The winter chill had her zipping her Bureau-issued heavy jacket all the way to her chin. In some way, Ava was thankful for the bitter-cold because it had a way of clearing away the clutter in her thoughts and sharpening her focus. She had a job to do. Someone had died, and Ava’s gut screamed it was at the hands of Wax.
Her winter hiking boots gripped the frozen snow as she made her way to the back seat and opened the door.
Shadow jumped down with his nose to the ground, searching for clues already. His ears pricked, anxious for the hunt but looking to her for orders.
Ava grabbed her credentials from her bag and slipped them into her pocket before heading toward the group of men gathered near the vehicle.
She recognized two deputies. Several park rangers and what appeared to be a local detective who was severely underdressed for the weather conditions.
Ava flashed her credentials to the group whose eyes were all fixed on her. “I’m Ava Blake with the FBI’s Redeemed K-9 Unit. I’ll be taking over the case from here.”
“Say’s who?” the detective demanded, bristling immediately at her claim of control.
Ava wasn’t surprised at his reaction. Most times, having to take orders from a woman was met with varying degrees of animosity. “Special Agent in Charge Marcus Kane. We believe this murder is related to a previous case from three years back. That brings it under the FBI’s jurisdiction. Your command should all have been briefed by now.”
One deputy stepped forward. “We got the email confirmation from Special Agent Kane. Some of your team is already here, including your crime scene people.” He extended his hand. “I’m Deputy Vaughn.”
She gave him a polite smile. “Nice to meet you.”
Vaughn turned and introduced his fellow deputy. “This is Deputy Archer.” He leaned past his partner to the others. “Detective Hunter from the Cedar Creek police force, and park rangers Larabee and Shackelford.”
After a long beat, most nodded.
“Nice to meet you, ma’am,” Shackelford said.
Detective Hunter remained indifferent. She’d run into that sort of behavior many times throughout her career. She’d passed through the small town of Cedar Creek on her way here. Ava could imagine him resenting having the most significant case in his career yanked from him.
She’d be as sympathetic as she could, but she wouldn’t jeopardize the case over someone’s ego. Overall, she waspleasantly surprised by the minimal pushback from her male counterparts.
The deputy shifted his attention to where Shadow waited at Ava’s side. “He seems well-trained.”
She smiled at her partner. “He’s the best. Shadow’s ex-military.”
Vaughn’s impression showed. “I served myself. I know how important the K-9s are to our soldiers.” After a beat, he nodded toward the car. His expression shifted to business once more. “We found her ID inside her purse. Name’s Emily Fields. She’s twenty-seven from Duluth, Minnesota. She passed through town yesterday afternoon. Had a late lunch and visited a few shops.”
Ava arched a brow his way.
“I had the video pulled from several of the shops showing her movement. Looks like she headed out of town just before dark.” He indicated the car. “She must have broken down shortly after nightfall. Probably tried to get cell service, but up here it’s next to impossible, especially with the bad weather that blew through here yesterday evening.” He shrugged.
Ava liked his attention to detail. “Nice work.” She glanced briefly at the detective, who appeared to be trying to rally the others to his point of view. She had a feeling she’d need to rely on Vaughn over Detective Hunter as the case moved forward. “Let’s take a look at the car.” She moved to the victim’s open car door and leaned inside.
Vaughn followed while the others remained where they were talking amongst themselves.
Snow covered the car’s seats and piled onto the floorboard.
“There wasn’t a phone left behind, which suggests she took it with her. Did you recover it?”
Deputy Vaughn confirmed they hadn’t. “If the killer took it, maybe we can track him through it.”
Ava shook her head. “Only if it’s turned on and pinging a tower. As you said, coverage is patchy at best out here in the mountains. If it’s off or the battery’s dead, we’ll get nothing but the last tower she hit. Let’s look at Emily’s car as our first confirmed crime scene location.” Her gaze dropped to Shadow, who was already sniffing the perimeter for a viable scent for the killer. “It’ll be up to Shadow to find the killer’s trail past the location where he left the body.” She glanced up at the sky as it continued to weep down snow. “And with this weather, it will be difficult.”
She noticed the hood of the car was left up. Just like with the previous victims. The killer had done something to disable their vehicles when they were away from them. Something that would take time to stall out. He wanted the women to be alone, preferably in an isolated area when the car died.
While working on the Wax Saint case three years earlier, it was discovered that one of the victim’s tires had a nail in it. Two others had holes punctured in their radiators.
The raised hood suggested the obvious. “Has forensics checked the radiator for fingerprints?”
Vaughn frowned. “I’m not sure. Your team dusted both the outside and the inside of the vehicle. Much to Detective Hunter’s displeasure,” he added with a grin.
