Shadows from the Grave (34 page)

“What about a regional pilot?” Hannah asked, and they all looked at Gordon.

“Could be, I suppose,” he said, “but it just doesn’t feel right. Good suggestion, though. Maybe a highway construction worker?”

“Maybe this will help.” Beth reached behind the tablet for a foam board with a map of the Midwest attached. She put it on the front and grabbed a jar of push pins. “Where all do you have confirmed kills for this guy?”

“Prepared much, sis?” Jason teased. Beth wadded up a loose piece of paper and tossed it at his head.

Gordon pulled a file out of the box he had brought in from his car. He read off the locations and, for every victim, Beth placed a red pin. When she finished, she stood back and studied the map. There were eight pins total, in cities and towns in Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Kentucky, and even one in Tennessee. Most of the pins were located around fairly large towns or major cities, but not all.

“It’s not enough,” Beth mused. “The suspected kills?” She added a yellow pin in Lexington for Kiely, and Gordon told her about four more. Two were in the Cincinnati, Ohio, area, very near the Indiana border, another was in Kentucky, and the fourth and final victim was in Illinois. Again, the body had been found very near the Indiana border.

Ethan grunted and sat forward, a thoughtful frown on his face. “That’s… interesting,” he said, not taking his eyes off the map. “How sure are you that these are all his kills?”

“Actually, I’d be surprised if there aren’t a few more out there,” Gordon said. “There weren’t any murders for over two years after Kiely’s, which is part of why we think she was his first. Then there was the first one in Cincinnati. Another year goes by and the murder in Terre Haute. They come pretty regularly after that, until about a year ago. He went into a little bit of a frenzy in the Cincinnati area then, and the profilers at Quantico say it’s probably because he had some sort of a stressor around that time. Why? What are you thinking?” he asked Ethan.

“I’m not sure,” Ethan replied. He stood and moved to stand in front of the map. No one spoke as he moved his hands around the pins.

“So, Kiely is killed first. Then he goes to Cincy, then Terre Haute. He heads out to Carbondale, Illinois next. After that, though, every kill is within what, a forty-five minute drive from the borders of Indiana? Do you think that’s a coincidence?” Ethan asked.

“Terre Haute’s close to the Illinois border,” Jason said. “Where exactly was that murder?”

Gordon looked through the file. When he found the information he was looking for, he cursed. “Less than two miles from the state line, off a country road. If he wasn’t local, he could easily have thought he was still in Illinois.”

“So he doesn’t want to commit these crimes in Indiana. Why is that?” Stacy mused.

“Indiana has the death penalty,” Chase said. “That could be it.”

“So does Kentucky,” Gordon added. “No, I’d say it’s more personal than that. You know that old saying, ‘Don’t crap in your own sandbox’?”

Ethan smiled, and Gordon smiled back. “The son of a bitch is from Indiana. Has to be,” Ethan said.

Stacy joined Ethan in front of the map. “Six of the thirteen murders have been committed within an hour’s drive of Cincinnati, including his last five. I’m thinking two things. First, Kiely’s murder really was his first kill. We know the place she was found was off the beaten path, so he had to be familiar with the area.”

“Actually, ninety percent of these victims were found off the beaten path. Not so far that the victims would be hard to find, but definitely in less-traveled areas,” Gordon said.

“So he’s familiar with all these places to some extent. He’s probably not just passing through, then. He’s spending some time nearby,” Beth said. “What’s the other thing, Stacy?”

“The other thing that occurs to me is almost as significant as the first, especially with the two-year delay,” she responded. “And especially with such an organized offender. He moves around a lot, but for his first kill after Kiely, he chooses the Cincinnati area? I think he stays in the areas a few months, then moves on, but he started around Cincy. He’s come back to Cincy. If you add a pin for Chase, for the letters, it would make a weird kind of sense. I think he’s from here.”

A shocked silence fell over the room. Annie recovered first. “You mean from Leroy?”

Stacy contemplated the map again and shook her head. “No, but I think he’s close. He has to be. If I had to guess, I’d put him here.” She tapped the southeastern corner of Indiana. “Aurora, Lawrenceburg, maybe even Madison.”

“Why?” Gordon leaned forward on the couch with his hands clasped between his knees.

He held her gaze with his, and Stacy slowly answered, “Because he’s been in something of a frenzy this past year. His victims are mainly at-risk women—prostitutes and drug addicts. He needs a ready supply, where he can get to them if the urge strikes. Cincinnati seems to be his preferred stalking ground of late. We think he lives in Indiana. He has to live in this area.” She tapped the map again.

Beth sucked in a breath and sank down on the arm of the couch as a thought occurring to her. Her face paled. “Oh, God. Ethan? At-risk women? Parker.”

Ethan went very still. “Okay. But what about our theory about him not wanting to commit murders in Indiana?”

“You’re talking about the body that was found this morning?” Gordon asked. Ethan nodded. “How was she killed?”

“She was in pretty rough shape. The coroner is leaning toward bludgeoning, but we won’t know until the autopsy tomorrow,” Ethan said.

