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He wished he could be there with her, comforting her. Taking comfortfromher. But he knew he’d be tied up here and then back at the station for hours. The FBI was present now in full force, and everyone would have to be brought up to speed.
“I have no idea what time I’ll be through here. I was planning to head home when we’re done but that could be really late.”
“Cole, I can assure you I don’t think I’ll be doing much sleeping tonight.” A pause. “I’ll be waiting for you.”
A warm feeling coursed through him. “Then I’ll see you whenever.”
“Cole?”
“Yes, darlin’?”
“Be careful.”
“Always.” He clicked off.
Eventually, he left Scott and Gaylen supervising the scene and went back to the station. He was weary in every bone in his body and the night was far from over. One of the rookies was manning dispatch and coordinating everyone out on the road. He sought out another young deputy, the one who was searching records for isolated buildings in the county.
“Find anything?” he asked.
“It’s kind of hard to tell, Sheriff,” she explained. “I have to pull up the property listings, then the topographical maps and try to match properties with aerial locations.”
“Get as much as you can,” he told her. “The FBI will have a chopper here first thing in the morning to start a search by air. I’d like to have a list going by then.”
“I’m working on it. The problem is, the county’s just full of ranches, big ones that have all these line shacks and cabins that haven’t been used in years. Mostly people have forgotten about them.”
“That’s just the kind of place our guy would look to use.” He sighed. “I know it’s a tedious job. Let me know when you need a break.”
“Yes, sir, but I’m fine.” She turned back to the computer.
He sat down behind his desk, put his feet up, tilted back his head and tried to sort out everything they knew. He ran down a quick mental list of the ranchers whose property held the most out-buildings and line-shacks. It was actually fairly small.
The first three people were, to his mind, the unlikeliest of the lot—Tate, Jed Nickels, and John Garrett. John was more into the newspaper than the ranch these days, leaving it to his two sons. Besides, he’d been in town near or with Cole or Dana when at least one of the murders was taking place. That had his mind circling back to Jed and, much as he hated it, his Uncle Tate. Both men used ranch managers now to do most of the work, especially now that both of them were pushing seventy.
He cringed as the words of the profiler came back to mind, ‘sixty to seventy years of age.’ But Jed and Tate were the last men in the community who would ever get involved in something like this. They were pillars of the community. Visible and popular with everyone. He couldn’t see either of them committing these heinous crimes. Or, for that matter, being involved in a sex slave business.
Reaching in his drawer, he pulled out the current list of members of the chamber of commerce in High Ridge. Even people who didn’t live in town belonged to it. It was the ruling social organization of the entire county.
Flipping it open, he began slowly going through the list, using a pen to tick off names he’d go back to later. He was still engrossed in the list when there was a tap at his door and Scott came in, closing the door behind him. He dropped into a chair across from Cole, looking weary enough himself.
“I’d give a year’s pay for five minutes alone with this bastard when we catch him,” he spat. “This goes beyond sickness. This guy is insane.”
“Is Nita finished with the body?”
“Only the first pass. I followed her to Drowdy’s so I could hear what she had to say. The forensics men are still at the scene and the other two are waiting with Nita until she’s finished.” He raked his fingers through his hair. “Cole, this time it’s the worst. I’ve never seen anything like it, and I’ve seen a lot.”
“He’s escalating, and I think he’s getting desperate.”
“I think he’s losing control,” Scott added, “and won’t be satisfied until he gets hold of Dana. Then he’ll stop. She’s his final target.”
“Here’s another guess for you.” Cole showed him the book in his hands and explained what they were doing about properties. “Think about this. If he’s the one skimming from the human deliveries to feed his lust, he has to have a place to take them. A place to hide the bodies when he’s done with them.”
Scott stared at him. “I must be more tired than I thought. That should have occurred to me.”
“We need not only an isolated outbuilding, but a place to dump bodies without drawing attention. Or wild animals.” He dropped his feet to the floor and strode to the door. “Kelly!”
The young deputy doing the property search turned at the sound of his voice.
“Yes, sir?”
