Chapter Two
Resurrection Day
“Thank you, my friend. I’m okay.” Ava touched the dog’s back and waited through several steady breaths before calm returned, and her heart rate backed up those words.
The trees opened into a natural clearing, revealing an all-too-familiar scene where her forensic people, as well as other FBI agents, worked the crime.
Crime scene tape flapped around in the biting wind. The flood lights cast long shadows over the scene emphasizing its ugliness. The impression in the snow where Emily’s body had lain turned her stomach.
Shadow whined low in his throat, hackles lifting. His nose twitched as he padded forward, circling the spot where the victim had been posed. He froze at the burned patch of earth where the candle had been placed.
“This is him,” she said without a doubt, her voice steady only by willpower. “This is Wax Saint’s work.”
“That’s the case you worked on before...” Vaughn hesitated, drawing her attention to his face where the truth was undeniable. He was aware of her history with Wax.
She pretended not to notice the slight pause, choosing not to open herself up to questions. “That’s right. He leaves candles all around his victims.”
“But she was encased in wax. How...?”
Ava had witnessed firsthand how he killed his victims using a vat of wax to cover them.
As the wax hardened, their look of terror was forever branded on their faces.
She told Vaughn. “They don’t die right away,” she said softly.
They suffered shock from the burns. The devastation it left behind in scarred tissue, lungs scorched. It was an excruciating death.
He’d choose someplace isolated to perform this ritual.
A place where he wouldn’t be discovered.
One that would have a means of heating the wax.
The church where he’d taken her had long since been scraped to the ground to wipe away the horrific things that happened there.
Before it became Wax’s playground, a cult had once owned the property.
No one had lived there for years. It had been the perfect place for Wax’s lair.
“So, he kills them somewhere else and brings them up here to display.” Vaughn said with obvious disgust. He held Ava’s gaze, seeing more than she wished, including the shiver she couldn’t hide.
“That’s correct.” Or at least he had with the first two victims. He hadn’t been able to finish his ritual with number three because Ava had escaped.
Instead, he’d left her in the old church where he’d killed her.
“We need to do a fifteen-mile radius search from the crime scene. We’re looking for any abandoned structures. ”
“I’ll call it in.” Vaughn turned away to relay the message to his command.
Ava surveyed the work taking place. Soon, she’d need to meet up with all law enforcement agencies working on the case.
Ava was familiar with the small town of Cedar Creek from the past. There probably were only a couple of officers and one detective on the force.
The sheriff’s office was headquartered in Kalispel.
They’d have more resources available, but she wanted to set up a command center closer to the crime scene.
“Sheriff is organizing a grid search now.” Vaughn glanced up at the sky. “It’ll be dark in a few hours. That’ll hinder the search.”
They were already behind the eight ball. If Wax kept with his previous MO, Emily was the first of two more victims to come if they couldn’t stop him.
She wondered how many others were out there, unknown to the FBI. There was no doubt in her mind that those previous kills she’d investigated hadn’t been Wax’s first.
Ava suppressed a shiver at the grim reminder around her. She’d gone through hell and back. No way she was letting Wax crawl back inside whatever lair he’d disappeared into before.
Ava caught sight of her two FBI agents wearing Bureau-issued jackets. They were called out from the field office in Kalispell, where she’d once worked while stationed in Montana. “I’ll be right back,” she told Vaughn. “Don’t leave.”
“No, ma’am.” He stationed himself just outside the tape.
As she and Shadow approached the two agents, both turned.
Ava recognized the female right away. “Agent Pierce. It’s good to see you again.
I’m glad to have you on the case.” She and Rachel Pierce had gone through the academy together.
Though they’d gone their separate ways, after Ava’s kidnapping and the trauma that followed, Rachel had reached out to her on several occasions.
“Good to see you, too, Ava. I’m glad you came back.
” Like Ava, Rachel understood how difficult the job was under normal circumstances.
Many agents burn out within the first five years of their career.
