WATCHING (27 page)

Chapter
3
5

****

Georgia was kept busy throughout the rest of the morning and through lunch coordinating all the various teams
’
information. She paused only when Hellbrook waved a sandwich in front of her and commanded her to eat.

The sandwich was made
exactly
the way she liked it. That fact scared her; had he watched her that closely the entire time they
’
d worked together? And she hadn
’
t noticed?

She ate quickly, one hand coasting over the touch-mouse on her computer as she read, looking for that elusive key that would help identify the UNSUB.

Hellbrook worked across the room, barking orders into his cell phone while dialing on the desk phone in front of him. She had to fight the urge to stop what she was doing and watch him in action. He was always decisive, the man in charge, and it drew her to him.

She needed to finally admit it
—
everything
about the man drew her, even when she
’
d been resistant.

“
They
’
ve found another body
,
”
Handers said from his position near Georgia, one hand covering the base of the phone held at his ear.
“
Just over the state line in North Dakota. The locals and Bismarck resident agents are holding the scene until one of you get up there personally to release it. What should I tell them? Agent Hellbrook
?
”

She called Hell over and explained the situation as quickly as she could.

***

Hell looked at the agents in front of him. K.D. could barely go an hour without vomiting, and had reams of paperwork to go through, looking for elusive patterns that the rest of the team might not see. Carrie, pale and sporting a pair of crutches she wobbled dangerously
on
, sat in front of her remaining computer. She
’
d lost two in the fire and he suspected that bothered her more than her broken leg and cracked ribs. She
’
d arrived with K.D. and had insisted the team needed her. Dan and Norton were back up the mountain with Stephenson
’
s teams. Georgia
—
she was his only option.

But he wasn
’
t about to send Georgia to North Dakota alone.
“
Tell them we
’
re on the way. Georgia, grab your bag. Stanton? How fast can you get us a bird to the scene
?
”

Helicopters were standard in this part of the country. Flight
—
whether in helicopters or small planes
—
was a routine method of travel in this area.

“
I can have transport ready in under an hour, sir
,
”
Stanton said.

Hell nodded.
“
Good. Tell them Dr. Dennis and I will be on scene as soon as possible. K.D., notify Dan and Norton, Brockman
,
and Stephenson; let them know what
’
s going on. Also, get Dr. Bellows and have her ready for flight, I want her to personally collect the body. Have Stephenson step up the interviews. Odds are good this bastard is one of the five remaining on Georgia
’
s list. And have someone go over the case files for the local agencies in North Dakota, as well. If this is the same
UNSUB
he may have more victims out of state. Also, check those names connected with Claire Reid that we may have already ruled out
—
see if they
’
ve traveled to North Dakota
.
”

“
Yes, sir
,
”
K.D. said, with a lack of her usual luster.

Georgia hadn
’
t said anything, and Hell wondered if their discussion earlier had made an impact or if she was focusing on the task at hand. This case was starting to take too much out of the team. Georgia
’
s bruises were visible on the pale skin of her forearms
—
large, ugly bruises that made him angry every time he looked at them.

He wanted this bastard, bad. And when he had him, he hoped he
’
d have a minute or two alone with the
Him
.
Just
a minute or two, that would be enough. Then it would be that bastard with bruises on his body. In the meantime, they were off to North Dakota.

***

Georgia hated helicopters. They were too small, too loud, and too fragile for what they were intended to do. Still, she never complained. The birds were another means to an end. If the flight helped them stop this
monster
faster, than she
’
d willingly fly.

Hell
’
s hand wrapped around hers, careful that it was her injured arm
—
now minus the sling
since she
’
d gotten irritated at the restriction and pulled the thing off
—
the gesture one of comfort. Her eyes flew to his face, but he
’
d turned to speak with the pilot through his headphones. Her eyes narrowed as she quickly profiled the man beside her. He
’
d done it almost without thinking.

Was he that tuned in to her now?
Just
that quickly? Was Ana correct? Had he been attracted to her from the beginning?

She left her hand where it was, right under his.

There would be gossip; it ran rampant through the Bureau
anyway. She
’
d
heard of other intra-Bureau romances, some that had failed, and some that had succeeded. Ana and Fin, for one. She had no doubt the two of them would remain together and happy for the rest of their lives. But did she and Hellbrook have that capability?
Did she want to risk it?

The flight was short
.
Hellbrook lifted her the last feet down from the helicopter
’
s belly and they hurried toward the waiting locals.

“
I
’
m Hellbrook, this is Dr. Dennis. What exactly have we got
?
”
Hell wasted no time on niceties, and Georgia didn
’
t blame him. The body count was rising too quickly.

“
I
’
m Jones, Bismarck resident agency. I called you out here
,
”
o
ne of the three local men said as he led the way to a waiting vehicle.
“
Young woman. College junior, age twenty-one. Maggie Evans, lived with her parents
.
”

“
Last seen
?
”
Georgia almost ran to keep up with the group of men as they rushed toward the waiting SUVs of the Bismarck agents.

“
Outside her job, local grocery store. Had the early shift, scheduled to leave around one this afternoon. Clocked out at one-seventeen. Her car was still in the parking lot
,
”
Jones said as Hell opened the rear door to the SUV for Georgia, then climbed into the front seat.

“
Crowded store
?
”
Georgia asked. That was a difference she wouldn
’
t have expected.

“
Relatively. At least for these parts, ma
’
am
.
”
Jones started the engine.

“
Security cameras
?
”
Hell asked.

“
We
’
re working on them now
.
”

“
Anyone see anything? Any customers notice anything out of the ordinary
?
”
Georgia braced her uninjured arm on the door to support herself as Jones rounded a sharp curve. The man drove more fearlessly than Jules, and that was saying a lot.

