Chapter Ten
The Hidden Connection
Within the hour, engines roared to life outside the lodge. The convoy of vehicles headed toward the Glacier Creek Canyon area.
Caleb sat in the passenger seat of Ava’s SUV as they drove. Rachel shared the rear seat with Shadow who appeared on alert, his attention fixed on the windshield as if he were preparing for the hunt to follow.
Rachel continued to monitor real-time information coming in from the medical examiner’s office.
Rachel and Vaughn’s hunt for Wax had ended in town.
“Well, this is creepy enough.” Rachel blew out a low breath. “ME says the killer appears to have used some type of wax resin infusion to preserve the body before he added the final layers of wax.”
“What? I’ve never heard of anything like that.” Ava glanced at Rachel in the rearview mirror.
“That’s because it appears to be some homemade concoction.
The ME removed the first layer of iridescent, wax-like material found on the other victims, and he encountered an amber shell composed of a resinous, wax-based substance.
Oh, and underneath the outer wax, the ME found a note. Some type of poem. It’s to you, Ava.”
The SUV swerved slightly. Caleb’s gaze shot to Ava. “Easy there.”
“Sorry,” she apologized, gathering herself. “What did it say?”
Rachel scanned the tablet without speaking.
Caleb glanced back at her and could see her hesitation.
“It’s okay. Just say it,” Ava managed in a voice anything but steady.
Rachel cleared her throat. “Three were bound together by blood and betrayal. One was silenced, one was spared, one remembers. You were the spared, Ava. She was silenced. And I have never forgotten.”
Rachel met Ava’s eyes in the rearview mirror while those chilling words hung between them.
Ava blew out a breath. “He’s hinting at a tie between me, the lady in the lake, and himself that I have no idea what it means.”
“So, he added the final layer of wax recently after he included the poem.” Caleb’s frown deepened.
“I guess so.” Ava looked his way briefly before refocusing on the road ahead.
Beside Rachel, Shadow whimpered low as if offering his support.
Caleb admired the dog’s fierce loyalty to Ava. “If Wax is claiming the three of you are connected, I’m wondering if he’s part of your family maybe?”
Ava whipped his way. Both her mother and father were deceased. They’d died when she was around three. Ava was placed in foster care and later adopted by an older couple. The husband was a minister. The Blakes became the only family she knew.
“I have no idea. I can ask my adoptive parents, but I doubt that they know anything more than I do.”
“Still, it might be a good idea to check in with them,” Caleb said gently. He’d met Oscar and Zelda Blake on several occasions. They were good people.
“I’ll give them a call as soon as we finish this search.” Ava refocused on the icy road ahead. “Anything else from the ME?”
Rachel frowned. “Not from the ME, but ERT. They located something unusual on the altar besides the candle.”
Caleb watched Ava’s face as her eyes widened at the news. “What is it?”
“An old music box that plays ‘I’ll Be Seeing You.’ ERT’s trying to date it thinking it might possibly give us an idea of how long our victim has been dead.”
“Any idea what the significance of the music box might be?” Caleb asked, focusing on Ava’s face.
Her brows knitted together. “That song. There’s something about it. In fact, every time I’ve heard it in the past it’s always made me sad.”
He wondered if there was something hidden in her memories that tied her to the killer who seemed determined to flaunt some unknown connection.
Caleb pulled his thoughts. She’d speak with her parents. Perhaps they could help. Right now, he wanted to focus on what lay ahead.
He glanced out the side window. “We’re almost there,” he told Ava. “There’s a pull out on the right where we can park the vehicles.”
Ava leaned forward as the snow kept falling, filtering through the headlights, cutting visibility down to a few feet in front of them.
“It should be daylight in half an hour,” he told her. “There’s the pull out on the right.” He gave her the warning and Ava hit her blinker to alert the rest of the team.
She slowed enough to turn safely and pulled into the gravel pull out.
The rest of their caravan followed. Caleb was grateful for the extra K-9 teams to assist. Caleb had called in some of his trusted search and rescue people. Splitting up into four teams with K-9 leads would help them cover the vast amount of terrain they’d be facing today.
Once the rest of the vehicles were parked, Shadow let out a sharp bark, knowing he’d be working soon.
“Shadow’s ready,” Ava said with a smile that didn’t quite reach her eyes. “How about everyone else?”
Rachel confirmed yes, but some of her fire had gone out following the discovery of the woman in the lake. Caleb felt the same way. It had been jarring and seemed to prove Wax had been on the hunt much longer than any of them believed.
