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The chopper descended and Styles put it down in a large parkland area. Beth looked around and spotted a diner on the opposite sidewalk. “Hungry?”
“Starving.” Styles smiled at her. He pointed into the distance. “Wolfe is on our tail. We’ll wait for him to land and see if he wants to take a break.”
Beth nodded. “Sure. I like Wolfe. He is so respectful toward the dead. He doesn’t just lay them bare. He preserves their dignity. He really cares and that’s good to know. It’s not just a job to him.” She sighed. “I’ve been to many autopsies in my lifetime, and I’ve never seen anyone work as fast as he does. He’s very thorough too. I doubt he ever misses a thing.”
“He’s at the top of his game, that’s for darn sure.” Styles stretched and yawned. “It’s just as well we have a professional on hand. Mistakes with serial killers cost lives.”
Beth tidied her windswept hair, pulling it back into a low ponytail at the nape of her neck. “That happens too often, and they get away with murder for years or forever. I believe the serial killers we hear about are only the tip of a very deep iceberg.” She gave him a long look, gauging his reaction. She really wished she could tell him about her dark side. Would he understand her need to seek justice or would he drag her off to jail? “Thousands of missing people vanish each year… each year, Styles. Where do you think they are and what’s happened to them? We know some people disappear intentionally for many different reasons, but not kids. It has to be serial killers.I’m convinced they’re responsible for the majority of missing persons.”
“Trust me, I know.” Styles wearily ran a hand down his face. “My sister went missing. I was out playing with her and ran away. I never saw her again. She was abducted and although a search went on for weeks, they never found her.” He blew out a long breath. “I’ve always blamed myself. If I hadn’t run away, she’d be safe. Her going missing set up a string of chaotic events in my life.”
Surprised Styles had divulged such a private part of his life, she squeezed his arm. Right now, he needed compassion and support. “You should feel differently about this now, after working with serial killers. Someone could have been stalking her for weeks and you were lucky to get away with your life. Often those who hunt for little girls don’t have too much time for little boys. You’d have become a victim immediately. You know that, don’t you?”
“Yeah, it has crossed my mind.” He shook his head slowly. “So has what might have happened to her. As we’ve never found a body, she could have been kept by someone for many years. It’s not knowing what happened to her that eats me away.”
Beth considered the ramifications of helping him solve the case. Setting aside her expertise in cybercrime, she also had many skills she hadn’t divulged to the FBI. She’d established a good relationship with Styles. She trusted him to have her back and owed him for turning a blind eye to her eccentricities. Many in his position would have reported her to the director of the FBI for assessment. At this point in time, it was a “you scratch my back and I’ll scratch yours” situation. She took a deep breath. “If somebody kept her, there’s a chance they became attached to her. You do understand that children who are taken away from their parents and told their parents are dead or whatever oftenbecome attached to their abductor. You’ve heard of Stockholm syndrome?”
“Sure.” Styles’ brow furrowed. “It’s been decades. She’d have looked for me if she’d been alive. We were very close.”
Shaking her head, Beth looked at his sad expression. He carried a huge burden. “Not if she believed you were dead.” She sighed. “They wouldn’t be able to hide her forever. They’d have found a way to make her belong to them—false birth certificate or whatever. It’s not that difficult to obtain fake documents. Do you want me to look for her?”
“So how, after all these years, would you be able to find her when no one else has found even a trace?” Styles gave an agitated roll of his shoulders. “You’re good, I know this, but after so long any leads would have dried up.”
Thinking it through, Beth shrugged. “I don’t know if I’ll get a result until I try. First up, I’ll need a photograph of her. I’ll run it through some software I’ve developed over the years and see what shows. If we don’t get a hit with an image or by running your DNA for a sibling comparison, you’ll know she likely died the day she was abducted. You know as well as I do that murder victims are sometimes never found. The thing is, Styles, is this something you want to lay to rest? Because if you do, I’ll break my butt getting you answers.” She met his gaze. “Can you handle the truth? It might be hard to accept.”
“Let me think on it for a time.” Styles smiled at her and sighed. “I do need to move on and what you said about me becoming a victim is valid. I’ve never looked at it that way before and about her being stalked. Yeah, that’s possible. I recall her mentioning something about being followed home by a man. She told my mom, who waited at the bus stop for us each night and walked us home.”
The sound of a chopper filled the air and the ME’s chopper dropped down into the park. Beth looked at Styles. “Time to go.”
TEN
Distracted, Styles mulled over what Beth had said and didn’t notice the angry crowd gathering on the opposite side of the park. His mind snapped back to the now the moment Wolfe’s raised voice pierced his thoughts. He scanned the milling crowd opposite and immediately stepped in front of Beth and Emily.
“Now what are y’all doing here?” Wolfe marched across Main as if he owned it. “Can’t you see we’re trying to conduct an investigation?” He stared down the crowd. “Have y’all lost your minds?”
“We want action.” One man in a brown Stetson, with his mouth turned down, stepped out front as a spokesperson. “People are being murdered all over, girls kidnapped, and nobody is doing anything.”
“Why do you figure we’re here?” Beth stepped out from behind Styles, head held high, and walked across Main and right up to the angry man. “You have the state medical examiner and the FBI, what more do you want? Unless you’ve witnessed the murders, return to your homes and allow us to do our work.”
“You ain’t doing enough or Arizona wouldn’t be lying in the morgue out at Roaring Creek General.” A young man in the crowd stepped forward and shoved Beth to one side. “Maybe weneed to take the law into our own hands.” He raised a fist in front of Beth’s face.
“Don’t do anything you’ll regret.” Beth had grabbed the man’s hand and savagely bent the wrist back. “Laying hands on a Federal officer is an offense. Maybe I need to hand you over to Sheriff Weston for some jail time?”
The young man whimpered in pain, but Beth held her ground.
“Let go, this is police brutality.” The young man pulled hard to break Beth’s grip and then his other hand balled into a fist.
Seeing a potential disaster about to unfold, Styles stepped to Beth’s side. Not wanting to be seen rushing in to protect her, he stood a pace behind her and stared down the young man. “I wouldn’t do that. You wouldn’t like to see her angry.”
“No, you wouldn’t.” Beth gave the young man a lazy smile. “I fight real dirty.”
Styles stared at the hostile crowd and lifted his cred pack to show them. “Agent Katz instructed you to disperse. I suggest you comply, or we’ll be taking names for obstruction of justice. We’ve only just arrived and the longer you hold us up, the longer it will take to conduct our investigation.” He gave Beth a look, which he hoped calmed the wildness in her eyes.
Anyone who challenged or threatened her released the beast. Once cornered, she was unpredictable. He figured it went back to her horrific time spent in foster care, not PTSD but the will to survive. As the months passed by, his understanding of her sometimes bizarre behavior and mood swings had solidified. He’d coped with a very unstable wife and had sought to work out their problems without success, but Beth he could help. She’d been coping alone for way too long and fighting her demons. A serial killer for a father and being tossed from one abusive foster home to another had left deep scars, but he’d gotten to know the person underneath the façade she’d built around herfor protection. In the chopper she’d shown compassion for his problems and offered him a way to redemption. He owed her the same.
“Go home.” Beth dropped the young man’s hand. “You get only one chance. Impede our investigation again and I’ll send you to jail.” She stood hands balled on her hips and stared down the crowd.
“If we get any clues about who is responsible for these crimes, the sheriff will let y’all know in a media release.” Wolfe scanned the crowd. “We don’t have time for this stupidity.”
