Page 5 of Race to Save Her

“Go home,” the sheriff said. “Take a work vehicle.”

Katie hesitated. “I suppose there’s nothing more I can do here.” She wasn’t happy about leaving her Jeep, but she wanted her colleagues to have everything they needed to conduct the investigation and get an ID as soon as possible. She quickly hugged her uncle. “Goodnight.”

“Oh, I checked in on Cisco earlier,” he said.

“Thank you. I bet he loved that.”

She smiled and walked to one of the detectives’ sedans. She knew how much her uncle loved Cisco.

As she left the parking lot she glanced in the rearview mirror, and could see the bright lights of the crime scene slowly disappear. She wondered what tomorrow was going to bring.

FOUR

Friday 2355 hours

As Katie drove home, she thought constantly about the severed finger and who might have wanted her to be the first to know about it. Was it someone she had investigated? Someone who’d recently got out of jail? Or someone else who had an ax to grind? Either way, there wasn’t anything she could do right now. It would have to wait for the test results to come back on who the finger belonged to.

Katie reminded herself of all the possible reasons people might leave body parts or dismember bodies: covering up a crime, sending a message, organized crime, playing cat and mouse with cops, souvenirs, fantasies, the list was endless. Any body part left by someone would indicate that a crime had taken place and it could lead to murder.

She pulled into her driveway and cut the engine. Her yellow farmhouse with white trim and a front porch was always a welcome sight. She loved living there, but it was sometimes bittersweet because it was where she grew up, and her parents were no longer living. She took a couple of breaths and realized she was exhausted. She had been able to get a fair amount of work done without all the usual interruptions, but she missed her work partner and, mostly, she missed John. A small smile washed across her face; she’d never thought they would be together despite the spark she so often felt when they worked closely on cases.

Katie got out of her Jeep and walked to the front door. She instantly heard happy high-pitched barking from inside. She unlocked the door and pushed it open as a flash of black fur and paws rushed her.

“Oh, Cisco, you know I missed you,” she said. They had been an army explosives K9 unit, and she’d been able to bring him home with her after her tour. She would be lost without him still.

The large dog spun around and rushed her again. They played for a few moments after Katie put down her jacket and briefcase. Standing in the middle of her living room, she noticed how different it felt when she was alone. Glancing at her watch, she was surprised John hadn’t called yet.

She quickly changed her clothes and heated up some leftovers. After her dishes were cleared and washed, she sat on the sofa, and her phone rang. It was John.

“Hey,” she said softly.

“I’ve been thinking about you all day.”

“Have you?” she said coyly.

“I can tell you miss me…”

“Of course, I miss you.” She paused a moment. “Did Eva call you?”

“I saw a couple of voicemails from her, but I wanted to call you first… Is everything okay?”

“Yes.”

But he could read her moods by the tone of her voice even when she tried to hide it. “Tell me.”

Katie took a breath. She didn’t want him to worry, but they had been through so much together; nothing really surprised either one of them anymore.

“There was an incident, but the department and forensics are handling it.”

“Meaning what?” He sounded stressed.

“When I left this evening and went out to my car… Someone had put a small box on my seat with a severed finger in it.”

“What? Katie? That sounds like a threat,” he said.

“Not necessarily,” she said, trying to not make it sound like a big deal.

“A severed finger left in your car?”