Hell's Highway

by Gerri Hill

  Their eyes held for a long moment, then Cameron finally let out a defeated breath, realizing how childish she must seem to Andrea. She cleared her throat and reached over for her wineglass.

  “I haven’t had great luck with people I’ve loved,” she said before taking a sip. “I’ve lost so many.”

  “So you think if you lost me, it wouldn’t hurt as much because you didn’t say the words?”

  “No, Andi, that’s not it.” Cameron turned away, embarrassed now, but Andrea pulled her back around.

  “Tell me.”

  “Everyone I’ve loved is gone. My parents, my brother. Laurie. Partners, teams.” She ran her fingers through her hair. “Hell, even people I didn’t love. Like Collie,” she said. “I thought, well, if I don’t say it out loud, then maybe,” she shrugged and tried to smile. “Maybe the fates won’t know and you’ll be spared,” she finished in a whisper.

  She expected Andrea to laugh at her foolishness but was surprised to see the threat of tears in her eyes.

  “Trying to fool the fates, huh?”

  “I know it’s silly, Andi. But I feel so strongly about us, about you. I feel like, finally, I have a family. You and Lola. This rig feels like home now. If something happened to you, I couldn’t survive. Not this time. I...I couldn’t go on.”

  “You’re the strongest person I know, Cameron. You’ve been through so much. You would—”

  “No. I don’t think so. I couldn’t take losing you.”

  Andrea looked like she was about to protest again but she said nothing. Instead she gave Cameron a gentle smile and squeezed her hand as she motioned toward the kitchen.

  “I’ll clean up from dinner.”

  “Andi, wait. I—”

  “I know, sweetheart. Me too.”

  CHAPTER SIX

  Leaving Dr. Copeland’s office, Andrea studied Cameron as they headed back to the truck, wondering at her sullen mood this morning. She assumed it was either from the lingering effects of their conversation last night or Murdock’s earlier call informing them that Reynolds and his team were on their way. She guessed it was the latter, especially since they’d ended the night making love with wild abandon, Cameron finally giving voice to her feelings. She was so tough and in control when in her professional mask, yet sometimes—when they were alone—Cameron displayed a vulnerability that made Andrea’s heart break. It was a side of her that she’d only let Andrea see once in Sedona, the night Collie was killed. Andrea had seen years’ worth of grief cross her face that night as Cameron tried to run from it.

  Last night, too, as Cameron had made love to her, Andrea knew she was trying to tell her without words what she was feeling. Andrea had stopped her, rolling them over and pinning Cameron to the bed with a hard kiss.

  “I love you. And I know you love me,” she said. “You don’t have to convince me.”

  “I just—” Cameron’s eyes held hers fiercely and Andrea didn’t dare look away. “I love you,” she whispered, as if still clinging to the hope that the fates would not hear. “Everything feels right in my world now. You make everything feel so right, Andi. I don’t want to lose this.”

  She didn’t ask Cameron to say the words again. As she’d told her, she didn’t need to hear them to know. But as Cameron made love to her, those words slipped out time and again, as if Cameron were freeing herself from the bounds she’d placed.

  She’d been nearly shy this morning, avoiding any conversation of the hours they’d spent pleasuring each other. Too many hours, Andrea thought as she fought back a yawn.

  “Tired?” Cameron asked unexpectedly.

  “Yes.” Then Andrea playfully bumped her shoulder. “But I’d do it all over again.”

  Cameron laughed and her dark mood seemed to dissipate. “Dr. Copeland wasn’t any more helpful than the vampire doctor.”

  Andrea smiled at Cameron’s reference to Dr. Agnew. “Were you expecting him to hand you a suspect?”

  “Well, you did when I landed in Sedona,” Cameron reminded her.

  “I think you were the only one who believed me.” Andrea held up her phone, showing Cameron the pictures of the tattoo she’d taken. “This might help us ID her. The lion is unusual.” Andrea paused. “Or did you want Reynolds and his team to do the truck stops?”

  Cameron snorted. “I don’t want Reynolds or his guys anywhere near this case. God, what the hell is Murdock thinking?”

