Just Right, page 14
"Yes, ma'am. It is."
"And why should I be a target?" She frowned.
"The killer is choosing victims based on certain parameters of appearance, habits, and location," Connor explained calmly. "We've run programs to try and predict where he might be striking next, and your name was shortlisted by the program."
"How bizarre." Now, she looked worried. "Well, I guess if the program thinks he might target me, that's serious."
"Do you know a man called Becker Evans? We're seeking him for questioning."
"Becker Evans, Becker Evans." Meryl shook her head. "The name's familiar, but I can't place him. I know my nephew has many friends in this area, and quite often when I get friend or connection requests, it's through him. I do gift packs for a lot of local stores and events, you see."
Cami guessed that if Becker had targeted this woman, he'd taken care to stay under Meryl's radar. It seemed that he didn't get to know his victims before he tracked them, but only targeted them based on the kills he was planning.
"Ma'am, I'm going to ask a favor," Connor said. "Until we have closed this case, there's a chance you might be at risk. I'm going to ask the local police to come here and wait inside your house to provide you with protection."
"Inside the house?" Meryl looked surprised.
"It's important that they stay as close as possible and provide a visible deterrent to the killer as well as active, on-site protection to you."
"So, you mean I've got to clean with a policeman watching?" She looked perturbed.
"Until we have more information on the killer's movements, yes."
"Oh, I'm sure I can manage without that. I mean, my neighbors and I look out for each other, and I’ll keep the door locked." She clearly didn’t like the thought of a cop on-site, interrupting her privacy and cleaning work.
"Ma'am, it's important that we keep you safe. A neighbor might not be in time to stop this from happening. These crimes have occurred very fast. This is our job, and we're trained to do it. I promise that the policeman will leave as soon as we have an update on where the criminal is."
Meryl sighed. "All right, then. Better safe than sorry, I guess."
"Exactly, ma'am. I'm going to call the local police to come around here immediately. Thank you for your cooperation."
As Connor turned away, Cami could see that the woman was mentally preparing herself, mentally accepting the need for protection. She guessed that it took a leap of logic to accept that you were in danger. It was easier just to deny it and to believe everything would be alright.
But right now, if the killer arrived, Meryl would be protected. Connor was already on the radio, calling for reinforcements.
And his phone was ringing. That made her nervous. Were they calling to say they'd caught this killer at the school where Jayne was teaching modeling?
He answered, frowning.
"Cami," he called. "Come quickly. There's been a development. And this could be serious."
CHAPTER TWENTY SEVEN
"Jayne Bell has left the school grounds," Connor told Cami, and she felt cold inside at the words. "The local police called the school immediately, but there was a delay as there was no phone connection to the outside hall where she was teaching the modeling course. By the time the message had been communicated and the school had sent someone to go and look for her, the class had finished, and she'd gone."
"Where? Where has she gone?" They were both rushing to the car. Cami couldn't believe this. It was exactly what she'd been dreading. That the killer knew, better than they did, where she was headed.
"Apparently, she goes for a hike in the woods after she's finished her lessons. She walks to the school as it’s close by where she lives."
They scrambled into the car. Connor headed off. This distance—now closer to ten miles than twenty from Meryl's house—still felt impossibly long.
"Can they phone her?"
"They're trying. She's not picking up. They think her phone's on silent after the lessons, and she hasn't switched the ringtone back on."
"Can we track the phone?" Now Cami was feeling as if this was her worst nightmare come true.
"My office is on it. They're setting it up."
"We need to get there," Cami said.
"I know. We're not far away. I’m getting a visual description of what she’s wearing any moment.” The radio crackled. “Wearing black leggings and a gray top.” He sighed. Cami guessed he’d wished for pink, or something that would be more visible from a distance in the woods.
They drove for the next few minutes in silence. Connor's face looked set and stern. He was clearly equally worried about this new development.
"Where does she go after the hike? Straight home?"
"Yes. The school thinks so, anyway."
"He could be waiting there."
"Not anymore. Police are at her home already." The radio crackled as Connor accelerated onto the highway. "No sign of her. No sign of him."
"He's tracking her in the woods. I know he is. He must have watched her routine before now and known which way she goes." Cami felt panic fill her. This was what he was going to do. He'd taken Leanne while she was out hiking on the trails. The same would happen here to Jayne.
"We're almost there," Connor said as he pressed down on the gas pedal.
Cami was biting her lip. She couldn't stop thinking about the horror of this scenario and what it would bring. Jayne was an innocent woman who did not deserve to die at the hands of a psychopath. Surely, they could save one, just one, from this lethal killer.
"What's the plan?" she said.
"If we haven't been able to track her, then we search. We have three police who’ve just arrived on site at the closest trail head and are waiting for us. That’s where we’re going to set this up."