“
We
’
re working on that as well. So far nothing probative
.
”

“
He
’
s escalating,
”
Georgia said,
“
A daylight abduction, bigger risk. Hopefully sloppier
.
”

“
Sloppier
?
”
t
he agent in the seat beside Georgia asked.
“
That
’
s good
?
”

“
If he
’
s made a mistake it could potentially tell us something
.
”
Hell shot a glance at Georgia. It also indicated rapid devolvement
—
the process by which an unknown subject lost control
—
and
that
wasn
’
t good. It could potentially mean an even greater number of bodies. If the UNSUB broke pattern it could also make it more difficult to catch him as they
’
d be unable to predict his next victims.

“
No offense, Agent Hellbrook,
”
Jones said,
“
If this
guy
’
s victim of choice is small brunettes should Dr. Dennis be here
?
”

“
We
’
ve discussed this
.
”
Georgia was unable to keep the warning out of her tone.
“
Hell is fine with me being a part of the investigation
.
”

“
She
’
s already out of the field, due to her injuries. But she
’
s a damned good profiler and has been instrumental in our understanding this
UNSUB
.
”
Hell
’
s own words contained a clear message. Georgia resisted the urge to roll her eyes at what to her was old ground. They
’
d been over this before, but at least this time Hell was on her side.

“
Plus I
’
m one hell of a shot
.
”
Georgia patted the new weapon she
’
d been issued.
“
And I
’
ve already tangled with this
monster
and won that battle. He
’
ll seriously reconsider if he even thinks to come after me again. This man is intrinsically a coward. His choice of victims are small and relatively defenseless. The one living victim
—
Katherine Montehue
—
survived basically because she refused to give in to him, and fought back. Hard. That shows he
’
s not ok with direct confrontation. And even the incident with Agent Sparks, Agent Jacobs, and me
—
he never revealed his face to us. Showing he held a great fear of those he sees in authority. Knowing I
’
m an armed law enforcement agent he won
’
t risk a direct confrontation at this point
.
”

“
So what else does your profile say about this guy
?
”
Jones asked, the skepticism in his voice one they
’
d both heard before.

“
He
’
s small. That
’
s been confirmed by our victim. He
’
s intelligent, uses slightly more complex language than the average laborer. So he
’
s most likely been educated. He also feels that he
’
s doing God
’
s work-a mission, if you want to call it that-by killing these victims
,
”
Georgia said.

“
Why? These are young girls and young women? How could killing them fulfill some sort of godly plan
?
”
t
he third agent asked. He was an older man and Georgia took in the wedding ring on his finger. The man most likely had a few children at home
—
probably girls, based on his visceral reaction to their discussion.

“
The common element beside physical similarities was that each victim in some way flirted or engaged with a male shortly before disappearance
,
”
Hell said.
“
What was Maggie Evans doing before she left work? Who did she talk to
?
”

“
Her supervisor, Gavin Lee. Kid seems absolutely broken up. He
’
s the one who found the body
.
”

“
Where
?
”
Georgia leaned forward.

“
Here,
”
Jones pulled the car to a stop behind the back parking lot of a small independent grocer
’
s store. It looked like any other mom-and-pop business, except for the garish yellow crime scene tape separating it from the crowd of rubberneckers that were present at nearly every crime scene Georgia had ever been to.
“
Her body was found around three this afternoon when Lee took the trash out. She was between the dumpster and the box crusher. Hmm, hadn
’
t been dead very long. Our best guess was maybe
two hours
or so before being found
.
”

“
We sure this is the same
guy
?
”
Hell frowned and Georgia knew what he was thinking. Nothing so far
—
with the exception of victim description
—
matched their bastard
’
s M.O. in any way.
Was this a wild goose chase?

“
Pretty sure. We know there are some obvious differences. But the parking lot, and what we think was the manner of death tell us this is probably your
guy
. We also found tire tracks where the
guy
backed in, most likely to dump the body
,
”
Jones said.

“
Our UNSUB abducts his victims at night, ties them, rapes or molests them, then traps them until he can stone them to death
.
”
Hell and Georgia followed Jones across the parking lot.

“
She was definitely stoned to death, sir
,
”
Jones said,
as he led them to the dumpster.
“
Or at least made to look that way. We believe he took her off site, raped her, and then stoned her until she was dead
.
Then brought her back and dumped her.
”

“
All within a
few
hour
s
? He
’
s devolving, Hell. Rapidly
.
”
Georgia took a closer look at the body, trying not to react visibly to seeing the young woman tossed
aside
like so much trash. She rested on a bag of aluminum cans, her dark hair as long as Georgia
’
s and cut in a similar style. The eyes were wide open in the classic stare of the dead. Many people mistakenly thought eyes closed when someone died, but Georgia knew the opposite.

Bryan
’
s eyes had clouded over, went sightless as she
’
d watched. That was something she saw every time she faced a dead body.
Something she would never forget.

“
Look
.
”
She shook thoughts of Bryan from her mind. Now was not the time. She motioned to one of Maggie Evans
’
wrists. A small piece of twine was embedded in the raw skin.
“
Similar to that found on Claire Reid. And Hailey Ann
.
”

“
Has Dr. Bellows checked in
?
”
Hellbrook asked Jones.
“
She
’
s the federal medical examiner who has performed our other autopsies. She was taking the second copter, left about fifteen minutes after we did
.
”

“
That her
?
”
Jones pointed to a woman wearing a black jumpsuit with no markings printed on it rapidly approaching from the western parking lot. She was followed by the same assistant Hell had seen in the Rapid City police department, a skinny young woman in glasses and ball cap.
The younger woman had sustained burns along her arms in the fire, but had insisted on continuing the case.