Chapter 6
El stood at the water’s edge in the ravine with Gabe near what remained of a crumbling dock disappearing into the murk a few feet away. If the killer had used a boat to move Kenna and Lucy, this could’ve been his launch point.
She looked at Gabe. “I assume you noticed that there weren’t any drag marks.”
He nodded. “Which means if he moved her in a boat from here, he had to have carried her. He also would’ve had to carry the car seat. Kenna must have been restrained enough for him to not worry about her escape while he carried Lucy in her car seat over here.”
She scanned the shoreline again. A deep V-shaped gouge marked the bank, the kind a metal hull left when someone beached in a hurry. Freshly trampled grass fanned out from the spot, helping confirm her theory.
“He might’ve already killed her by then,” El said, wanting to say anything but that.
He cringed, but his only response was a sharp nod.
“Something I haven’t resolved,” she said. “How would the killer know Kenna was coming to see you? Or that he would succeed in running them off the road where he had a boat waiting?”
“My phone isn’t tapped, if that’s where you’re headed. Hayden audits all our phones weekly. Mine was cleared two days ago.”
“Doesn’t mean hers wasn’t compromised.”
“If it was, she knew him. Or at least trusted him enough to let him get close to her phone to tamper with it.”
“She also could’ve told him herself—shared her plans before she left—and he trailed her from there. Could’ve convinced her to meet him at the overlook.”
“That might explain why she came here.” Gabe’s breathing had grown labored. The weight of what could’ve happened in this ravine had to be catching up with him.
“But who?” she asked. “And why? If he docked his boat here to move them to the beach, he would’ve had to know in advance to have the boat ready.”
Gabe pursed his lips, but stood motionless. “I don’t get it, though. Not after her frantic phone call. I just can’t imagine her stopping anywhere for any reason.”
“She wasn’t just sightseeing, that’s for sure, and the transfer of her body and Lucy in the boat confirms premeditation and not some random road rage.
” El’s phone announced a text, interrupting her unpleasant vision of Kenna’s and Lucy’s terror as they were run off the road.
“Hopefully her phone will survive being soaked, and the electronics expert will be able to tell us if she was meeting someone. I’ll also request her phone records, but you know how slow phone providers are getting back to you. That can take some time.”
She quickly read the message from Deputy Massey.
Forensics is here and asking for you.
She typed back. On my way.
“Forensics just arrived.” She slid the phone into her pocket. “I’ll send them down here to process the van and the surrounding area in addition to the beach.”
Gabe opened his mouth, seemed to reconsider, and turned toward the hill. He was a man of few words, and when he did speak, he took on a devil’s advocate kind of role, and what he had to say was important. But whatever he’d been about to say just now, he kept it to himself.
El filed the moment away and followed him to the steep incline, quickly skirting the blood near the van.
At the base of the hill, he paused and waited for her to go first. She understood. He was positioning himself to catch her if she lost her footing on the loose vegetation. The gesture was so quiet and natural that it caught her off guard.
Tears pressed at the back of her eyes. Odd timing. She was working a murder and an abduction, not on a social outing, but the small kindness told her exactly how he must’ve treated Kenna and Lucy. No making a production of it and without expecting anything in return.
She swiped her eyes then climbed without incident. So did he.
They drove back to the beach in silence. El parked several rows behind a white panel van with the Veritas Center logo on the side, the rear doors thrown open. Two women in white Tyvek suits were rummaging through equipment bins stacked three high in the cargo area while Jude stood nearby, talking.
El recognized both women. Chelsea Vale, one of the center’s forensic photographers, had glossy black hair and was still in the cargo bay. Sierra Rice, forensic expert, dropped out of the van, her blond ponytail bouncing, as El and Gabe approached.
El reached for the door handle. “Have you met the Veritas team?”
“Yes.”
“Then let’s go.”
They made their way through a cluster of onlookers who called out questions. El kept her eyes forward and her answers consistent. No comment. No comment. No comment.
“Glad you’re back,” Jude said. “I was hoping you’d arrive in time to give Chelsea and Sierra instructions.”
“Thank you both for coming on short notice.” El offered the women a genuine smile. “I mean that.”
“Of course.” Sierra’s smile was brief and professional. “We’d never turn our backs on a missing child. Has she been found?”
