Chapter 33
THIRTY-THREE
Katie and McGaven went straight to work once they arrived back at their office. Katie worked on the crime scene photos, locations, and potential persons of interest, while McGaven searched databases and law enforcement files for any other cases with some of the same aspects as theirs.
Katie lined up photos and attached them to the wall—in order. It was horrible scrutinizing human limbs and wondering what had happened to the rest of the bodies. And why were they hidden in a special place under the floorboards? And who had built it?
She stood back looking at her work. “What are we missing?” she said.
“And why is the killer taunting you?” added McGaven.
“Maybe they’re related to someone we arrested in the past,” she said.
“Like a family member?”
“Maybe. What are we missing?” She pointed to the photo showing the trailer and makeshift hidden compartments. “Someone had to have built these. They’re crudely constructed… but…”
“Not standard for manufactured homes?” muttered McGaven.
“And why this home?” she said.
“Obviously Bates knows this person and isn’t giving him up.”
Moving closer to the wall, Katie said, “Not necessarily. He could have met Bates or observed him and then used him as a scapegoat. Can we possibly get a blueprint of this type of manufactured home?” she said.
“I don’t see why not.”
“I want to see how they’re put together.”
“Any particular reason?”
“Just a hunch.”
“Your wish is my command,” said McGaven as he began searching for companies that produced and installed those types of homes. “And of course I’ll also try to find out if anyone recently bought plans for them or asked a lot of questions.”
“We’re on the same page.”
“We should be receiving the missing women reports for the past couple of years soon.”
“Great. And we still need those results from Rockview. I’ll get onto Stern.”
“Thank you.” Katie put up photos of Shelby, Bates, and the persons of interest. She hesitated on Ames and decided not to put him up, but kept him in the pile.
“Can you print out a photo of a black Chevy truck with special-order rims.”
“Year?”
“Ames said about five years old.”
“Okay.” McGaven keyed up a good photo and printed it.
Katie attached it to the wall next to one of the crime scene on Heritage Road.
“Wow, there are a lot of registered Chevy trucks in Pine Valley,” McGaven said.
“Can you narrow it down? No women or anyone under twenty-five and not older than sixty,” she said.
“I don’t know, there are still more than a hundred.” He printed the list.
“What about in Rockview?”
He took a few minutes. “There’s less. Around twenty-five.”
Katie frowned. She knew nothing was going to be easy. She decided to add the locations for all the crime scenes and places of interest to the board.
Shelby’s home
Yoga studio
Carriage House restaurant
The hotel
Brandon Bates’s trailer—place of interest—and shooting incident with detectives
Pine Valley Sheriff’s Department—Katie’s Jeep
Heritage Road near fire training center
Baker Road and Hallow Lane
They now had a bigger puzzle than before, but things seemed to be taking a step forward.
“What’s churning in that mind of yours?” said McGaven.
“The killer clearly has an overall plan, but we’re only seeing fragments of it. That’s why it’s so hard to link up all our evidence.”
“The sign of a killer’s insanity?”
“No… I believe there is a method to what he’s doing. There’s always an internal logic, even if it’s only logical to him.”
“And how are you involved?”
“I don’t know. Maybe because I’m a cop? The fact that I’m female? He could’ve been at one of the crime scenes in the past?” It was still so hard to know. She studied the photos even more closely, looking for anything that made sense.
“That only tells us he has a possible obsession with you.”
“I don’t see how.” She stared at the photo of Shelby. She was a beautiful young woman who didn’t deserve this horror.
“You are kind of a killer magnet.”
“Funny.” Though maybe there was some truth to that, she thought.
The detectives worked for half an hour until McGaven interrupted Katie’s theorizing.
“Okay. I ran a standard background check on Shelby and her boyfriend, Tyler.”
Katie turned to her partner and could see that he had a lot of notes and a satisfied look on his face. “Anything that stands out?”
“In a word… no. Just the petty theft for Shelby.”
Katie let out a disappointed breath. “We need to visit Tyler’s restaurant and, more importantly, the hotel where he said he and Shelby would hang out.”
“Oooh, fancy.”
Katie frowned. “What about a meeting with the property owner from Heritage Road?”
“Still haven’t heard back. I’ll leave another message with the attorney.”
Katie approached the laminated map of the county next to the board to see if there was any type of order to the madness.
“Did you notice how the areas where the body parts were found seem to be part of a loop of sorts,” said McGaven
“Yeah. It’s odd,” she said.
“Maybe not…”
“There are still so many missing pieces.”
McGaven made another phone call to the attorney for the property on Heritage—Jake Devaroux for Martin Sills.
“I hope we don’t find more bodies,” she said softly.
“Maybe you need to add Ames’s house and fire station… and your place to the map.”
Katie was going to protest, but McGaven did have a point. They were locations of interest in this case. She did so and said, “While we’re waiting for a call back from the attorney and the evidence from this morning…”
“Road trip?”
Katie laughed. “I was thinking burritos for lunch.”
“Okay, you had me at burritos.”
“I keep thinking about the land behind the drainage ditch.” Katie scanned the crime scenes again; she felt in her gut there would be something present from the killer.
Katie looked at her watch. “There’s plenty of daylight to run Cisco.
We could also go to the hotel and check it out—ask around to see if we can find a guy who didn’t fit in and seemed to be watching. ”
McGaven stood up. “Let’s do it.”
“Wait. Maybe I should bring Deputy Anderson with me while you keep digging here?”
“No burritos?”
Katie smiled. She loved McGaven’s humor and enthusiasm. “I’ll have food delivered. Deal?” She grabbed her stuff.
McGaven acted as if he were devastated. “Deal.” Then he added, “I like Chris. He’s a solid officer and I think he wants to become a detective.”
“I like him too. He listens and seems to really want to learn.”
“He’s learning from the best,” said McGaven with a smile.
Katie put her hand on her partner’s shoulder. “It’s teamwork.”
“Tell Cisco I said hi.”
Katie stopped in the parking lot and glanced up at the lights that had not been working the night she found the finger. It appeared one was working now and the other still hung from the wiring. It seemed strange that they hadn’t been able to fix them.
Katie called Deputy Anderson on her way home to get Cisco and change her clothes. She asked the deputy to meet her at the scene.