Page 32 of Dark Angel
Styles flicked her a glance. “I wasn’t in the Marines.” He shrugged. “They’re different to Army. I was stationed at Fort Novosel, Alabama, for my training. I flew Black Hawks most of the time. It was my first passion and I saw my share of tours, but then I decided to join the MP. I had the qualifications and made captain.”
“Oh, I see.” Beth’s lips twitched into a smile. “I sense a little rivalry there, Dax.”
Styles snorted a laugh. “Nope, I respect him as an ME. He’s one hell of a doctor as well and saved so many lives without a thought of his own safety. It wouldn’t have been easy, flying in and treating the wounded. It’s just different worlds, is all.” He tipped down the nose of the chopper. “There’s the cruiser.”
Styles climbed from the chopper, slipped on his backpack, lifted Bear down, and then waited for Beth. The ME’s chopper landed and Wolfe, Webber, and a blonde woman came toward them. Webber pushed a gurney with a forensics kit perched on top of a pile of evidence bags. He walked to greet Wolfe. “You made good time. Thanks for coming.” He held out a hand to the stunningly attractive young blonde woman. “Agent Dax Styles and this is my partner, Beth Katz.”
“Emily Wolfe.” Her wide smile reflected in her eyes. “It’s nice to meet you. Shane is my dad.”
“Emily has a degree in forensic science and is currently studying for a medical degree so she can join me in the medical examiner’s office. I like to have a fresh set of eyes on the scene especially when we’re dealing with someone like the Pied Piper.” Wolfe gave him a typical father’s back-off stare. “She often rides along with me when we have interesting cases.”
“Nice to see you again, Em, Dr. Wolfe.” Beth smiled and turned to Styles. “I already met Emily in Helena. The serial rapist and the Tarot Killer case.” She laughed. “Now look at me banished to the backwoods, but at least I get to work with you guys again.”
Sheriff Caleb Addams, his face sheet white, walked out of the forest to greet them. Styles turned to see a man in uniform, followed by two deputies both looking green. “Is someone out there guarding the scene?”
“Yeah, we have one forest warden and the local doctor.” Sheriff Addams waved a hand toward his deputies. “I was giving my boys a break, is all. I figured the animals got to her. It’s not a pretty sight and sure as heck not one I’ve seen before.”
“Lead the way.” Wolfe appeared at his side. “If the wildlife already found the body, they’ll be back. We need to get her out of here ASAP.”
They walked in single file along a narrow trail through the forest. Underfoot, dry pine needles crunched with each step. All around, fall had changed the colors of the forest. The leaves on the once green vines and bushes had curled and turned to many shades of amber. Pine cones littered the way, and Styles recalled collecting them as a child and taking them home. The smell as they crackled and burned in the hearth brought back memories of a happy time in his life. There had always been smiles in his family before his sister vanished. He dragged his mind back to reality. The smell of death was coming on the breeze, and he reached inside his pocket for a face mask. Beside him, Bear’s ears were pricked, and he noticed a slight rising of his hackles. Worried there might be a bear close by, he raised his voice. “Make some noise up there. If there’s anything hanging around the forest today, we’ll scare them off.”
“We found bear scat about twenty yards away from the crime scene but no prints or anything else close by.” Sheriff Addams cleared his throat. “Although right now we’re more concerned about hunting down the whereabouts of Ariana Brooks. Apart from the shoe I mentioned to Agent Katz, we found no trace of her, and we’ve searched in all directions and along the fire road.”
“Hold up.” Beth squeezed in beside him. “We’re getting a pattern here. The last murder and two we have on our whiteboard all occurred near a fire road. The killer is using them to move the kidnapped girls. We can use this information to pinpoint his next kill.” She narrowed her gaze on him. “The three towns are his comfort zone.”
Shaking his head in disbelief, Styles stared at her. She obviously didn’t realize just how far the forests stretched in all directions. “I figure he kills one of them after he gets them alone. Even if we had eyes on every fire road throughout the forests, we’d never get there in time. This isn’t like traveling around the burbs. We’re talking about thousands of square miles and a ton of fire roads. If we had a thousand men, we still wouldn’t have enough people to watch the entire area.”
“He won’t kill in the same place twice.” She gripped his arm. “It would be too obvious, so we hunt down a place in a town close by. Where is another town in easy traveling distance from Rattlesnake Creek with a forest and fire roads?”
Styles thought for a beat, drawing an imaginary circle on a map in his mind. “Spring Grove. If we are taking Rattlesnake Creek as the center, coming out as far as Serenity as the outer border, and drawing an imaginary circle, Spring Grove would be on that boundary line. It seems to me that this killer is well organized. Somehow, I figure he is grooming these kids to meet up with him. We still have the problem of how he is murdering one and managing to get the other one away without any noise.”