The warmth in El’s chest cooled. “No. Let me walk you through everything, and then we can set your priorities.”
Sierra settled on the van’s rear bumper, and El gave her a thorough account. The body, the beach, the ravine, the boat, the blood near the van, the screwdriver.
“I recovered a few items from the scene that were at risk of contamination or exposure,” El added. “They’re in my car. Bagged.”
“I’ll check the packaging before we process anything else.” Sierra stood and glanced toward the beach, her expression sharpening. “Looks like the beach has been significantly compromised.”
“The outer perimeter, yes.” El kept her voice even and tried not to take offense at her comments. “We cordoned off the area around the body and some of the waterline. But finding Lucy is our top priority, and I had to give divers, search teams, and my people access.”
“Understandable,” Sierra said.
El appreciated that Sierra didn’t push it. “The victim’s van is in the ravine, our secondary scene about a mile up the road. We believe she and her daughter were transported from there to the beach by boat.”
“You have a positive ID on the victim.” Sierra’s eyes moved to Gabe, then back. “But do you have anything placing the child at the beach?”
“Nothing direct,” El said. “DNA could tie the toys and car seat to Lucy, but that only confirms ownership.”
Sierra tilted her head. “Best option would be prints or DNA recovered from the boat or dock, assuming we locate any. Do you have her prints on file?”
El turned to Gabe. “Do you know if Kenna kept an identity kit for Lucy?”
“I gave her one from our department when I was a state trooper.” His jaw tightened. “We can look when we search her place to see if she finished it. Her prints are probably on the car seat too.”
“We should recover small latent prints from the seat,” Sierra said. “They won’t be definitive on their own, but they’d give you something to work with temporarily.”
Gabe’s expression shifted. “Same for DNA?”
“Identical limitation. Without a confirmed sample to compare against, nothing is ironclad.” She paused. “This one will be difficult.”
“One more thing.” El met Sierra’s eyes. “You’ll find blood near the van, a significant amount. Kenna didn’t have any obvious wounds to account for it. It could belong to her attacker. Or to Lucy.”
She let that possibility hang in the air just long enough to land.
“We also found a bloody screwdriver under the van,” El said.
“Knowing Kenna, she didn’t go quietly,” Gabe said. “She found it and used it on her attacker, leaving what we believe is his blood on her shirt.”
“I’ll pick up the shirt from the ME as soon as possible and give it to you for DNA testing.”
Sierra straightened. “Blood on the beach or dock?”
“Nothing visible.”
“Then the blood at the ravine is our first priority. Being outdoors, the rain would compromise the spatter patterns and dilute the samples.” She looked at El. “Unless you need us somewhere else first.”
“You know better than I do. I’ll defer to you.”
“We’ll have one of our techs drive all recovered evidence to our lab early this afternoon. That way we can begin processing it. If you locate anything else, make sure you get it to us to include in the delivery.”
“Thank you, I really appreciate your sense of urgency,” El said sincerely. “Is there anything else we can do for you?”
“I think we have everything we need to get started.”
“I could stay with them,” Jude said. He’d been quiet so far, which for Jude was an achievement. “In case they need anything.”
“It would help to have someone on-site,” El said carefully, then looked at Sierra and Chelsea. “Only if that works for you.”
They both nodded.
“Then I’ll brief him on the secondary scene before you head out.
” El caught Jude’s eye and held it for a moment, a warning that said be professional, before turning back to Sierra.
“The minute you find anything new, call me. Anything. After all, even the smallest of details could be the lead that brings Lucy home.”
In the dressing area outside the autopsy suite, El zipped the white protective suit to her chin and pulled on her gloves.
She’d attended more postmortems than she cared to count, none of them easy, but this one sat heavier than most. Could be because she didn’t want anything else revealed that would cause Gabe additional pain.
In fact, El would’ve liked time to digest anything she learned before telling him. That wasn’t possible. He’d insisted on accompanying her and was waiting in the lobby, likely driving the receptionist crazy by pacing.
She could picture it clearly.
She’d tried to talk him out of accompanying her. He wouldn’t hear of it. If someone murdered one of his best friends, he’d said, he wanted to understand every detail, not to satisfy curiosity, but to find the killer faster. She understood that, but she didn’t have to like it.
Please help me share whatever I’m about to learn in the best way possible.