  Andrea hid her smile at Cameron’s outburst. She’d been expecting it all morning.

  “I mean, he could have at least waited for us to give him some feedback or something,” Cameron continued. “What the hell is Reynolds going to do? We have no leads, no evidence. We don’t even know where to start with this one and Murdock is sending in a whole goddamn team?”

  “Covering both I-40 and I-10, there are probably a lot of truck stops,” she said. “It wouldn’t hurt to have extra bodies doing the legwork.”

  Cameron stopped abruptly. “You do realize that if we have company on this one, we have to be very careful.”

  Andrea stared at her questioningly. “Careful?”

  “Yeah. Us. You and me,” she said, motioning between them. “What we did last night is not allowed,” she said, her lips twitching in a smile before she started walking again.

  “Oh. Well, I know it’s frowned upon,” she said. “And you told Murdock we weren’t—”

  “Murdock knows I’m lying,” Cameron said. “He’s willing to ignore it as long as no one calls him on it.”

  “So when Reynolds gets here, we have to pretend that we have a business relationship only?”

  “Yes.”

  “Oh, come on. We live in a motor home that has one bed. Who’s going to believe we’re not lovers?”

  “They don’t have to believe it. We just can’t give them anything to go to Murdock with. Like, oh, ‘the two dykes can’t keep their hands off each other’.”

  Andrea grinned. “Well, that much is true.”

  Cameron stopped again. “Last night was fantastic,” she said, her voice low. “I’m sorry I got so weird about—”

  “Don’t be, Cameron. But you can’t protect me to the point that I can’t do my job. The profession we’re in...there are risks, we both know that. We’ve both seen that.”

  “You’re right. I know.” Cameron’s gaze lingered, as if she wanted to say something else, then she smiled. “So, sheriff’s department next?”

  “Yeah. Let me call them.” She was already looking for the notes she’d put in her phone earlier. “Deputy Morales,” she said. “He’s listed as the one to contact.” She eyed Cameron, her face damp with perspiration. “You want to do it from the truck with the AC running?”

  Cameron wiped her brow and nodded. “I’m not really the desert type,” she said.

  “No? You fared pretty well in Sedona,” Andrea said as she listened as the call went through.

  “You can’t compare Sedona to the Mojave Desert,” Cameron said. “At least we had trees there.” She opened the door for Andrea and winked. “Let’s hope our next investigation takes us to a beach somewhere.”

  Andrea laughed, then slipped back into her professional mode as the phone was answered.

  “Yes, this is Agent Sullivan, FBI,” she said, still not comfortable with her new title. “I would like to speak with Deputy Morales, please. Is he at the station?”

  “No, he’s on patrol. What is this in reference to?”

  “The unidentified female, found out at”—Andrea glanced again at her notes—“Cactus City rest area,” she said. “Special Agent Ross and I are assigned to the case. Is there someone else I can speak with?”

  “Yeah, hang on. Let me see if the chief deputy is available.”

  Andrea glanced at Cameron. “Morales is on patrol. She’s going to get someone else.”

  “Ask if they can email us the coordinates for the site. We don’t really need an escort out there,” Cameron said.

  Andrea nodded as a male voice came on the line.r />
  “I’m Chief Deputy Grace. What can I help the FBI with?”

  “Yes, thank you. Agent Sullivan here. I’m calling about the unidentified female, found out at the Cactus City rest area,” she said. “I’d like—”

  “The headless woman?”

  “That’s the one,” she said, flicking her eyes to Cameron.

  “Yeah, we got word you would be involved in this one. I don’t have much to tell you, Agent Sullivan. The report is barely a page long. Of course, I can pass on the coroner’s report. That’s not a lot of help either.”

  “We’ve already spoken to Dr. Copeland and have a copy of his post. I understand forensics came up empty. I’m assuming you’re aware of the victim that was found outside Barstow?”

  “Oh, sure. Headless bodies being found tend to make the news,” he said. “We just don’t have any leads. Hell, we don’t have any evidence. San Bernardino County doesn’t either.”

  “I understand. Is it possible for you to email us the report? We’d also like to take a look at the dump site.”

