LIAM KEPT HIS eyes on the ground as he walked in circles that got wider the further he was from the body. He was sure now this wasn’t the work of the Chloroform Killer. There were too many tiny details that didn’t add up to a controlled execution. For starters, the victim had defensive wounds on her hands and forearms. Still, someone had gone to a lot of trouble to make it look like the real deal and it would seem they knew several details that had been in the files only, never released to public knowledge.
In the past hour he’d added to his list of dislikes. The first was dead bodies. Particularly ones that looked way too much like finding his sister in the bath. He didn’t need extra help to remind him of that day when he was fifteen and found his eighteen year old sister had killed herself and flooded the bathroom with red water.
Number two was bugs. It didn’t matter what kind, not when you had to collect them as samples so some lab person could give you back a piece of paper that told you what you already knew: she’d been dead awhile.
He sighed and kept walking, eyes on the ground while Canadian geese flew overhead. Thank you, Lord. Life continued on, just like his after he found his sister. Her death rocked the foundation of his family. Liam had made his own way since then, until his father contacted him during Andrea’s ordeal and they finally got a start repairing their relationship.
Liam’s boots sank into the damp earth, the booties covering his shoes now coated with mud. At least he’d left his dress shoes in the car. Not that he’d forget after the first time when Caisey out right laughed at the dirt covering his loafers. It didn’t matter that he’d never been an outdoors type of guy. What was her problem with tennis, anyway?
After the hiker who found the girl’s body had stopped sputtering, Liam got more details. The older man had been released a couple of hours ago after two Buckshot police officers arrived, walking away saying something about his RV being unattended.
One officer held the log book at the fork in the path where the hiker got lost and the other had taken yet more pictures, assisting Liam in collecting evidence. Not that there was much to find when all that was out here was dirt and trees. Leaves and twigs. Not much could explain why a beautiful teen girl was lying discarded in the brush like something less than precious.
The sun cast long shadows between the branches. Liam flipped on his flashlight. The county’s Medical Examiner was with the body, making observations and doing all that poking and prodding stuff that turned Liam’s stomach. He kept walking, circling the area around the body until he found black material—a backpack—and crouched in the underbrush.
The marker had been placed, the photos taken and the sketch noted, and he was just about to take a look at what he’d found, when his phone rang.
“Conners.”
“It’s Burkot. The state patrol officers are on their way to you. Should be there in a few hours.”
Liam squeezed the back of his neck. “I thought I’d be here for weeks working this case.”
Burkot chuckled. “It’s who you know.”
“The Governor?”
“That and the Lieutenant Colonel of that region of State Patrol plays golf with my brother. You’re welcome, by the way.”
Liam blew out a breath. “Just so long as someone comes to take over this investigation from me, because there’s no way the sheriff can oversee this when it’s his niece.” He wasn’t going to add that the deputies were also suspect since they worked for the sheriff. Not when they were within earshot.
“You’re sure it’s the sheriff’s niece, then?”
Liam scratched the back of his neck. “The officers made a visual identification of the body as Emma Allens.”
“Cause of death?”
“Multiple wounds on her chest consistent with a blade, defensive wounds on her wrists and arms and she looks like she’s been beaten. We’re working this as a murder until the ME confirms it.” Liam rubbed a hand down his face. “Any update on the Chloroform Killer?”
“The team has been re-tasked to other leads. Your job is this dead girl until the troopers take over, and then you and Special Agent Lyons need to get on home.”
Liam squeezed his hand into a fist. “If I can find her.”
“What was that?”
“Nothing, sir. I’ll keep you posted.” He’d tell Burkot when there was something to tell. They didn’t need a manhunt for Caisey if nothing was wrong.
Liam hung up and dialed Caisey again. No answer. Again.
He didn’t want to believe anything bad had happened, not so soon after she’d been abducted, and especially not when her coming here should have been uneventful. The idea that the Chloroform Killer could have got his hands on her again made him want to rage, but that wouldn’t help. Not to mention he’d probably step on something important.
