Beck looked back over her shoulder to make sure the file room door was still shut and logged in to the department’s online file system to look up the case files for the recent White Rock Lake murders. She’d been wanting to do this all week, but Mendoza had been on top of her with a list of information Councilwoman Villa wanted to see for her cold case task force.
She wondered what Villa would think of her clandestine mission to help Macy solve the Parks and Rec Killer cases, and decided she’d probably be all for it based on the way she was sending Mendoza scurrying around like a total boss. According to Foster, Mendoza was on her way to Villa’s office, which meant this was the perfect opportunity for her to sign on and check the status of the current cases. She pulled out her phone and started taking notes. Victim one was Jody Nelson, college student. She’d been biking on the trail around the lake. She’d never forget this one since she’d responded to the call that a body had been found. While she’d been tasked with the busy work of securing the scene, she’d seen Jody’s body up close, and the image of her, bound and strangled, was burned in her mind.
Claire Hanlon and her squad had conducted extensive interviews of Jody’s friends and family, but they’d come up empty. Jody didn’t have any known enemies. She biked often at the lake, but she didn’t follow any regular routine, sometimes cycling in the morning and sometimes at night. The primary difference between her case and the ones committed by the Parks and Rec Killer was there was a sign of a scuffle at the scene, but the killer hadn’t left behind any forensic evidence. Whoever committed this crime had likely convinced Jody to follow him off the trail, but at some point, she’d realized she was in danger and tried to escape. If only she’d been able to scratch him or pull his hair, they might’ve been able to recover some DNA, but the ME’s report showed no evidence from any defensive wounds or Jody’s clothing.
The second victim had been harder to identify because it had been several days before she was discovered, but dental records revealed her to be Marisol Garza. Marisol had just graduated from the law school at Richards University, whereas Jody was an undergrad, and she was spending her days studying for the bar exam in July. At twenty-five, she was older than Jody and the past victims, and according to her friends and family, she was only a sporadic jogger who mainly exercised when she was stressed. Based on information Claire’s team had been able to put together, they believed she’d gone to the lake several evenings before she’d been found after a particularly grueling day of studying. The primary differences between this crime scene and the others were that the body was located farther from the main trails, there were unmistakable signs of a scuffle, and the ME had found traces of DNA under Marisol’s fingernails that was not her own.
Jackpot.
Except they hadn’t been able to trace it to anyone in the system yet. Beck read further and found a note from Claire requesting one of the detectives assigned to the case open an account with one of the over-the-counter DNA services to see if they could track the specimen that way, but that could take months and still come up short.
She stared at the screen for a moment, trying to figure out if there was some clue right in front of her she wasn’t catching, and was lost in thought when she heard the rattle of the door handle across the room. She reached up to sign out of the system, but stopped and grabbed her phone, taking quick screenshots of the information on the screen before she shut it down just in time to hear the door open into the room.
“I’m headed out,” Foster called out. “Sergeant Mendoza is on her way back. You need anything?”
She needed a lot of things, but none that she could openly request. Deciding it would be a good idea for her to be gone when Mendoza got back, she asked him to wait for her.
“Got a hot date?” he asked when she joined him up front.
“Maybe.” She and Macy hadn’t spoken much this week aside from texts back and forth, but what she’d learned about Marisol’s case was worthy of an in-person visit.
“Well, have fun.” He held open the door for her. “Wish me luck. I’ve got a doctor appointment in the morning, and I think I’m finally getting cleared to get back in the field.”
“That’s great.” She was happy for him but disappointed at the idea of having to deal with Mendoza on a daily basis without him as a buffer. Maybe if she helped solve these cases, she might get reassigned. But then she remembered that her assignment here had had nothing to do with her skill and her optimism started to fade. It’s only temporary. It’s only temporary. She repeated the mantra the next few miles, and at the next stoplight she texted Macy, asking if she could come by her place. The response was so quick and enthusiastic, her optimism was instantly restored. She’d take this information to Macy’s, and they’d sort through it together.
Macy was standing on the front porch when she arrived, holding two bottles of beer and wearing a big smile. She handed one of the bottles to Beck. “I don’t know about you, but I’ve had a really shitty week so far, but seeing you walk up these steps makes it all okay.”
Beck tilted her bottle toward Macy’s. “Cheers to that.”
Macy pointed to the door. “Okay if we take this inside? As much as I love the charm of a big front porch, it’s too damn hot out here.”
