Chapter Nine
Missing Pieces
By the time they reached Caleb’s family lodge, it was late, and the storm had thickened into a curtain of driving snow that muted everything a few feet away from the light’s glow of the lodge.
The two-story, full-round log lodge was made of stone and timber. Smoke curled from the chimney, vanishing into the storm.
Ava stood in front of the evidence board that the task force members had set up against the wall. Photos of the three past victims and their current one, terrain maps, and Wax’s cryptic symbols covered its surface.
ERT had confirmed that Emily was killed in the small cabin. The woman beneath the ice had been taken to the morgue for autopsy. They were still at the crime scene combing the icy surface for anything. Some had been disbursed to the cabin where they’d found the locket.
Rachel handed her a steaming mug of coffee.
“Thanks.” She smiled her gratitude. “What do we know so far?” Ava kept her attention on the board.
“We confirmed the blood found on the rock surface wasn’t Emily’s. So far, there’s no match. It could be the second victim. Hopefully, the ME can give us an answer for that.”
Ava pressed her palm against her chest. She couldn’t get the image of the woman in the lake out of her head.
Why had Wax chosen to leave her there? All the previous victims had been left displayed in the woods.
The final one before Emily was in the old church, but that was only because Wax had worried about being caught.
“Has anyone been reported missing from the area?”
Rachel told her no. “We’ve broadened our search to the surrounding counties, but Emily wasn’t from around here, so…”
“The victim could be from anywhere,” Ava concluded.
“Exactly,” Rachel said quietly.
“We need to start at the beginning,” Ava said. “Starting with the first victim three years earlier.” She moved to the head of the table where agents worked alongside law officers. “Can I have your attention, please?”
All eyes turned to her. By now, several of the Redeemed team had arrived with their K-9s.
Shadow was busy hanging out with his teammates.
She smiled as she watched them play together.
All the dogs in the unit were highly trained.
Several had come from a military background like Shadow.
Some had experienced trauma while working search and rescue for police agencies.
All had scars. It was good to see them enjoying down time.
“As you all know, we have a second victim recovered. Wax has left us plenty of clues. He’s trying to tell us something that we’re missing.” She told the team they needed to start with the first victim.
“Victoria Dobson,” Harper Lee Stevens said aloud.
Ava smiled at her colleague. Harper was the widow of a fallen police officer and a U.S.
Marshal. Harper had been ready to leave law enforcement after her husband’s death which she’d witnessed.
Marcus saw her value and recruited her for the Redeemed K-9 Unit.
She’d been assigned Val, a former cadaver recovery dog.
In the months that Harper had been part of the team, she and Ava had become friends. Harper told her that she’d been named after novelist Harper Lee who penned To Kill A Mockingbird.
“Glad you’re here, Harper. And yes, that’s right. Victoria Dobson was found on the opposite side of the park from where Emily’s body was located. Can we bring up the details of Victoria’s case?”
“I’m on it.” Agent Ben Zamora, who had been dispatched from Denver, was their tech genius. He pulled up the file and projected it onto the screen set up in front of the room.
Victoria’s driver’s license image appeared first followed by her postmortem photo at the crime scene. It was hard to recognize her as the same woman.
Each time Ava saw one of Wax’s victims it turned her stomach. She’d seen firsthand the pain Wax put his victims through. “Victoria was located less than two hundred yards outside of the park in the woods between the park and West Glacier.”
In her peripheral vision, Ava caught Caleb slipping into one of the chairs at the table.
She knew it would be difficult to see him again.
But she hadn’t counted on working closely with him bringing up all the old feelings to the surface.
Once this case was over, she’d go back to her life and so would Caleb.
She loved working with Shadow at Redeemed, but her life was pretty empty beyond work.
If she were honest, Ava wasn’t happy. Hadn’t been in a long time.
“But we’re not certain Victoria is the first victim,” Redeemed member Jace Maddox said. Jace was an ex-DEA agent who was wrongfully blamed for a failed raid. He was assigned to Diesel, an expert in explosives detection.
Ava refocused her attention on the case. “She is the first victim we located, but there might be other victims that only the killer knows about.” Ava had long believed there were other bodies out there. Given the practiced rituals Wax incorporated into his kills, she had no doubt there were others.
“There’s a religious connection somehow,” she told the group. “It’s possible he was raised in the church or was part of some type of cult that practiced these rituals.”
“What about Wax’s connection to you?” Caleb asked, drawing her attention back to him. The room shrank to just her and the man she’d once imagined spending her life with. The tenderness she saw in his eyes proved he hadn’t asked the question out of vengeance.
Ava drew in a deep breath. “I’m not sure, but there’s clearly a perceived connection.” When Wax took her captive, he made sure she never saw his face. He kept his head covered and wore gloves, so she had no idea what his hair or skin color was. Only his eyes. Dark as the night and cold.
“Victoria’s background was checked out thoroughly. There wasn’t anyone in it who held a grudge,” Redeemed member, Micah Kane said. Micah was an ex-Marine amputee who worked with Valkyrie.
“That’s correct.” Grateful for the interruption, Ava’s attention returned to the screen in front of them.
“In fact, none of the victims were having trouble with anyone before being taken. We believe they were selected randomly. Possibly because of their appearance. Can you bring up the driver’s license photos for all the victims? ” Ava asked Zamora.
He quickly complied. All the women had dark hair and were similar in build and age. “As you can see, their appearances are strikingly similar. The difference is, of course, where they lived and what they did for a living.”
“Ava, any one of them could be your sister,” Rachel said unexpectedly as she stared at the screen. “And the photo in the locket looks a lot like you.”
Ava hadn’t thought about her resemblance to the victims until after Wax had taken her.
That final victim bore a close resemblance to her.
