Chapter 4 #2
“Is there a better way to die?” Avery asked, flipping her hair behind her ear.
“Many,” the M.E. said, his tone flat, his face a mask of stony stoicism. “Let me know what you find when you check the NCIC. I hate to think this guy might have a track record.”
Avery vowed to get access as soon as possible to the database of crimes committed across the country. Two women murdered in the same manner was bad enough. If this guy had been operating for years...
A shiver shook Avery violently as she left the examination room.
Grant slipped an arm around her shoulders and gently pulled her close. “Cold?”
“Freezing,” she admitted. “I know it helps to preserve the bodies while he conducts his exam, but it was like a refrigerator in there.” Again, she shivered.
“And you’re recovering from head trauma. We should get you to a hotel where you can rest as the doctor ordered.” Grant placed a hand at the small of her back and ushered her back down the hallway. When they emerged into the reception area, the staticky sound of a radio filled the air.
Ms. Peterson leaned close to the device emitting the noise.
Avery frowned. “Is that a police scanner?”
Ms. Peterson held up a hand to quiet Avery and listened to the squawk of voices on the radio. “Someone called 911 to report he just found a body on Crooked Branch Road two miles west of Shadow Valley. The sheriff’s department has been dispatched to the crime scene.”
Avery met Grant’s gaze.
Without uttering a word, they left the building.
Once outside in the fresh air, Avery filled her lungs. “I can’t stand the scent of formaldehyde.”
Grant smoothed a hand over her back. “Me, either. To me, it’s the scent of death.”
“Come on.” Avery took his hand and led him toward the rental car. “If this is another murder victim, we need to be there.”
Grant held her door for her as Avery climbed in. “And I’m willing to bet your dark-haired imposter will be there as well.”
Avery nodded. “Which brings the question… She’s been here for the past few days. Will Agent Bradley and Sheriff Taylor think she’s the imposter, or me?”
“Are we going to charge into the crime scene demanding answers, or do we observe from a distance to calculate the threat?”
Avery bit her bottom lip. “Part of me wants to charge in and demand answers. But if this woman is the killer or is working with the killer, we can’t bulldoze our way in and expect any good to come of it. We need to follow her to the truth.”
Sitting up with her seatbelt crossing over her shoulder, she slid her hand between her chest and the strap to keep it from touching her sensitive bruising. She stared at the road ahead and shook her head, wondering if she was, in fact, correct and she’d crossed into an alternate reality.
She pinched the skin on her arm. Hard. And winced.
Grant laid a hand over her fingers. “Don’t. You’re awake, not dreaming. There’s no such thing as an alternate reality.”
“How do I know I’m not entrenched in some horrendous mind fuck?” She drew in a breath and let it out slowly. “My nightmares feel as real as this. Did the accident scramble my brain beyond repair?”
“No. You’re not in a dream or nightmare. If this is a mindfuck, the imposter is at the center of it. Let’s go observe and see for ourselves.”
Avery nodded. “Observe.”
“When we know something certain, we’ll confront the woman and clue in Agent Bradley and Sheriff Taylor.”
“If she steps over the line or endangers my colleague or the people of this community—”
Grant’s jaw hardened. “We’ll take her out.”
As Grant sped toward the scene of the latest crime, Avery leaned forward in her seat, anxious to find the woman who dared to impersonate a federal agent. The only motivation she could think of was that she was involved in the murders and was diverting focus while the murders continued.
Sheriff’s SUVs, first responder trucks and an ambulance lined the shoulder of the road.
A small van from one of the local news stations sped around Grant’s rental car and slid to a stop. A pretty blond-haired reporter jumped out with a microphone in her hand. Her cameraman stepped out, settled his video camera on his shoulder and immediately started recording her as she spoke.
Avery lowered her window so that she could hear what the woman was saying.
“The WTD killer has struck again. A third victim was discovered today.” She waved a hand toward the yellow caution tape, behind which the first responders stood.
“I’m here with the local sheriff’s department as they process the scene.
We’ll be sure to provide an update for our home viewers and concerned citizens as soon as they’ve identified the victim and notified immediate family members.
” She lowered her microphone. “Did you get all that?”
“Got it,” the cameraman said and turned his camera toward the emergency personnel loading the woman into the back of the ambulance. He filmed for a solid minute before lowering the device. “Is that all?”
The woman shook her head. “I want to get a statement from the sheriff and ask him what he’s doing to keep the community safe.”
“Obviously, not enough,” the cameraman muttered. “Two dead women were bad enough. Three leads one to believe the killer will keep going until he’s caught.”
