Hiking my dress above my knees, I scrambled over the deadwood after him. After ten minutes of climbing over brush and dodging low-hanging branches, the gnarled tree finally appeared in a small clearing before me.

  Jake paced around the base of the twisted trunk, his gaze cast at the ground, scanning the outer layer of bark.

  I approached cautiously, pulling up the image on my phone, comparing the tree before me with the one on my phone. Definitely the same tree.

  Brass rings had been nailed deep into the wood. Two up high to hold a woman’s wrists, and two down near the soil. They were placed far enough apart to separate a woman’s legs and expose her most intimate parts.

  His hand ran along the bark. “Someone’s been using this.”

  I stepped close. “Yes, our killers.”

  His gaze locked with mine. “That’s not what I meant. That girl was taken over a month ago. Lizzy was taken, what, a week ago?”

  It had been a little longer than that. I didn’t like being reminded how cold the trail was.

  “Someone’s been here recently.”

  Sure enough, a dark stain colored the bark.

  He reached out to lift one of the metal rings.

  “Don’t touch it,” I cried out, but I was too late.

  He’d gripped the metal and lifted the ring.

  I dialed my phone.

  Pete picked up on the third ring. “What’s up, sexy? Got any news?”

  My heart thundered in my chest. I kept looking from Jake to the tree and back to the metal ring. “I think we might have a third victim.”

  “What!”

  “Jake found the tree in the video. There’s blood on it. Fresh enough that the weather hasn’t washed it away. You need to send a forensics team out to the Edge right away.” I hung up and pocketed the phone.

  I waved to the ring. “Do you realize what you did? Your prints are all over it now.”

  He looked upward. “My prints are already on it. This is my tree. It’s where I took my subs when we ran the woods. After I caught them, I always brought them here. It was my special place. I don’t like to play in front of others.”

  My stomach clenched with this knowledge. “How many people know about this particular spot?”

  “Anyone could have followed me, but no one would. We value privacy here at the Edge. The only people I’m certain know about it are Kevin, because we’ve come here together, and Thomas, because it’s required to list all private play areas with him.”

  “Who else has access to this list?”

  “Just Thomas.”

  “Well, we need to identify everyone who has used these woods in the past week. From the time of Elizabeth’s abduction to now, especially if there might be a third victim.”

  “Why not go back a month? Back to the first girl?”

  “Because we only have an estimate of her time of death. The window is too wide. Does the Edge have security monitors like you have at Stripes?”

  He shook his head. “We have a strict no-photography policy. That includes monitoring.”

  “But surely Thomas has the perimeter monitored?”

  “We can ask.”

  I didn’t like coincidences. They bothered me. Jake and his tree bothered me. “Pete is getting a team to come out here. They’ll have to take your prints and probably your DNA, since you’ve contaminated the scene. You’ll probably want to call Thomas and let him know. They’re going to need someone who can find this place.”

  Damn, but that had been a stupid move on his part. I couldn’t silence the detective in me, whispering how he’d intentionally contaminated the crime scene. I had experience with the most devious criminals, but in my heart, I couldn’t accept that as a possibility. Not from Jake. I tried to move past it.

  “Where are we relative to the edge of the property? The men had to move them off the property from here. Are there any roads nearby?”

  “I’m not sure.”

  “Well, I have the recording the techs gave me. If we find a road, then we can compare the tape to the real thing. I need a van.” And I needed to find that first crime scene.

  “Sounds complicated.”

  I vented a sigh. “I know. It’s a Hail Mary.” The shadows deepened around us as we talked. “We are losing the light. What about that road?”

  Pulling out his phone, he tapped the screen.

  I moved to stand beside him and saw a topographical map pop up. A blue pin indicated our location, and if I was reading the screen right, less than a hundred yards away was a forest road.

  “Can you ask for that van to meet us on that road?”

  “That’s our plan?” His brows lifted, looking dubious about our chance for success.