Gordon considered the killer’s previous victims. “Well, the last few murders have been increasingly violent, with more mutilation than his earlier crimes. It’s not outside the realm of possibility that it could be him. When was she killed?”

“Some time Sunday night or very early Monday morning,” Ethan told him.

Gordon looked at Chase. “How fast did word get around about your questioning?”

Chase snorted. “By one o’clock this morning, Dad was calling me from Europe.”

“So a local could easily have known about it, and the killer could have learned about it last night, either through conversation or overhearing it somewhere,” Gordon mused. “We know he has some sort of an agenda where Chase is concerned. If that includes Chase being framed for murder, hearing that you weren’t arrested could have sent him over the edge.”

“So if we can figure out where the guy met Parker, that might lead us to solving the whole damned thing.” Stacy looked at Ethan. “Any leads?”

“No, not really,” Ethan admitted. “I managed to find the people Parker had been with earlier in the evening, but she’d left them about nine o’clock last night. She was talking about finding something to party with. They weren’t sure where she was headed when she left.”

Gordon sighed. “Any sign of her car?”

“No,” Ethan said. “Her car was in the shop. Wherever she went, she was walking. We were able to track her to County Line Grocery at about nine-thirty. She hung out there for a while, possibly met someone out back for money, and then left a little after ten.”

At the mention of the County Line Grocery, a collective understanding went through the room. Gordon, however, was confused. “What’s the County Line Grocery?”

Stacy answered, “It’s a convenience store slash pool hall slash gas station on the road leading out to Jefferson County, which is the road Parker was found off of. It’s about three miles from the actual county line, though.”

“Yeah, and it’s a total cesspool of humanity that late at night,” Jason added. “If it’s illegal, and you want to find it in Olman County, the County Line is the place to go.”

“Ah… every county has one,” Gordon said. “So did anyone see anything that could help us, or are all the witnesses mysteriously forgetful today?”

Ethan moved back to his seat. “Actually, they were surprisingly helpful, weren’t they, Jason?”

Jason, who had gone with Ethan to question Parker’s associates, nodded. “I was somewhat shocked by that, but apparently Parker was very well-liked among that crowd.”

“That doesn’t really surprise me,” Beth said. “For all her problems, Parker was one of the sweetest people you’d ever met. That just makes this tragedy that much sadder.”

“So where does that leave us?” Chase asked.

Gordon sighed. “Maybe nowhere we weren’t already, but then again…” he trailed off and looked over the map. “Any chance you can contact the crime lab that’s handling this murder, see if they can rush the DNA?” he asked Ethan, “now that we’ve got something to compare it to?”

Ethan didn’t answer, just took his cell phone off its clip on his belt and punched in a number. “Michelle, it’s Detective Moore. What’s the status on processing that DNA from this morning’s murder victim?” He listened to her response and frowned.

“Okay. No, no. I understand, but we have a potential suspect we’d like to rule out.” He stopped again, and the lab tech’s raised voice could be heard. Even though her words weren’t clear, her attitude was. Ethan’s brow lowered, and Beth winced.

“Oooh, that’s not good,” she told the others quietly.

Before Ethan could respond to the tech’s comments, he held the phone away from his ear. An astonished laugh escaped him, and he just stared at the cell phone.

“What did she say?” Stacy asked. “That was Michelle Dickey, right?”

“Yeah. She had plenty to say. And then she hung up on me.” He hit another number and stood, phone to his ear again as he excused himself. “Wyatt? It’s Ethan. We have a problem.” He went out on the front porch and started pacing as he talked.

Jason let out a low whistle. “Wow. Unless that lab is on fire, I’d bet someone’s going to be called on the carpet before the hour’s up.”

“She should be,” Stacy said. “We all heard what Ethan asked. Nothing out of the ordinary. Michelle’s the newest tech up there. She’s not the most popular person in the building.” The sheriff’s department had expanded its crime lab over the last few months, adding the capability to process more complex crime scenes. There were still a few kinks being worked out.

Ethan came back inside. “Wyatt’s on his way over there now to check on things. We should have our results in about seventy-two hours, I’m guessing.”

“How upset is he?” Beth asked, as Ethan wrapped his arms around her.

“Oh, he always wanted a skylight in his living room, I’d say. I almost feel sorry for Michelle.” Ethan grimaced. “No, I don’t.”

“What did she say to you, anyhow?” Hannah asked.

“It’s probably best that I don’t repeat it,” he told her. “Just suffice it to say that it was inflammatory and derogatory, and if she said it in front of witnesses, she won’t work in Olman County again, at least not in any official capacity. Wyatt will see to that.”

Beth looked up at him. His tension was making his muscles rigid, and his demeanor had changed from alert but relaxed to tense. Gordon watched as a silent communication passed between them, and after a moment, Ethan's tension eased a little.

“So what now?” Chase asked.

Gordon stood and walked over to the map. He sighed and shook his head. “Now we wait.”

Late that night, after everyone had left, Beth finally settled into bed. She snuggled up to Ethan, throwing her leg over his, and let out a contented sigh as his arm came around her to draw her closer.