She kept her face turned away while she gathered her emotions.
Ava pulled in a breath. Let it go. Then she turned to her team. “No one touches anything until the ME and ERT arrive. Photo everything. Cordon off the perimeter.”
Caleb reached for her gloved hand, his full attention on her. He’d seen the crack in her resolve. “You’re doing great. And I’m right here with you no matter what.”
Those simple words were enough to center her. She wasn’t alone in this. She had Caleb. He wouldn’t let her fall apart.
She smiled at him. “Thank you.”
He squeezed her hand before letting it go.
Rachel, a seasoned agent like Ava, appeared shocked for a second before steadying herself and beginning to photograph the scene alongside Shackelford. “We have no idea how long she’s been dead,” Rachel managed. “Pour pattern appears uniform, layered, controlled. Matching the first victim.” She looked over at Ava. “And the others.”
Ava let her heartbreak turn to anger and settle into a steely focus. Shadow edged forward drawing her attention. The search wasn’t over yet. The dog was fixed on something. She crouched beside her partner. “Show me what you see.”
The Malinois flicked his eyes along what appeared to be river stones. Ava followed the line and saw it. One “stone” wasn't a stone at all, but an old chess pawn covered in wax. The killer’s mark etched at its base, a cross intersecting a circle.
Ava pointed at the object. “Over here.” Caleb followed her to the spot and waited for Rachel.
“Evidence item one,” Rachel said tightly. “Wax pawn, twenty-three inches from the victim’s left shoulder.”
“Bag it. We’ll check for trace DNA and prints,” Ava told her team.
Larabee flashed his light near the victim’s hairline. “There’s glass embedded along the wax at her temple.”
This new evidence grabbed Ava’s attention immediately. “More glass. That means they’re important clues. The glass fragments from the lady in the lake crime scene are now here. The glass is important. He left the laurel traces on the lady in the lake as well as the laurel flowers at the lodge. Laurel for place. Glass for a craft perhaps. The pawn. He’s in control.” She exhaled, white vapor writing in the cold. “This is all for me. He’s challenging me. Seeing if I can solve the puzzle pieces and prove myself worthy of him.”
Shadow’s head snapped left. A low growl rolled through his chest. He stared past the body toward a darker seam in the fir trees. Not a natural trail. A cut. Narrow. Man-made.
Ava rose. “We have our primary crime scene here with the victim. ME can work without us. Agent Novak, I need you and Shackelford to secure the scene until ERT and the ME arrive. Caleb, Larabee, and Rachel are with me. Grace, we’ll need your and Caleb’s wilderness skills, especially through that dangerous stretch. We’ll check the cut. He obviously wants us to follow it. There’s a reason.”
With Caleb, Ava and Shadow taking the lead, the team threaded single file to keep from contaminating any possible unseen evidence. The manmade cut was a yard wide and choked with snow and downed branches. Ava stopped when she spotted the boot prints. She zeroed her light on them. “We have a set of tracks here.”
Caleb knelt beside the prints. “Looks like the ones we saw at the cabin. No indication he’s carrying anything heavy now.” He sniffed the air. “Do you smell that?”
Ava nodded and directed her light to the trees lining the path. Wax resin was painted on the bark.
“He wanted us to know he came this way.” Ava carefully avoided the boot prints as she and Shadow continued. She’d taken only a handful of steps before her cell phone rang.“It’s Micah,” she told them before putting the call on speaker. “What’s happening there?”
“We have an abandoned car,” Micah confirmed.
Caleb’s gaze locked with Ava’s.
“Any ID on the victim?”
“We have registration for Jennifer Salvado. She’s from one of the neighboring counties.”
“Secure the scene. I’ll call the deputies at command. ERT is on its way here, along with the medical examiner. I’ll send some of our ERT agents your way as well to gather evidence from the car.” Ava paused. “We found our victim. She’s dead. Same MO as before.”
“Geez,” Micah muttered under his breath. “That’s two victims. There should be one more and then...”
“He’s not getting a chance to take the third. We’re going to find him before that happens.” Ava said with emotion. But she wondered how they could stop a killer who was one step ahead of them at every turn.
“I’ll let you know when ERT arrives and what we find.”
“Thank you, Micah. Stay safe.”
Caleb waited until the call ended before challenging her. “At this point we can’t guarantee he won’t take multiple victims, Ava. I think we have to face the possibility there may be more.”
