Page 24 of Dead Drift

“And no one else came up?”

“Afraid not.” Eason shook his head. “The case went cold quick. Stayed that way.”

“Any chance these words mean something to either of you?” He handed them a list of Burke’s code words.

Eason lifted the list, his eyes tracking across the words typed in Georgia font, size 14. He shifted forward, resting his forearms on the desk, and then handed the list to Hood, who read it aloud. “‘Barn. Leader. Agent. Handcuffed. Glock. Wrists. Message.’”

“Those are key words Burke compiled,” Griffin explained. “I believe they relate to the missing women’s cases and work together to form the killer’s M.O.”

Hood flicked the paper. “I never thought about it being part of an M.O., but Ashley Clark had marks on her wrists consistent with handcuffs.”

“And her body washed up on shore?”

“Yeah, three days after her reported disappearance,” Eason said.

That was the one thing that bugged Griffin. Why hadn’t Burke included the wash-up-on-shore factor to the killer’s M.O.? Surely, Burke had to see that key similarity. So why not add it to the list? Unfortunately, with Burke’s death, Griffin would never get to find out, or to thank the man for the first lead in Jenna’s case in eight years.

Three days. That was quicker than with Jenna. Though even if each case shared similarities and were committed by the same killer, they were unique. Each young lady’s case deserved individual attention and scrutiny. “My sister washed up after three weeks,” he said quietly.

Distress clouded Eason’s narrowed eyes. “Your sister?”

“My sister Jenna was killed in a similar fashion nearly eight years ago, when she was seventeen. We believe she was the killer’s first victim.”

“Oh man . . .” Hood swiped his brow. “I’m sorry. No wonder this case, these cases, mean so much to you.”

Jenna, and all the other victims, deserved for their killer to be caught and justice served. It wouldn’t bring them back or erase the pain, but it would, at least for Griffin, bring a measure of satisfaction that her killer was finally behind bars and paying for what he’d done.

“Do any of the other words apply to Ashley’s investigation?” he asked, trying to keep his focus on Ashley and her case, but it was so hard not to allow thoughts of his sister to creep in.

“It’s been a while.” Hood exhaled. “But like I said, I pulled her file after your call this morning.” He flipped the thin file open again, and his eyes scanned the pages. “Here’s one. She was eventually killed with a large caliber round, like what you have found in other cases.”

“Eventually?” Finley asked, biting her bottom lip.

He knew exactly why his wife was cringing, and the same queasiness swirled in his gut.

“Ashley was tortured before the sick b—” Eason cut off the word. “Before the sicko pulled the trigger.”

11

So let’s hear this theory,” Declan said to Luke as he reentered his office, but Kate’s body language indicated she was the far more interested of the two. Kate was carrying this case the way she carried the weight of everything else, bearing the full burden of it. Oh, she handled it well, but even in the short time he had been back, he could see she still tended to carry the weight of the world on her shoulders, even when it wasn’t hers to bear.

He was certainly no saint. He had years, choices, and actions to beg God’s forgiveness and mercy for, but even he knew God never intended for anyone to shoulder such massive burdens. Christ had flat-out begged His children to hand over their burdens and take on His yoke instead.

Kate, he feared, still struggled in that area—full dependence on God—just as she had in college. She loved her Savior—always had and, from what he’d observed, still did mightily—but loving and depending on were two vastly different things.

“Your theory?” Kate said at his silence.

“I overheard a couple of Ebeid’s men talking at the docks in Malaysia before one of his shipments left, and the captain said the weapons and parts had been loaded onto the vessel.”

“If you knew the shipment contained weapons headed for the U.S., why on earth did you allow it to leave Malaysia?”

“I had orders.”

“And you didn’t have a problem with those orders?” Kate asked.

“There’s a larger situation at play here. If we’d have stopped the shipment, Ebeid would have simply sent another one.”

“So this way you give him what he wants with less effort on his part?”