Page 35
Story: Deep as the Dead
Chapter Eleven
The paththe killer had taken was easy tofollow.
After updating Ethan about Grayson Quinton’s observations from the night before, they had the young man show them to the spot where he’d stopped last night on the way home. Leaving him in the back seat of the vehicle, Alexa and Nyle followed the twisted, rutted logging road through the woods. It was little more than a wide, leaf-lined path through the trees, following a meandering trail toward thelake.
“Look.” Alexa stopped and pointed to another area where the grooves from dual tire tracks were clear for severalyards.
Nyle took out his phone and crouched down to take pictures of them. They’d found several other areas where the twin depressions were visible, as well as a clear set of tire treads from the vehicle parked there last night. “The forensic ident unit will have to head over here once they finish up at the dumpsite,” he said, rising. “They can make casts of thesetracks.”
“Which won’t lead us tohim.”
“Well, no.” They continued on their way again. “But once we catch him with the van and a dolly in his possession with tires that match these prints, it’s one more irrefutable piece of evidence against him.” He looked at her then, a glint of concern in his gaze. “How are you doing, Alexa? Being contacted by a killer is enough to shake anyone up abit.”
“It’s also a remarkable opportunity to learn more about the UNSUB. To glean details about him that he doesn’t even realize he’s giving.” She stepped over an area still muddy from the rains a couple of days ago. “It’s a profiler’s dream. The more I understand him, the better I can help you catchhim.”
Slanted sunlight pierced the canopy of trees overhead. The quiet buzz of insects and occasional bird calls added to the tranquility of the spot, a marked contrast to the scene ahead. As they walked, Alexa tried to imagine the area only hours earlier, when it would have been shrouded in darkness. Bats swooping low in the shadows. The occasional gleam from the eyes of night animals. The screech of predators meetingprey.
And the ultimate predator wheeling Lawler’s body down this samepath.
The body would have to be well secured to the dolly, Alexa mused. And he’d have needed light of some sort. Not a flashlight; his hands wouldn’t be free. So perhaps a miner’s hat with the spotlight affixed to it, affording him a narrow beam to split thedarkness.
Jeanette rests in a place familiar toyou.
The recollection of his words was like an icy finger against her nape. Yesterday’s press conference had been late in the afternoon, just hours before he tracked and killed Jeanette Lawler. But in the intervening time, he’d managed to do at least some cursory research on Alexa. Enough, at least, to track down the last place she’d lived in NovaScotia.
But he hadn’t learned much about her. At least, not yet. She’d never been here before. She had rarely been outside the town when they’d lived here. There’d been no family vacations or outings. No picnics by nearbylakes.
But now that his mission in the province was accomplished, he’d have time to do a more thorough job looking into her past. They’d speculated that the UNSUB stalked his victims online. That he used the Internet and possibly the dark web to learn their vices and extort them. Despite her response to Nyle earlier, Alexa wasn’t certain she was ready for what the offender was sure to dredgeup.
The trail tapered to an end. They continued walking straight. After another fifty feet, they stepped out of the tree line into a grassy area. To their right, they could see Ethan and the white-suited evidence team two hundred feet ahead at the water’s edge. More people had arrived and circled the body. The ME andassistants.
They skirted the police tape that had been strung as a perimeter as they made their way to Ethan. He had his cell pressed to his ear as they approached. Alexa wondered if it felt like a permanent attachment these days. He disconnected the call moments later and stepped away from his position near the body to approachthem.
“We’ve got the kid in the car,” Nyle began without preamble. “Took him a couple of tries, but he led us to the logging road where he saw the van parked last night. It’s the right place, too. The forensic ident unit will be able to get casts from the tire treads we found. Plus, there are visible dolly tire marks for several feet in spots leading through the woods toward the lakewhere.”
A glint of excitement in his eyes, Ethan said, “Good job. I’ll dispatch some officers to cordon off the road until the team finishes and can get up there.” He led them farther away. Lowering his voice, he said, “With this latest verification of the vehicle link to the case, I’ve been in contact with Captain Campbell and lobbied for a province-wide stop-and-search of every Econoline van older than 2014. He agreed and received the go-ahead from Gagnon. The order’s gone out on the province-wide law enforcementsystem.”
