Ava repressed a smile. “He’ll grumble but he’ll fall into line. This case is too important for squabbling over jurisdiction.”
“Agreed. I’m not sure about the radiator or anything under the hood. I’ll find out. You think he tampered with the radiator?”
There was no doubt in Ava’s mind. “Most definitely. If this is the Wax Saint, he would know how to sabotage the radiator so that the vehicle wouldn’t break down while she was in town.” She told him about their earlier case and the discrepancy in the location of the victims’ vehicles. “He’s shifted his MO slightly to kick off this new round of killing. If they haven’t already, get ERTto dust for prints.” Ava hoped the weather hadn’t taken away their possibility of finding any.
“Copy that.” Vaughn had already grabbed his radio to convey the order to the FBI’s Evidence Recovery Team, or ERT.
There didn’t appear to be any sign of blood inside the car, and no indication of a struggle on the road such as skid marks that might indicate Emily had been forced from the road, but given the murder probably happened between six and midnight, the snow might have hidden any evidence of her being chased.
But in Ava’s mind, that didn’t happen because it wasn’t Wax’s MO. He waited for his victims to come to him...just like he had Ava.
Her gaze swept the snowbank that led into the woods. Even through the gray, snowy day, she could see it was littered with the footprints of all the first responders. Any evidence left there had long since been contaminated.
Ava stepped back. “Have you checked inside the trunk?”
Vaughn confirmed they had. “It’s full of clothing and knick-knacks. She was in the process of relocating to Spokane, according to her family who have been notified.”
“I’ll need to speak with them at some point.” One of the things she hated the most was talking to the grieving family and trying to answer their questions as to why when there was no answer. Emily had crossed paths with a madman and died. Ava’s life hadn’t been taken from her physically, but she’d felt like one of the walking dead since meeting Wax.
A sense of urgency suddenly filled her. The FBI had flown Ava and Shadow from Denver into Kalispell, Montana and Glacier Park International Airport because the case was too important to delay by driving. Still, she was over four hours behind the initial discovery of the victim, and who knew how many hours lagging behind Wax’s kill.
If he were acting true to form, he’d have a second victim in mind. It took only five days for Wax to kill three victims and one day had passed.
Ava frowned when she considered Emily. Wax wouldn’t have known ahead of time she was coming through the area. Why had he picked her?
She voiced her misgivings to Vaughn.
“How did he choose his previous victims?”
A valid question that had never been answered. “We believe they were selected at random. All three previous victims were from around this area. But not Emily.”
“Maybe he saw her in town and decided to target her?”
Ava thought about the possibility. “I guess. He would know she wasn’t from around here, though, from her license plate.”
“Maybe it’s not so much about where she’s from.”
That was true enough. Most of the victims bore a faint resemblance to each other. Still, Wax’s motives were primarily unknown. There was a religious connotation. He believed he was doing “God’s” work, or at least that’s what he told Ava.
Against her will, that grotesque mask he’d worn to cover his face and keep her from being able to identify him still gave her the chills. It reminded her of the Phantom of the Opera’s mask.
Ava shut out the image and focused on the victim. The body had been taken to the morgue for autopsy. On the flight over she’d seen the photos of the victim’s placement along with other crime scene photos. She’d also received real-time updates from the location as ERT uploaded them. Her forensic technicians had preserved evidence such as the candle found at the scene. Soil samples with drips of wax. There would be the ranger’s notes as well as Deputies Vaughn and Archer, and Detective Hunter’s account. But she’d have to reconstructwhat had happened starting with Caleb’s firsthand account of discovering the body. She’d work backward to the last time Emily was seen in town. Who she’d spoken to on the phone before her path intersected with a killer.
“I’ll need to talk to the person who found Emily as soon as possible.” She couldn’t bring herself to say his name aloud. Maybe it was her way of distancing herself from Caleb and their past. No matter what happened between them, Ava couldn’t let it interfere with the investigation. Identifying Wax Saint and bringing him to justice for what he’d done to Emily, the past victims, and for what he’d done to her, had to be the most important thing.
Still, since Marcus mentioned Caleb on the call, Ava had been replaying every moment of their relationship in her mind and dreading their first encounter.
“Understood,” Deputy Vaughn was saying. “He’s still here at the crime scene. I’ll take you up whenever you’re ready.”
The need to linger pressed in. Just to make sure she didn’t miss anything, Ava told herself, but the truth was she was only postponing the inevitable.
“I’m ready now,” she said with a surprising calm she didn’t feel. Everything about being back in this area reminded her of the worst period in her life and shattered all the good memories she and Caleb once shared. At one time, before “that night,” she’d imagined spending the rest of her life with him.
“How far up?” Ava said, glancing at the darkened space where the woods claimed the landscape.
Vaughn angled his head toward the woods. “About a quarter of a mile that way. The trail is marked.”
“Good. Let’s go,” she told him before glancing down at Shadow. “Ready, boy?”
