Charlotte approached the two girls who sat huddled together on the couch. Selina had covered them with a warm blanket and calmed them down so they could speak rather than just stutter words. Their names were Tia and Leticia, and they told Charlotte and Selina they were best friends.
She handed each girl a mug of hot cocoa and sat across from them on a chair. She’d seen a lot of horrible things on the street, and she remembered her reaction to the first dead body in a dark alley on the streets of Phoenix. Nothing prepared a person for that, and nothing could wipe the image away.
“Your parents are on their way to be with you until the police arrive,” Selina said, hanging up her phone. “They’re about ten minutes away.”
“Okay, thank you,” Leticia said before scooting closer to her friend. “What are the police going to ask us?”
“Basic questions,” Selina assured them. “Your name and address, how long you’ve been friends with Eleanor Dorian, if you’ve ever been here before and what you were doing by the water tonight. It will be simple questions that you can answer easily. They know you didn’t have anything to do with the woman’s death. They just want to know if you remember anything that might be helpful to their investigation.”
“Can we stay together?” Tia asked.
“That I don’t know,” Selina admitted. “It will be up to the police and how they decide to question you. You don’t have anything to hide, so don’t worry about it.”
The girls glanced at each other again, and Charlotte noticed the fear that hid in their eyes. “What were you doing down by the water tonight?”
Another shared glance confirmed for Charlotte that they were hiding something they didn’t want to come out.
“Girls, if you were drinking or smoking down there, the police will find out, so you may as well be honest,” Selina said without judgment.
Tia shook her head and held her hands out to them. “No, no, we weren’t. We’ll do a test to prove it. We weren’t doing that.”
“Then you have nothing to worry about,” Selina said again.
“Are you in a relationship together?” Charlotte asked, the truth evident.
“You can’t tell our parents,” Tia hissed, tears springing to her eyes. “Please.”
Her protective arm around Leticia suddenly made more sense, especially when she pulled her closer. “We just wanted to dance together,” Leticia whispered, “so we went down the hill where no one would see us. We aren’t out because of my parents.”
Selina knelt in front of them and rested her hands on their knees. “We aren’t going to tell your parents. Let’s take a minute to agree on what you’ll tell the police if you’re separated. You’ll want your answers to match.”
“You mean you’ll help us hide the truth? Won’t you get in trouble?” Tia’s gaze flicked between the two women, and Charlotte took her other hand instinctively.
“There’s nothing wrong with saying you went down the hill to escape the noise or see the river at night. Technically, that’s what you did, right?” Charlotte asked, and they nodded.
“We danced and then walked out on the fancy lookout dock just as the moon came out from behind the clouds. The moonbeam on the water was magical and something you don’t see living in the city, you know?” Tia asked, and both she and Selina nodded.
“Were there any boats on the water tonight?” Selina asked. It didn’t surprise Charlotte that Selina would dig for more information when the opportunity presented itself. When she walked in the door earlier, Selina was already on the phone with Cal.
“No,” Leticia said without hesitation. “All I heard was the rain falling on the water. I turned to kiss Tia, and that’s when I saw the flash of red over her shoulder. When we focused on it, we realized it was a dress, and someone was still in it. She was floating down the river as though it were a sunny summer afternoon.” They both shuddered again, and new tears sprang to Leticia’s eyes.
“Okay,” Selina said quickly, squeezing their knees. “Just tell the police that you were turning to go when you noticed the red dress.” They both nodded robotically, and Selina glanced at Charlotte for a moment. “Did you see anyone else on the bank of the river? Anyone walking or running through the trees?”
“No, we didn’t see anything, but it was so dark it would have been hard. We wouldn’t have heard footsteps with the music playing for the dance.”
Selina patted their knees and then stood. “I just ran you through the questions the police will ask. Do you think you can handle it now?”
Both girls nodded, and smiles lifted their lips. “Yes, thank you,” Tia whispered. “Thank you for understanding why we don’t want to tell the police why we were down there.”
“We understand you’re in love, and that’s a wonderful feeling,” Charlotte said, leaning forward to talk to the girls. “Don’t let what happened tonight steal that joy from you. Finish high school and then go to college where you can be together without worry. Life is hard, but love makes it worth it. Okay?” They nodded again, and Charlotte stood. “Want a refill?” She pointed at their empty mugs of cocoa and smiled as they handed them to her.
