Chapter One
Coming Home
“We need you and Shadow in Montana now. I’ll have a plane waiting for you at the airport.” The tension in FBI Special Agent in Charge Marcus Kane’s voice stopped Agent Ava Blake dead in her tracks. His typically intense tone was now laced with something she rarely heard. Dread.
In the year Ava had worked for Marcus, he was always rock-solid. She’d never seen a crack in his armor...until now.
The timing of Marcus’s call seemed to confirm what her gut had been screaming for days.
He was back.
The jogging trail in Clearwater Park was empty of other joggers at this time of the morning. Usually, Ava enjoyed her run without the interruption of others. Since surviving him, solitude was something she craved.
Today was different. She almost wished there were others around. An uneasy feeling crawled its way down Ava’s spine. Terror rose its ugly head, reminding her she’d barely survived him once. Was she strong enough to take Wax on again?
Shadow pressed closer, breath puffing white in the frigid Denver air.
The five-year-old, dark sable, Belgian Malinois had been her partner for a year now, since Marcus urged her to join his experimental Redeemed K-9 Unit.
The team’s mission was to pair battle-weary law officers with damaged dogs, giving them both a second chance to serve.
“It’s him, isn’t it?” Ava finished what Marcus couldn’t. A cold sweat spread over her body despite the freezing weather.
Wax Saint had killed again.
All sorts of nightmarish images flashed before her eyes. Her stomach turned. In an instant, she was back in that dark basement, the air thick with the stench of vanilla and melted wax...and her own terror. Praying for rescue that never came. Out of sheer willpower alone, she’d saved herself.
Her fingers holding the phone shook to the point of almost dropping it while the memories of her captivity pressed in like fresh chains.
“Don’t get ahead of yourself, Ava. We’re not sure it’s him yet.” Marcus finally spoke, his voice acting as a beacon pulling her from the darkness. “But there are similarities.”
She sank to her knees, not caring that her yoga pants were quickly covered in the dirty snow piled up along the trail.
With her heart thrashing in her ears, Ava drew in deep breaths while the frightened woman she’d been back then screamed she couldn’t go back there.
Not for redemption. Not for vengeance. Not to finally put the nightmares to rest.
She’d barely survived her encounter with the Wax Saint.
Back then, she’d been with the FBI for a few years when she and her partner were called out to the Glacier National Park area to investigate the deaths of two victims with similar MOs.
James Maddox, her partner, leaned hard into the differences in the two cases, refusing to believe they were chasing the same killer.
In Ava’s mind, there was no doubt. They had a serial killer working near the park.
The night of her abduction, locals had reported seeing lights near an abandoned church up in the wilderness surrounding the park. Ava and James split up to search the grounds. He circled behind the structure while she went inside the church.
Ava shuddered at the memory of the scents of vanilla and candle wax mingling to make an unforgettable nightmare.
She’d whispered into her radio to get James’s attention, not knowing Wax had already killed him.
A faint sound like muffled sobbing drew her toward a side chamber.
She thought she’d found a living victim only it was an ambush.
Wax grabbed her from behind. Using a needle filled with some type of ketamine cocktail he rendered her unconscious.
She’d woken restrained at a different location and held prisoner of a mad man dressed in a grotesque mask for five days.
On the fifth night, Wax forced her to watch his ritual preparation for another abducted woman. His intent was for Ava to join his “work.” The thought sickened her. She’d had no idea why he had selected her to carry on his nightmare.
He’d lit candles, beginning the ritual. The victim was terrified. Wax enjoyed her fear.
Wax had poured a large vat of melted wax over his victim. Stood back and enjoyed her pain. Once she went silent, he’d placed her hands to resemble a praying position.
Ava had been terrified he’d kill her in the same fashion. She’d deliberately provoked him, quoting scripture but twisting it to challenge his delusion. Wax had lost control and leaned in to silence her. She smashed the hot candleholder into his face, burning him and rendering him unconscious.
She’d gotten away. Her captor had fled by the time her people arrived.
Ava suffered from severe PTSD and flashbacks of the nightmare. The inability to trust her instincts had paired with survivor’s guilt.
She’d taken a leave of absence that lasted almost two years. Just when she’d been ready to resign, Marcus came to her with the idea for the Redeemed K-9 Unit, offering a chance to feel useful again. Until now, she’d never regretted the decision.