  I headed to the road. “We’re going to get in the back of that van and travel our victims’ path. Or at least we’re going to try, using the sounds they pulled off the recording.”

  It wasn’t the best plan. It was the only one we had.

  Chapter Sixteen

  Kate

  I stumbled behind Jake, yet again questioning his choice in my attire for the day’s activities. He, on the other hand, moved with fluid grace over fallen logs and around the hundreds of obstacles littering the forest ground. His gaze cast tirelessly over the terrain, comparing it with the topographical map displayed on the phone he held in his hands. Apparently, picking the shortest route from our location to the road wasn’t an easy task.

  I was a city girl at heart. Tromping in the woods in a dress was not my cup of tea. Branches reached out, scraping and tearing at my skin. No matter how high I lifted my feet, I still managed to stumble and stub my toes and scratch my shins. I banged my knees more times than I could count. And Jake? He slipped through the underbrush like it was nothing.

  A large ravine separated us from our goal, which meant Jake had to search out an alternate path. He did so with the masterful skill of a hunter, something I’d never figured out, despite my tomboy upbringing. I hunted male criminals, and the occasional female, in the concrete jungle of the city. That’s where I felt most at home. Jake had grown up on a country estate. Hunting, fishing, and all things wild had been bred into him along with his Southern charm.

  I trod along behind him while my heart went out to those two girls. Now there might be a third victim.

  They would have been forced to hike this same path. The scrapes and bruising on Elizabeth’s legs told the tale. At least I had boots, even if an impractical dress hindered my movement. Thankfully, the fabric provided some protection to my upper body.

  They had been naked, barefoot. Terrified.

  I shuddered at the horrors those girls had been put through during their final moments and prayed they had been carried out of these woods rather than forced to endure this hellacious hike. No matter what it took, I would solve this case and bring their killers to justice. The audio recording might not help at all, but if we had even the smallest chance to narrow down the search grid for the boys-in-blue, I would stay up all night following the recording to its end.

  The waning afternoon light cast darkening shadows by the time we found the forest edge, and the access road appeared in the deepening dusk. With the grace of perfect timing, the moment we cleared the tree line a white van appeared, spewing a cloud of dust behind it.

  The driver slowed down long before he pulled up alongside us, allowing the dust cloud he’d been raising to settle. I was thankful for his small act of kindness, considering I was drenched in sweat after our hike.

  A man stepped out of the van. “Hello, Master Jake.” He shook hands with Jake, and it was clear from the easy smiles exchanged that the two men knew each other well.

  “Hi, Michael,” Jake clapped Michael on the shoulder.

  Michael lifted his slight potbelly over the belt of his trousers. The inevitable beer gut said he either spent too much time watching ball games or not enough time in the gym. His hazel eyes twinkled with warmth, and his smile came freely enough. A smirk lifted the corner of his lips.

  “Enjoy your time in the forest?”

  Jake shook his head. “It wasn’t that kind of day.”

  He gestured for me to come over.

  “Kate, this is Michael, one of the caretakers.”

  Michael thrust out his hand. A big, meaty man-paw swallowed my hand. “Nice to meet you, Kate.” He looked at Jake. “Did Master Thomas mention I’d be looking after y’all this weekend?”

  Jake nodded. “He did.”

  “Did he mention…the other stuff?”

  “Master Thomas,” I said, “mentioned you were to help with my case.” I couldn’t help but interject myself into their conversation. The men of the Edge had a way of ignoring women.

  Michael slid his gaze from my head down to my dusty boots, then back up again. “Your slave has a bit of spitfire.”

  Jake laughed. “You have no idea.”

  My caretaker walked back around to the driver’s side of the van. “Well, Miss Kate, I am at your service, then.”

  Jake looked at me. “What’s the plan?”

  I curled my lower lip between my teeth. “Trial and error. We get in the back, play the audio, and try to match it to the road noise.”

  He looked up and down the road. “Yeah, but which direction?”

