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Sylvie figured that was one less player off the board. She picked up her tea and took a sip, thinking over the possible consequences of leaking false information to the press. She agreed that the unsub was more than likely to go dormant unless given a slight shove, but it would have been more beneficial had the setup not been two hours away from civilization.
“Have you touched base with Theo and Riggs?” Sylvie asked as she pushed aside her tablet to make room for her cup on the conference room table. “Considering the strenuous hike that it would take to reach their destination, all should be quiet up there.”
“They’ve been on time with their hourly check-ins.” Brook began to stretch her right arm across her chest. “I’ve been thinking about the crime scenes, and I don’t believe that the unsub would have carried his victims’ bodies too far from the structures. He wouldn’t have one burial ground, because he’s not killing them for pleasure. He doesn’t want a reminder of his transgressions.”
“I take it that you’ll send a team to each suspected crime scene?”
“Yes.” Brook rotated her right shoulder now that she’d stretched out her muscles. Her motions caused Sylvie to do the same. “The topics that I did manage to bring up to Tricia Zetter mostly included her friends in high school. I was hoping to narrow down the male subjects who fit the profile. Did she know something about one of them that could hurt their future? Had anyone made threats to her back in high school? Was she a part of something that could affect someone else’s future? None of her responses gave an indication as to the identity of the unsub.”
“Bit, did you have time to comb through Zetter’s social media? Did anything stand out in her private messages? She joined the military in 2018, right?”
“Nothing stood out, Little T.” Bit peered over his screen. “I’m looking for accounts on other applications now.”
“I noticed that Tricia’s list of social media friends from back then was uploaded into the file, so I’ll start to comb through some of their profiles. Maybe there’s mention of a trip or activity she and her friends were all involved with during that time…some secret that they all believe one another knows about. Whatever answers the unsub might be seeking, there could be a chance that Tricia doesn’t even know about it.”
“One of the local stations aired the information they overhead between Bit, Erika, and Irene.” Brook had stepped out from between the chair and table. “Otto drove over to the hospital to check on Mauve after questioning Griffin, who basically remained silent at the directive of his lawyer. No arrest can be made until the lab returns with the forensics evidence from the man’s jacket. There’s no way that Griffin didn’t get Hummel’s blood on him when he slit her throat. Anyway, while Otto was at the hospital, he mentioned the delay of the forensics team to Kirk. Since he is the one who will be returning to Hiker’s Haven tonight, I’m sure he’ll spread the word to any employees or guests. By tomorrow morning, the entire town should have the details.”
“Until then, we wait,” Sylvie murmured as she reached for the remote. “I’ll be in the office for another few hours. Let me know if you connect with Tricia Zetter again.”
Sylvie could sense Brook’s scrutiny, but she merely nodded her agreement.
“I’m going downstairs to see if I can get Wyn to brew up another carafe of coffee. The diner will be closing soon, and I don’t want to venture outside. It’s going to be a long night.”
Sylvie waited to speak until after Brook had exited the room and closed the door behind her.
“You thought Boss was going to send you home,” Bit said with a smirk. Considering that Sylvie could still hear the click of the keys on his keyboard, it was obvious that he never stopped concentrating on the task in front of him. “You lucked out, because we no longer have a liaison with the park rangers. Boss mentioned something about bringing Eggers on board.”
“What are you talking about, Bit?” Maybe Sylvie was more exhausted than she thought, because his words had made no sense. “Did something happen to Erika?”
“You could say that,” Bit mumbled as he finally pressed one more key with a flourish before he gave Sylvie his complete attention. “Erika had a one-night stand with Dominic Ryder a few months ago. She didn’t share that upon knowing Dominic’s name had been added to the suspect list. You can imagine how that went over. Boss has spent the last twelve hours—knowing her, a lot longer than that—planning this setup all the way down to the use of the press, so she didn’t hold anything back.”
Sylvie winced at the mere thought of such a confrontation between Brook and Erika. Honesty was of utmost importance to Brook, and there was no compromise to be had should that trust be violated during an investigation. It didn’t matter that Erika most likely thought her personal life should remain private. It certainly wasn’t Sylvie’s place to pass personal judgement, but it was in Brook’s purview to take action against such a relevant omission that could affect the outcome of a murder investigation.
“Zoey asked me out for coffee.”
“You don’t drink coffee.”
“I didn’t tell her that,” Bit said in irritation before readjusting his hat. Sylvie hid a smile at the nervous gesture. “I will, though.”
“If visiting my father has taught me anything, it’s that life is too short not to be happy.” Sylvie twisted her teacup around a few times in contemplation. “Tell Zoey that you want to meet over at the pub across the street from our offices. You love their Jägerbombs. Plus, it’s a place that you’re comfortable with, which means that you’ll be at ease during the date.”
“It’s not a date, Little T,” Bit denied as his right knee began to jostle up and down. Sylvie could tell just how fast from the way his entire body was twitching in the chair. “We’re just meeting each other in person. I mean, we’ve technically been communicating with each other for the past couple of months. It’s not like we’re strangers.”
Bit wasn’t one to act spontaneous. He preferred to stick to his routine, and he wasn’t the type of person to take risks, especially when it came to his personal life. He just needed a little push in the right direction.
“Whatever you want to call this meet-and-greet, just have fun. There’s nothing wrong with making more friends. This job doesn’t really afford us to enjoy a personal life on a regular basis, and we have to take advantage of the times that it does.”
A notification that Bit had set up for a program began to chime, and it was also a reminder that they had a lot of work ahead of them. Sylvie called out that she would talk to him later before pressing a button on the remote. The video closed down, leaving some of the documents that she’d been reviewing on the screen.
She set the remote on the table before removing her black-rimmed glasses. There were smudge marks on the lenses, so she used the bottom edge of her blue tank top that she’d worn underneath a matching cardigan sweater to wipe off the fingerprint marks. Once her lenses were free of blemishes, she slipped on her frames.
Needing something else besides clear eyesight and a cup of tea, Sylvie connected her phone to the office’s Bluetooth system. Once she had her pop music playing in the background, she got to work closing down the various documents that she had displayed on the screen. Instead, she needed something else to clear her thoughts when it came to the missing persons files, the statements by friends and families, and also the various coordinates that she’d tried to make sense of this past week.
The unsub was definitely someone familiar with Moonshine Valley and the surrounding towns, as well as Hiker’s Havens. All three women had stayed at the bed and breakfast, they had all ventured into town, and they had all set out to hike trails in the Smoky Mountains. There was not one specific trail, there had been no particular kill site, and there was basically no trace evidence to tie in one unsub.
The only outlier had been the gentleman who mistook Helen Beckham’s picture for that of Tricia Zetter. Tricia was who they needed to concentrate on, but they’d only been aware of such possible connection for a little over twelve hours.
Sylvie spent the next five minutes scrolling through Tricia Zetter’s social media pages. The brunette posted a lot of photographs with other service members who were all clearly good friends. It took Sylvie an additional ten minutes to access pictures and posts dated many years ago. By the time Sylvie had reached ones dating back to Tricia’s high school years, something identifiable began to make itself known—Tricia Zetter and her sister could have passed for twins.