Cami had her phone open but didn't know what she could do with it—if anything. There might be nothing she could do. She checked Jane's social media again, read closely through today’s updates. And yesterday’s. She hadn’t mentioned a walk in the woods. Surely, there had to be a way of finding where she was. She needed to think, think as fast as she could, because they had arrived.
There, ahead, she saw the gate to the school, winding up through the treed hills. And on the other side, the entrance to the forest trails. A police car was waiting there.
Connor jumped out of the car and strode over to the cops. They already had a map of the trails unfolded on the hood of their car. Scrambling out of the passenger seat, Cami hurried after them.
"There seem to be two main routes here. The northern one and the eastern one," the cop explained. "Both lead to a main path that passes her house. Both pass several rivers, and the routes run each side of a small lake."
Cami knew that meant there would be water available and close by for him to drown his victim. This would happen fast. There wouldn't be time, and they might already be out of whatever time they were going to get. She felt as if they were living a nightmare. It felt like they were trying to stop a runaway train that was already speeding lethally out of control.
"Right. Let's split up. We're going to take one of the main pathways each. We need to be on the lookout for a hiker fitting his description. Any parked cars should be treated with suspicion and checked out. He must have parked somewhere nearby." Connor glanced at his phone again. Cami guessed that he was looking for any messages, any updates that might give a clue about the killer's car.
"Nothing from the camera feed yet," he said. "But they’re working on it now. They might get a result in a few minutes, or it could take another hour."
So, it looked like they weren't going to get lucky there. Finding the killer's car via the camera feeds might not be possible in the time available, and Cami guessed that they’d just have to resign themselves to that fact.
"Shall we start out?" the other cop said.
Cami was sure that she would be deployed in Connor's group, but she was wrong. He turned to her, his face serious. "I want you to stay here," he said. "Lock yourself in the car. Two in each group is enough. If you can do any research on site using your devices, make any progress with where she might be, I need you to do it and to tell us."
Cami tried not to feel disappointed. Holing up in the car, doing her research, tracking the killer through her IT expertise, was her strength. Walking out on the trails in pursuit of the killer was most definitely not her strength, and she knew that in these situations, a pair of cops was generally the most effective.
But in this critical situation, she wanted to be out there. She wanted to tread impatiently along the trail, each step potentially taking her closer to the killer. It felt futile to lock herself in the car. Cami wanted to argue it, but she knew that would be pointless too. Because someone had to keep checking for clues online, even if there didn’t seem to be any. And that someone was her.
Connor strode off into the forest on a trail that led north, walking shoulder to shoulder with his new partner. The other cops set off to the east, and Cami watched them both go. Her stomach flip-flopped with tension. She tried to tell herself that there was no reason to worry. Even if the killer was here, Connor was good at his job. He would be able to handle it.
But what if the killer had come and gone already?
Of course, there was always the more reassuring option that he had never intended to target Jayne at all. He might have been trying to track Meryl and that seeing the cops outside her door had put a spoke in the wheel. He might be ducking and diving in a panic now, knowing they were on his trail.
But he might also be waiting in the woods, ready to kill again, and Cami feared that was the more likely option.
She got back into the car, locked the door and sat back. She would do what she could.
Inside the car, she opened her laptop and began to work through all the information she had on Jayne Bell. She scrolled through the woman's social media again, scouring the pages, looking for anything that might help her pinpoint where she would be.
As she did that, her phone rang. It was Ethan. Her heart quickening, she picked up. She’d been worried about Ethan. It was good to see him calling.
“Hey,” she said. “Are you okay?”
“Hey, Cami. We just finished the takedown. Got both of the bad guys in custody. No injuries to any agents. So, it went well, and I’m on the way back. Just checking in to see how you’re doing?”
“I’m frustrated. We’ve worked out who the next victim probably is. But she’s out walking somewhere in a network of trails. Her phone’s on silent and they haven’t been able to track her geolocation yet.”
“There’s a problem with that system. It’s down in a lot of places at the moment, and it also caused us to have snarl-ups and delays. But that’s a huge problem for you now. So, she’s out there somewhere, and you don’t know where?”
“Connor and three other cops have gone out searching. They’ve left me here to trace him online, but I don’t know where to look or how he’s planning his next kill, if he is at all. I need to think!”
Ethan sighed. “That’s big pressure, Cami. How’s he doing it? The last I heard, he was using location pins?”
“Yes, he is. But this woman, Jayne, is out for a walk and nobody seems to know where. The problem is that I’m sure he knows.”
“How can he be doing it then? Does he know her habits? Could he have done surveillance on her before now?”
“He hasn’t physically tracked any of his other victims, that I know of. He seemed to know where they would be via their location and pin drops. And he’s not the greatest at IT. He’s not a hacker. Just an ordinary user.”
As she was doing this, a thought occurred to her.
If Becker had used information that was available online, Cami needed to use his logic and trust in it. She had to assume that he had been following clues that Jayne had left online. And that just meant she needed to look for them. They couldn't be that hard to find, surely? This killer hadn't used expert tech skills to track any of his prey so far. But what he had used was eluding them. Why?