  “Your guess is as good as mine.” This was a crappy plan, probably gunning for one of my all-time worst.

  He shrugged. “You want me to ride in the back with you?”

  “If you don’t mind. Two ears are better than one.”

  He called out to Michael and slid open the door. “We’re climbing in back.” He leaned over to kiss me. “Technically it’s four ears or two pairs.”

  Michael turned in his seat while Jake and I piled into the van. “What’s the plan, Stan? You want me to drive back to the manor?”

  “No,” I said. “Hopefully, I’m going to tell you where to go.”

  And so began our journey, Jake and I in the back of an uncomfortable van. I started the recording, and we heard the crunching of tires rolling over dirt. It felt a little surreal, knowing we were traveling the same path as our victims, and as uncomfortable as I was, they had been strung up and terrified on top of that. My need for justice flared white-hot, and my determination grew.

  “Go ahead and drive,” Jake called out to Michael.

  We headed out with the sounds of our tires aligning to that of the recording. Ten minutes in, we were no longer in sync with the playback. The rumbling in the recording had changed while we were still crunching over rock.

  “What do you want to do?” Jake looked at me.

  I shrugged. “We have no idea how fast they were traveling. I say give it a bit longer?” I had no idea what I was doing. This task appeared hopeless.

  “Let’s assume they didn’t want to draw attention to themselves,” said Jake. “If they were speeding, they’d risk getting pulled over. So, I’m thinking they were traveling no more than the speed limit plus five?”

  “On these roads?” I turned and adjusted to a more comfortable position. “I doubt they were concerned about that.”

  “We’ll drive ourselves crazy if we try to adjust for all possible variables.” He held up the phone. “Besides, it doesn’t sound like they’re going really fast. Don’t you think it would sound different?”

  I shrugged again. “I have no idea.” I raised my voice. “Hey, Mike, speed up a bit.”

  Our driver glanced back. “What?”

  “Step on the gas. I want to hear what it sounds like.”

  “Master Thomas will be pissed if I chip the paint on his van.”

  “I don’t give a fuck. Step on it.”

  Jake gave me a warning look and gripped my hand. “I get that you’re running the show, but watch your language. Michael deserves your respect. Don’t yell at him, and try not to curse him out. And he hates being called Mike.”

  Shit, he was right. I was being rude. “Sorry, Michael, I didn’t mean to snap at you.”

  I glanced at Jake and flashed a smile. I didn’t play the brat very well either, but I was cranky after our hike, hungry after skipping lunch, and getting tired. “Would you step on it for a second, so I can test out something?”

  “Your wish is my command,” said Michael with a tease in his voice. The van bumped over the rough road, and we were back to work just like that.

  The sound didn’t jive with what we had on the recording.

  “Yeah, they definitely weren’t speeding.” I had Michael stop and drive back to where he had picked us up. We started from scratch, heading in the opposite direction.

  Hours of hell followed. Start. Stop. We’d go five minutes, turn around, do it again until we were sure what we were hearing in the back of the van matched up to the sounds on the recording. Then we’d head out again. It took forever, but we were making slow progress.

  Each time we were certain our turns matched those on the audio, I’d send the information to the tech team, and they’d narrow the search grid. Then, I sent a copy to Mitzy. I trusted her skills over the police’s tech crew any day. Thomas’s members list was her priority, but I needed a second pair of eyes on this project.

  Meanwhile, Pete called and said he’d had a conversation with Thomas. Lacking a warrant, which would take time to obtain, Thomas had reluctantly agreed to give the forensics team access to the woods.

  By ten p.m., our trail had run dry. We found ourselves in some random town in the middle of butt-fuck nowhere in the country. Fortunately, Jake was somewhat familiar with the area, and Aunt Mel’s Diner was less than a twenty-minute drive away. Since she didn’t close up shop until midnight, the three of us decided to head over there for a late dinner. Greasy burgers, fries, and a little bit of ice cream sounded perfect.

