek sat opposite her at the dining table, waiting for her opinion.
They made an unlikely couple, but the longer they were together, the more they met in the middle. Alison dressed businesslike almost all of the time, while Derek liked to look disheveled when he was working, something that caused him to be underestimated to his advantage.
However, over the past few months, the crumpled suits had been replaced by more professional ones, and the constant shading of stubble was a thing of the past. In reply, Alison often wore her hair down instead of up in a tight ponytail, and Derek’s sarcastic wit had begun to rub off on her.
This was not a time for any of that wit from either of them. Alison had recently returned from Reno after being lured there by a man from her past, Nathan Cross, who had killed three women to get her to the city, and then tried to dine with her with the intent of her being his final victim.
Derek had been there for a short time before returning to Oakland prematurely when a murder case caught his attention.
It was that murder case that Alison was currently pursuing. She took a day to get settled back into her home after the traumatic event of being trapped in a hotel room with Nathan before backup arrived to subdue him before he could attack her.
The victim in Oakland, Katrina Sands, had been killed while out jogging late at night, and they hadn’t found her killer yet.
Alison didn't know whether she wanted that to happen or not. Of course, she wanted the killer brought to justice, but she and Derek had recently linked three cold cases to the murder of Alison’s sister Emma from twenty-two years ago.
If there wasn’t an obvious killer who could be brought in, then it could connect to the other four cases, and that gave them a current case to investigate that might lead to finding her sister's killer after over two decades.
"What do you think?" Derek asked.
"I remember that someone once told me I was too close to my sister’s case and that the emotion of it would get in the way of my investigating it," Alison said.
"What?" Derek asked, surprised. "Who told you that?"
"I don't remember now," Alison admitted. "Someone I once worked with, I think. They meant it to be caring."
"Your love for your sister has kept you going for over twenty years," Derek reminded her.
Alison took a breath. It was hard to know what to think anymore when it came to finding her sister’s killer.
It had been over 20 years, and no one was any closer to discovering the truth.
The only people still looking into it were her and Derek.
They were also looking into a seventeen-year-old murder, a twelve-year-old murder, and a seven-year-old murder.
That meant a two-year gap. The cases, if they were connected, repeated every five years, but that meant there should have been another two years ago.
They couldn’t find a case from that time period.
However, there was one last week that was similar.
That made it less likely to fit with the others, and Alison couldn’t tell whether she saw how it fit because it did or because she wanted it to.
"It’s very similar," Alison admitted. "A young woman running alone in the area late at night. Strangled in public, but no one saw anything. We know from the park where she was strangled that there is often no one around. She was placed on her back with her arms out, meaning the killer posed her after death, just as he did with Emma. That’s not been the case with the other three murders, which means they might not be connected, or that none of them are connected, or perhaps the killer doesn’t always follow the same methods. "
"She didn’t have many friends," Derek told her. "I’ve spoken to the detective investigating the case, and he knows I believe it’s connected to older cold cases, and he’s quite happy at the moment to share information with me.
Katrina had one good friend who told the detective that Katrina ran most nights as it helped her stave off her alcoholism, and from what she knew, Katrina ran the same routes most of the time. "
"Okay," Alison said, taking a deep breath. She took a mouthful of coffee, but the bagel with cream cheese before her lay untouched. She hadn’t had time to rest since getting back from Reno, and she had no intention of doing so until she could work the case with Derek.
"Let’s say that the five cases are connected. What does that tell us?"
"Apart from what you already stated?" Derek asked.
Alison took another sip of coffee and nodded.
"If this is the same killer, then we know they obviously have a type.
They look for young women who run at night or early in the morning and target them in places where joggers are likely to be alone.
That tells me the killer is local and has the time and means to watch these women.
The killer gets to know their routines."
"We know the killer is careful," Derek said. "If it is the same killer, then we’re going back twenty-two years and five crime scenes. There have been suspects, but no one was ever arrested for any of the murders."
"And the same person has never been suspected or questioned," Alison added. "Perhaps the killer was questioned, but with the lack of evidence at each scene, I would assume the killer is in the background somewhere."
Derek picked up his cup and found it empty. He got up to refill it, grabbing Alison’s up on the way and squeezing her shoulder as he passed. She patted his hand as he did so.
"It also means the killer is patient and careful," Derek pointed out.
"We know killers, and they can often wait, but not as long as this.
They usually want to kill again after they've done it once. If they wait five years between kills, then that’s something different entirely. I don't know what that is."
"Yeah, I don't either," Alison said. "Do you think you can be assigned to the case and we can work it together?"
"I think they’ll let me be part of it if I ask them. The only thing I wanted to be sure of first is that there is something there."
Derek returned to the table with fresh cups of coffee for him and Alison.
"I think there’s enough here," Alison said. "The worst-case scenario is that we help investigate a murder that’s not connected."
"Okay," Derek said. "From what I hear, the coroner should have her full report soon, and I’ll have us added to the case before then."
"Okay." Alison sighed. She had been in this position before, and she wouldn't allow herself to get too hopeful only for that hope to be dashed again. "I don’t know what—"
Alison was interrupted by her phone ringing.
"Give me a second," she said as she answered it. "Dr. Payne?"
"Dr. Payne, my name is Detective Samantha Moore. I was hoping to talk to you about a case."
"I’m sorry," Alison rebuffed immediately. "I just arrived back in the city after a case, and I don't believe I have the time or energy to take on another one right now."
"I appreciate that," Detective Moore said, "but the victim was someone you consulted on five years ago and recommended for early release."
"Five years is a long time," Alison said. "And I’m never the only person who is consulted when seeking early release. I really wish I could help, but I can't. I can, however, recommend some people who can help you."
"That’s not all," the detective said. "There was a psychological assessment left at the scene. Your psychological assessment."
"What?" Alison asked, having flashbacks of Nathan Cross. He had left reports of hers at crime scenes in Reno to lure her out there.
"The reports seem to have been ‘corrected’ and then a new report written to contradict it," the detective said.
Alison was silent. She was reluctant to take another case so soon, especially when she wanted to be added to the Katrina Sands case, but this was something she couldn’t ignore. She was being targeted again, and she knew she had to respond.
"Send me the address, and I’ll come down there now," Alison said.
She needed to find out what was going on. It couldn’t be another play to draw her out. Nathan Cross was dead.