“It must be obvious, then,” Ethan said, confirming what Cami was thinking. His voice was so calm and reassuring. She felt bolstered by his support. And, as Cami thought about it, she realized what the answer might be.
Of course, she thought. It was obvious. In fact, it was so plain and simple that they hadn't gone looking for it—yet.
"Ethan, while we were speaking, I’ve had an idea. I think I know where to look, and how he found where she would be. So, I’d better go now, and see if I’m right.”
“Good luck,” Ethan said, sounding excited.
Cami cut the call. Quickly, she began checking where she needed to, to see if her hunch was correct.
CHAPTER TWENTY EIGHT
Connor paced through the forest, checking left and right, referring frequently to his map. He kept his gaze constantly roaming. Black leggings, gray top. Blonde hair. That was what he was looking for. And, of course, for an anonymous blond male attacker, hiding somewhere in these woods.
"She has to be on one of the two trails, surely?" the cop partnering him said. He spoke the words in an urgent voice as if he was hoping that by saying them, they would be true.
"Logically, yes," Connor replied. But just as he knew Cami had done, he was feeling an uneasy sensation that there was something they were missing. Some clue the killer knew about that they didn't.
Perhaps that was inevitable on a case like this, where this man was literally on a killing rampage. Hunting a psychopath could be a mental game, Connor knew, and it was important not to feel in your own mind that you'd lost. Second-guessing yourself could sometimes lead to failure.
Just as important was not to let the killer get inside your head. He needed to have faith in his own ability to track him down, and he also needed to have faith that Cami was doing as much as she could online. They were using every available avenue to lead them to this man.
"We'll find her," he said to the cop beside him. But he didn't feel as confident as he sounded. He didn't know why, but there was something he couldn't put his finger on that was making him feel uneasy.
The cop nodded, but Connor still felt as though he was reassuring himself.
The other cops, out on the eastern trail, were calling in every so often. But the updates so far had been brief and disappointing.
"Nothing yet," another came through.
"Nothing here," Connor replied. The forest felt warm, the trees were not letting in enough of the breeze. Insects were swarming around his head, and he batted them away. He kept his eyes open and his ears too. A sound might be the only clue they would get that the killer was nearby.
They moved on. A few minutes later, they came to a junction. To their right, the trail wound up a hill and disappeared into the trees. To the left, it ran straight.
"We might need to split up here," Connor said, consulting his map again. The uphill trail was nothing more than a faint pathway, and it looked longer. It did a winding loop around the hill before rejoining the track again.
"Yes. We should each take one route. Hopefully we connect further along."
"Hopefully."
Connor took the uphill route as the other cop moved along the straight trail. His legs were burning as he climbed, but there was no time to waste. If Jayne would only answer her damned phone, he thought, if she'd only check it and see that there were now probably ten missed calls from the police. If she'd only listen to the messages that could save her life.
If she was still alive. That thought gave him a chill.
If this went badly, he knew the responsibility would be on his shoulders. There was already a huge amount of anger and blame being generated. It made it worse that a couple of the victims were high profile. Leanne's death, in particular, had caused consternation in political circles, because she'd done so much for tourism in the area. And the murder at the aquarium had been a PR disaster for sure.
He kept his gaze moving, his senses alert, and his mouth dry. But as he moved through the trees and bushes, he had no sense that he was getting any closer to her. These trails were empty.
He told himself that it was a big forest. She might be just a few hundred yards away, among the dense trees.
But the voice of worry had begun to resound in his head. She could be dead, the voice said. If the killer got to her first, she could be dead.
Connor tried to ignore the thought. It was just a feeling, he told himself. Just a feeling and not fact. But he knew that he couldn't put it out of his head. He tried not to think of all the things that could go wrong—that could be going wrong right now.
And then, his phone started ringing. Quickly, Connor grabbed the call, his hopes surging. It was his office on the line.
"Any news?" he said.
"Yes," the agent in the office said. He sounded triumphant. "We finally got a match on the car."
"What is it?" This was huge, Connor knew. This could be their first big breakthrough.
As the agent was speaking, Connor heard the beep that indicated he was receiving another incoming call. He couldn't do anything about it, though. Not now, not while waiting for vehicle details.
"There is only one car that was in both locations at the right time. It's a white Audi SUV. I'm sending plate details through now."
"Registration details?" Connor asked.
"I’m taking a look as we speak.” There was a pause. “It's registered in the name of John Knight, who is a member of a local militia group. I doubt it's stolen. It's most probably loaned, but I also doubt Knight would know the reason for Becker needing this vehicle. We know the militia group well. It is somewhat anti-establishment, but we’ve never had that kind of trouble from them in the past. Most likely, Becker is connected to him somehow and asked for a favor."
"I've got the plate," Connor said. "The message just came through. You need to get an APB out on this immediately. I’ll tell the others."
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