Depending on how old the lady in the lake proved to be, it could be decades.
“Let’s go. Everyone sticks together. And keep your eyes open.
The clues are coming in fast, and it will take some time to process them all, but we don’t want to miss anything crucial.
” Ava held his gaze long enough for him to see all the fears flashing through her eyes.
He couldn’t imagine what she was going through knowing a serial killer had his eyes on her and seemed to be hinting at a connection that would no doubt prove to be terrifying.
“We’ve got this,” he said quietly. “And I’ve got your back.”
She smiled before she opened the door and grabbed Shadow’s lead.
That smile was enough to send his heart careening back to the past, to the love they’d once shared. The times before Wax took away their future.
He got out and turned his collar up against the biting wind coming down from the mountains and on it came the chilling whispers of the past coming back to haunt.
Ava stood beside Caleb adjusting her gloves, her breath forming faint plumes.
He could feel her anxiety radiating around her body like an aura.
Shadow sniffed the ground trying to pick up any scent. Ava had given the dog the plaid fabric from Emily’s crime scene to confirm Wax’s scent. As soon as the rest of the K-9s were ready, they’d be given the fabric for tracking as well.
ERT had released the cloth to her as long as it remained in the evidence bag. According to their lead specialist, the fabric could date back years. The same was believed true of the broken backpack strap.
“There’s my people.” Caleb excused himself and headed over to his team members. They’d worked together for a long time and knew each other’s strengths and weaknesses well.
“Thank you all for coming.” His gaze scanned past Grace Shaw and Brynn Adler, the newest members of the team.
They’d been with Caleb for about two years now and had proven themselves time and time again.
Rhett Lawson and Beck Holt worked search and rescue missions with Caleb for as long as Caleb had been part of the team.
“As I said over the phone, this will be challenging. We’re hunting a killer who has murdered before, and he knows this area extremely well.
” He looked at where Ava stood with Rachel.
Every time he saw her, Caleb’s heart reminded him that he’d been foolish to think he could turn his feelings off, even to find a killer.
“If everyone is ready, let me introduce you to the FBI lead, Ava Blake.”
Redeemed team members gathered around Ava as they approached. Despite the seriousness of their mission, Caleb smiled at the way Shadow abandoned his sniffing long enough to greet his K-9 friends.
“Ava, this is my team. They’re the best around,” Caleb said with pride as he introduced them to Ava.
“Nice to meet you all,” she said. “Thank you all for dropping everything to join us.”
“Ava, can I speak to you for a second?” Rachel asked, drawing Ava’s attention to her.
“Yeah, of course. Caleb, you should join us.”
Caleb excused himself and followed her and Rachel out of earshot of the others.
Ava had told him she’d be relying heavily on his expertise of the landscape, and he wasn’t about to let her down.
“You’ll want to see this.” Rachel brought up someone on her tablet. “The laurel sample that was found? The lab traced the pollen’s isotopic composition to a specific small grove south of Glacier Creek Canyon, near the old mining road. That’s near where Emily was located.”
Caleb’s pulse spiked. “That can’t be a coincidence.”
“It’s not,” Rachel said looking his way. “And there’s something else. The lab found microscopic glass particles embedded in the wax. They believe it's possibly old windowpane fragments. Could be industrial.”
Caleb frowned. “Like from a factory or a workshop.”
Ava turned toward the dark horizon. “Or a mine. They’d probably still have glass in the abandoned mine that’s up there. He seems determined to tie the scenes together with clues.”
“Yes, he does.” Would they find the second victim in time? Caleb believed he already knew the answer. His gaze shifted past the people gathered to the daylight breaking over the ridge. Somewhere buried beneath rock and rot—somewhere he knew they’d have to crawl into to reach their next victim.
Ava’s voice dropped, quiet but firm. “We move out in thirty minutes to give us more light. We’ll need to use snowshoes to traverse the snowy terrain.
” She turned to Caleb. “Can you break the teams up into groups of four? I want a K-9 and their handler with each team along with one of your search and rescue people.”
Caleb nodded. “You got it.”
Rachel lingered for a moment, her voice low. “You think she’s still alive?”
Neither Caleb nor Ava had to ask who she meant.
Ava looked out across the snow-covered valley they’d be traversing while her expression turned steel.
“I don’t think so,” she said. “He left that laurel so I’d know where to find her.
He’ll be preparing to take his third victim soon.
” She paused with a shiver. “And I don’t think she’ll be his last victim. He’s only just beginning.”