  “Sure. I can have a deputy run you out there.”

  “If you have GPS coordinates, we can find it,” she said, smiling at Cameron.

  “Yeah, they’re in the report.” He paused. “So you guys are going to totally work the case?”

  “It’s been assigned to us, yes.”

  “We’d like to be kept in the loop, Agent Sullivan. Especially if the victim turns out to be a local.”

  “Of course,” she said. “Understood.”

  “Hang on a second,” he said quickly and she could hear mumbled voices as he covered the mouthpiece.

  She glanced at Cameron who stared at her questioningly. “Someone interrupted him,” she explained.

  “Sorry, Agent Sullivan, but you’ll probably be interested in this. Just got a call...a bicyclist down near Blythe reported a body near the road. Headless.”

  “Blythe? I’m not familiar with it,” she said, trying to picture a map in her head, but Cameron was already using the onboard computer, pulling up a map on the console.

  “It’s on I-10, at the Arizona border. The bicyclist estimated it was about ten miles west of Blythe. We have deputies en route. It’s outside of the city limits but the Blythe PD will be the first at the scene. Highway patrol as well.”

  “We’d like to be involved, of course,” she said.

  “Yes, but this is our call until we determine if it’s linked to the other victim.”

  “I think it’s safe to assume that, don’t you?”

  “No offense, Agent Sullivan, but this is our jurisdiction. You may observe only. If the ME confirms the same killer, then we’ll gladly step aside and let you work it as a serial. Until then, it’s our case.”

  “Understood,” she said. “We’ll head toward Blythe now.”

  “Deputy Morales will be on the scene. I’ll make sure he gives you a complete briefing.”

  “Thank you. I appreciate it. We’ll be in touch.” She nodded at Cameron, who started the truck, knowing the conversation had come to an end.

  “Good job,” Cameron said as she pulled away. “You have much better diplomacy than I do.”

  “Maybe it’s because I remember all too well how it felt to have the FBI come in and take over,” she said.

  “Me?”

  “No, not you. You were actually very nice about the whole thing, other than the two files you had on me,” she said with a smile. “I mean when I was in LA. They were normally a bunch of pricks.”

  Cameron laughed out loud. “Yes, I can name several who fit in that category,” she said. “So? What’s up? Body?”

  “Yes. Blythe is on I-10 at the Arizona border.” Andrea looked at the map on the console. “Looks like it’s over an hour’s drive. We’ve been told to stand back until the ME confirms the link.”

  “He can dictate all he wants but my badge trumps his,” Cameron said with a rakish grin. “As if having a rash of headless victims isn’t linked to the same killer. Maybe you should shadow their crime scene, make sure they don’t miss anything.”

  “I appreciate your vote of confidence in me, sweetheart, but my forensic training was years ago, as you well know. I doubt I could offer anything to them.”

  Cameron sighed. “I guess I need to call Reynolds and see where his team is. They were flying to Palm Springs. He wanted to make that their base.”

  “Palm Springs?”

  “Yeah. Apparently Collie taught him well. He shot down my suggestion of the Holiday Inn in Indio,” Cameron said. “We’ll meet tonight at their hotel to go over everything. Now that we have a third victim, we might have more of a pattern.”

  “Do you still want to check out the dump site?”

  “We’ll see how much time we have. I’d like to, yes.”

  She nodded, knowing Cameron wasn’t expecting to find anything at the rest area, but she suspected it gave her a sense of the killing—a sense of the killer—to see where the body was dumped. She’d recognized that need in Cameron when they were in Sedona. The dump sites were nothing but disturbed rocks yet Cameron would study each one, methodically writing in her tablet what she saw and sometimes what she thought she saw. Andrea had no problem giving Cameron that time.

  “You think it’s silly that I want to see the sites?”

  “Of course not,” Andrea said, surprised that Cameron had guessed the direction of her thoughts. “It’s what we do.”

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  Cameron gritted her teeth as she watched as many as fifteen people traipsing near the spot where their victim lay. “Goddamn idiots,” she murmured, already reaching for her FBI credentials.

  “Cameron,” Andrea warned. “We need to work with these guys. Don’t piss them off first thing.”