“Agreed.” Beck followed her into the house. The first thing she did when she walked across the threshold was stare up at the balcony, and memories of last Saturday night flooded her mind.
She had no idea how long she’d been standing there when she felt an arm around her waist, and she looked down to see Macy standing beside her wearing a wicked grin.
“I was doing the exact same thing a few minutes before you pulled up.” Macy trailed her hand down Beck’s arm and threaded her fingers through hers. “Shall we go upstairs?”
Beck’s entire body screamed yes, but her brain said she needed to get work out of the way first or she wouldn’t be able to relax. She bent down and kissed Macy. A soft, gentle kiss she hoped conveyed the promise of more. “Yes. In a little bit. Do you mind if I show you something first? In the war room?”
Macy patted her chest. “A woman after my own heart. Like I’m ever going to say no to a little game of solving a mystery foreplay.”
“You’re hilarious.” She held up her phone. “Come on. It’s important.”
Once they were in the room, Beck walked her through everything she’d learned about the two new cases.
“So, the big difference is the killer is more disorganized,” Macy said.
“True, but that’s a clue in itself.” Beck paused for a moment to gather her thoughts. “He’s more disorganized for a reason.”
“He could be decompensating. Some serial killers start to really lose it and it affects their ability to control their behavior.”
“Or he’s not in great shape anymore.” Beck started to warm up to the idea. “If this is the Parks and Rec Killer, he’s ten years older than he was at the time of the original killings. Everything about these murders is the same as the ones from ten years ago, except the signs of a scuffle at the place where the body was found. He’s still able to lure them off the path, but when he tries to subdue them, he’s not as strong or quick or agile as he was before. He could have an injury or maybe it’s a factor of his age.”
Macy pinned notes on the wall while they talked, and when they were done hashing out all the facts she’d recorded from the new case, they both stood back to appraise her work.
“I feel like we’re closer,” Beck said.
Macy reached over and clasped her hand. “Me too.”
Her touch was simple, yet electric, and Beck’s body began to hum with anticipation. “Best foreplay ever.”
“Does that mean I can take you upstairs now?”
“Please.”
* * *
Macy turned her engine back on to get the AC blowing. She’d been waiting in the parking lot of the White Rock substation for the last hour and, despite the early hour, the heat was already stifling. Her plan had been to waylay Claire Hanlon the minute she showed up, but either Claire had snuck in a back way, or she was sleeping in this Friday morning.
Her mind flashed to the image of Beck, snuggled up next to her in bed this morning. She’d wanted to crawl under the covers and stay there with her the rest of the day, but Beck had to be at work early, so she’d decided this was the perfect opportunity to try to catch Claire Hanlon, not at a crime scene. Tomorrow though. She had big plans for spending tomorrow morning in bed with Beck.
While she waited, she signed in to Unfrozen on her phone, and while she waited for the app to load, she replayed everything she’d learned from Beck last night. If the Parks and Rec Killer was back, he wasn’t as capable as he used to be at subduing his victims. Most people would wonder why he didn’t use a weapon to compensate, but she knew that if it was the same guy, he would want to duplicate the experience of the first set of kills as much as possible, especially since these new murders were to celebrate a very special anniversary. She typed all of the information she’d learned into the thread she’d started the other day and made a note to check out Bruce Kehler’s age. If Huntsman363 was online, he’d probably have Kehler’s entire bio by the time she finished here.
When she looked up from her phone, she spotted Claire Hanlon getting out of her car a few feet away. She climbed out of her car and walked briskly toward her. “Detective Hanlon,” she called out to keep Claire from trying to pretend she didn’t see her.
“No press today. We’ll have a briefing in the morning from HQ. You can go there now if you want to get a good seat.”
Claire’s eyes were red, and she looked like she hadn’t slept in a week. Macy could imagine all the flack she was taking from the parents of the dead girls, her boss, and the mayor’s office, on top of having to run the investigation herself. She wanted to let her off easy, but she wanted information more.
“I don’t think you want me asking the questions I plan to ask in front of all the cameras tomorrow. How about you invite me in, and, in the privacy of your office, I’ll give you a preview of what I plan to write, and you can decide if you want to comment?”
Claire stared at her for a moment as if her piercing gaze was a truth ray. After what seemed like forever, she sighed. “Come on.”
Macy followed her into the building and to Claire’s office. Claire settled into the big leather chair behind her desk and motioned for Macy to sit across from her. She ignored the invitation and walked the perimeter of the room, noting the many framed photographs.
