Taking, page 7
That had gotten him into trouble more than once.
Over the years, he’d learned to resist that urge, at least most of the time.
Right now, he kept reminding himself he and Riley weren’t here in any official capacity at all. Their unsanctioned involvement in a local murder case would be a serious breach of FBI rules.
He admitted to himself that he hadn’t always been such a stickler for rules. There had been times in the past when he’d risked his career on a hunch.
But he didn’t have any such hunch right now.
And besides …
Poking into this case would set a bad example, and that wouldn’t be good for Riley..
The kid tended to be too much a rule-breaker as it was. She’d made Jake furious more than once by defying his orders. Worse, she’d made Jake’s own boss furious, almost wrecking her career before it had even started—and nearly wrecking Jake’s career as well.
While Riley had still been a student at the FBI Academy in Quantico, Jake had yanked her out of her classes to help him on a murder case. He hadn’t had a partner at the time, and he’d thought her raw instincts would be useful.
And her instincts had been very useful indeed.
If it hadn’t been for Riley, they might never have stopped the killer.
But along the way, Riley had taken a truly outrageous detour. She’d gotten suspicious of a very important man, no less than a US senator. Pretending to be a reporter, she’d confronted Senator Gardner during a press conference and badgered him with questions about a murder victim.
Her instincts had been right, as usual—although not in the way she’d thought.
Gardner hadn’t been guilty of murder, but he hadn’t been an innocent man either. Riley’s stunt had brought to light personal indiscretions that had ended his political career.
Jake’s boss had been beyond furious—and not just with Riley. Special Agent in Charge Erik Lehl had lambasted Jake for getting her involved to begin with.
Riley had borne the blunt of his fury, though. Lehl personally had her expelled her from the Academy.
Then the young agent-in-training had pulled off some brilliant work with Jake on the barbed wire killer case.
Lehl had relented and put her back in the program, but he still had lingering reservations about her. Jake had overcome a lot of official doubts to get her into the BAU after her graduation from the Academy.
One more reckless stunt might finish her for good, he thought.
The last thing Jake wanted was for his decision to bring her along on this one to jeopardize her future. He would retire some day before too long, and the BAU would be in need of her unusual skills. Except for himself back when he’d been at his best, he’d never run across another investigator who could see into a killer’s mind the way she could.
When they reached the county medical examiner’s office in Stover, the cop named Wally parked in front of the building. As the three of them got out of the car, Jake watched Riley closely. He could tell by her determined expression that she felt strongly about this case.
She really believed that Brett Parma wasn’t the killer’s first victim.
Is she right? he wondered.
He’d told her the truth when he’d said he hadn’t gotten the same feeling from the crime scene. And normally, he would have felt confident about his instincts. But it was also true that he’d felt nothing at all when he viewed the place where the woman’s body had been tossed down. He had no insight to offer on this one.
Jake felt tired and burnt out, and wasn’t sure he could trust his own judgment.
He hoped the visit to the ME would settle things one way or the other.
But if, as he thought, they found no actual evidence connecting the two killings, would Riley keep her promise and let the whole thing go?
They might have a serious argument on their hands.
She’s a stubborn kid, Jake thought with a smile.
And that made her a lot like him. That was one reason Jake couldn’t help liking her, sometimes in spite of himself.
When they went inside the building, a receptionist greeted them and said that the medical examiner was expecting their visit. The woman led them to an office with a sign that read “Dr. Francisco Arau, County Medical Examiner.”
Jake and Riley went into the office while Wally waited outside. They introduced themselves to ME, a short, dark-skinned man with a thick mane of black hair. Unlike Chief Webster, Dr. Arau didn’t seem at all displeased to meet them.
He said, “Everett Webster told me you were coming. He said you had some questions about that woman who was killed near Wren’s Nest Campground. He said you had some idea that we might have a serial killer on our hands.”
Jake shrugged slightly and said, “It’s just a hypothesis at this point, Dr. Arau.”
“Please, call me Paco,” the ME said with a smile. “Everybody else does.”
Then he shook his head and added …
“I’ve got to say, this particular victim really unsettles me. I’ve seen dead bodies in all kinds of awful conditions, usually people who got lost or injured out in the desert and wound up half-eaten by scavengers. That’s pretty routine in this part of the country. I’ve also seen my share of murder victims. But this one …”
He sighed and said, “I just can’t make sense of it, I guess. Someone took this girl and bled her to death in an unknown location. Then he went to a certain amount of trouble to lug her body out onto that trail and left her there for anybody to find. That involved some risk to himself. Even though that particular trail isn’t heavily used, he could easily have been seen coming or going.”
Jake replied. “The guy who takes that kind of risk is usually eager to put some time and distance between himself and the victim.”
“But he didn’t bury the body. He didn’t even try to hide it.”
Jake looked at Riley. “What do you think that means?”
He could see her mentally turning his question over in her mind.
“I’m not sure,” Riley said. Finally she added, “He wasn’t announcing his deed to the public the way some serial killers do.”
