Page 31 of Dark Angel
“The problem is some people in society believe these monsters can be rehabilitated.” Styles leaned against the fence, swinging his bat. “In my experience, this isn’t possible. The moment any of them are released from jail, they reoffend. Some of them take it to a higher level and add murder to their repertoire.”
Rubbing her arms, Beth nodded. “Yeah, I figure that happens the first time because they’re afraid of going back to jail and then they start to like it.”
The phone in Beth’s pocket buzzed and she pulled it out. “Agent Katz.”
“This is Sheriff Caleb Addams out of Serenity, I’m sorry to call you so early and on a Sunday, Agent Katz, but I’ve just spoken to Sheriff Ryder and he figured I should contact you.”
Beth moved closer to Styles and put her phone on speaker. “That’s okay. What seems to be the trouble?”
“We had two girls go missing on Thursday. We’ve been searching all over since their parents contacted me around dinnertime. It wasn’t unusual for the girls to stay out that late. Serenity is a very safe place to live and it’s unusual for anything to happen unless it’s an accident. We’ve searched the rivers, the caves alongside the mountain, and through the lowland to the best of our ability using dogs. Just about everyone around these parts volunteered. We headed out early this morning with a cadaver dog and found one of the girls, Hayley Quinn, deceased in a small clearing not half a mile from her home.”
Beth exchanged a glance with Styles. “Was there any reason why the area wasn’t searched earlier?”
“Yeah, Hayley told her mom they were walking to Stoney Bank, to collect wildflowers. So we headed out that way and widened the search in both directions. Where we found Hayley is in the opposite direction. It’s all forest there and with the bears and all, the young folk usually keep away, especially at this time of the year. The direction that they mentioned they would be heading is more open grasslands, slightly wooded with a river running down the center.”
“This is Agent Dax Styles. Who was first on scene?”
“It was me and the guy with the cadaver dog.”Sheriff Addams cleared his throat.“It’s an old dog, owned by the previous sheriff, and we were following a hunch. When I came out onto my front porch this morning, I saw a murder of crows gathering in the area. So, we decided we’d better take a look.”
“Describe the scene for me, please.” Styles dropped his gaze to the phone.
“It was obvious she’d been murdered. There was a neat pile of clothes beside her and we found a shoe belonging to Ariana Brooks some ways off, but there’s no sign of her anywhere in the area.”
Two conflicting emotions hit Beth at once: First, the sickening horror that more children had been taken and murdered. Second, the thrill of the fact the Pied Piper was still in the area and waiting for her to exact vengeance. Keeping her gaze fixed on the floor, she fought to control the tingling excitement of the hunt yet to come. She sucked in a deep breath and let it out slowly. “This sounds like the work of the Pied Piper killer. We’ve been hunting him down for the last three years. Is the scene intact?”
“Yeah, I figured we’d need help on this one. I have two of my deputies out there protecting the scene. No one, not even the girl’s parents, has been informed that she is there. I didn’t want any sightseers until a forensic team had been over the area. Do you have anyone we can call?”
“Yeah, leave that to me. We have a medical examiner out at Black Rock Falls we can call.” Beth looked up at Styles. “Agent Styles will need to speak to you about the location. We’ll be heading out in the chopper.” She handed Styles the phone.
“I’ll need your coordinates. Can you text them to this number, please?” Styles nodded to her. “When we arrive, if you could park your cruiser with lights flashing in an area wide enough for two choppers to land, it will make life easier. It will take at least one hour to organize a forensic team and get to you. We’ll contact you when we’re ten minutes out. Will that give you enough time to get into position?”
“Sure. We’ll see you soon.”Sheriff Addams disconnected.
“Another dead girl and another one missing on our watch.” Styles shook his head. “I’ve witnessed some atrocities in my time, but child murders really get to me, and knowing that the other girl has been sold into slavery turns my stomach.”