Shadow licked her cheek as if sensing her spiral. She smiled faintly and stroked his scarred side. “I’m okay, buddy.” She struggled to free herself from the bondage of those memories.
“Ava, are you there?” Marcus’s voice came through the phone, a reminder that he was counting on her to bring down Wax.
“Yes. Yes, I’m here.”
“Can you handle this if it is Wax?” For the first time, there was doubt in Marcus’s voice.
Like it or not, she’d dive back into that nightmare because she couldn’t let Wax take another innocent life. “I can handle it.”
She glanced at Shadow. Marcus told her that her being paired with Shadow had saved the dog’s life. But Ava knew better. In Ava’s mind, they had saved each other.
As a former military dog, Shadow had been burned in Syria during an ambush, his handler killed before his eyes. He still flinched at certain scents. Anything connected to smoke is among them. But like Ava, he kept moving forward. Kept walking away from the darkness.
With her hand on the dog’s head, she focused on her breathing until it returned to normal.
“Tell me what happened. What are the similarities?” She and Marcus had discussed the Wax Saint case at length.
It had been three years since Ava witnessed the woman’s death.
Since then, it was as if Wax had disappeared into the pages of history.
Yet deep in the recesses of her mind, Ava had always known he'd return.
“A body was found early this morning near Glacier National Park. It’s a woman. She’s been encased in wax, Ava. Just like...” He cleared his throat. “Her hands were folded to look like she was in prayer. A candle burning close by.”
Just like the murder she’d witnessed. Ava closed her eyes.
“It’s him.” She rose unsteadily. The large vat of wax he’s used to kill his victim flashed before her eyes.
A sadistic ritual. It was believed the killer created his own formula for the wax and made it in bulk.
Wax brought it to the kill site ahead of time.
“There was one difference from before. The victim’s car was found not too far from her body. That’s new. Normally, he’d leave them somewhere else and make us search for them.”
Ava headed back to her parked car with Shadow. “He wanted her found quickly. Wanted us to know he was back. Could you send me the coordinates? I’m on my way.”
“Hang on.”
The sharpness in Marcus’s voice stopped her.
“There’s something else you should know before you head to Montana.
The person who found the body wasn’t a hiker.
It’s Caleb Ward. I know you two have history, but there’s no one else capable of handling this case like you, Ava.
I need you there. And Caleb has agreed to assist the park rangers in accessing the backcountry.
” He stopped and waited for a response she couldn’t give.
Ava’s breath caught. Her Caleb. She’d loved him once. Probably still did. Yet all the good memories they’d shared as a couple, Wax had destroyed.
“This is important, Ava. For you. He’s killed at least three women that we know of. Four, once we confirm the latest victim. He forced you to watch the third victim’s murder. He destroyed lives. You, of all people, understand that he must be stopped. I need you to be okay with working with Caleb.”
She would have to be okay with it, but that didn’t mean it wouldn’t hurt.
◆◆◆
The SUV’s windshield wipers struggled against January’s winter onslaught.
Red and blue police lights blurred through the falling snow, acting as a beacon welcoming her back to the worst moments of her life.
Ava struggled to keep the darkness at bay.
“Don’t go there.” The woman in the rearview looked as if she’d seen a ghost, yet her voice held a strength Ava didn’t feel.
From the back seat, Shadow barked low as if to let her know he had her six.
“Thanks, buddy.” She smiled at her partner.
Because of Shadow, Ava was able to sleep through most nights. The nightmares had lessened to only a couple of times a week. She’d let Wax destroy enough of her life. He wouldn’t take any more.
She pulled safely onto the shoulder of the two-lane gravel road.
Several law enforcement officers turned upon her arrival.
They gathered around a small sedan covered in snow and ice whose driver’s door stood open.
The victim’s. Strange that Wax had left it so close to the body, but probably his way of letting them know the game had begun again.
Another soft woof came from the back seat where Shadow waited for her command.
“You ready?” Ava knew the answer before asking. Shadow was always ready. He was the best partner she’d ever had, and that included her human partners.
Ava glanced back at the Malinois. The dog’s eyes were alert to her. “I know, buddy. I feel it too.”