Charlotte disappeared into the kitchen to refill their mugs as her words flooded her head. Being in love is a wonderful feeling. She’d never been in love but hoped one day she’d find someone who understood her scars and loved her anyway. She ladled the sweet milk into the mugs and sighed. That was a tall order for anyone. Her mind’s eye flicked to Mack tonight and the way he tried to protect her from the ugliness of life. She immediately shook it away. She wasn’t here to fall in love with Mack Holbock. She was here to feed him and, if she had her way, heal him, so he could go out and find someone worthy of his love.
THE BRANCHES TUGGED at her skin, leaving red welts across her bare arms as she barreled through the dark, cold night. She’d bested her Little Daddy and escaped the prison she’d been in for over eighteen months. She’d found an old pair of shoes by the door and a jacket, but with no phone and no money, she wasn’t sure how she would find help. She was surprised how remote the house was when she tore out of the basement like the hounds of hell were on her heels.
She was tired but knew she had to keep going. How far was far enough? She didn’t know. She’d been following the river, so she had to run into a town eventually, right? She had to find a car and get far, far away from wherever her current hell was.
Streetlights glowed in the distance, and she slowed to a walk. She had two choices: run past the town while it was still dark and keep going or stop and see what the town had to offer. Her first problem was a lack of money or identification. Her second problem was figuring out if The Miss was still in business without landing on someone’s radar who would call the cops. She glanced down at herself and sighed. Her cami and boy shorts would land her on someone’s radar, and she couldn’t risk the cops finding her or alerting The Miss.
Think, she told herself. You’re in a forest with trees and a river. That means you aren’t in the desert anymore. The thought lifted her head, and she saw the town with fresh eyes. She was a long way away from Arizona. If The Miss was still doing business, she’d need long tentacles to know she’d escaped.
The idea spurred her forward into the shadows. First things first—clothes and then transportation. Ahead was a service station. No lights were on, which meant it was closed or shut down. A glance up and down the dark asphalt showed no cars, and she skittered across the road before sliding behind the brick building. She said a silent prayer as she dug in her coat pocket for the flashlight she’d found earlier. She’d been too afraid to use it before, but the risk was worth it now. Keeping it low to the ground, she searched the area behind the garage. A hulking metal body sat as a sentry next to the building. Focusing the weak beam of light on the license plate told her the first thing she needed to know.
Pennsylvania.
A long way from home, Toto, she thought. She didn’t know the town’s name, but it didn’t matter. She wouldn’t be there long. Sliding along the side of the truck, she noticed there was no logo on the side. That meant if she could get it started, it could be her salvation. A glance in the back of the rusty truck bed revealed old coveralls that she balled up under her arm for later. Hot-wiring a truck this old would be a piece of cake as long as the door was unlocked. She needed to get in fast if it was, especially if the dome light came on. With a steady breath, she pulled up on the truck’s handle and prayed she’d caught her first big break.
IT HAD BEEN hours since Mack had pulled Layla onto shore, but the property was still buzzing with activity. The police were interviewing kids as their parents looked on in horror, and the ERT team was on the scene looking for any evidence they could pull in and analyze. It didn’t take a genius to realize there wouldn’t be much left on the body after being in the Mississippi. The medical examiner gave them a time of death between seventy-two and ninety-six hours ago. Whether it was three days or four didn’t matter. Trace evidence would have been washed away in the Mississippi within minutes. That was the way The Red River Slayer wanted it.
Mack suspected they wouldn’t find any labels in her dress, which would match the MO of the other women they’d found. Even if they could track down the dress, it would likely be from a big box store and sold in every state. The Red River Slayer had repeatedly proven that he wasn’t stupid or careless. Mack hoped killing Layla was the perp’s first mistake.
When working with the feds—correction, when the feds are running a case—you had to be careful that you don’t tamper with evidence. Mack knew that, but before they arrived, he’d felt it was essential to check for vitals, which was why with a gloved hand, he had palpated her neck. He couldn’t help that while he was doing that, he noticed petechiae in her eyes and her swollen tongue. While there were no ligature marks on her neck, that didn’t rule out strangulation. It was surprisingly easy to strangle someone to death without leaving a mark. Mack would know. The feds were selling the cause of death as drowning, but no one at Secure One was buying. The person killing these women wanted to be hands-on, even if it meant holding them under the water while they struggled. That said, neither Mack nor Cal believed that to be the case.
It was more likely the killer felt these women needed to be beautiful even after their death, which was why they were placed in the river wearing red gowns. The Red River Slayer was helping these women find a better afterlife, whether from their past lives or what they had to do while they were with him.
For the first time, Secure One may have finally got some solid information about the guy. Since Charlotte knew Layla disappeared around eighteen months ago, and the ME put her time of death around three days ago, the math told him the perp kept the women for a long time. To do that, he had to have a home or building to house them without raising suspicions. It was a huge risk to hold someone hostage that long, which meant wherever he was keeping them had to be isolated with no neighbors or regular deliveries. Then again, maybe he kept them bound and gagged when he wasn’t home. The idea of it sent a shiver down Mack’s spine.
