Chapter 2
TWO
Detective Katie Scott sat at a large table flipping through reports with only a desk lamp shining on her work.
Everything around her was quiet and dark.
Despite the slight hum of the air filtration system above her, the silence was comforting.
She tried not to think about the next batch of work coming her way.
She was a cold-case detective for the Pine Valley Sheriff’s Department and there wasn’t any shortage of cases.
Katie had wanted to catch up on her work without being disturbed by thoughts of her partner, Detective Sean McGaven, who was on vacation and wouldn’t be back until Monday; or her new love interest, John Blackburn, the forensic supervisor currently at a conference in Los Angeles.
The three of them often worked together chasing killers, creating criminal profiles, and searching for new clues in unsolved cases.
A slight smile washed across Katie’s face. They were her team—and her family.
She leaned back in her chair, staring at the tall piles of folders that had been checked and would soon be filed in the case-closed section. In front of her were three open cases to study and decide which to tackle next.
The first was a ten-year-old case of a teenage girl whose body had been found at an abandoned barn. There were suspicious circumstances involving a neighbor, but nothing concrete, and there hadn’t been any new leads for years.
The second case was a forty-two-year-old man who had been found hanging in the forest in an area he frequently hiked.
His death had been deemed a homicide—not a suicide—due to his unusual wounds that wouldn’t have been inflicted otherwise.
There had been very few leads, even at the time, and the case had gone cold quickly.
The third potential investigation was around the body of a ten-year-old girl that had been found buried in the concrete foundations of an old house when it had been renovated eighteen years earlier.
Searches of the residence and investigations of the current and past occupants didn’t turn up any leads.
There were stories that the girl’s mother was to blame due to her involvement with witchcraft—but the mother had since died.
There were also accounts of strange parties and suspicious friends at the house, according to neighbors.
Katie sighed. Sometimes looking at the cold cases made her extremely sad and overwhelmed, but they would do everything they could to heat them up and get them solved.
She thought she and McGaven should start with the oldest one first—the little girl in concrete. It was indeed a mystery, and cases involving a child usually took precedence. Due to its nature, it certainly would be a difficult case to close.
Katie made two photocopies of what they had on the original investigation so that she and McGaven could work out leads.
She stacked the paperwork neatly on the table and made a note to have Denise in records pull up everything pertaining to the case, including any news items, reports, or background on the house.
Her thoughts were interrupted by a chime resonating from her cell phone. She glanced at it and saw it was almost 9 p.m. There was a text message from John.
Hey, gorgeous, I bet you’re still at the office working. Going out to dinner with some of the instructors… Call you later. Love you…
Katie smiled and replied with a quick text. She looked forward to hearing his voice before going to bed.
Their relationship was still in the early stages, but they were perfect for one another. John understood the job and how much effort and commitment was required to work cases. It made their private time together that much more special.
Katie’s weekend was going to be quiet, even though she would begin the cold case with preliminary checks through the photocopies she’d made. She had some pressing chores she wanted to tackle too.
She quickly tidied up the office and left, turning out the lights.
When she exited the administrative building, heading into the parking lot, Katie noticed all the usual lights were off and it was therefore quite dark.
Katie stopped and looked around. There were a few cars still parked at this late hour, and everything else seemed to be normal from what she could perceive.
It was highly unlikely they would have all gone out at the same time.
The lights themselves appeared to be intact, but there were shards of glass on the ground.
Her senses buzzed. She wished she had her K9, Cisco, with her.
Hesitating, she decided she would still head to her car and let maintenance know about the outage and possible vandalism. As she neared her Jeep she took a moment to survey the area. There wasn’t anyone around. No movement. It was completely quiet. Still, something didn’t seem right.
Katie tried to shrug it off as she opened her car door. The internal light beamed. There was a small white box, similar to a jewelry box, sitting on her driver’s seat. No note, no bow, and no indication of where it had come from.
Her heart rate increased. Something didn’t feel right. Her instincts kicked in and her movements were more strategic now. She dropped her briefcase and jacket on the ground, and pulled her weapon. She slowly turned three hundred sixty degrees, looking for anything suspicious—movement or shadows.
But the parking area was just as it was when she’d entered. There wasn’t anyone around. Just a suffocating silence.
Keeping a watchful eye, Katie slowly leaned into her car. Everything else inside her Jeep was exactly as she’d left it that morning when she’d arrived at the department. She retrieved the small white box. There wasn’t much weight to it.
Katie carefully lifted the lid. She sucked in a breath as she took in the image of the severed finger lying on cotton, decorated with crimson blood spatters. The cut was clean, as if a type of saw had been used. From the shape and manicured nail, it was clearly a woman’s index finger.