“It is likely he was in the forest when Lilly Coppersmith was murdered as well.” Rowley flicked through his notes. “I went to the Cattleman’s Hotel last night for a meal and ran into a group of men I know who hunt in that area. As luck would have it, Woods was sitting at the bar with James Stone. I asked them if they knew Woods, and all of them mentioned seeing him at the checking station up that way the day before Lilly’s murder.” His mouth curled into a smile. “They said he looked like he planned to stay a while from the gear he was carrying.”
Jenna glared at him. “And you are telling me this now?” She dashed a few notes onto the whiteboard. “You should have informed me about this evidence immediately.”
“I added it to his file, and the names of the people I spoke to last night.” Rowley shut his notebook with a snap. “I knew we’d be discussing the cases first up this morning. I didn’t consider it to be urgent.”
Jenna turned back to the whiteboard. “Okay, the only other persons of interest are Joseph Blythe and his father, Brayden.” She glanced at Kane. “During Kane’s interview with Brayden Blythe, I tried to make conversation with Joseph. He acted suspiciously and refused to look me in the eye. I noticed blood caked under his fingernails, and when I questioned him, he informed me he had been skinning squirrels, which may well be true.”
“Let’s look at the evidence. They live in the area of all three murders and have priors. Both men wear army camouflage gear and have an arsenal of weapons. Either one could be the killer.” Kane placed his coffee cup on her desk. “Although I didn’t see a crossbow with their weapons, they did have a number of backpacks and pairs of shoes they claim to have found abandoned in the forest. When Webber processes them, he will send over the details.”
“The bags and shoes could be trophies.” Bradford crossed her legs. “What do you think, Sheriff?”
“I don’t think so. Up to now, the killer hasn’t taken the victims’ personal possessions with him as far as we know.” Jenna’s attention moved to Bradford. “We found the belongings of the other victims close to the scene. The Blythes remain on our list of people of interest until proved otherwise. They could be off the grid because they prefer to live alone. Being antisocial isn’t a crime; neither is collecting things people leave behind in the forest.” She sighed. “Or they are mass murderers. Right now we don’t have enough evidence to haul in anyone.”
43
He heard the undertones of an argument as he strolled along the walkway between the bar at the Cattleman’s Hotel and the main lobby. He slowed his pace, seeing the couple in a heated exchange in an alcove, and wondered what had brought the sheriff and her deputy to the hotel at lunchtime. As he moved closer, he realized they were out of uniform. His heart skipped a beat; perhaps they had discovered his identity.
The sheriff pushed her deputy hard in the chest and stormed toward the hotel foyer. Closer now, he stared at her face in surprise. The small, dark-haired woman was not the sheriff at all but could be a close relative. As she headed for the door to the restaurant, the man with her gave him a dismissive glance and followed her. Not a doppelgänger for Deputy Kane after all. This man was older, in his late forties, and had a slight paunch.
He headed for the restaurant and gave his name to the maître d’. An unfamiliar waiter approached and he requested a table at the back of the room adjacent to the arguing couple. He could see the woman’s face clearly now, the way her eyes flashed with anger and the stubborn set of her chin. She flicked her dark hair out of her eyes, and at that moment, the overpowering desire to watch her die overwhelmed him. It came in an emotion so strong he had to squeeze his eyes shut to regain control. His hands trembled at the thought of her angry gaze set on him. She would fight—at first.
Once she came to the understanding she was part of a game, the fun would begin. He would allow her to run, just far enough before clipping her to slow her down. The hide and seek was the best part. He could always smell women’s fear, and when he found them and dragged them back to their men, they put on a good show. Since his last kill, he craved for another. The instructions coming through his earpiece from the viewers’ votes had heightened his experience to a new level.
Lilly had lasted longer than expected and he had enjoyed every moment. He opened his eyes, peering over the menu at the woman at the next table, and could see her dead, staring eyes superimposed over her face. The ceiling lights sparkled on the knife set so neatly on the pristine white tablecloth and shot the memory of Lilly’s final moans to the front of his mind.
In fact, in the end, Lilly had looked darn right grateful. He did not want her thanks; he needed his prey to realize there was no escape and no God to save them. He was in control of every breath and heartbeat until he alone decided when they could die.
It was a damn shame Lilly’s boyfriend had gotten away. The trail where he left her was isolated and the chances of anyone finding the couple’s bodies would have been remote. From what he had seen on the news earlier, the sheriff and her team had finished their investigation in the forest and uncovered few leads. With the sheriff back in her office, he could plan another hunt straight away.
Hikers swarmed into town daily and most took the regular trails to take in the falls or the rivers. It was the couples, who went into the forest for some alone time, that he needed for his sport, and they came in droves at this time of the year. His choice of a dark-haired small woman was one thing, but haunting the local bars and restaurants in the hope of overhearing people’s plans was making him far too visible. He glanced at the couple at the next table and decided to shadow them for a couple of days because they would be perfect.
The waiter arrived and he gave his order then took out his notebook and flipped through the pages, not reading a word. His attention had fixed on the couple’s conversation. The woman, he discovered, was Mariah, and she called her companion Paul. He gathered from their chat Mariah worked as his secretary and they were away on a business trip, or dirty week, take your pick.
She was not happy. Apparently, he had offered her a scenic tour of the falls; their outing to the most popular area earlier in the day had almost led to one of Paul’s business partners finding them in a compromising position, and Paul was a married man.
He listened for while, losing interest, but when the waiter delivered their meals, Paul was kind enough to ask if the waiter knew of any secluded places a couple could go to be alone in Stanton Forest.
He almost burst out laughing when the waiter suggested the old trail that ran past his cave. So enthusiastic to help the couple, the waiter came back a short time later with a tourist map and marked the trail with his pen.
Mariah seemed to be happy with the compromise and they made plans to rent the gear they needed to stay for one night in the mountains. As the conference they were attending wound up on Friday, they could head up the mountain on Saturday morning.
His meal arrived and the bottle of merlot he fully intended to consume to the last drop. He sipped his glass of wine and allowed the aromatic flavor to spill over his tongue. As it was Tuesday, he had plenty of time to set up his trail cams. The added bonus: He could visit his friends in the cave and discuss his plans with them—after all, they were such good listeners.
44
Wednesday, week two
Early Wednesday morning, Jenna received a call from Wolfe requesting a meeting to discuss his findings. No matter how much she insisted, he had refused to discuss anything over the phone. Since Lilly Coppersmith’s murder had hit the news, the phones had been running hot with information, all of which had taken precious time to investigate. The killer was a ghost or blended so well into Black Rock Falls, no one had actually seen him moving to or from any of the crime scenes. Any leads they had run down had been a complete waste of time.
She waited for her deputies to take seats then smiled at Wolfe. “Okay, what do you have for me?”
“Plenty.” Wolfe dropped a file on the table. “I’ve been working closely with the FBI’s Cyber Division. They discovered a small thread of information about a syndicate running a pay-per-view site on the dark web. This site is disturbing; for instance, cannibalism. I found advertisements and some folks actually volunteer to be eaten.”
“Oh my God.” Bradford paled and covered her mouth.
Jenna glared at her. “Go on.”
“We already know the dark web is used for every illegal activity across the spectrum. The problem is that they are virtually impossible to track. They select remote locations, which are difficult to identify.” Wolfe opened the folder. “Until now.” He handed images to Jenna and Kane. “These are stills from a fraction of video from the murder of Lilly Coppersmith.” He cleared his throat. “Worse still, if you look at the bottom of the images, you can see an indicator and a corresponding list. I believe the people watching controlled what happened next. They voted and paid for the killer’s next move.”