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“Where were these bodies found in relation to Alex?”
“Only half a mile away. Both of the local men were on the same rock in the same glade but with the coordinates from the NMPD report, Alex was found to the west of this area.” It was too close to be a coincidence. Two obvious murders clustered together and a Sheriff that refused to admit anything wayward was occurring with the only outsider, Alex.
“Alex’s eyes were missing just like Maller and Grennan,” she murmured.
They needed an autopsy report to know if he was missing his tongue, penis, and heart too. The thought made her stomach wrench.
“Look at the notes on the cause of death.”
The sentences were succinct, as if they tried to provide every twisted detail and wrap it up in a nice little bow. Hunting accidents. Maller from a fall, Grennan from an accidental self-inflicted gunshot wound.
Her head reared back. “What the hell. These men didn’t mutilate themselves.”
“I know.”
“How did they come to the conclusion that Grennan accidentally shot himself? They’ve got a murderer on the loose in the backwoods of Sylen and they’re hiding it.” Vera brushed her hair back in frustration. “Ok, let’s just say for a minute that Alex didn’t commit suicide since there were no suicidal indications or reported ideations. Yes, there was the issue with his relationship ending but beyond that, no issues that even Ximena knew about. So, let’s just assume for a moment it wasn’t his choice. With the missing eyes and ligature mark I saw around his wrist, it isn’t a big stretch to suggest he may have been a victim of the same perpetrator.” She mulled over the details, attempting to piece them together but finding the edges didn’t fit right. “Why does victim one, Maller, have his right foot missing but Alex and the second victim, Grennan, don’t? Why did someone slice Grennan up but not Maller and Alex? If it’s the same person, why is Alex in one location and these men aren’t?”
The way Sheriff Malis reacted when he found out she was FBI was beginning to make more sense. They didn’t want outside interference. Erasing official reports or hiding the obviously homicidal deaths altogether was illegal. She needed to get her hands on what they did have. “Either way, they’re a minuscule department with limited resources and they’re clearly unequipped to be dealing with three dead bodies and what may or may not be a serial killer.”
Teddi grabbed the phone, flipping through the reports as she spoke. “Beyond that, there are major differences between the victims. Maller is fifty, Grennan thirty-eight. Alex was only twenty-one. That is, if we’re playing devil’s advocate and assuming he’s also a victim of this killer. Which we don’t know for sure. Maller and Grennan were locals but they didn’t work together, they weren’t related according to J's research. There’s nothing except their zip codes tying them together as far as we can tell.”
“What’s the timeline?”
“According to NMPD and Sheriff Malis, Alex was found three weeks ago but the report wasn’t filed until four days ago. Maller showed up in a local glade two weeks ago. Grennan the week after.”
“The timeline between the murders is consistent. One week between each one.”
Sighing heavily, like the fact was a physical burden, Teddi agreed. “It looks that way. Again, we don’t have all of the details on what was done to Alex, but if he’s a victim of the same person, whoever is doing it has them paced out evenly. If we believe these reports, of course. J’s hands are tied at the moment since whoever is drafting the reports is anonymous. They're a member of the Sheriff's Department but which one of the four, who the hell knows? We don’t know much more than what’s in front of you. The department has two computers they all share so chasing an IP address isn’t going to narrow it down. They’re looking for any additional details that could suggest a motive but as of now we’ve got nothing.”
The two local men had three undeniable similarities in their missing organs but varied in the additional brutality taken. She needed to see how remote the glade and the rock platform were from town; it could suggest that the killer had significant knowledge of the local landscape.
"Does your boss know about this?"
"Of course, we don't keep stuff from each other. It's Mackey's golden rule."
"And?" She got an arched brow in return. "Are you guys going to report this?"
"Report what, exactly? They're practically scratch paper. Not filed as of yet and whoever began compiling them could probably say it was a clerical error that they weren’t submitted."
Vera began to disagree when she looked up.
Teddi’s head was still ducked, looking at the screen. Vera was immediately drawn to the soft curve of her brows, the thick fan of her mascaraed lashes shadowing the high peak of her cheekbones. Her pierced nose pointed down to her lips. She could just make out the subtle scent of lavender. The smell conjured up the warmth of a summer she never forgot.
What she wouldn’t give to forget, though. Or maybe—as she inhaled slowly, filling her lungs with the heady scent—she’d do anything to live it all again one more time.
“Vera?” Realizing she was staring, Vera pulled back stiffly.
“Yeah?” Teddi’s gaze lifted, the heat burning in her gray eyes undeniable. A soft breath brushed against Vera’s mouth. It made her thirsty, hungry, hot.
Weaving forward an inch, Teddi’s voice was soft as silk, “You’re staring.” She couldn’t stop. Couldn’t look away from the sheen on her lip, the heavy curve begging her to trace it.
As if she was pulled by a magnet, Vera’s chin tipped forward. So close. Barely there. She could almost taste Teddi on her tongue again.
“Vera?” Ximena’s tired voice called out from her bedroom.
Both of them jerked back. Vera fumbled with the phone, dropping it onto the carpet with a thud. It was a bomb going off. “Shit.”
“Don’t worry about it,” Teddi leaned down, sounding nonchalant.