PTSD, like Ava’s, was a very real possibility among agents due to the stress encountered on the job.
“This is Special Agent Dominic Novak. We’ve worked together for about two years now.”
Agent Novak appeared to be in his mid-thirties. She’d read his dossier. Novak was a native Montanan. He’d served the Bureau all over the country until a position landed back in his home state. He was capable but not looking to advance up the ranks.
“Nice to meet you, Novak.” She extended her hand.
She’d been surprised to find Rachel had landed in Ava’s old position in Montana.
She’d been in the D.C. hot zone the last Ava heard.
But on the flight over, she’d learned Rachel had married and, unfortunately, divorced a local Montana marshal.
Still, she’d built a life for herself here in Montana.
Ava certainly understood the attraction of the state.
“What do we have so far?” she asked while swallowing back her own personal regrets. If Wax hadn’t kidnapped her, she might have ended up married to Caleb and had children.
Rachel took the lead. “The MO matches that of the Wax Saint, except for the car placement. The vic’s body was covered in wax.
We arrived soon after she was located and were able to witness it for ourselves.
” The look of disgust on Rachel’s face said it all.
“ME believes she was still alive when he covered her in wax. She suffered badly. That’s sick. ”
Ava turned away and swallowed hard, but the memories of watching that victim die were always close.
Shadow licked her hand, his gentle touch pulling her back.
“I heard you joined the Redeemed Unit. Sounds like an amazing experience and their record of solving cases has gotten attention. Who’s this?” Rachel asked without seeing the crack in Ava’s facade.
She forced words out. “Shadow. We’ve been together about a year now, since I joined Redeemed. He’s one of the best.” She patted the dog’s back. “Has the search revealed anything useful?”
What was left behind beside the body was every bit as important as the victim. She’d seen photos of what had been found near Emily, but she hoped the team had uncovered something useful that would help them identify Wax.
“Nothing more than what you received earlier. We’re still canvassing, though.” Rachel’s hand swept to the ERT team members, hard at work.
Ava called Vaughn over. “Deputy, you and Agent Novak stay with ERT.”
Shadow strained at his lead drawing Ava’s attention to the dog at her side. He sniffed the ground picking up a scent.
Ava snapped the lead loose and the dog rushed to a nearby tree outside of the crime scene perimeter. His tail stiffened, and his body tensed. He let out a low whine. “Rachel, you’re with me. He’s found something.” She followed the dog to the tree.
“What is that?” Rachel asked while leaning over Ava’s shoulder.
Ava grabbed a glove from her pocket and lifted what appeared to be a piece of cloth. “Red plaid flannel from a shirt, I’m guessing. It could be Wax’s. He could have torn it in a rush to get away. There might still be DNA on it.”
Yet even as she said it, Ava realized it didn’t match Wax’s carefully meticulous behavior from the past. Was this another new twist?
At all the previous crime scenes, there hadn’t been a single piece of evidence to point to Wax’s ID.
“Or it could be left behind by any number of hikers.” Still, Rachel held open an evidence bag. Ava dropped it inside. “I’ll give this to the forensics team.”
“Hang on.” Ava studied the fabric. Something about it seemed off. It was almost as if it had been carefully cut from the shirt, rather than torn. Was Wax playing with them?
Shadow continued to sniff around the tree.
Out of her peripheral vision, she caught someone approaching and turned, half expecting it to be Deputy Vaughn.
But it wasn’t.
She wasn’t even aware of straightening or the way her hand reached out to steady herself with the tree. The questioning look Rachel gave her. Or even the way Shadow let out a low whimper as if sensing her inner struggle.
All those things faded the moment she spotted Caleb.
She pulled in a breath. Let it go. Faced him.
Caleb Ward’s broad shoulders had a rigid set she recognized from the past whenever he was uncomfortable.
In his eyes was a storm of recognition and regret.
And in that instant, she knew this case wasn’t going to test her training. It was going to test every fracture in her soul.