Page 15 of Dark Angel
Shaking his head, Styles stared at Nate. “We found a shoe that the search party missed and a ribbon. Seems to me no one has the resources in these small towns to find a missing dog let alone a kid.” He looked at Beth. “Let’s go. I’m not giving up on finding her alive just yet.”
It was late in the afternoon when they arrived back at Rattlesnake Creek and after dropping by the office to check on Bear, it didn’t take too much convincing for Styles to persuade Beth to join him for supper at Tommy Joe’s Bar and Grill. They hadn’t eaten anything since breakfast and the coffee in the Thermos was only just warm by the time they got back to the chopper. He sure needed a strong cup of coffee. They took a booth toward the back of the room and Styles moved the salt cellar around the table trying to wrap his mind around the case. “It seems obvious to me that this Pied Piper guy has a place close by where he’s keeping the second kid. Even in this weather, a body soon stinks. If he was in town, someone would have reported him by now. This makes me believe he has a cabin somewhere in the forest or alongside the creek.”
“Yeah, it would be isolated, but with a decent road in and out for fast access.” Beth refilled her coffee cup from a pot on the table and added the fixings, stirring slowly. “If Wolfe is correct and he is moving from one place to another for work, we’re probably looking at a miner. When we get back to the office, I’ll plot all the other murders on a map and we can see at a glance if they all occur within the vicinity of mining towns.”
Sipping his coffee, Styles nodded. “Which also means that this is his first in this area, and looking at his previous episodes, we can expect another murder soon. The problem is we are surrounded by mining towns and we don’t have resources to watch every kid in the neighborhood.”
“Maybe not, but we do have access to the media and we can use them to our advantage.” Beth leaned back in her seat as TJ arrived with the food. She looked up and smiled at him. “Thanks, the steak here is spectacular.”
“Yeah, I think the food is pretty good too.” TJ grinned. “I convinced our chef, Wez Michaels, to move here when I was taking a vacation in Texas. There is one thing a Texan knows about and that’s steak. He cooks a mean barbecue too. His ribs are about the best around these parts. You should try them sometime. The fish is always good. Everything comes fresh from the creek daily.”
“I’ll look forward to it.” Beth looked at her plate and sighed. “My compliments to Wez Michaels.” She picked up the silverware and sliced into the steak. “Mmm, I’ve been looking forward to this.”
Downing his coffee to wash the smell and taste of death from his head, Styles found her reactions to walking from a gruesome and heart-twisting crime scene unusual, but then he’d known people to put on a brave face in front of colleagues and fall apart later. Yet her enthusiasm for food surprised him. He’d lost his appetite the moment he’d walked into the clearing.
FIFTEEN
THURSDAY
When he’d arrived in the Montana Rockies, the Warlock believed he’d have trouble finding the right girls. The small towns didn’t have the large family communities he’d seen throughout the West. This made it difficult for him to find the places young kids played after school, on weekends, or during their vacations. It also meant working around his job to be there at the right time. He’d been lucky in Rainbow. The small mining town was owned by a company that preferred to employ married men with families, and housing went with the job. It was an expanding community, with a high school and a number of churches. The college in Rattlesnake Creek covered the needs of the older children, with a school bus service supplied between towns. He’d discovered during his time in Rainbow that most of the children preferred to play in small areas of the forest and along the narrow riverbed running through a woodland area. Like Rattlesnake Creek, Rainbow had a number of rivers fed from mountain ranges, so it wasn’t unusual for visitors to be seen hiking or fishing in the area.
He exploited this fact to the max, using his disguise as a fisherman to follow kids through the forest. It was very rare to see a young girl alone in the forest as the area was deemed unsafe by parents, but they often allowed them to go in two or threes to play in the nearby parks on the edge. If he found a girl he wanted, he would make himself visible to her in short bursts. Wearing long flowing purple robes adorned with yellow stars and the pointed warlock’s hat usually caught their interest. Kids were so gullible, even in this time of the internet and TV news stories about kids being kidnapped and murdered. They all looked at him as if he was something special. Swearing them to secrecy was easy, and if one of them ran screaming to their mommy, he’d pack up his things and be on his way before anyone discovered who he was and where he’d come from. In truth, he didn’t come from anywhere. He moved about so often there was no such thing as home base. He figured the last place he’d lived was the place he called home—if anybody asked him.
He’d become an expert in abducting children and had three sets of young girls vying for his attention, but then he excelled at everything he put his mind too. Excited, he moved along a small path in the forest that led to a clearing. The sound of young voices drifted on the breeze as two girls, maybe seven or eight years old, sat around a stump of wood, playing with their dolls. The dolls were both fairies, which made life for him much easier. He loved the country kids. They still played with dolls and had a special innocence about them. The city ones were contaminated by progress and were street smart by six. He went back down the narrow trail, inhaling the scent of the forest. Winter would be here soon, and kids didn’t play in the forest when it was snowing. He rested his backpack on a tree stump and pulled out his costume. A long white wig and Santa Claus beard covered his face. He pulled on the costume and shoved on the hat. He filled his pockets with candy and, holding a leather-bound faux ancient book of spells in one hand, walked slowly toward the girls, chanting softly under his breath.
Their first reaction was usually a startled stare, and his reaction mirrored their own. He’d turn, looking behind him and then both ways as if confused. Most times the girls would laugh, as if finding their reaction to seeing him funny. He would close his book and tuck it under one arm, and then give them a low bow. “It seems that you have me at a disadvantage, my ladies. Did you summon me here?”