Why was Wax targeting women who looked a certain way, and why didn’t he kill Ava when he had her?
Instead, he appeared to want her to join him in his sick rituals.
She pulled herself together. “It’s clear Wax believes there’s some relationship between us, but I have no idea what it might be.
” After her escape and debriefing, the FBI had torn apart Ava’s life.
There’s been no skeletons. She’d grown up in Montana and lived a normal life.
Her dad had been a minister. They’d checked into that angle and came up empty.
“Let’s keep digging,” she told her team. “We’re missing something.”
Caleb rose and joined her near the board. “How are you holding up?” The concern on his face made her feel special. She hadn’t felt that way in a long time.
“I’m okay. But I’m worried. The second victim was found much sooner than before.” Her eyes held his. “I’m worried he’s escalating.”
Caleb touched her shoulder. “We’ll figure it out. You’ve got the best team possible. And escalating usually equates to spiraling. Which means he’ll slip up. Make a mistake. We’ll get him.”
She covered his hand with hers, leaning on his strength because inside she was falling apart.
“Ava, I have something.” Rachel motioned her over as she ended a call she was on. “That was Novak at the medical examiner’s office. Our latest victim has been dead for years.”
Nothing prepared Ava for this. “What are you talking about? How is that even possible?”
“The ME is still trying to figure it all out. He believes some embalming process was used, and then the body was coated in several layers of wax that helped preserve her.”
Ava’s stomach turned. “Any idea for how long?”
“Years, is all we have now.”
“That’s sick,” Caleb said in disgust. “Where’s he been keeping her?”
Ava’s thoughts swirled over what they’d learned. “I don’t know. Some place cold, obviously.”
“There’s more,” Rachel was saying. “We have an additional tox report on Emily. Same anesthetic compound with a ketamine base, but the ME found something new in the wax traces.”
Ava’s shoulders tightened. “What kind of something?”
“Plant material. Pollen grains and fragments of a specific leaf embedded in the wax. The lab’s preliminary analysis points to mountain laurel.”
Caleb frowned. “That doesn’t make sense. Mountain laurel doesn’t grow anywhere near Hidden Lake or where Emily was found.”
“Exactly,” Rachel said. “It’s native to the lower elevations—mainly around Glacier Creek Canyon. The ME also detected fir pitch in the same residue sample. Both point to forest terrain, not alpine.”
The implications sank in hard. “He has another victim.”
“He’s leaving breadcrumbs to her body,” Caleb said grimly.
Rachel nodded. “This is different from the last time. He’s not following his previous pattern.”
Ava exhaled slowly, setting the mug aside. “Call off the Hidden Lake sweep. We won’t find anything more useful there.”
Caleb’s head snapped toward her. “You’re sure?”
“Yes. We’re chasing our tails there. He left his victim and his clues concerning the lake.
Now, Wax’s is moving east.” Her tone carried quiet authority, the kind of command that left no room for argument.
“I want all units rerouted to the Glacier Creek perimeter. Get drones airborne before dawn and use thermal scans if visibility drops. And tell the rangers to stage at the service road near the canyon mouth.”
Rachel was already typing. “I’ll handle the satellite grid.”
“It’ll be daylight in a few hours. We can set up our staging area and head out at first light.”
Ava managed a nod but all she could think about was they had a victim that had been dead for years. They’d been right. Victoria wasn’t Wax’s first victim.
The command center erupted in motion. Agents packed up laptops, rolled maps, and began transferring gear to field vehicles. The soft thud of boots on wood mixed with the crackle of radio chatter.
Ava watched from the center of the room, her jaw tight. The realization gnawed at her. Wax had been leading them by the hand the whole time, playing a game only he knew the rules.
Shadow rose from where he’d been resting near the hearth. His nose twitched, nostrils flaring. He padded toward the open door as a gust of cold air swept in, carrying the scent of snow and evergreen.
Ava crossed the room to the dog. Shadow whined low, his body going rigid before he pawed toward the darkness.
Caleb joined her at the doorway. “You think he smells something?”
“Maybe,” she murmured. She knelt beside the dog, rubbing his neck. “Easy, Shadow. Show us what you have?”
Shadow sniffed again and trotted over to something just outside the light from the door.
“What is that?” Caleb asked and clicked on the outside light.
Both went over to investigate. A cluster of white cup-shaped flowers.
“Those are mountain laurel flowers. But they don’t bloom until late spring or early summer.” Caleb clicked on his flashlight and examined them closely. “They’re not real.”
“But he was here. Wax was here.” Ava sounded the alarm.
Rachel gathered the flowers into an evidence bag. “I’ll get these to ERT for testing.”
“Thanks,” Ava murmured. “Hunt, Shadow.” She and Caleb followed the dog from the porch and out into the predawn while other members of the Redeemed team assisted.
“I can’t believe he was that close,” Caleb said as their flashlight lit the way into the woods near the lodge. “That’s pretty brazen.”
“He’s had lots of practice staying in the shadows. Moving around without really being seen.”
The direction they were heading would lead them straight to the road. With Shadow leading the group of K-9s and straining at his lead, soon the trees thinned and the snow-covered road appeared.
And the trail ended.
Ava’s shoulders slumped. “He had a car parked here. He’s gone.”
“Let me and Deputy Vaughn see if we can track him down,” Rachel said.
Ava gave the go-ahead and Rachel grabbed Vaughn and headed toward a vehicle.
“That’s it everyone. Let’s go back and prepare to leave soon.
” Ava turned back toward the lodge with a bad feeling settling around her.
What did Wax have in store for them today?
Would they find another victim? Not a third, but a second.
The woman in the lake had been dead for years.
She was obviously someone he felt a connection with…
like Ava. He kept her close through the years but had chosen to bring her out now. Why?
That was one question Ava was terrified of learning the answer to.