“John and one of the techs are going to comb through the area to see if anything else pops up,” he said.
“Great,” replied Katie trying to sound upbeat.
“Look,” the detective began. “I know that things, well, actually circumstances, haven’t been the best, but I wanted you to know that there are no hard feelings.”
Katie was caught off guard by his statement. She stared blankly at him.
Detective Hamilton offered his hand to Katie. “Detective, I hear I’ve been relieved from this investigation and that you are to take over,” he said and shook her hand. “McGaven,” he continued, and shook the deputy’s hand, “let me know if there’s anything more you need from me. I will forward you my current notes for the case.”
“Thank you, Detective,” Katie managed to say. Shocked.
Hamilton began to walk away and then suddenly turned to face Katie. “I know it’s more than overdue, but I am truly sorry for your loss.”
Katie nodded, appreciating the sentiment and finally understanding why Hamilton was being so uncharacteristically unproblematic about her being assigned to his case. Her aunt’s recent murder still hurt her deeply and Detective Hamilton had been the lead detective on her case. Due to the high emotions surrounding the investigation of the murder of her aunt, the sheriff being the prime suspect, the entire police department had been turned upside-down.
“I just wanted you to know,” he said and walked away.
McGaven said, “Well, I didn’t know that hell had frozen over.”
Katie watched the detective direct the bystanders to disperse. “No, I don’t believe it has…”
“He put you through a lot of crap during the investigation into your aunt’s death. I’m not so sure that all is forgiven from his perspective. But, it’s a start,” he said, still watching the detective.
“I know… but we need to concentrate on this case,” she said, not wanting to think about work politics. “We have a lot of graft ahead of us. First, we need to look at Candace Harlan’s missing persons report in more detail.”
Five
Monday 1345 hours
Katie sat in silence, staring at the road rushing past her window as McGaven drove them back to the Pine Valley Sheriff’s Department. It wasn’t an uncomfortable quiet, but rather, a familiar respect for the fact each of them was lost in their own personal thoughts of the homicide at the Elm Hill Mansion. They had worked enough cases together to know staying quiet wasn’t anything personal.
The body twisted and contorted. The words carved into her back. Katie searched her brain for what “hunter-gatherer” might mean to the killer.
“Katie?”
Did it mean that the killer was hunting for victims? She ran different scenarios through her thought process. Had he killed before? Would he do it again? How was Elm Hill Mansion involved? Did the killer intend for the body to be found, or was it just bad luck with the recent rain?
“Katie?” McGaven said again.
She realized that McGaven had been talking to her. “I’m sorry,” she said, and turned to look at him.
“You better be,” he replied, cracking a big smile.
“I was just thinking that the killer took a big risk.”
“What do you mean? Isn’t killing technically taking a risk?”
“Some killers take those precious final moments to pose the body, fulfill a fantasy, or enjoy the silence. But this killer took extra time to carve his message on her back. Because it was important to him.”
McGaven took a corner too fast, making the tires squeal.
“Hey, are we late for something?” she said.
“Sorry, this car doesn’t handle like the previous one I’m used to. I know that this vehicle is retrofitted for K9 and seems to have more power…” His mouth had turned downward.
“I haven’t had a chance to buy a new car yet,” Katie grumbled, remembering the incidents that led up to her Jeep being totaled.
McGaven turned into the police department parking lot and around to the private area behind the administration building before pulling into the usual parking place.
Katie opened the door and rushed toward the building followed closely by McGaven. As the heavy door closed behind them, Katie turned to him and said, “I’ll meet you in the office in a few. I need to change.”
“And shower,” he said and hurried toward the men’s locker room.
Katie smiled as she passed two female deputies on their way to patrol, and said hello to them.
“Hey, Detective,” they acknowledged.
The locker room was deserted.
Katie quickly went to her locker and dialed up the combination lock. With such an unpredictable job, she always kept an additional change of clothes for just this type of situation. A brown suit fresh from the dry cleaners, two blouses, undergarments, and an extra pair of boots. She grabbed two clean towels from the supply area before she stripped down to take a quick shower.
Ten minutes later, she was drying her hair when she noticed a folded piece of paper at the bottom of the locker. She was certain it hadn’t been there before. Could someone have dropped it there while she was in the shower? She looked around, suddenly self-conscious, her skin prickling. She walked around the rows of lockers but there wasn’t anyone around. There was a white sports sock on the floor that must’ve escaped someone’s gym bag; otherwise, it was completely empty.
“Hello?” she said, just to be sure, before walking slowly back to her locker.
Silence, only interrupted by the ventilation system turning on overhead. Comfortable that she was indeed alone in the locker room, Katie unfolded the small torn piece of paper. It wasn’t handwritten. In fact, it wasn’t a note at all. It was torn from a larger piece of paper, leaving three legible letters—“ETL”—and on the far corner it said “Express”. There was half of a ripped diamond shape on one side. She felt certain the note hadn’t accidentally fallen into her locker, that someone was trying to tell her something and she was supposed to figure it out. But she also knew that her inquisitive mind often worked overtime—and that it could be nothing. Not everything revolved around the murders that crossed her desk. There could be a million reasons why this piece of paper had found its way into her locker.
Katie didn’t want to break her momentum with the current case, so she pocketed the piece of paper, deciding to discuss it with McGaven later. Shutting her locker, she left the changing room, headed down the hallway and stopped at a familiar unmarked door. A small camera attached to the upper door frame was directed downward at anyone who stood at the entrance. She swiped her keycard and the lock disengaged with a buzz and a click.
The area was the forensic division of the police department, but it felt like another world. Cut off from the outside, with no windows, and the constant hum of the air being circulated, previously gave Katie a strange almost claustrophobic feeling, but now she felt safe and comfortable. She had been given the chance to occupy a couple of empty offices down here to set up the cold-case unit.
As she walked past one of the large forensic examination rooms, she spotted John hunched over a scanning electron microscope, completely unaware of her presence. She paused, wanting to say hello, thought better, and then moved on down a long hallway to her office.