by Robin Mahle
On arrival, the deputy stepped forward. “I’m Deputy Burgess and this is Special Agent Kate Reid,” he said to the woman at the desk. “We’re here to see Principal Whitmore.”
The young woman appeared ill at ease by their presence and retrieved the phone. A brief exchange of words and she ended the call, returning her attention to the deputy. “He’ll be out in just a moment.”
The principal emerged from behind the double doors and, while he seemed poised, his eyes couldn’t hide the fear that lurked inside him. “Deputy Burgess, Special Agent Reid, I’m Dr. Matthew Whitmore. Please come on back to my office.”
A brief handshake was exchanged between the parties, and Kate and Burgess followed the short, bald-headed man to his office. She knew immediately he would need to be convinced that neither his students and nor his school were in any danger. It was a guarantee she would have to offer whether or not she believed it necessary.
“Thank you for meeting with us, Dr. Whitmore,” Burgess began. “I know you were only briefly apprised of the reason behind our request for this meeting, so I’d like to turn it over to Agent Reid and she can fill you in with greater detail.”
“Thank you, Deputy Burgess.” Kate turned her attention to the principal. “As you may have heard on the news, a few weeks ago, a young woman was found in the Saint Marys River. Not far from here actually—in the Cove.”
“Yes, I did hear that.” His face was masked in lament.
“And on that young woman was a t-shirt that we believe came from your school.” Kate retrieved the image of the shirt from her bag and slid it across his desk.
Whitmore placed glasses on his face and began to study the photograph. “Yes.” He nodded his head. “This is old, but yes, it’s from our school.”
“How old?” Kate asked.
He removed the glasses and looked at Kate. “I’d have to check our files, but it was before I was the principal here, so at least ten years ago.”
“I see.” Dates began to run through her mind as she tried to piece it together.
“Do you believe the young woman who was murdered was a former student?”
“That’s what we would like to determine.” Kate hesitated to explain fully and crafted a response that would omit the gruesome nature of the discovery. “We believe this article of clothing was placed on the victim post-mortem and that it could have belonged to either a former student, the victim, or possibly even the perpetrator. However, our current line of thought leans toward the latter.”
“So you think the killer went to this school?” Whitmore appeared distressed by the inference.
“It’s just too early to say right now, Dr. Whitmore. But I think we’ll need to obtain a list of students who attended the school during the time when this particular image would have been used on school gear.”
“I’m afraid I can’t just give you student names, Agent Reid. I’m sorry.”
She raised a preemptive hand. “Don’t be. I understand this will require a warrant and I will act accordingly to obtain the proper paperwork so that we can delve into this further. In the meantime, if you could find out when this particular design was used, it would help us tremendously in narrowing down a time frame.”
“Of course. I’ll help out in any way I can.”
“And, there’s one other thing, doctor.” Kate hesitated. “We’d like to keep this as quiet as possible, as I’m sure you can understand. There’s no point in panicking parents or students when we don’t know what we’re dealing with yet. I’m sure you’re a very busy man, but if it’s all the same to you, I’d prefer it if you could handle this directly, meaning no one else on staff should be made aware.”
Dr. Whitmore pursed his lips and began to nod. “Of course, I understand completely.”
“Thank you for your help.” She extended her hand.
“Certainly. I’ll do what I can.” Dr. Whitmore returned the obligatory handshakes.
Kate and Deputy Burgess returned to the deputy’s patrol car.
“How well do you know the district judge?” she asked, stepping inside the vehicle.
“Fairly well. I don’t anticipate any problems obtaining a warrant.”
“If we find something, it’s going to become more difficult keeping this quiet,” Kate said.
“Yes. It will.” Burgess started up the car and pulled away from the school.
Kate began to consider what Burgess had said at their last meeting. That it seemed incredible that both bodies were discovered so near one another when it appeared as though each had originally been dumped in the Okefenokee Swamp. What were the odds of such a thing happening? She was missing something and it was beginning to whittle away at her thoughts. The intense volume of the dispatch radio as a voice crackled through it startled them both. “Deputy Burgess, please come in.”
He tossed a glance to Kate, then retrieved the receiver. “Burgess here.”
“Mike, we’ve got another body in the river.”
FIFTEEN
It was an event that changed the entire course of the day in a single moment. Another victim in the Blackwater investigation had been discovered and Kate was on her own. Nick and Dwight were already in Atlanta, following on Agent Lyon’s lead. They were tracking down the man whom Lyons believed to be responsible for the disappearance of Lizbeth Hansby and Kate was in the process of heading to the scene where a body had just emerged. If it turned out to be that of Lizbeth—then they had their killer.
“First thing we need to do is find out who this person is,” Kate said. “Her identity is going to be critical to the rest of my team, which is currently in Atlanta following a suspect in the disappearance of a woman.”
Burgess turned to her. “I suggest we get the coroner out there right away. In the meantime, I’ll get one of my guys to work on the warrant. Although at this point, I’m not sure how important that still is.”