Liam called the Buckshot police department and Big Al answered. Liam looked at the smoky colored sky and shook his head. “You’re still there? I thought you’d be long gone by now.”
“I would be, but all these people showed up. All hopping about Emma’s body having been found, aren’t they? Wanting to come up and see for themselves. But I’m keeping them here working on stuff like you said.”
“I appreciate that. Listen, have you heard from my partner? I can’t get through to her cell phone from here and it’s been hours.”
“You know—” Big Al paused. “Now that you mention it, I haven’t seen her. She never came back after she took Gabe Thompson to his cabin. I wonder what happened.”
Liam wasn’t getting a good feeling about this at all. God, where is she? “And the Sheriff?
Have you seen him?”
“Not since he was here with Agent Lyons earlier.”
“Right.” Liam wanted to kick the nearest tree. He couldn’t leave the scene until the body had been removed and all the evidence was collected. Caisey had better not be in trouble or he was going to get seriously ticked off. “If either of them show up…call me.”
“Will do, boss.”
“Don’t call me boss.” Liam hung up and pulled the backpack from the undergrowth. The ME had Emma Allens in a body bag and the sound of that heavy zipper being pulled up was like a gavel, or a gong that marked the period at the end of a person’s life. Here in the forest, the noise was deafening.
Liam straightened and called across the clearing. “Can I get an evidence bag big enough for this?”
Officer Samantha Kurter, the former marine, looked where his flashlight pointed and saw what he’d seen. “Yes, sir.”
“Don’t call me sir.” Liam rolled his shoulders, trying to stretch out the tension of being on his feet and staring at the ground for hours. He needed to call Andrea back. At this rate, by the time he returned the call she’d be busy again. He glanced at his watch. Or sleeping.
Officer Kurter picked her way to him with a brown bag and a thermos. She was big boned, but wore it in a way that made her look strong and not just solid. She was not someone you picked a fight with. Or hit on. You were probably liable to get punched in both cases.
After the backpack was sealed in the bag, she held out the thermos. “Why don’t you take this to the trail? It’s cream of chicken soup.”
“Thanks. I was expecting coffee, but this is great.”
Officer Kurter shrugged. “It’s an old habit, since caffeine doesn’t do me any favors.”
“You don’t happen to have a grilled cheese sandwich to go with it?”
“You wish.”
“Yes, I do.” Liam said grace over a cup of soup on a mountainside in backwoods Colorado. It wasn’t steak and a cloth napkin, but that was the job.
He went by Gabe’s cabin on the way back to the sheriff’s office, but the place was dark. The door was open and everything had been tossed. What on earth had happened there? Caisey was MIA and a shotgun blast had hit more than one spot in Gabe’s house. He called Big Al and had an officer dispatched to the scene. He needed to find his partner and Gabe.
It was after ten when he pulled up outside the sheriff’s office. His limbs felt like mush, but he dragged his butt inside. Big Al took one look at him and poured him a cup of coffee. Liam took a sip. It was hot enough to burn his tongue and strong enough he’d be wide awake in thirty seconds. “Agent Lyons hasn’t been here?”
Big Al folded his massive arms across his chest, stretching his faded Harley t-shirt. “Nope.”
“Spread the word to all the officers you have working. I want a call the minute anyone sees either Agent Lyons or Gabe Thompson.”
“You think something happened?”
Liam set the mug on the nearest desk, aware he was the center of attention. “I also want a location on Agent Lyons’ cell phone. Find Thompson’s cell number too, because I want the same on that.”
“You think something happened.”
Liam didn’t miss a beat. “I also want to know where Sheriff Allens is.”
The last time Liam saw the man he’d been leaving his house with a shotgun and now Caisey was missing? Liam didn’t like this at all. What had the sheriff done?
“But—” A male officer stepped forward.
Liam lifted his hand. “Regardless of his standing in this town, until further notice Frank Allens is a suspect in the murder of his niece and I want him brought in.”