The scene of Brooklyn Daniels’ murder fixed in Beth’s mind and rage filled her with a deep-seated need for justice. She had to stop the Pied Piper permanently. There could be no other course of action for a monster like him. Avoiding Styles, she turned her attention to the wall. Giving him a direct stare when her dark side was rising would expose her emotions. That could never happen. She nodded slowly. “It’s the feeling of being useless and trying to stop an unstoppable force. In this case we must go back to basics and start interviewing the suspects on our list. Now that we know he frequents Serenity as well, we can narrow them down.”
Beth contacted Wolfe and gave him the details. She turned to Styles. “Wolfe is on his way.”
“We’ll have time to grab a shower and breakfast.” Styles checked his watch. “If you bring the list of possible suspects, we’ll discuss them on the way to Serenity.” He gave her a determined stare. “This was his first mistake. Serenity is a backwoods town, secluded and not many people go there. The suspect list is shrinking by the second.”
With the thrill of the hunt rising in her blood, Beth pushed trembling fingers into her pockets. “Isn’t life strange? One minute you think you’ve been dumped on the beach, and the next you catch the perfect wave.”
THIRTY-TWO
A cruel icy wind swirled around Styles, trying to sneak into every orifice of his clothes, and raised goosebumps on his flesh as he walked to the chopper. After getting Bear inside and clicking in the dog’s harness, he turned as footsteps came from behind him. He ran his gaze over Beth as she climbed into the chopper. She dressed so differently now and had chosen jeans, sturdy boots, a shirt, and thick sweater. It was good to see she’d purchased a heavy winter coat and was wearing it over her Kevlar vest. If she’d insisted on the FBI dress code of a black jacket and pants, she’d have frozen to death in an hour. He handed her a backpack, complete with a can of bear spray. “That’s one of our many survival packs. Whenever I go into the forest in these more remote areas, I take one with me. You never know what you might run into out there.”
“Yeah, I’ve read up about the wildlife, but my liquid Kevlar vest is in case we encounter the Pied Piper.” Beth’s lips twitched up slightly at the corners as she pushed the headphones over her ears. “I’m not discounting the fact that he might be armed. It seems to me that every second person you see is carrying.”
Styles took the chopper up and headed over the mountains. The wind buffeted them as they moved through the canyon and followed the river to Serenity. “Yeah, the townsfolk do, but most of the mine camps ban firearms, so usually the groups of men that come into town to blow off steam are usually unarmed, although some of them do carry a hunting knife.” He flicked her a glance. “Look over the suspects list again and give me your thoughts.”
“I checked them out over breakfast.” Beth scrolled through the documents on her phone. “The four guys with priors are all miners: Roderick Soto, Howell Marshman, Christopher Wheatly, and Francis Baldwin. Two of them work out of Longhorn Peak. The other two out at Lost Gem Valley. I made a few calls this morning and spoke to the managers of both mines and received exactly the same response. All these men worked the week ending Friday. They work a twelve-hour shift finishing at six. A chopper gives the men a ride into town for the weekend and it didn’t leave until around nine on Saturday morning.” She shrugged. “On paper these were prime suspects as we have a pedophile and a stalker in that group.” She glanced up from her phone. “Your three suspects are still in the running. Lawrence Dawson, the courier driver, mentions Serenity on his webpage as a delivery area. The travel nurses, Ainsley Rice and Emerson Green, could be anywhere at any given time as they move between the three town’s ERs as required. We’ll need to interview these three men as soon as possible. With all the delays, one of them is getting away with murder.”
Styles nodded. “Call the Serenity sheriff and inform him that our ETA is approximately seven minutes.” He glanced at his instruments and then looked ahead. “That’s the town just ahead, nestled into the side of the mountain. It’s at high altitude here. You’ll notice the difference in the air quality and it’s bitterly cold at this time of year.”
A voice came over his radio and he recognized Wolfe’s call sign. He responded. “Yeah, ETA four minutes. Follow me in. Out.”
“I see him.” Beth turned around in her seat, looking over one shoulder. “He’s behind us.” She turned back. “I’ve checked out his background and he flew a medevac chopper in the Marines. Is that where you learned to fly?”