Jake knew Riley was thinking of a killer who painted his victims up like clowns and another who left the dead hanging from fence posts, still wrapped in the barbed wire that had killed them.
“Right,” he said. “This one didn’t display the body in any way. But why didn’t he even try to hide it?”
“He obviously wasn’t trying to hide the fact that a murder had taken place,” she replied slowly. “And no matter why he killed her, after she was dead, the victim meant nothing to him.”
Dr. Arau had been listening intently. Now he chimed in. “He had to figure that it didn’t matter if the body was found. So he must have been confident that no one would see any connection between him and the victim.”
“Right,” Jake said. “Now, perhaps you’d let us have a look at the body.”
“I’d be glad to,” Paco said.
He led Jake and Riley to the morgue, where he pulled open a stainless steel drawer to reveal a woman’s naked, mangled body.
Riley let out a gasp and turned away.
Jake could understand her horror.
Most of the woman’s abdomen was gone, revealing fragments of internal organs and exposed ribs. Even some of her vertebrae were visible through the tangle of viscera. And of course, the stench was terrible.
Most noticeable of all, though, was the sheer, bloodless pallor of the victim’s skin.
Riley was still turned away, leaning against an empty table. Jake could hear her gasping and swallowing hard to keep from vomiting.
At first, Jake wasn’t especially shaken by what he saw. He’d seen bodies in far worse condition than this one during his years with the BAU. He walked slowly around the corpse, examining it from different angles.
He saw that there was little left of the woman’s right arm, which had been gnawed mostly down to sinew and bones. But when he got a look at her other arm, he stifled a gasp at what he saw.
Relatively intact, the wrist was wildly carved in all directions.
Whoever had cut her had been serious about making her bleed to death.
And more than that …
The cuts looked bold, confident, and assured.
Suddenly, Jake himself felt a surge of pure gut certainty.
Riley was right—and so was Harry, he thought.
Whoever did this has killed before.
CHAPTER TEN
Riley braced herself against the empty morgue table, trying to choke back her horror. She wondered—why was her whole body reacting so violently?
She remembered what she’d said to Agent Crivaro a little while ago.
“I’ve seen dead bodies before.”
It was true—she’d seen more corpses than most young people her age. She’d seen dead women bound up with barbed wire, bodies with faces grotesquely smeared with clown makeup, and her own college friends lying on dorm room floors with their throats cut open. Worst of all, she’d seen her mother lying dead with a bullet wound to her chest when she’d been a small child.
She shouldn’t be shocked, even by something this grisly.
Was this different somehow?
No, Riley thought. It’s too much the same.
This time, the horror was more visible, but all of those deliberate deaths had been ugly.
She was finding the sheer bulk of atrocity she’d seen in her short life hard to take.
But she knew she couldn’t let herself react this way—not if she wanted to be a successful BAU agent.
Riley forced herself to turn around and look again at the body.
To her surprise, she saw that Crivaro also looked stunned.
His face had gone pale and his mouth was hanging open. He stood staring at the victim’s left forearm, which was slashed in wild, violent knife strokes.
Standing beside him, Dr. Paco Arau looked more complacent.
Finally, Jake gave a sharp nod and Paco closed the drawer, removing the body from view.
Crivaro’s voice was hoarse when he asked, “Paco, do you have a fax machine?”
“Sure,” the medical examiner said. “In my office.”
Relieved that the body was out of sight, Riley finally drew a normal breath. As she followed Crivaro and Paco back to the office, she wondered what her senior partner had in mind now.
The first thing Crivaro did was to make a couple of phone calls to get the name and number of the medical examiner who had worked on the earlier murder case in Colorado. Then Crivaro dialed that number and put the call on a speakerphone for Riley and Paco to listen in. A moment later, a voice crackled over the speaker.
“Dr. Robert Licht, Upshur County Coroner, speaking.”
Crivaro said, “Dr. Licht, this is Special Agent Jake Crivaro of the Behavioral Analysis Unit of the FBI. I’m a friend of Harry Carnes. Do you happen to know him?”
The voice on the phone sounded pleased.
“Sure, Harry and I are pals. We go hunting together from time to time. What can I do for you?”
“I’m calling about a murder you had in your parts a about a year ago,” Crivaro said. “The victim’s name was Erin Gibney.”
“Yeah, I remember,” Dr. Licht said in a more somber tone. “That was an ugly business. She was found dead over in Dyson Park. Bled to death. I guess you know the police never caught the killer.”
“I know,” Crivaro said.
Then Crivaro took a long breath and said, “I’m calling from the medical examiner’s office in Stover, Arizona. I’ve got a couple of other people on the line, my partner and the ME. I’ll let them introduce themselves.”
Riley’s heart quickened at that word.
Partner.
She wondered …
When is it going to seem real to me?
Paco identified himself over the phone and so did Riley.
“This sounds pretty serious,” Dr. Licht said. “What’s going on?”
“We’ve had a similar murder down here in Arizona,” Crivaro said.
Riley heard a gasp over the phone.
“Jesus,” Dr. Licht said. “Do you think it’s a serial killer?”