The phone rang and Big Al crossed to the front desk to answer it. Liam sucked down the rest of his coffee and glanced at the door. Caisey had been gone for hours.
He didn’t like this. He didn’t like it at all.
“I’ve got them.”
Liam looked up. Big Al was grinning. “Steve, the tow truck driver from the garage, was on his way back from dropping someone home who got too sloshed at Pete’s bar. Says he was flagged down two miles outside of town by Thompson and Agent Lyons. They’re soaking wet, but he’s bringing them in right now.”
**
Caisey was in the big chair behind Sheriff Allens’ desk, eating one of the cheeseburgers someone had picked up from Pete’s bar for everyone. The bread was a little stale, but the thickness of the patty and the amount of cheese made up for it.
“Hungry much?”
“You should be thankful Pete’s kitchen was still open or I’d be gnawing on your hand.”
Liam sighed. “Thanks, I’m done with my burger now.”
“Hand it over then.” Not that she would eat it, or that he would give it up, but she wasn’t going to let an opportunity for extended banter pass by unacknowledged. Batting retorts back and forth with Liam chased away the shadows. Caisey ignored the look on her partner’s face and took another bite. For the first time that day she actually felt warm, even if Officer Kurter’s workout clothes were for someone nearly a foot taller than Caisey.
“Are you ready?”
Caisey nodded.
“Here—” Liam set Caisey’s over-the-counter pain meds on the sheriff’s desk between them. “Since you have something in your stomach now, and I know you won’t take the hard stuff.”
“Thanks.”
“How bad is your leg hurting?”
Caisey leaned back in the chair and closed her eyes. She wasn’t going to tell him her head hurt now, too. “Worse than a black eye, not as bad as being stabbed in the first place.”
“Sure about that? A quick trip to the medical center probably isn’t a bad idea.”
“I’ll see how the night goes.”
Liam tugged the desk phone around. He hit speakerphone and dialed the number so fast Caisey’s ears blurred the beeps together into a muddle.
“Burkot.”
“Yes, sir. I’m here with Special Agent Lyons.”
“Go ahead.”
Caisey took a deep breath. “I accompanied Gabe Thompson back to his residence, my father’s cabin. There I conversed with a friend of his via Skype. The friend—Mitch something, I’ll have to check on that—confirmed he had spoken with Gabe at the time Emma Allens disappeared. And I checked the call log on his Skype. Four-fifteen to four fifty- five.”
Liam shifted in his chair. “The Medical Examiner put the time of death as between four p.m. and six p.m. which doesn’t completely absolve Mr. Thompson. It’s still possible that Gabe caught up with Emma, killed her and disposed of her body in the woods. There are officers processing the mess at the cabin as we speak.”
He nodded to Caisey and she told them about the sheriff’s arrival and his pursuit of her and Gabe. When she described how she’d used deadly force, her voice broke. Then she told them about falling over the edge of the ravine, regaining consciousness on the bank of the river, and how she and Gabe walked six miles to find a road. Liam’s face paled. Burkot must have heard the regret in her voice, because he started going on about every law enforcement agent who’d faced aggressive force from a dirty cop, and how she needed to take comfort in the fact it was justified.
Caisey stared at her fingers, clenched together on the desk. Gabe had been carrying her when she came around. She could still feel the rhythm of his steps, just as wet and cold as she had been and he’d still done it. After she freaked out, he’d touched her. So gently she could still see the look of kindness in his eyes. Like she was someone he cared for. Then he’d held her hand while she clung to his warmth until it filled her and she didn’t shiver quite so much. He’d never complained, just led her out at the pace she set, content to let her be quiet instead of pestering her with questions about how she was doing.
The young man she’d gone out with all those years ago had grown into a dream of what could have been. The man she was coming to know now was strong and confident. He didn’t push, but allowed her to be who she was. It was too bad she would eventually go back to Denver and he’d get on with his life here. She wouldn’t have a reason to visit her dad’s cabin.