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My phone starts ringing as Todd is talking, and I see it’s Derek on the other end. I answer it quickly, telling Todd who it is.
“Have you found something?” I ask, walking outside to get away from the smell of the house. I pull my bandana down to be able to breathe better.
“Yeah, we found a necklace, and at first, I didn’t recognize what it was until something kept nagging at the back of my head telling me I’d seen it before.” Derek takes a deep breath like he doesn’t want to say the next part. “Chief, the necklace was Brooklyn Lewis’s, the second vic.” It takes me a minute to process that information.
“Are you sure it’s hers?”
“Positive. After I realized why the necklace was familiar, I pulled up her social media pictures again and you can see her wearing the necklace. It also has the initials BL on it. There’s no other logical explanation for why Rachel would have it. They weren’t friends, Brooklyn was never in town, so Rachel couldn’t have found it somewhere...” He trails off as if he doesn’t want to finish his thought.
“Fuck,” I say, losing all sense of professionalism. Rachel killed Brooklyn Lewis, and if that’s the case, then she also killed Ashley Delmont. “None of this is adding up. I don’t understand how any of this fits together,” I say both to myself and Derek. I notice Todd, Nathan, and Chad have come outside too, so I put Derek on speakerphone and tell them what he found.
“Chief, I have a theory, but I don’t think you’re going to like it much,” Liam says, also apparently on speakerphone.
“I don’t like any of this, so just go ahead and say it,” I tell him.
“If you look at the timeline, the murders started right after Quinn got here. I mean she’d only been here a couple of weeks when the first murder happened. What if Rachel has some sort of fixation on her? All of our vics have a certain resemblance to Quinn, so maybe Rachel killed them because she couldn’t get who she really wanted. Then tonight, she knew you’d both be working late, and Rachel took her chance at getting Quinn.”
God, this kid. If I wasn’t about to come apart at the seams, I would be incredibly proud. Todd steps in, knowing I need a minute to gather myself. The idea that Quinn could’ve been targeted shreds my insides.
“That’s a pretty good theory, kid, because we have evidence from the house to believe Rachel might’ve been the one who broke into Quinn’s house.”
“Where would she take her?” I ask out loud but mostly to myself. “I don’t think she’d take her to the landfill because that murder was more in anger than anything else.”
“Is there a place Quinn liked that Rachel would know about?” Liam asks.
I look up at Todd, knowing immediately where we need to go. I just hope it’s not too late.
38
COOPER
Ispeed into the parking lot of the lake and get as close to the tackle shop as possible. Slamming on my brakes, I jam the gear shift into park and jump out. Every second matters right now because if Rachel killed those women, she might’ve already killed Quinn with a cut that was too deep.
When they first met, Quinn told Rachel her favorite place in Sonoma was the lake, and with the first murder happening here as well, I knew it would be the place Rachel would bring her. I hear Todd’s door close and tires screech behind me as I make my way towards where the first body was found. Suddenly, I feel a hand on my arm and whirl around quickly to defend myself but realize it’s only Todd.
“I know you need to get there right now, but you need to calm down and be smart. If you come in too hot, she could slice Quinn’s throat in a second,” Todd says. I know I need to heed his advice but I’m having a hard time not going in there guns blazing.
I take a deep breath and shove everything back into a box to deal with later and try to bring my cop brain back into the forefront. It’s not easy, and it doesn’t work completely, but I’m able to focus enough to think about the next steps in order to keep Quinn safe.
“Okay, Todd, you're with me. We’ll go in on the left. Nathan and Chad, you guys come in from the right. We don’t know what we’re going to find when we get there, but we can assume Quinn will be tied down and most likely stripped. We need to proceed with as much caution as possible because we don’t know Rachel’s mindset right now.” I look at Todd, hoping my gratitude for his level head is showing in my eyes. He nods his head in understanding.
We all turn and start towards the forest where the first victim was found. As we get closer, we can hear voices, so I hold my hand up to slow our progress and indicate for the guys to do their best to quiet their steps.
Suddenly, I hear a scream, and everything in me tightens. All four of us bring our guns to attention, and I feel Todd’s hand on my shoulder acting as both comfort and restraint. We keep moving forward until they come into view.
With the moon shining through the trees, I can barely make out Rachel hovering over Quinn, and I can’t tell if she’s alive. The sound of our footsteps causes Rachel to spin around, and I can finally see Quinn. I let my eyes quickly assess her before moving back to Rachel. Her shirt is spread open, and I can see at least one wound down her left side. I force my eyes away because I can’t afford to lose focus in case Rachel decides to act quickly and kill Quinn.
“Well, this is a surprise,” Rachel says calmly as if it’s no big deal we’re here. I notice she hasn’t moved the knife away from Quinn’s body though. She knows what she’s doing, and that confirms everything I need to know. I slow my steps and come to a stop several feet away from the two women.
I feel Todd’s quiet strength behind me and see Nathan and Chad out of the corner of my eye. Each one of them has my back, so I slowly lower my gun to get Rachel to focus on me.
“Did you think I wouldn’t find you, Rachel?” I ask, doing my best to sound nonchalant and not accusatory. If I get her riled, that will only put Quinn in more danger.
“I had my hopes, but I didn’t think you’d be able to put it all together this quickly. I’m glad you’re here though. Now, you’ll finally see me and not her,” she says, digging the knife into Quinn’s sternum making her cry out.
Silence drops around us as her words sink in.
It was me. It was always about me. Oh god, this is all my fault.
