Page 2 of Dark Angel
As she returned to the body, a waft of blood and excrement slammed her in the face. She coughed. “I’ll never get used to that stink.”
The dead man’s eyes had fixed into a blank stare and his mouth hung open. Under his chin, a wide red smile stretched from ear to ear. She looked at Mac. “I tried to put pressure on the wound, but he didn’t stand a chance. I couldn’t see how bad it was. I figure he bled out before I arrived on scene.” She glanced at Missy. “We need to get her out of here.”
“Not until I’ve spoken to her.” Mac pulled up the dead man’s T-shirt to cover his death stare and went to the girl and crouched down in front of her. “It’s Missy, isn’t it? You’re safe now. Agent Katz will sit with you.”
He beckoned Beth to follow him some ways away and lowered his voice. “I’ll call forensics and the paramedics. Tread carefully, she doesn’t look so good.” He indicated with his chin to the man on the ground. “You were right about Jared Small. We interviewed him for the Cindy Walker case. It must be six months ago. Remember?”
How could I forget?Beth nodded. “Yeah, I had a hunch it was him all along. I wonder if he has any bodies stashed around here?”
“We’ll leave that to the forensic team.” Mac removed his gloves and tossed them near the body. “Go talk to the kid.”
Beth removed her blood-soaked gloves and dropped them beside Mac’s. CSI would collect them later. She folded up her sleeves and then, pulling on a fresh pair of gloves, she went to the girl and gently ran a hand down the girl’s head. When the girl’s eyes moved over her, she sighed with relief. At last, she was becoming more responsive. “I’m Beth and this is Mac. We’re FBI agents. Are you hurt?”
“I banged my head.” Missy picked at the drying blood on her hands. “He was a bad man. Is my mom, okay?”
Beth cut a glance to Mac, who shrugged. She had no idea if the kid’s mom was okay but guessed it was a ploy Small used to get her into his vehicle. “Yeah, she’s fine and so is your dad. They’ll be at the hospital when you get there. Why?”
“He said mom had been in a wreck and Dad had asked him to take me to the hospital.” Missy wiped at her tear-stained face and shuddered. “That’s why I went with him.”
“Keep her talking.” Mac moved away, pulling out his phone.
Allowing her psychopath’s charm to surface, she looked at the girl. Being the sweet colleague or the perfect neighbor was a mistake many of her kind made. She had it in spades and could turn it on and off like a tap when needs be. With her FBI counterparts now studying psychopaths’ behavioral traits, acting hardnosed at work avoided any trace of suspicion. With kids, Beth made an exception. It was normal, even for her, to offer comfort. Speaking nonsense, she disregarded the contamination protocol for the good of the child. She drew the blood-splattered child into her arms and rocked her like a baby. An overwhelming sense of despair for the child gripped her and she cuddled her closer. “He was a bad man, Missy. You can’t trust everyone. Some people tell lies.”
“Are you a cop?” Missy looked her straight in the eyes. “You don’t look like a cop.”
Beth nodded. “I’m an FBI agent. Do you know what FBI agents do?”
“Sort of. You catch the bad guys like the cops.” The little girl’s eyes swiveled to her and examined her face. Missy took a breath and then blew it out. She stared at her unblinking as if reliving a memory. “I know who killed him.”
Heart thumping, Beth kept her facial expression neutral. No one had ever discovered her secret.Don’t let it happen—not now, not in front of Mac.She admired him but if he discovered her calling, he’d never understand her, not in a million years. What happened next would shape her entire life going forward. Taking monsters like Jared Small out of existence depended on her continued survival. Most times, the cops found the bottom dwellers on the food chain of murderers, but so many smart and ingenious psychopathic serial killers slipped through the system, escaped or convinced a parole board they were rehabilitated. The problem was they killed again the moment they stepped free.
Out of the six-hundred thousand cases of missing persons in the US per year, more than ninety thousand people are never found. No bodies, no murder scene—zip. She’d been working for five years taking out the unstoppable psychopaths and had barely scratched the surface. As a special agent in the FBI, she’d use the law to hunt down the also-rans and they’d do their time. Most were never released from jail, but it was the others who gained her attention. She hated the child killers, the murdering pedophiles, the sex slavers, and the perverted sadomasochist serial killers with a passion. All of them needed to meet her dark side to bring them to justice. It had taken her adolescence to understand her psychopathy was different. Beth had never been like other psychopathic serial killers, who became slaves to their fantasies and addicted to killing. Her dark side only sought vengeance for others.
Psychopathic serial killers hid behind masks of decency and lived in plain sight. They were the best friend, the sociable neighbor. In fact, they came in every flavor and were the most vicious of killers, but she recognized them as if they wore a flashing red light on their heads.It takes one to know one.
“Well, I’ll be…” Mac pulled clean gloves from his pocket and bent to examine something on the ground. “It’s a tarot card. The Grim Reaper… the death card.” He pulled out his phone and took pictures. “Are you sure you didn’t see anyone, when you arrived?”
Beth huffed out a sigh and faked a long shudder. “No and I’d have mentioned it if I had but I wasn’t looking for another perp because I was kinda busy trying to save this clown’s life.”
“I’m ordering you to take a psych review after this takedown. You don’t look so good.” Mac looked at Missy. “She’ll be in counseling for the rest of her life, poor kid.”
Acting distressed came easy for Beth, she shook her head. “I don’t need to see anyone. This was no more traumatic than a car wreck and we’ve seen plenty of those.”
“You’ll do as I say. It’s different when kids are involved.” Mac gave her a long hard stare. “You’ve been out too long on your own. I figure you’re close to breaking point. Take the test and prove me wrong.”
Beth blew out a long sigh. “Okay, I’ll take the darn test.”
“That’s settled then. Leave everything in situ but as soon as the ME arrives, we’ll get Missy out of here. The paramedics are on their way.” Mac bent down and looked at the trembling child. “Missy, did you see anyone else here?”
With her heart pounding, Beth closed her eyes, held her breath, and waited to be cuffed.
“Yes, it was an angel.” Missy smiled. She had one tooth missing and blood caked her hair but her eyes had filled with wonder. “An angel saved me.”
TWO
Sirens and cruisers surrounded the area. Beth moved away from Missy and endured questioning by detectives and then again by FBI agents. She answered all their questions and satisfied them with her answers. When the forensics team complete with Dr. Shane Wolfe, a respected medical examiner from Black Rock Falls, arrived in a chopper, she swallowed hard. The Texan’s work bringing down serial killers was legendary, and he traveled all over Montana processing crime scenes. “Wow! I get to meet Dr. Wolfe.”
“Yeah, the boss called him in as the Tarot Killer is involved.” Mac raised one bushy eyebrow. “If there’s evidence here, he’ll find it.”
