CHAPTER NINE #2
The lie needed a moment to turn true. It didn’t. Connor’s mind swirled. Hate. Vengeance. All of it. But there was Selena’s face. The calm in the storm. He took a breath.
“Have you met Selena?” Connor asked.
“Just a few minutes ago,” Chuck said.
Connor held back the emotion as best he could for what had just happened. Meaningless chit chat came to the fore. Monotony the only antidote for the terrible realities of life. "Chuck... Chuck stayed on to show me the ropes when I came in as Sheriff."
Chuck gave Selena a tired nod. “You can blame me for any of his mistakes.”
Connor managed a smile. It did not last.
“I’m sorry about Vic, Chief,” Chuck said.
“So am I.”
Moving into the living room, he knelt beside Victor’s chair. The television kept playing, volume too high. A cowboy shouted from the screen about a posse coming over the ridge.
Connor reached for the remote on the side table and muted it.
Quiet fell hard.
“I’m so sorry, Vic,” he whispered.
Matt stepped closer. “Sheriff, if this is too close to the bone, Agent Raven and I can handle it.”
Connor kept his eyes on Victor.
The dead man’s left slipper had come halfway off. One of the kids had left a drawing on the side table. A crayon sun, five people holding hands, a dog larger than any of them.
“Connor?” Selena said softly.
He stood.
“It’s okay. I can do this.” Connor looked at Matt. “I’m just not used to seeing one of my friends with a bullet in him.”
Matt nodded once. No grin today or smart remark. “Understood.”
“What... What do we have?” Connor asked.
“Gunshot wound to the head.”
“Same as Warren?” Connor asked, his mind immediately jumping to the obvious.
“No. Looks like he was shot from above. Shooter was probably standing behind the chair and leaning over, or standing just off to the side.”
“Close range?”
“Looks like it. Dr. Blethan pronounced death at the scene. He’s gone back to prepare for… The autopsy.”
Connor’s stomach tightened at the thought.
“Do we have the gun?”
“None found so far.”
“Who found him?”
“A neighbor.” Matt pointed toward the front window. “Came over to complain the TV was blaring in the middle of the night. Door was unlocked. He saw Victor from the hall and called it in.”
Connor let out a hopeless laugh. “Yeah. Vic loved to sit and watch westerns with a few beers. I’d had to come over here more than once to tell him to turn it down.”
Three empty bottles stood on the side table. A fourth sat on the floor, tipped but not spilled. Victor’s hand was close to it, as if it had slipped after the shot.
“Have you told Marlene?” Connor asked.
Chuck answered. “She’s out of town with the kids, thank God. Can you imagine if they came back to this?”
Selena said, “They’re in Lexington visiting Victor’s mother-in-law. I’ve got an agent with her right now. She’s been informed.”
Connor looked at her.
“When did you arrange that?”
“Before you arrived. Meg helped contact the Lexington field office.”
“Thank you.”
Selena nodded, then turned toward the chair. “There’s more.”
Connor’s focus sharpened. “What?”
“No forced entry so far. No sign of a struggle. Victor was watching television. Beer on the table. Either the door was unlocked or he let them in, so it could be someone he knew. And then there’s this.”
She held up an evidence bag with a sheet of bloodied paper in it.
“Jesus, just like Warren. Envelope, too?”
Selena nodded.
Connor studied the room. “So it’s the same killer.”
“We won’t know unless we get a print or DNA from the scenes to match. But...”
“But?”
Selena stared at Connor. “How often do two men in this area turn up dead like this within days of each other? And unless this is a copycat, the blank page would indicate it’s the same person.”
Connor looked from Victor to the muted television, then to the family photograph above the mantel. Marlene. Victor. Three children on a summer day.
“So we could be dealing with a serial killer like the church killings from months ago? Another Nolan Pruitt type?” He was sickened by the prospect.
Selena did not flinch from it. “We can’t rule out the possibility that this is only the beginning.”
Chuck made a low sound. “Wish I’d been on vacation like the last time you were in town, Agent Raven.”
“No, you don’t,” Connor said.
Chuck looked at Victor and said nothing.
Connor turned back to Matt. “Anything else you need from us?”
“Not right now, Sheriff. I’ll finish photos, get the body moved to Dr. Blethan, and start processing the room. I want prints on the door, the bottles, the side table, the remote, and the chair.”
Connor stared blankly. “Chuck… Get Arnold to canvas the street, see… See if anyone has ring cameras or security footage.”
“I will. The body will be moved soon, Chief.”
Connor pictured Victor on Blethan’s cold metal table.
Nausea rose fast.
He looked down and forced it back.
Then he leaned close to Victor one more time. “I’ll catch this bastard, Vic. I’ll catch him.”
A hand settled gently on his shoulder.
Selena.
“Come on,” she said. “There’s no good being here anymore. Let’s get back to the station.”
Connor nodded.
At the front door, he stopped.
A family picture hung beside the hallway mirror. Victor with Marlene and the kids at a lake, arms around one another, all wet hair and smiles. Victor looked proud enough to split open with it.
Connor stared until the edges of the frame blurred.
Rage began to build, steady and hot.
Rage made sloppy work, and sloppy work let killers breathe free.
If he found the person who had done this, he didn’t know what he would do.
But now all he could think of was catching the bastard.
And in his heart he knew he would do almost anything to avenge his friends.
He could not stomach any more death. Not another victim.
He would do anything to stop that.
The Sheriff's department. The FBI. All of that would help. But there was someone else who could, too. Someone who did not have to follow the rules. Someone whose ear was always to the ground. Someone who might know the sicko who had done this.
And Connor intended to get their help, too, even if he had to force them.