  “Excuse me,” she said loudly, ignoring Andrea’s words as she held up her badge. “Excuse me,” she said again. “Who’s Morales?”

  A middle-aged man separated himself from the others, his sheriff’s uniform drenched in sweat. “I’m Morales.”

  “Special Agent Ross, Agent Sullivan,” she said, glancing at Andrea.

  “Yes, I’ve been expecting you. Please note that this is still our—”

  “Have the crime scene investigators finished?”

  “No. They just started,” he said, pointing to two men who hovered over the body.

  “Then why the hell are all these people contaminating the scene?”

  “No one’s touched the body,” he said, “although the bicyclist opened the tarp. Blythe PD was first on the scene.”

  “Can you please ask everyone to back away? Jesus, have they had training? Don’t they watch TV?”

  Andrea stepped forward with a stern look at her. Cameron closed her mouth, but her gaze never wavered from Morales.

  “Deputy Morales,” Andrea said, her voice calm. “I’m a former sheriff’s deputy myself. The FBI is always a little...pushy,” she said, glancing at Cameron. “We know you have jurisdiction until the ME verifies the link. But just between us out here in the field, that’s pretty clear-cut, don’t you think? I mean, you were at the Cactus City scene, weren’t you?”

  “Yeah.” He looked toward the body, the brown tarp having been removed. “It’s the same,” he nodded. “No doubt in my mind. But my orders are—”

  “I understand. We’re not trying to jump the gun,” Andrea said. “We just don’t want to leave anything to chance. Like contaminating the crime scene,” she said, glancing at the group of officers still watching the crime scene investigators.

  “You’re right. I’m sorry. I should have secured it better. We’ve got highway patrol, Blythe PD, us,” he said. “Everyone wants a piece. Now you.” He stepped away, addressing the collection of officers. “Guys, let’s back up. Let CSI do their thing,” he said. “The FBI is going to oversee this one.”

  He glanced at them and Cameron nodded her thanks as the officers dispersed. “You’re amazing,” Cameron said quietly. “Thank you.”

  Andrea smi
led at her. “Do they watch TV? Really, Cameron? That’s what you came up with?”

  “Sorry. It just popped out.” She headed to the body. “Let’s go take a look.” At Andrea’s hesitation, she stopped. “What?”

  “We just asked them to move back so they wouldn’t contaminate the scene. Why, then, are we allowed near the body if they’re not?”

  Cameron bit her lip, wanting to play her FBI trump card, knowing she could do anything she damn well pleased. She knew how to examine a scene without tainting it. But once again, Andrea’s logic won out. “I hate when you do that.”

  “What? Contradict you?”

  “No. Logically tell me that I’m a conceited, arrogant bully.” She watched Andrea try to hide her smile as Deputy Morales came over.

  “I called it in. I told them it was the same killer. They still want to wait for the ME to confirm but he did say you could bring in your own forensic team, if you’d like.”

  Cameron shook her head. “Our team,” she said, glancing at Andrea, “is en route to Palm Springs now, but we’ll leave the forensics to your guys.”

  “If it’s like the last one, there won’t be anything. Tarp appeared to be brand new, right out of the bag. Nothing special about it. One you could pick up at any sporting goods store,” he said. “Body was clean. You’ve read the report so you know there was sexual trauma but no fluids found. I did a quick glance at this body and—”

  “Morales?”

  He looked over at the forensic guy who had called for him. “Excuse me.”

  Cameron didn’t wait to be invited. She followed him over, recognizing the portable fingerprinting device they used out in the field now.

  “Got a hit,” the technician said. “Monica Riddle. Has priors. Solicitation. Prostitution.”

  “Address?” Cameron asked.

  “Last known was LA.”

  “Morales, where would these girls work? Truck stops? Hotels?” Andrea asked.

  “Both, yes. We don’t have the manpower to monitor the truck stops. Fender lizards, they call them,” he said. “There are a few popular stops here along I-10 but the biggest two are on I-40. One west of Barstow, the other west of Needles. There might be five or six hundred trucks parked a night. A lot of girls work those two.”