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“The three we found on the shore were thin, weak. Addicts. He looks healthy. And he’s wearing a wedding ring.”
“Were the others not married?”
“Not that I can remember, but we’d have to go back to the old case files to find out for sure.”
“What do you make of the wounds?”
David turned back to the body. “Strangulation. Hard to tell without a closer look, but they don’t look like they were made with rope. Back then, we thought maybe he was killing people with a tourniquet.”
“And the legs?”
David’s gaze shifted to the man’s lower body. Blood had seeped through his jeans, but without that, it would’ve been obvious something was wrong. His right knee was out of place, and his left leg was bent at a strange angle. “Probably to incapacitate him. Make sure he can’t run away. Then the killer can take their time strangling him.”
“So, it was personal?”
“Can’t know for sure.” David placed his hands on his knees and stood up with another grunt. “But seems likely. The killer was trying to send a message, we just never figured out what it was.”
“Think this is the same guy?”
“Feels similar, but that was twenty years ago. It’s been a long time since we had a body. We always figured there were more victims, but never found them. So, why now? Why him?”
“That’s the million-dollar question.” Harris waited until David caught her eye before she spoke again. “You gonna call her?”
David didn’t have to ask to know she was talking about Cassie Quinn.
“No,” he said. “Not yet anyway. She deserves as much of a break as we can give her.”
Book 2: Chapter 2
Cassie didn’t blink as she studied the ghost of the young boy standing in the corner of her therapist’s office. She’d been there a few minutes before he materialized, translucent and stoic. She’d been seeing him outside of her bedroom walls more often as of late, but she had no clue why. He had only spoken to her once, uttering the name Sarah Lennox, before returning to his silent watch of her everyday life.
His presence had become more comforting than not. His initial disappearance, when he was replaced by the ghost of Elizabeth Montgomery, had disturbed Cassie. Since then, he had come and gone as he pleased, and Cassie found herself looking for him when he was gone too long.
Where did he go when he wasn’t watching her? Did he haunt other people? Did he have other objectives to fulfill? She’d ask him these questions, but he never responded. He’d just stare and stare and stare until she went back about her day.
“Cassie?”
The voice of Cassie’s therapist, Dr. Rebecca Greene, caught Cassie’s attention. Dr. Greene was in her fifties, with brown hair streaked with grey. She always dressed in a monochrome pantsuit. She must’ve had at least three for every color of the rainbow. Some of them came in various hues and Cassie thought her closet must’ve been satisfying to look at.
Today, she wore a periwinkle blue pantsuit with a white undershirt. Cassie had seen at least three other blue pantsuits over the years, but this one was the palest. It made Cassie feel warm and light. It was the exact color of the Savannah sky on a clear summer day.
“Cassie?”
This time she caught Cassie’s attention in full. “Sorry. What were you saying?”
Dr. Greene’s smile was always calm and serene. Her eyes sparkled behind her black-rimmed glasses. “I was asking you how you were doing.”
“Oh.” Cassie laughed. “I’m sorry. I haven’t been getting much sleep lately.”
“What’s been going on?”
“Um.” Even after years of being with Dr. Greene, she sometimes felt strange about opening up to her. “I’ve been having this recurring nightmare.”
“Want to tell me about it?”
Cassie shifted in her seat, glancing back over at the ghost of the little boy. Was it for reassurance? She wasn’t sure. “It starts off with me driving a car. It’s not mine. Just a regular car.”
Dr. Greene nodded her head politely.