A thrum of adrenaline began in Alexa’s veins. That was an extensive security net to stop vehicles similar to the offender’s. If he were seen by a patrol cop anywhere, they’d havehim.
“He’s struck twice in Halifax. Maybe his base of operations isthere.”
Ethan nodded grimly. “Unsurprisingly, the two local officers working on the manifests found no one named Anis Tera entering the province. The name doesn’t appear on the ferry passenger listeither.”
“And the ferries don’t have much usable information anyway,” Nyle said, “since they don’t keep copies of the photo ID passengers have to show or include models ofvehicles.”
Ethan nodded. “Which is why it’s his most likely method of entry into the province. We suspected that Anis Tera is an alias. The UNSUB is probably using a different name now. We still need to comb through the toll-road camera images that have come in, just in case. We released the image the sketch artist did with Fornier to the media. The tip line hasn’t elicited anything of valueyet.”
Alexa wasn’t surprised. The drawing had shown a person with no discernible features. He’d been an everyman…outstanding only in his ordinariness. Often releasing the work of forensic artists brought forth a flood of worthless calls about exes’ boyfriends, annoying neighbors, and deadbeat relatives. But each of the tips had to be checked out, which required a lot of man-hours. “A matching vehicle photo from a toll road camera might get us the plate and driverimage.”
“A plate number would lead to a driver license photo, which will be a helluva better likeness than the forensic sketch appears to be,” Ethan agreed. “We’ll need an updated profile for the briefing this evening.” Alexa nodded. “The two of you can work out of the RCMP Colchester County detachment. I’ll catch a ride back when we wrap things up here. Alexa knows where the car isparked.”
Ethan stopped, sent a glance back to where the body laid. “As soon as next of kin have been notified, we’ll release her photo to the media with a note that anyone who saw her last night or early this morning needs to call the tipline.”
“You think we have a chance of discovering where he snatched her from.” Alexa’s words weren’t aquestion.
“We know the general vicinity she was in. Just need a witness or two to pinpoint it for us.” And if a witness came forward who’d seen something of value, that could turn out to be the break they wereseeking.
“Sergeant.”
The paththe killer had taken was easy tofollow.
After updating Ethan about Grayson Quinton’s observations from the night before, they had the young man show them to the spot where he’d stopped last night on the way home. Leaving him in the back seat of the vehicle, Alexa and Nyle followed the twisted, rutted logging road through the woods. It was little more than a wide, leaf-lined path through the trees, following a meandering trail toward thelake.
“Look.” Alexa stopped and pointed to another area where the grooves from dual tire tracks were clear for severalyards.
Nyle took out his phone and crouched down to take pictures of them. They’d found several other areas where the twin depressions were visible, as well as a clear set of tire treads from the vehicle parked there last night. “The forensic ident unit will have to head over here once they finish up at the dumpsite,” he said, rising. “They can make casts of thesetracks.”
“Which won’t lead us tohim.”
“Well, no.” They continued on their way again. “But once we catch him with the van and a dolly in his possession with tires that match these prints, it’s one more irrefutable piece of evidence against him.” He looked at her then, a glint of concern in his gaze. “How are you doing, Alexa? Being contacted by a killer is enough to shake anyone up abit.”
“It’s also a remarkable opportunity to learn more about the UNSUB. To glean details about him that he doesn’t even realize he’s giving.” She stepped over an area still muddy from the rains a couple of days ago. “It’s a profiler’s dream. The more I understand him, the better I can help you catchhim.”
Slanted sunlight pierced the canopy of trees overhead. The quiet buzz of insects and occasional bird calls added to the tranquility of the spot, a marked contrast to the scene ahead. As they walked, Alexa tried to imagine the area only hours earlier, when it would have been shrouded in darkness. Bats swooping low in the shadows. The occasional gleam from the eyes of night animals. The screech of predators meetingprey.
And the ultimate predator wheeling Lawler’s body down this samepath.
The body would have to be well secured to the dolly, Alexa mused. And he’d have needed light of some sort. Not a flashlight; his hands wouldn’t be free. So perhaps a miner’s hat with the spotlight affixed to it, affording him a narrow beam to split thedarkness.
