Page 58 of Race to Save Her

“You are kind of a killer magnet.”

“Funny.” Though maybe there was some truth to that, she thought.

The detectives worked for half an hour until McGaven interrupted Katie’s theorizing.

“Okay. I ran a standard background check on Shelby and her boyfriend, Tyler.”

Katie turned to her partner and could see that he had a lot of notes and a satisfied look on his face. “Anything that stands out?”

“In a word… no. Just the petty theft for Shelby.”

Katie let out a disappointed breath. “We need to visit Tyler’s restaurant and, more importantly, the hotel where he said he and Shelby would hang out.”

“Oooh, fancy.”

Katie frowned. “What about a meeting with the property owner from Heritage Road?”

“Still haven’t heard back. I’ll leave another message with the attorney.”

Katie approached the laminated map of the county next to the board to see if there was any type of order to the madness.

“Did you notice how the areas where the body parts were found seem to be part of a loop of sorts,” said McGaven

“Yeah. It’s odd,” she said.

“Maybe not…”

“There are still so many missing pieces.”

McGaven made another phone call to the attorney for the property on Heritage—Jake Devaroux for Martin Sills.

“I hope we don’t find more bodies,” she said softly.

“Maybe you need to add Ames’s house and fire station… and your place to the map.”

Katie was going to protest, but McGaven did have a point. They were locations of interest in this case. She did so and said, “While we’re waiting for a call back from the attorney and the evidence from this morning…”

“Road trip?”

Katie laughed. “I was thinking burritos for lunch.”

“Okay, you had me at burritos.”

“I keep thinking about the land behind the drainage ditch.” Katie scanned the crime scenes again; she felt in her gut there would be something present from the killer. Katie looked at her watch. “There’s plenty of daylight to run Cisco. We could also go to the hotel and check it out—ask around to see if we can find a guy who didn’t fit in and seemed to be watching.”

McGaven stood up. “Let’s do it.”

“Wait. Maybe I should bring Deputy Anderson with me while you keep digging here?”

“No burritos?”

Katie smiled. She loved McGaven’s humor and enthusiasm. “I’ll have food delivered. Deal?” She grabbed her stuff.

McGaven acted as if he were devastated. “Deal.” Then he added, “I like Chris. He’s a solid officer and I think he wants to become a detective.”

“I like him too. He listens and seems to really want to learn.”

“He’s learning from the best,” said McGaven with a smile.