He was itching to return to Secure One headquarters so they could plot all their information on Layla against the other victims of The Red River Slayer. They may not be actively involved in solving this case, but that was the very basis of the Secure One team in the army. They were a ghost team that went in and got the job done. It was starting to look like they would have to do the same this time if they were going to stop this guy.
“Who’s in charge here?” The man’s brusque tone put Mack on guard immediately. He stepped up next to Cal as the man, nearly fifty yards away, was yelling. “I demand to know what is going on here!”
“Ah, yes, we knew it was only a matter of time before Senator Dorian arrived,” Cal said out of the corner of his mouth. “Should we pass him off to the cops or try to pacify him first?”
“Let’s take him back to mobile command. We can keep him occupied by walking him through the entire party while the feds do their thing here. I’m sure the feds will want to talk to him, but since he wasn’t here to celebrate his daughter’s birthday, I might add, there isn’t much information he can give them.”
“Agreed,” Cal said before stepping toward the man to head him off. Mack followed, breaking right of Cal so they could turn Dorian toward mobile command. “Senator Dorian.”
“Cal Newfellow! What is this I hear about a dead woman on my property?”
The senator was shouting now, which was unnecessary with their proximity, so Cal took his shoulder and kept him walking toward the motor home. “Sir, let’s go to our command center, and we can show you what occurred this evening. Everything was recorded.”
“I want to see this woman!”
“Not possible,” Mack said as he quickly texted Selina with one word, incoming, before he finished answering. “The ME has already removed the body. We should talk inside.”
They’d managed to herd the senator and his protection detail to the command center quickly and efficiently without drawing too much attention to him. The door opened, and Selina stepped out, holding the door for their entourage to enter. Dorian motioned for his team to stay outside, so Selina closed the door behind them.
“Where’s Charlotte?” Mack asked her under his breath. The last thing he wanted was for her to overhear them.
“She’s overseeing the kids waiting for a ride at the house. I didn’t want her here just in case.”
Mack nodded, glad Selina had anticipated this situation and acted accordingly. Senator Dorian was difficult on a good day. Tonight, he was going to be impossible.
“What is going on?” Dorian asked, raising his voice again.
“Settle down, Senator,” Cal said, motioning with his hands. There were few people Dorian let order him around, but Cal was one of them.
“You’d better start talking, Newfellow. I pay you to keep my name out of the news, not plaster me across the front page!”
“Senator, we cannot control where a body floats to shore,” Cal reminded him. “All we can do is control what happens if that situation arises, which is what we’ve done.”
“It was him, wasn’t it? The Red River Slayer?”
A shiver went through Mack when he said the name. He didn’t know who the guy was, but he was ruthless, and too many women were paying the price.
“We don’t know that, Senator. People drown in the Mississippi all the time. We can’t jump to conclusions,” Cal reminded him.
“Nice try, Newfellow. Do you have any idea how bad this is going to look for my reelection campaign? I can’t host a party here now!”
“Why not?” Mack asked with his arms across his chest and feet spread. He wanted the senator to know they wouldn’t back down to his demands.
“Why not? Do you think anyone will want to come here for a party when there’s a killer on the loose?”
Dorian’s voice was way too loud for the small space, and Mack took another step toward him. “If the woman was murdered, it didn’t happen here. The ME put her time of death closer to three to four days ago. While it was unfortunate that she washed up on your shoreline, no one is at risk of being killed here. For any future campaign parties you may host, we’ll be here with more staff to protect the property from the road, the woods and the shoreline as we always do. There’s nothing to worry about, Senator.”
The tension in the room was taut, and Mack steeled himself for the tongue-lashing from the man, but it never came. His shoulders slumped, and he wiped his hand across his forehead before he planted it on his hip. “I’m sorry. I was terrified something had happened to Eleanor, and then to find out another young woman had died riled me up. They have to stop this guy.”
“We’re all in agreement about that,” Cal assured him, directing him to a chair in front of the computer monitors. “Let’s go over the footage from tonight. Maybe you’ll spot something we overlooked.”
Cal started the camera replay and lifted a brow at Mack from behind the senator. Mack bit back his chuckle. They didn’t miss anything, and he was confident they’d played the entire night by the book. None of that mattered unless the senator believed it as well. The last thing Secure One needed was Dorian bad-mouthing them all over the country. Cal would do anything to make sure that didn’t happen.