Jeanette rests in a place familiar toyou.
The recollection of his words was like an icy finger against her nape. Yesterday’s press conference had been late in the afternoon, just hours before he tracked and killed Jeanette Lawler. But in the intervening time, he’d managed to do at least some cursory research on Alexa. Enough, at least, to track down the last place she’d lived in NovaScotia.
But he hadn’t learned much about her. At least, not yet. She’d never been here before. She had rarely been outside the town when they’d lived here. There’d been no family vacations or outings. No picnics by nearbylakes.
But now that his mission in the province was accomplished, he’d have time to do a more thorough job looking into her past. They’d speculated that the UNSUB stalked his victims online. That he used the Internet and possibly the dark web to learn their vices and extort them. Despite her response to Nyle earlier, Alexa wasn’t certain she was ready for what the offender was sure to dredgeup.
The trail tapered to an end. They continued walking straight. After another fifty feet, they stepped out of the tree line into a grassy area. To their right, they could see Ethan and the white-suited evidence team two hundred feet ahead at the water’s edge. More people had arrived and circled the body. The ME andassistants.
They skirted the police tape that had been strung as a perimeter as they made their way to Ethan. He had his cell pressed to his ear as they approached. Alexa wondered if it felt like a permanent attachment these days. He disconnected the call moments later and stepped away from his position near the body to approachthem.
“We’ve got the kid in the car,” Nyle began without preamble. “Took him a couple of tries, but he led us to the logging road where he saw the van parked last night. It’s the right place, too. The forensic ident unit will be able to get casts from the tire treads we found. Plus, there are visible dolly tire marks for several feet in spots leading through the woods toward the lakewhere.”
A glint of excitement in his eyes, Ethan said, “Good job. I’ll dispatch some officers to cordon off the road until the team finishes and can get up there.” He led them farther away. Lowering his voice, he said, “With this latest verification of the vehicle link to the case, I’ve been in contact with Captain Campbell and lobbied for a province-wide stop-and-search of every Econoline van older than 2014. He agreed and received the go-ahead from Gagnon. The order’s gone out on the province-wide law enforcementsystem.”
A thrum of adrenaline began in Alexa’s veins. That was an extensive security net to stop vehicles similar to the offender’s. If he were seen by a patrol cop anywhere, they’d havehim.
“He’s struck twice in Halifax. Maybe his base of operations isthere.”
Ethan nodded grimly. “Unsurprisingly, the two local officers working on the manifests found no one named Anis Tera entering the province. The name doesn’t appear on the ferry passenger listeither.”
“And the ferries don’t have much usable information anyway,” Nyle said, “since they don’t keep copies of the photo ID passengers have to show or include models ofvehicles.”
Ethan nodded. “Which is why it’s his most likely method of entry into the province. We suspected that Anis Tera is an alias. The UNSUB is probably using a different name now. We still need to comb through the toll-road camera images that have come in, just in case. We released the image the sketch artist did with Fornier to the media. The tip line hasn’t elicited anything of valueyet.”
Alexa wasn’t surprised. The drawing had shown a person with no discernible features. He’d been an everyman…outstanding only in his ordinariness. Often releasing the work of forensic artists brought forth a flood of worthless calls about exes’ boyfriends, annoying neighbors, and deadbeat relatives. But each of the tips had to be checked out, which required a lot of man-hours. “A matching vehicle photo from a toll road camera might get us the plate and driverimage.”
“A plate number would lead to a driver license photo, which will be a helluva better likeness than the forensic sketch appears to be,” Ethan agreed. “We’ll need an updated profile for the briefing this evening.” Alexa nodded. “The two of you can work out of the RCMP Colchester County detachment. I’ll catch a ride back when we wrap things up here. Alexa knows where the car isparked.”
Ethan stopped, sent a glance back to where the body laid. “As soon as next of kin have been notified, we’ll release her photo to the media with a note that anyone who saw her last night or early this morning needs to call the tipline.”
“You think we have a chance of discovering where he snatched her from.” Alexa’s words weren’t aquestion.
“We know the general vicinity she was in. Just need a witness or two to pinpoint it for us.” And if a witness came forward who’d seen something of value, that could turn out to be the break they wereseeking.
“Sergeant.”
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