Cody went out on the deck and got comfortable. From where he sat, he could see the crime scene down the beach. He’d called Robin and got the ball rolling on Meagan’s sister, Bridget. Robin told him she would take care of everything.
He made it a point to let her know he owed her one. This case was weighing on him, and he couldn’t afford to have his thoughts divided.
Just as he got off the phone, Jilly plopped down in the chair next to him. “So, were you ever coming back?”
He didn’t rise to the bait. “I had to report the possible abduction of Meagan’s sister.”
She nodded.
“I can help you now with those phone records.” He started to get up, but she stayed his progress. He glanced her way.
“Don’t bother, it was a dead end. All the texts were between her and her sister. The calls, all local, were accounted for.”
“Dammit.” He sank back in his chair.
“Yeah. I wanted to go to the station and see about identifying the local victims. I have it narrowed down to about twenty. I need to reach out to the families for DNA samples and dental records. I’m not looking forward to it.”
He nodded. “I’ll get my coat. I want to stop at The Paper Clip on the way and see if they have a map of the United States.”
When they got to the station, Jilly went straight to her desk. Cody grabbed the file he’d been working on and took up residency in the conference room. He tacked the map on the wall and got busy marking it with pushpins.
He arranged the victims’ photos along with his abbreviated notes next to them. When he’d finished, he stood back and surveyed his work.
Jilly came up alongside him. “What have you got there?”
“The blue pins are the abduction sites and red ones are where the bodies were dumped.”
“I know I’m late to the party, but from where I’m standing, it looks like your center is. . .” She got right up to the map.
“Helena, Montana?”
“Yup. That’s what I was thinking too.”
Jilly stared at him a second before she spoke. “Isn’t that where you were stationed before transferring to Los Angeles?”
“Yup.” Cody wished she hadn’t come to the same conclusion as he, but in all honesty, there wasn’t another logical explanation.
Her brows rose. “So, you are the killer’s focal point?”
Cody ran a hand through his hair. “Looks that way.”
“Holy hell.”
“Exactly,” he said.
“Any idea who this could be?”
“Nope. I’m going to need to go through everyone of my cases. There’s one problem, though.”
“Just one?” Jilly chuckled.
“Yup.”
“Okay, I’ll bite. What’s the one problem?” she said, still grinning.
“The first victim was killed while I was at the FBI Academy, so I hadn’t worked any cases yet.”
Jilly stepped away from the wall. “Jeez, that is a problem.”
She sat in a chair and put her feet up on the conference table, her hands folded over her stomach. “So it’s someone you knew before Montana.” She looked up at the ceiling.
“Yeah. I went to the University of Maryland. I met a girl and stayed in the area. I was hired by the Prince George’s County Police Department where I worked my way up to homicide pretty quickly.”
Jilly glanced at him. “I bet your fancy degree had something to do with it.”
“That was just one of the barbs flung at me from the more seasoned detectives. I also heard rumors it was my looks. But the best one of all, was that I slept my way to the top.” He flipped a chair around and straddled it, facing her across the table.
“So was your captain a woman or gay?”
“Both.” Cody smiled. “Captain Washington was the toughest woman I’d ever met, but fair.”
“Did you sleep with her?”
“What part of gay don’t you understand?”
Jilly tilted her head from side to side. “I’ve known lesbians to walk on the wild side now and again.”
Anger boiled up inside him. “You must not think too highly of me to ask that question.”
“It’s not like I know you all that well. After all, you’re sleeping with me and we work together.”
“Jesus.” Cody jumped out of his chair and began pacing. “I’m not sure who you’re insulting here, you or me?”
“Calm down. It’s not like I said that to piss you off.”
“Right. Like having you insinuate that I screwed my way to the top, or that I slept with every woman I ever worked with, wouldn’t piss me off?” Cody marched to the door and stopped.
He was fighting every instinct to leave. To get the hell out so he didn’t have to look at her. He crossed his arms and shook his head. “Jesus. You’re a real piece of work. You know that?”