“Most certainly.” Beth moved in behind him to avoid running into the trees lining the trail. “He selects an area, chooses his targets, and then makes his move when the time is right. As he has gotten away with this so many times, we must be looking at someone who is not a threat to children. All kids are warned about talking to strangers, which makes me believe whatever profession he works in the children are accessible to him.”
Running the suspects through his mind, Styles nodded. He walked backward as he talked to her. “All three of the suspects on our list could be the killer. Two travel nurses and a courier. People are laid-back in this part of the country. They would chat to a nurse and allow their kids to do the same. A courier usually brings things to the house, and so many things are purchased online now I’m sure he is in constant demand. He would be known to the homeowners, and they would probably greet him as a friend, which would make their children believe he was a safe person.”
“Oh, that doesn’t look good.” Beth pointed to the numerous markers all around the crime scene.
Styles moved his attention to the clearing ahead, where Wolfe and his team were suiting up. Wolfe was issuing orders in a soft voice, and the deputies were moving around the area with crime scene tape. The smell of decayed human flesh, blood, and the distinct stench of bear surrounded them. In the clearing, it was obvious that what had once been a little girl was now a collection of body parts. The head and torso lay on a small patch of grass on its back with the long blonde hair spread out like a fan around an ashen face. The sight of one clenched fist gripping a wildflower tore at him. Seeing such violence inflicted on an innocent child, he almost spewed his breakfast. Beside him he heard Beth’s sharp intake of breath and turned to her. “This is real bad.”
“That damage is not all bear from what I can see.” Beth pulled on examination gloves and moved closer to the head and torso. “There is sharp force drama to the chest.” She looked at him and a frown creased her forehead. “Something angered him. Maybe he had problems with the other girl. What’s her name?”
Styles looked at his phone, bringing up the file he’d made over breakfast this morning. “Ariana Brooks has black hair. This child is blonde like the others he murdered.” He glanced around the clearing, scanning all the markers. “Look over there, the remains of an elk. That was the bear’s target, not this child. They prefer fresh meat, and from the decomposition, I figure she has been here a few days, probably since Thursday, when she went missing. This damage is likely from a wildcat.”
“The clothes are stacked up exactly the same as before. Neatly folded with the shoes on top.” Beth was watching Wolfe and his team closely. “The sheriff mentioned finding a shoe we presume belongs to Ariana Brooks. If so, it follows the same pattern exactly.”
Scratching his cheek, Styles looked at her. “What is it with the shoe? Why is he deliberately leaving one behind?”
“I figure it’s the same as the Tarot Killer’s Grim Reaper card.” Beth hid her emotions behind her mask. “It’s all part of the game. He’s telling the world he’s taken the other girl and that we’ll never find her. The pile of clothes beside the body is him telling us how he took his time and that we’ll never get to him in time to prevent what he’s doing. He must have control over the girls to keep them quiet—but what?”
Sick to his stomach, Styles stared into the forest trying to gain some respite from the horrific scene before him. “From what Wolfe said, he’s drugging them. It wouldn’t take much to knock out a kid. He waits for it to take effect and then separates them and keeps one subdued somewhere in the forest. That’s the one he takes with him, the one who doesn’t fit his fantasy. He goes back to the first one and murders her. Like you said, he takes his time. We know this by the neatly folded clothes. After he has completed his ritual, he returns to the other girl. He’d carry her asleep to his vehicle and no one would see her when he drives away.”
Styles made his way over to Wolfe to discuss his theory. “Did you find proof of the herbs?”
“I’ve run a toxicology screen on all the victims that we’ve processed, including samples taken from previous victims we assume were murdered by the same killer, and I found no pharmaceutical drugs in Brooklyn Daniel’s system, but I did find belladonna and valerian in concentration.” Wolfe paused for a beat, staring into space. “During a toxicology screen, we test for the most common drugs, the date-rape drugs in particular and others that are easily available on the streets. The thing is, this killer is using some type of herbal concoction, and the ones we tested for and found are extremely potent. There might be others, mushrooms perhaps.” He turned his attention back to Styles. “I’ll rerun the tests when I get back to the lab for other herbal drugs. It’s obvious he doesn’t want to harm the second girl. If what you say is true, he’d want her in good condition.”
Styles nodded. “Thanks, I would appreciate it. We’re going to walk to the fire road and see if we can find any evidence along the way. This is another part of our theory. We figure he comes into the forest via the fire road and leaves the same way. It’s how he’s luring the victims to him that is leaving us stumped at the moment.”
He turned back to see Beth approaching the sheriff. He went and stood by her side. “Is everything okay?”
