To Catch a Killer

She straightened as if realigning her attitude. “Of course not. I can treat you with professional courtesy. The question is, can you do the same?”

Not to be outdone, Matthew smirked. “I’m just following your lead, Agent Thistle.”

Kara smiled thinly. “If that’s the case, let’s start over,” she said, taking a deep breath for emphasis. “I’ll want to speak to your medical examiner as soon as he’s had a chance to look at the body. We’ll be setting up temporary lodging at the Jackson Creek Motel in town but you can call my cell when the M.E. is ready for me to come down.”

“Fine.”

She started to leave but stopped and turned. “And Matthew, one more thing … I’d appreciate it if you’d keep the private details of my past here in Lantern Cove exactly that. In the past.”

She didn’t wait for his reply, which was probably a good thing. Matthew wasn’t in the mood to agree with anything Kara had to say. And that wasn’t professional.

Biting back the hot words dancing on his tongue, he dialed back the response and turned on his heel in the opposite direction, putting his mind back in gear when seeing Kara had made him feel spun out.

They weren’t kids anymore. Kara was never the person he’d grown up thinking she was and damn it, no matter what she had to say, when this was all through, Matthew had a few things to say to her. Whether she liked it or not.

“You have a way with the locals,” Dillon remarked with his signature wry humor, but Kara didn’t find anything amusing about coming face-to-face with Matthew Beauchamp after all these years. It was all she could do to cling to her training. Seeing him had rattled her cage in the worst way. “Care to share what that was all about?” he asked.

“No.”

He shivered and turned the heater on full blast. “Why not?”

Kara shot him a dark look. “This isn’t story hour. I want to stay focused on the case. I got another call from Senator Nobles on my voice mail. How the hell did he know another body was found?”

“Politicians have their fingers in all sorts of pies. No telling where he got the information. Does it matter he knows?”

“Yeah, and he’s all over my ass about it.”

Dillon shrugged. “He’s acting like any father who’s lost his son. He just has more clout than most. And considerably more influential friends.”

“I know, but he’s squeezing pretty hard. My head feels ready to pop.”

“That’s why they pay you the big bucks.”

She refrained from commenting. Pulling onto the main road, she headed for town. She’d known there was a possibility that she’d come into contact with Matthew when she learned they were going to Lantern Cove, but she never would’ve guessed that it would be ten times harder on her than she imagined it would be. Physically, he was different. Bigger. More muscle. But he still had that silent brooding thing going on that had always intrigued her when they were kids. Whereas Neal had been the joker in their group, Matthew had been the quiet yet guiding force that had kept them from carrying out some of the stupider ideas they’d hatched up as daredevil teens. Those startling blue eyes hadn’t lost their brilliance and his thick black hair, although cut shorter than before, was only starting to gray at the temple. Handsome. That’s the word other women might use to describe him. It was several moments before she realized Dillon was talking to her. Shaking her head, she apologized. “What were you saying? I zoned out for a minute.”

“I noticed. Why don’t you just tell me what’s going on between you and this local chief. Get it off your chest so you can focus. You know I’m always up for a story, one with plenty of juicy details, so don’t skimp on the good stuff.”

“It’s nothing.”

“Look, blank-faced girl. Don’t forget, before I was assigned to this unit I was in interrogation. I know when someone is lying. Even you.”

The corner of her mouth tipped up and Dillon’s brow lifted in encouragement. She shook her head and said with a shrug, “I grew up here. It’s a small town. It’s inevitable that I’d run into someone from my childhood. Matthew and I were friends growing up.”

“He didn’t seem all that friendly to me. In fact, when he saw it was you, he looked downright pissed off. What’d you do to earn a look like that?”

“Nothing happened. I moved away. He stayed.”

“You two ever an item?”

She kept her eyes on the road. “No.” Partially true. One night did not constitute a relationship. Bad judgment was more like it but no matter what, she couldn’t regret that night.

Dillon regarded her with a silent, assessing stare that anyone else might’ve squirmed under but Kara allowed a tiny smile to play on her lips despite her growing fatigue. She’d definitely need more sleep if she was going to deal with Matthew on a regular basis. Finally, Dillon shook his head. “More bullshit. All right, just answer me this. Is he going to be a problem?”

“Of course not.” Hoped not. No, she absolutely knew not. “Are you questioning my ability to do my job, Dillon?”

“Only if need be. I’ve never had to in the past but this guy has you jumpy … on edge. It’s not like you. This case is too important to let anything cloud your judgment. I know I don’t have to tell you that.”

“So don’t.” She flashed him a bright smile that she didn’t feel. “I’m fine. I’d tell you if I wasn’t. I know what’s at stake.”

“So we’re good, then?” Dillon asked.

“We’re golden.”

“Good. You’re the best in your field. We need your ‘A’ game.”

“Don’t start with the sports analogies. They sound weird coming out of your mouth. Everything’s under control.”

Perhaps if she told herself that enough times, it would make it true. Her cell phone buzzed at her hip and she pulled it free to glance at the number. Director Colfax. Their boss. Damn it. She didn’t want to talk to him just yet. Dillon read her expression easily.

“The cell reception in this place is terrible,” he remarked. “Damn near spotty in some places,” he added, and she agreed.

“I know. It’s the trees. Messes up the line of sight on the cell towers.” She smiled and let the call go to voice mail. She’d call him after she’d had a chance to talk to the M.E. Until then, Colfax would just have to wait.

An hour later while Dillon met with the incoming task force team, Kara went to the morgue. This part of the job was her least favorite, especially when it dealt with kids. She steeled herself for the inevitable sadness that followed when the coroner slid that little body out from its metal locker.

She acknowledged the coroner, a short man with a balding pate, and flashed her credentials. “Cause of death yet?” she asked.

“Petechial hemorrhages combined with the bruising around her neck point to asphyxiation,” he answered, opening the locker and pulling the metal slab forward with the young girl on it. So young. Snuffed out in a blink.

Kara swallowed the lump in her throat and pulled her camera free as she gestured. “May I?”

“You’re the boss.”

She carefully detailed the marks left behind by Hannah Linney’s tormentor and silently promised, just as she had with the other two victims of the Babysitter, to bring him to justice.

“Any sign of sexual trauma?”

“None.”

She nodded and exhaled the breath she’d been holding. So far, neither of the Babysitter’s victims had been sexually assaulted but serial killers sometimes varied their routine for reasons unknown.

Kara was drawn to Hannah’s flaxen hair and couldn’t help but ache for the mother that had given birth with high hopes for her daughter only to have them end in such horrific circumstances. Somewhere a mother wept with a ragged heart, sobbing one word over and over. Why?

She cleared her throat with difficulty. “Was there anything with the body? A small piece of paper, anything at all?”

The coroner frowned in thought, then slowly shook his head. “Not that I’m aware of, but you could ask the chief for sure. He’s heading this case personally. He’d have the crime scene photos.”

In the first two cases the Babysitter left something behind. It was his sick way of letting the cops know that he was one step ahead. Laughing. Kara was certain something had been missed. She made a mental note to return to Wolf’s Tooth first thing tomorrow morning.