Avery shifted her gaze from the reporter and her cameraman to the crowd of people in the middle of the organized chaos, searching for the familiar faces of Agent Bradley and Sheriff Taylor.
“There she is.” Grant pointed at a slim woman wearing a white ball cap, leggings and a loose ponytail. She was deep in a conversation with the sheriff and Melissa Bradley. When her face turned their way, Avery gasped. “She looks like me.”
“And not vaguely. If she let her hair down, she’d be your mirror image.” Grant stared at the woman for a moment and back at Avery. “It’s uncanny.”
Melissa Bradley and Sheriff Taylor seemed to be hanging on the imposter’s every word.
How dare she pretend to be an FBI agent?
Avery had worked hard to hone her skills and get where she was.
How dare this woman steal her identity and take credit for all Avery had achieved?
And what lies was she feeding the good people who were doing their best to stop a serial killer from taking yet another victim?
Anger rushed through Avery’s veins. Without thinking, she grabbed for the door handle.
Grant reached over and captured her hand beneath his. “She’s got their attention and their trust. She might not know you’re here. Let’s keep it that way. At least for now. Let’s follow her and see where she leads us.”
Avery’s nostrils flared for a moment. Then she tamped down the fire inside and nodded.
“Right. Besides, if I go barging into the middle of them...who are they going to believe? The woman who’s been here, or another who looks like her but has no identification to prove otherwise?
” Her eyes narrowed. “They wouldn’t expect a second Agent Hart, but they’re probably wondering where her profiler disappeared to.
” Her gaze shifted from the crime scene to Grant.
Grant’s brow rose. “You want me to join them.” It wasn’t a question. He’d always been in tune with the way she thought.
Avery nodded. “Seriously, you should be at the crime scene.”
“Wouldn’t the fake Agent Hart realize I know her game?”
A smile curved Avery’s lips. “Not if you pretend to think she’s me.” Her lips twisted. “It would put her on the spot to keep up her ruse. Besides, I want to know what’s going on. You’d be my mole.”
His brow dipped low. “I don’t like leaving you alone. Not so soon after your accident.”
“I won’t be far.”
“You have no way of contacting me without a cell phone.”
Avery tapped her finger on the steering wheel. “If I’m in trouble, I’ll hit the horn once. People might look up, but one tap could be considered a mistake...someone who leaned on it trying to get out of their vehicle.”
“What if you pass out? You won’t be able to honk the horn.”
“I feel fine, and I want to know what’s going on with my case.
” When Grant gave her a look that screamed he wasn’t convinced, she crossed her arms over her chest and stared down her nose at him.
“Either you gather the information, or I march up there and demand to know who the hell she thinks she is and arrest her for impersonating a fed.”
He held her gaze for a long moment. Then his ready smile appeared. “You must be feeling better. You’re cranky.”
“I’m not cranky,” she muttered. “Someone has assumed my identity, taken over a serial murder case I should be working, and my ex-husband is giving me grief.” She lifted her chin higher.
Then all the indignation left her, making her feel like a deflated balloon.
“And my ribs are sore, I have a slight headache, and I want to yank that woman by her damned ponytail until she gives me answers.”
Grant laughed. “Like I said...cranky.” He held up a hand.
“And with every right to be so.” His smile faded.
“You could’ve died in that car wreck or drowned in the rising water.
But you’re here and sassy enough to give me the what-for.
Always the job. Always bad guys to put away.
” He leaned over the console and kissed the tip of her nose.
“And I’ll go see what I can find out, before you decide to slap my face.
” He pushed open his door and got out. Leaning back in, he winked.
“You’re a good agent, Avery. You care. Now, stay low so no one sees you and puts two and two together. ”
She slid low in the passenger seat.
He closed the door and walked to the yellow crime scene tape, stepped over it and headed straight for the trio bent over with their heads together, watching as the emergency personnel opened the back door of the ambulance.
More than anything, Avery wanted to be in that conversation to hear the lies her doppelganger was spreading to get the team to look in all the wrong places.
Her fists clenched in her lap as she stayed low enough not to be noticed, but high enough that she could watch over the dashboard any comings and goings into and out of the cordoned-off area.
Avery looked around the periphery, searching for anyone who might be lurking excitedly, laughing at the clumsy efforts of the law enforcement agencies.
He was probably confident he would not be caught and stood basking in his perceived superior intellect, laughing at their pathetic attempt to flush him out.
Well, Avery had news for the killer. Though she was relegated to the background for now, she was on the hunt and wouldn’t stop until the man was behind bars.
Or dead.