Page 8 of Coordinates of Death

“Have you clicked on the link to the website?”

She shook her head. “This is the first time today I haven’t been around the other constables, and I wanted to be sure they weren’t watching.” She gestured toward the snow-covered picnic table a few yards away. “Let’s go there.”

Kordell brushed the snow from the tabletop and bench.

Aurora propped her tablet up, and they sat. She clicked on the link.

The screen flashed, and an image of a shadow box appeared with an underlined title beneath it, showing a hyperlink.

Aurora’s Shadow Box Game

Kordell straightened, and he clenched his fists. He hated how she’d been targeted.

She clicked the link, and Clue #1 appeared with a message.

I hope you’re ready to enter the forest. Here are the coordinates of the clue hidden on the mountain. You’ll have 36 hours to find her. Don’t fail her like you did Anna. I’ll let you know when the clock starts ticking.

Find the box to continue your game, Rory. Catch me if you can. SBK

Aurora’s sharp breath intake echoed in the small clearing seconds before the screen darkened and an image of a skull appeared, along with blaring, evil laughter.

Kordell’s veins iced, sending chills crawling over his entire body.

They had just entered a serial killer’s sick game.

Would they survive long enough to catch him?

Chapter Two

Aurora’s pulse whooshed in her head, raising her blood pressure. How did SBK know about her sister, Anna? Aurora had tried to suppress that tragic day from her memory and rarely spoke about how she’d failed to watch her sister. She’d carried the guilt into adulthood, but it was also a factor in her choice of a policing career.

“Rory, who’s Anna?”

Kordell’s question thrust her back into the present. Right. She hadn’t even told him what she’d gone through, and now wasn’t the time. She had a job to do. “We have a victim to find first.”

He placed his gloved hand on her arm. “You can trust me.”

Could she share this past hurt with him? They’d only just reconnected after twenty years. “Maybe later.” She fiddled with the website, but everything had disappeared after she clicked the link. Good thing her photographic memory could recall the exact coordinates they required. Did SBK know this about her too, or was he simply playing with her mind?

Something told her both were the case.

After all, the Shadow Box Killer had had two full years to study Corporal Aurora Hunt. A disadvantage for her. She shuddered not from the cold but from the fact that the perp had somehow found out details about her that she attempted to keep hidden. Had SBK also discovered her darkest secret?

The one she hadn’t even shared with her father?

She shoved the questions aside and clicked on an app. “Okay, let’s see where these coordinates take us.”

“You remembered those numbers in that flash of time?” Then he face-palmed. “Right. Your photographic memory. I remember now. Everyone at school was jealous of your ability. Me included.”

“Well, some days it was a curse, not a gift.” She keyed in the numbers, and a localized map appeared. She enlarged the location and gulped in a breath. “That’s between the Ogilwyn and Elimac Mountains, just inside the Alaska border. I don’t have jurisdiction there.”

“I’m guessing SBK knows that too, and that’s why he chose it.”

Aurora nodded. “Agreed. We’re losing daylight now.”

“How will we know when his countdown starts?” Kordell air-quoted countdown.

“Something tells me we’ll know.”