“Did you come here to sightsee or talk to me?”
Macy finished her round of her room and took her seat. “I don’t see any photos of you and Bruce Kehler. Rumor is you two were close. Wasn’t he a friend of your father’s?”
“They served together. A long time ago. Not that that’s any of your business. Come on, Moran, why are you really here?”
“I have reason to believe the killer you’re investigating now is the Parks and Rec Killer.” She let the words sit for a moment to be sure she had Claire’s attention before she dropped the next bomb. “And I think it might be a cop.”
Claire’s eyes narrowed and she slapped a hand on her desk. “That’s it? That’s the bomb you plan to drop at the press conference tomorrow?”
“It’s not a bomb if there’s no truth to it.”
“You know that’s not true. You go around spreading rumors like this and you’ll start a panic. People will start mistrusting law enforcement at the very time they need them.”
“Maybe that’s not a bad thing.”
“Remember that when you need one of us to respond to a call, but the bad guys aren’t threatened when we get there.”
“Come on, Claire,” Macy said, hoping she could appeal to her, human to human. “Look at the facts. The means and mode of death are exactly the same in each case, past and present. The crime scenes are unusually devoid of forensic evidence. Someone knew exactly what they were doing. They were able to easily lure their victims off the trail. That points to two kinds of perpetrators—ones that knew the victims and ones that the victim would trust as a matter of course. You know there’s not enough of a connection between all of the victims for it to be someone they all knew, but wouldn’t they be likely to trust a cop?”
“I suppose you even have a theory about who it might be?”
Macy was a little surprised Claire hadn’t led with an outright denial. Should she trust her gut and tell Claire who she suspected? “I’m not sure you’d believe me if I told you.”
Claire leaned back in her chair and crossed her arms. “Try me.”
“Fine.” Macy chose her next words carefully. “I said the crime scenes were devoid of forensic evidence, which is almost true. I know you got enough DNA from the last scene to match it with a suspect. And the scenes were messier. Like he had to fight to subdue the victims.”
“Which probably means the present-day killer is not the Parks and Rec Killer.”
“Or it’s the same person and he’s rusty at it. Or not as nimble as he was ten years ago. Whoever it was had no trouble getting his victims off the beaten path. Do you think Bruce Kehler still fits in his uniform?”
Claire’s face flushed a deep red. “We’re done here.”
“Come on, Claire. He ‘investigated’ the original cases,” Macy said, using air quotes to emphasize investigated. “He was uniquely positioned to commit these crimes and make sure to leave no evidence behind. Hell, he left the Parks and Rec Killer files behind as cold cases, but he didn’t even leave any indication they were connected. He was forced to retire over how he handled Frank Flynn’s case. Do you honestly think that a guy who would withhold evidence in a murder case and stand by to watch an innocent man go to prison for life wouldn’t also be capable of committing murder himself? He’s older now, so he’s not as good at it as he was before, but I think he’s still doing it.”
Claire stood. “I’ll tell you what I think. I think you’ve lost your freaking mind. I don’t know how you know what you do about these cases, but there’s a big difference between taking misguided actions to deliver what you believe to be justice and going on a brutal killing spree.” She pointed to the door. “Go.”
Macy wanted to protest, to try to continue the conversation, but she could tell by the angry look on Claire’s face, she’d reached her limit today. Outside in her car, she sat in the quiet for a few minutes, wondering why she’d let the conversation get so completely out of hand. When she’d arrived, she’d planned to float her theory in vague terms to see if Claire would bite, but instead she’d fired a shotgun in the water and killed any chance Claire would ever speak to her about these cases again.
She replayed everything she’d said. She’d believed every word, but as she reeled them back in she realized she’d overplayed her hand by giving away the fact she knew things she shouldn’t. Things Beck had told her in confidence. Things that could get Beck in deep shit. Sending the info in to Unfrozen under her anonymous handle was one thing, but she’d spouted off to one of Beck’s fellow officers. She picked up her phone and fired off a text. Any chance you can get away for lunch?
She watched the screen for a few minutes. No little bubbles indicating Beck was typing a response. Nothing. She started to send a second text and decided she would only make things worse if she looked like she was in a panic. She took a few deep breaths. Claire wasn’t going to connect what she’d told her with Beck. She doubted Beck had told anyone they were an item, and she hadn’t told anyone but Wayne. She was overthinking things. She’d see Beck again tonight as planned and everything would be fine.
She really, really needed it to be.