“Until we get some clarity regarding the victim’s identity, that information is still valuable, I believe. Even if we do find out who the victim is, from what I understand, this lead in Atlanta is a man who had given his employer a false identity. The school information may be our only indication of finding out who this person really is.”
“I’m not sure how easy it is going to be to keep this quiet. Three bodies in this river inside of a month?” Burgess began to shake his head. “Unless you pull some strings on your end, I don’t think we’ll be able to keep this one out of the press. And people are going to start getting nervous around here.” Burgess turned onto the dirt lot that led to a remote part of the river. “This is it, just ahead.”
“This isn’t where we were the other day, is it?” Kate asked.
“Nope.” He shifted the car into park. “We’re about three miles upstream.”
The two stepped out of the vehicle where three other officials, looking as though they belonged to the sheriff, were standing nearby. They approached the scene where the other deputies huddled in conversation.
Burgess greeted his colleagues. “This is Special Agent Reid. She and I were working on a lead when the call came in.”
“This has something to do with the other two bodies that were pulled from the river a while ago, doesn’t it?” one of the officers asked.
“I would assume so, but if you could show me where the victim is, I’ll be able to make a better assessment,” Kate replied.
“Right.” He waved his hand. “Follow me.”
It was another fifty feet down the river before they came upon the victim. Kate knelt down at the shoreline where she’d been placed. “Where exactly was she before being pulled from the water?” She examined the body.
“According to the people who found her, they were on their boat, doing some fishing, and saw something floating by close to shore. When they steered towards it, well, it didn’t take them long to figure out it was a body.”
“Did they pull her out?”
“No. The call came from them while they were still on the river. They d
ropped anchor and waited, keeping an eye on the body, but never touching it.”
“Good.”
“Coroner’s on the way now,” Burgess said.
Kate retrieved her phone. “Any CSIs here?”
“On the way.”
She began to snap pictures of the victim. First her body, then closing in on her face. “I need to send this to my team and see if she’s a match to the missing woman near Fayetteville.”
» » »
Arlen slammed the palm of his hand against his head as he drove on. This wasn’t supposed to happen; it was too soon. But he couldn’t stop it and now there was another body. He needed his paycheck first and then he’d have to leave—get the hell out of the state because Lizbeth’s body would be discovered soon enough. Every law enforcement official in the state would be looking for him when that happened.
He felt as though his skull was splitting under the weight of his mistake. He’d listened to the serpent—listened to it hissing in his ear that she had to die. It was too soon and Arlen had lost control. He had jeopardized everything because he could no longer manage the impulse. With virtually no money, he needed what would most certainly be his last paycheck.
The woman would have to be dealt with later and so she waited in his house, her blank stare and cold body bloodied by his desperation. He’d tried to choke the life out of her, just as he had the others, but she just wouldn’t die. So he had no choice but to thrust a knife in her stomach and then her chest. Blood was everywhere and cleaning it up, leaving no trace, would be almost impossible. Arlen roared in anger. The man he had convinced himself he was had begun to unravel.
Arriving at the store, Arlen glanced into the rear view mirror to double check his appearance. The last thing he wanted was to look nervous or agitated. He had to maintain his cool in order to pull this off. As he walked inside, a co-worker spotted him and approached.
“Dude. Where you been? You know that lady went missing after y’all left her grandma’s house, right? Dude, everyone’s been looking for you since you didn’t show up for two days.”
Arlen stopped short. “What do you mean, ‘everyone’?”
“I mean like the boss and some cops. They came in a few days ago after she disappeared. Didn’t anyone call you?”
He shook his head. “No phone.”
“No phone? Who the hell ain’t got no phone? I don’t know, dude, you’d better go see the boss before shit turns serious.”
“Thanks.” Arlen nodded and waited for the co-worker to disappear from view. He wasn’t going to go and find the boss and he could kiss his last check goodbye. The cops from the other day. They must have been there to ask about Lizbeth. In his arrogance, he’d convinced himself they had been there for another reason, but it seemed he was wrong. Now he had to leave before anyone else spotted him.
The garden area was his best chance. He meandered back so as not to draw any more unwanted attention. They only ever had one guy working back there at a time and he was usually watering something or stocking something else. Arlen could sneak out through that exit and head straight back to his truck.
A clear path out of the building was what he needed and his pulse quickened in search for one. The idiot he just ran into probably wouldn’t waste any time spouting off his mouth that he’d seen him. The thud of giant fertilizer bags being tossed around echoed near him. That meant whoever was manning the garden area was at the back. He’d just been given his chance and wouldn’t waste the opportunity. With careful but urgent steps, Arlen moved covertly through the outdoor area. A glance over his shoulder to ensure no one noticed, and he was out the door, speed-walking back to his truck.
The risk was now too great to even go back to his home. He would have to leave everything behind. A shooting pain ripped through his head at the idea he could not finish what he’d started. The beast would not be happy and Arlen would have to atone. “There’ll be others, I swear it. There’ll be others.”