Jilly’s feet flew off the table and landed on the floor with a loud thud. He turned around to see her leaning on the table. “That’s not what I was saying at all. I believe you did get that promotion on your own merits. I’m sure the fact that you had a degree in criminology put you in the forefront of all the other candidates and I’m certain you aced the detective’s exam.”
Cody felt a muscle in his jaw twitch. “Damn straight.”
Jilly slipped out of her chair, came around the table and leaned against it, crossing her arms.
“But I can also see how that degree would upset a lot of the older detectives who couldn’t afford to go to college, as well as other candidates who got passed up for promotion because of it. They had to rise up the ranks the hard way.”
At least her volume had come down to a more reasonable tone.
“In other words, I think you should make a list of all of them to see if any fit this killer’s profile,” she said.
“Valid point.” He still glared at her. “So what’s all this about me screwing around?”
She stared at the floor. “I may have gotten a little off track there.”
Cody’s chuckle held no mirth. “A little?”
Her head jerked up and she met his eyes. “Fine, a lot. Look, I wasn’t exactly calling you a slut.”
He shrugged. “No?”
Jilly turned her back to him. “Okay, maybe I was. I don’t know. I just wanted to know if this was your MO? I mean, hooking up with a woman on a case, and then moving on.”
“Ah.”
She was feeling insecure.
He took a deep breath and tried to let go of his anger. He walked up behind her, placed his hands on her shoulders and turned her around.
He tucked a finger under her chin, and raised her head so he could look her in the eye. “You’re not just any woman, Jillian Reid. I will not have you disparaging my taste.”
Her eyes became saucers.
“You are a beautiful, intelligent, amusing woman who can kick my ass and that’s a first.”
The smile that graced her lips warmed his heart.
“You’re also a hell of a lot sexier than you give yourself credit for. Which I assume is the doing of that asshat of an ex-husband of yours. That man is a world-class bonehead. If nothing else, remember that.”
“You still haven’t answered my question. Do you sleep with a different woman on every case?” she asked softly.
Cody kissed the tip of her nose. “No.”
“Good. That’s all I wanted to know.” Her cell phone rang, and she stepped away before answering it.
Cody shook his head and turned his attention back to the murder board, his anger had disappeared.
Jilly joined him. “That was George. He hasn’t started the autopsy yet, but he wanted us to know he’d finished his preliminary exam. Jane was not tortured.”
He glanced down at her. “I didn’t think he’d had the time. He’d already had a busy night screwing with us.”
“And just as we thought, she was alive when he decapitated her.”
“Shit.” He scrubbed his hands down his face and turned away.
A moment of silence ensued.
Thinking something, and knowing it to be true, were two different things entirely.
Jilly’s voice broke his reverie. “So, have you noticed what these women have in common yet?”
Cody cleared his throat. “Um.” He took a deep breath and exhaled before he turned back to the wall. “Uh, no. I’ve been racking my brain. Age, looks, jobs, residence, they’re all over the place.”
“They’re all athletic, outdoor types.”
Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Jilly glance his way, but he wasn’t ready to face her yet, so he kept his gaze straight ahead. “Huh?”
“Look at this: they aren’t your run of the mill read a book, go to the movies on a weekend kind of women.” She started pointing to each one. “Skiing, hiking, camping, white water rafting. Hell, this one was even a fly fishing guide.”
“Yeah, that one really impressed the hell out of me. Now that’s my kind of woman.”
Jilly stared at him.
He focused on her. “What’d I say now?”
“That’s it.” She tapped the murder board excitedly with her finger.
“That’s what?” He scratched his head.
“All these women, they’re your type.”
“Huh?” Cody got closer and examined the photos more carefully.
“Cody, think about it. What are your hobbies?”
“Camping, hiking, rock climbing, fishing, and when I was in Montana I took up white water rafting.” He rubbed his forehead. “Well, fuck me.”
“Did they?”