There were usually more giggles, and then they would speak to each other in hushed tones. He would ask them their names and what they desired. Most times they asked for candy, which he had in his pockets. He would spend a short time with them, asking them about their day and how many times they came into the forest and had they met any fairies before. After extracting all the information he required, he’d tell them that the fairy queen was waiting for him just over yonder. He swore them to secrecy, saying he was in fear of being banished from the magical world forever if one word got out of them seeing him. As a reward for their loyalty, he promised to visit again when they called, and then he’d walk away, searching for a place to hide the second girl. Nothing ever happened the first time they met.
He’d usually head back to work, consumed by the fantasy of meeting the girls again. He couldn’t wait but prided himself for being in control, it was one of his assets. Often, he would go back and meet the girls two or three times to gain their trust. They were all the same, the blonde would sit on his lap if he gave her everything in his pocket. Most times the other girl would stand back but not always. As time went by the fantasy became unbearable and he’d meet the girls for the last time. He hoisted the backpack onto his shoulders, picked up his fishing rod, and slipped into the trees. His stomach flip-flopped with excitement as he heard girlish giggles coming from their secret meeting place. The last time was now.
SIXTEEN
After spending the entire morning searching through databases and eating egg salad sandwiches at her desk for lunch, Beth had spent most of the afternoon hunting down local sex offenders in the area and men working in the mines who had been recently released from jail. She ran both hands through her hair in frustration. It seemed that the mines were a perfect place for parolees. A vast number of local miners were people from all over, with many of them recently released from jail for a variety of offenses. Maybe they were prepared to work in the rugged conditions. It couldn’t be worse than jail. Although after scanning the employment pages online, she saw that qualified people were in high demand. She stood and went to the whiteboard to add the most probable suspects and then turned to Styles. “I have a list of potential suspects. After going through the databases to discover anyone who had recently been released from jail and the usual suspects, including stalkers, pedophiles, and other sex offenders, I’ve narrowed it down to these four guys. Roderick Soto, Howell Marshman, Christopher Wheatly, and Francis Baldwin. Two of them work at a gold-mining outfit at the bottom of Longhorn Peak. The other two are out at a place called Lost Gem Valley, and wouldn’t you know, they’re mining for gemstones.”
“I’ve been hunting down other types of employment, where people move around our local area.” Styles rubbed the scar on his chin and looked up at her with a weary expression. “Lawrence Dawson is a courier driver who moves between three of the towns in our area. He doesn’t have any priors, but he seems to work his own hours. When someone needs a courier or something delivered urgently, like fresh food or documents, they call him. He arrived in town three months ago and apparently does this for a living all over. I guess he just likes to move around and is someone we should interview.”
Beth put her hands on her hips and stared at him. “Is that all you’ve come up with? One guy?”
“Nope, I have another two potential suspects.” Styles grinned at her. “My, you are feisty today and what have you done with my dog? He’s had his head on your lap the best part of the day. You planning on stealing him away from me or something?” He cleared his throat at her glare. “Not many people move around constantly between the towns. If people want anything from the outside, they usually use the railroad and go pick it up themselves. We don’t have that many freight drivers coming up the mountain, so I couldn’t include the few who actually made it here and back without either breaking down or driving over the side of the mountain.”
Exasperated, Beth shook her head. “So, what’s the names of the potential suspects you’ve come up with who actually move around the towns?”
“Ainsley Rice and Emerson Green.” Styles leaned back in his chair, making it creak alarmingly, and placed his snakeskin boots on the desk and crossed them at the ankles. “I don’t have any reason to place them on our potential suspects list, other than they arrived in town recently and they move around all over the state. They both live in Rattlesnake Creek and currently work at the hospital as male travel nurses.” He held up one finger. “But they can be called out to any of the towns if asked at any time or during an emergency by the local doctors. So, they both move around inconspicuously and in plain sight, just the same as the other guy I mentioned.”
Rubbing her temples, Beth wrote the names on the whiteboard and stood back and looked at them. “Okay, who do we go and see first?”
“It’s brewing up a storm out there.” Styles indicated to the window with his thumb. “I’ve been watching it rolling in over the mountains for the last half an hour. I’m not taking the chopper up in an electrical storm, and it will take us time to hunt down a suitable place to land close to the mines. That’s if there is a safe place to land. I’m thinking we’ll probably have to drive there.” He dropped his boots, picked up his hat from the desk, and stood. “It looks like we go see the nurses.”
Beth gathered her things. “Okay, and by the way, I’ve no intention of stealing Bear’s affection from you. He likes me, is all, and when you’re not looking I bribe him with doggy treats.” She grinned at him.
The telephone on Styles’ desk rang. He rolled his eyes at her and reached for it. Beth waited as he listened to a one-sided conversation from Wolfe. She expected him to put the phone on speaker, but he ignored her frantic waves.
“Yeah, thanks for letting us know.” Styles glanced at her and then looked away. “The morning will be fine. We’re heading out to interview a few potential suspects. No, we haven’t found anything positive yet. Okay, bye.”
Beth leaned on the desk and stared at him waiting for him to explain. “I wish you’d put the phone on speaker so we could have both spoken to Wolfe.”
“It wasn’t necessary.” He shrugged into his coat. “Wolfe just called to tell us that the victim has been identified as Brooklyn Daniels. He’s sending the autopsy report over first thing in the morning, although it’s a preliminary report as he’s taking all the swabs he collected back to Black Rock Falls for identification. He has everything he needs there to run DNA and trace-evidence testing. He said it wouldn’t take long as he has the best equipment available in his lab.” He gave her a long look. “You might think I take a long time to work a case, but this way I don’t make mistakes. One thing for darn sure, we’ll work together much better if you take it down a notch or two.”