  My dirty dress, snarled curls, and hiking boots did not match the retro theme of the diner. I was more of a jeans kind of gal, but wearing a fitted dress with its flared skirt had a part of me wishing for a petticoat and Mary Jane shoes. What I wouldn’t have given to be able to ease myself into the shower in the back of the diner. Instead, I sat in the back in the half-moon booth, sandwiched between two men.

  Michael excused himself to use the bathroom.

  Aunt Mel blew in with a tray loaded with greasy burgers and golden-fried goodness. She sat in the booth with us and joined in on the feast. Michael drifted back a few minutes later.

  “So are all those trophies yours?” Michael pointed to the cases lining the wall.

  Jake nodded and shoved a fry in his mouth. “Yup, All-State Track and Field.”

  Aunt Mel smiled. “Jake took first his junior and senior year.” She pointed to a picture on the wall with more medals hanging on it. “He was quite the accomplished swimmer too. Those are his as well.”

  Michael and I craned our necks to make out the string of golden medals proudly displayed. I had to wonder what his high-school trophies were doing in Aunt Mel’s diner and not in his parents’ home, but then remembered what he’d said about his father, a man he called BlackJack, stealing Elizabeth Westmoreland. Any father who’d steal a slave from his son probably wasn’t the kind of dad to hang medals from a wall. He’d also grown up without a mother, who would have proudly displayed his accomplishments. I felt so much sympathy for him that his high-school medals were displayed in a diner on the side of the road. Although, to hear Aunt Mel go on and on about his achievements, I could tell Jake had grown up loved.

  Aunt Mel continued, “His brother’s are over there.” She pointed to another case filled with metal. There was gold in that one too, but mostly silver and bronze. “Those two were always competing, being twins and all.”

  I looked at Jake and caught a furrowing in his brow. He didn’t talk much about his brother. All I knew was something horrible had happened overseas. His brother had died, and that event had brought on his father’s death as well.

  Michael wiped ketchup from the corner of his mouth. “Didn’t know Jake had a brother.”

  Aunt Mel nodded. “Oh, yeah, thick as thieves growing up. Identical twins, and man did they milk that for all it was worth. Isn’t that right, Jake?” She gave Jake a nudge in the shoulder.

  “What’s that mean?” Michael took another bite of his burger while I watched the tension creeping into Jake’s shoulders.

  “Nothing,” said Jake.

  “Nothing!” Aunt Mel slammed her palm on the table. “Oh please. No one could tell those two apart. Not even me. They would terrorize the girls, take them on double dates, swap in the middle.” She leveled a significant look at Jake. “At least until I got wind of it. We had a discussion, the three of us, and put a stop to that.”

  “You guys swapped?” Michael shook his head, then pointed to the display cabinets and the trophies inside. “Looks like you got more gold than him. Bet that led to a little rivalry between the two of you.”

  Jake sucked in his cheeks before answering. “Yeah, we were highly competitive, although the football one is…ours.”

  “Yours?” I asked. “How can it belong to both of you?”

  His gaze shifted up and to the left. “We swapped in the middle of the game. There’s some dispute about who really earned that particular trophy.”

  “Yes, well…” said Aunt Mel. “They didn’t always get along, and their daddy certainly encouraged them. Never liked your dad, bless his soul, and sorry to say it, but that’s the honest truth.”

  Jake’s jaw clenched, but then I knew of the bad blood between him and his father. Only now I was wondering if that badness didn’t extend toward his brother as well.

  I received a text on my phone from Mitzy and took a moment to read it. “Good news,” I said. “Mitzy’s been hard at work on the members list and the search grid. She has some preliminary results. Do you think you can take me back to the office?”

  My cell phone buzzed with another text. Looking at it, I was even more excited to get back. “Mitzy says she has something to show me.”

  Mitzy had found something, and I was dying to know what her five stars on my screen meant.

 

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