“Did who what?” He looked back at her curiously.
“Did you sleep with these women?”
“Don’t be ridiculous.” Cody couldn’t believe she was back to that, but he focused on the board anyway. He couldn’t argue the fact that he did hook up with a few women after Mary Ellen.
The stress of starting a new career. Living in a town full of strangers. Having to prove himself all over again. The fact that Mary Ellen had disconnected her phone, which at the time, he thought was because of him. He’d been pretty depressed. Maybe he had whored around a bit.
He paced back and forth in front of the board, his eyes never leaving the pictures. “I did all those things while I lived in Montana. It was a virtual playground for outdoor activities.
“I worked hard and played harder. That’s how I decompressed after a heavy case. I guess I could have met one of these women along the way. But none of them look familiar.” He stopped and massaged his temples.
“Think,” Jilly said. “You know how you see someone out of their element and don’t recognize them? Hell, I’ve done it. When I lived in San Bernardino, I ran into a teller from my bank. I was in the grocery store one Saturday when this woman came up and started talking to me like we were old friends.
“I kept nodding and smiling all the while racking my brain. Finally, she said something and I knew who she was. But she looked totally different. She was wearing jeans, a tank top, no make-up and her hair was thrown up in a messy bun.
“Large hoop earrings, and rings adorned every finger. She even had a tattoo on her upper arm, which of course I’d never seen. At work she dressed conservatively with her arms covered, her hair down past her shoulders with the top pulled back in a barrette, light make-up and small stud earrings.”
Jilly walked up to the board and covered the hair on a picture with both hands. “Now look again. A woman doing something physical would probably not wear make-up or jewelry. Her hair would be pulled back in a ponytail, braids, knotted on her head or wearing a ski cap.
“A true outdoors woman would be there for the sport, not to impress. Think sweaty, dressed in athletic clothes. Her body would be toned–”
“Like you.” He stared at Jilly.
“I’d say you do have a type.” She put her hand on his cheek and pushed his face back toward the murder board. “Now stop looking at me and study the damn photo.”
Cody grinned, and focused on the picture she’d indicated. He shook his head. She moved on to the next. As he looked at the woman, he thought about Mary Ellen and how different she’d looked. “Maybe.”
“Maybe what?” she asked.
“She does look kind of familiar.”
“I have an idea.” Jilly started pulling down all the pictures and left the room. Cody followed her.
She went over to a desk where a guy, somewhere in his mid-twenties, was busy on a computer, “Hey, Jeff.”
The guy looked up. “Hey, Jilly, what’s up?”
“You know that Christmas card you did for the department? The one where you put elves costumes on all of us and a Santa outfit on the Bud?”
“Yeah, why?”
“That was pretty funny, by the way,” she said.
“Bud didn’t seem to think so,” Jeff remarked.
Jilly laughed. “No, he did not. Anyway, I was wondering, since you added those clothes, can you take stuff off of a photo too?”
“Sure. What did you have in mind?”
Jilly handed the stack over to him. “Do me a favor and erase the women’s hair, make-up and jewelry. Okay?”
Jeff took the pictures and started flipping through them.
“Sure, but I’d have to do it after my shift, the software is on my home computer.”
“I understand. Just bring them with you when you come in tomorrow, okay?”
“You got it.”
“Thanks,” she said.
Cody and Jilly walked back toward the conference room.
“Jeff has a degree as a graphic artist, but was having a hard time finding work when his girlfriend got pregnant. They married and he got a job here. We’re lucky to have him. He’s also our sketch artist.” Jilly glanced at her watch. “It’s late. Think we should pack it in?”
“Yeah, I didn’t get much sleep last night. I am a bit tired.” He slid her a look.
She glanced around the room, then back at him and grinned.
“That’s funny, neither did I.”
They rode back to the Thomas cabin in Jilly’s SUV. As she pulled into the driveway, the headlights hit the forested hill behind the house.
Jilly gasped and slammed on the brakes.
“Holy mother of God.”