Crivaro paused for a moment. From the expression on his face, Riley sensed that he was on the verge of saying “yes.”
He’s becoming convinced, she thought hopefully.
Instead, Crivaro said, “I wonder if you could do me a favor. Could you fax me some autopsy photos of the victim’s body? I’m especially interested in seeing close-ups of the knife wounds on her forearms.”
Riley heard a hesitant grunt on the phone.
“I don’t know,” Dr. Licht said. “I normally keep that kind of documentation pretty close to my vest. Is this an official FBI case?”
Crivaro heaved a sigh and said, “I guess that depends on what’s in the photos you’d be sending me.”
A short silence fell. Then Dr. Licht said, “Well, for a friend of Harry’s, I guess I can make an exception. How do I send it?”
Paco Arau told Dr. Licht his office fax number.
“Give me just a couple of minutes,” Dr. Licht said. “I’ll get back on the line as soon as the photos go through.”
Riley saw that Paco’s eyes had widened with concern.
Paco murmured to Crivaro …
“I’ve never dealt with a serial case before. Do you really think …?”
His voice faded, and Crivaro made no reply.
A silence fell for two or three minutes. Then came a click and the whirring of the fax machine. Sheets of paper came rolling out. Crivaro grabbed the faxes and looked at them. Then he groaned aloud and spread the images on the desk for both Riley and Paco to see.
Riley immediately noticed that the body was much less damaged than the one she’d just seen in the morgue. Apparently Erin Gibney’s body had been discovered before it could fall prey to so many scavengers.
But most of all, Riley noticed the pattern of knife wounds on the victim’s wrist.
The similarity to the wounds on Brett Parma’s body were impossible to ignore. The older cuts might have been somewhat sloppier and reckless than the more recent victim’s, but they were obviously the work of the same killer. It was like looking at two examples of one person’s handwriting.
Riley and her two colleagues sat staring at the photos for a moment.
Then they were startled by the sound of Dr. Licht’s voice crackling over the speaker.
“Did you get them?”
“Yeah, we got them,” Crivaro said.
“So how do things look?” Dr. Licht asked.
Crivaro shook his head. “They look bad. Real bad.”
With a glance at Riley, he added, “We’ve definitely got a serial on our hands.”
Riley felt a jolt at those words.
I was right all along, she thought.
Only now did she realize … she wished she’d been wrong.
“I’m sorry to hear that,” Dr. Licht said.
“Yeah, so am I,” Crivaro said. “Listen, I need for you to fax us everything you’ve got on Erin Gibney’s autopsy, the whole written report, all the photos. Especially the fingers. This victim’s knuckles are bruised and her fingernails are broken, like there was some kind of struggle.”
“I’ll get right on it,” Dr. Licht said.
The call came to an end, and Riley, Crivaro, and Paco sat in startled silence for a moment.
Finally Paco said, “Listen, I’m afraid I’m out of my depth all of a sudden. Like I said before, I’ve never dealt with a serial case. Mostly ordinary deaths, just a few open-and-shut murders. What do you need me to do next?”
Crivaro tilted his head and said, “Just do your job. Don’t worry too much about it, Paco. An ME’s job is pretty much the same, no matter how somebody dies. Dr. Licht will be faxing you a pile of information shortly. Just sift through it, then call Dr. Licht to compare notes, especially regarding the knuckles and fingernails. Neither one of you will probably find anything helpful that we haven’t already noticed. But if you do, contact me right away.”
“I understand,” Paco said. “I guess the hard part is now up to you guys. What do you do next?”
Crivaro let out a grunt that seemed to say, That’s a good question.
Then he said, “We’ve got to find out everything we can about what Brett Parma was doing for a day or two before she was murdered, especially anyone she might have talked to during that time. Also, we need to find out if anybody saw anything suspicious, like someone who might have been stalking her.”
Drumming his fingers on his knee, he added, “That means going to the campground where she was staying. And of course the local police have already done that. Apparently they came up with nothing.”
Crivaro looked unhappy, and Riley suspected she understood why.
She remembered something Harry had said to them.
“You and your partner can’t just march into a campground looking like you do right now. Hell, you’ve got ‘FBI’ written all over you.”
She also remembered what Crivaro had said about the idea of the two of them camping together.
“That’s just too damned ridiculous.”
But now Riley wondered …
What choice do we have?
Riley said to Crivaro in a cautious voice, “Agent Crivaro, it seems to me that we’ve got to—”
Crivaro interrupted with a growl, “Yeah, I know. We’ve got to go undercover as campers. We’ll do it just like Harry said except I’ll be your dad, you’ll be my daughter. We’re going to need a whole new look—especially our own camper. Paco, do you have any idea where we might rent one locally?”
Paco nodded and wrote down an address. Crivaro and Riley thanked him for his help and left his office.
When they stepped outside the building they heard loud music playing. They were relieved to see that the cop named Wally was sitting in the police car, listening to the radio as he waited for them.
Crivaro said to Riley, “You go ask Wally there if he’ll give us a ride to the RV rental place. I’ll be right with you. First I’ve got a phone call to make.”
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