First and foremost, Arlen needed money. The gas station. The kid at the gas station he’d been drawn to. That was where he needed to go. The kid would give him money whether he wanted to or not. Turning the truck south, Arlen drove toward the lone gas station that was near his home. It was morning and he couldn’t be sure the kid would be working. It might be his father and that would be a tougher set of circumstances, but there wasn’t much choice right now.
Several minutes passed until Arlen pulled alongside the front of the gas station and reached in the back storage area of his truck for the gun. It wasn’t his weapon of choice, not for his victims. But he’d found it inside the purse of his most recent victim. Inside, the kid stood behind the counter and Arlen began to feel that something had finally gone in his favor.
“Good morning,” the kid said.
Arlen didn’t reply, only approaching the counter and glanced up. No cameras. “Do you remember me?”
“Yes, sir. I’ve seen you a few times. How are you?”
The sensation grew inside him once again and he had to force it back down. There was no time. He slowly pulled the gun that had been tucked inside the back of his jeans. “I’m only going to say this once. Open the drawer and give me the money.”
The kid’s eyes widened and he began to tremble, fumbling with the keys on the cash register to get it to open. “Please don’t hurt me.”
“You have no idea how I’ve wanted to hurt you, boy. But if you stay calm and just give me the money, I’ll leave and you’ll never see me again.”
A nod was all the boy could muster and he returned to the machine that still refused to open. “I’m sorry.” He trembled with greater ferocity.
“Calm down. Take a breath and open the fucking register.” Arlen peered outside. No one had driven into the station, but he knew he didn’t have much time before someone did.
The kid seemed to calm down, appearing to understand that Arlen would follow through on his word. The register finally opened and he pulled out all the money inside. “This is all we have.”
Arlen looked at the cash he placed on the counter. There couldn’t have been more than a couple hundred bucks there. “That’s it? That’s all you have?” He slammed the side of his fist against the counter and the kid recoiled. “Fuck!” He raised his gun to the boy’s forehead. “You have no idea how fucking lucky you are.” Arlen quickly walked out and jumped in his truck, roaring out of the gas station. The cops would be notified, but that didn’t matter now. Distance was what he needed and he figured he could gain a fair bit of it if he just kept going.
» » »
The coroner’s team raised the body and placed it on the stretcher. If there had been any doubts as to whether this woman was a victim of the Blackwater Killer, they had all but vanished when Kate viewed the destruction to the body. Exactly the same as the others. Beneath the clothes in which the killer redressed his victims was the bloody, hollowed opening he’d created by removing the genitals.
“What kind of goddam monster does this?” Burgess asked.
“The world is full of monsters, deputy,” Kate replied as she watched them carry the stretcher to the waiting ambulance. “It’s our job to find them—and stop them.”
“Any word back from your team in Atlanta?”
“I’m waiting for official confirmation, but off the record, it appears to be Lizbeth Hansby, the woman who went missing last week.” Kate paused for a moment. “You know, I thought I had this guy pegged, but now this one. He’d been waiting for weeks in between and now his MO has changed. Why?” Kate turned to Burgess. “Excuse me for a minute, would you? I need to make a quick call.” She stepped away from the busy scene and retrieved her cell. “Agent Myers, it’s Kate.” For a moment, she expected Georgia to say something about Nick or somehow defend her actions, but there was silence on the other end. “The preliminary report you built on our Blackwater unsub—it appears as though we’ve just found his latest victim. What are your thoughts as to why he would accelerate his attacks?”
&nbs
p; “There could be several reasons,” Georgia began, “but the most logical one is that he appears to be an opportunist. Randomly selecting his victims based upon ease and accessibility. Your latest victim could have just been in the wrong place at the wrong time and he seized the opportunity.”
“That makes sense,” Kate agreed.
“There could, however, be less obvious factors as to why the cooling off period would become abbreviated. He could be losing control of his compulsions, or there could be a sense that his time is running out and he feels he may be close to getting caught.”
Kate was angry with Georgia for what she’d done to Nick, but she would never question the woman’s ability as an agent and certainly not as a profiler. She considered the reasoning behind this latest finding and pondered in silence.
“Kate, listen, I’m really sorry about—you know—about what happened between Nick and me. I’m sure he told you. He tells you everything.”
That rubbed her the wrong way. “It’s none of my business, Agent Myers, but thank you for taking my call and answering some questions. It was very helpful.” She could hear Georgia sigh on the other end.
“I see. Got it. Don’t hesitate to contact me if you need anything else, Agent Reid. Goodbye.”
A pang of regret surged in her stomach as she ended the call. Kate hadn’t wanted an adversarial relationship. They’d been through a lot together and she did admire Georgia a great deal. But what she did—it just seemed incomprehensible and especially at the lowest period in Nick’s career. Perhaps in time, Kate would see her way past it because it was Georgia who defined the Highway Hunter killers. She set them on the path to Edward Shalot and the others. She was the best.
Just as Kate was about to rejoin the others, her phone buzzed in her hand. “Nick? Do you have him?”
