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Chapter Three
After leavingbehind the pungent scent of the autopsy suite, Alexa welcomed the muggy air outside, even with the light mist falling. She knew from prior experience that the smells would permeate her clothes, her hair. The motel the Mounties were using was in Enfield, relatively close to the dump site and less than an hour’s drive from the Halifax morgue. Although she’d only recently witnessed the inside of the victim’s brain, and the damage the drill had done there, she was grateful for the sandwiches they picked up on the way to the motel. She’d turned down the snacks offered on the plane ride here. Her stomach had been a tangle of nerves, a sensation that returned every time Ethan’s ice-blue gaze settled onher.
As she’d watched the scenery pass by her window on the way to the motel, Alexa had been struck anew by the geographical similarities between Nova Scotia and her home in Virginia. They had vivid green countryside, rolling hills, mountains and beaches in common. But this trip didn’t feel like a homecoming. She had few good memories about her lifehere.
They ate in the room the two men were using as a workspace. Both beds had been moved out of the room and two long tables had been moved in, atop which was a jumble of file folders and two laptops. A whiteboard sat behind it, to which photos and diagrams had been affixed withmagnets.
“We disseminated Simard’s ID this morning through CPIC, Canadian Police Information Center, to all law enforcement agencies in the province,” Ethan told her as he dug in the bag for a sandwich. “Simard’s only next of kin was an elderly aunt. Since she’s been notified, I also released his ID to the media, asking people to call a tip line if they recognize the victim. We need to establish a timeline for when he arrived in Nova Scotia to pin down how and when he met up with the unknownsubject.”
Alexa raised her brows, waiting for him to find his order before appropriating her sandwich and taking the remaining one to Nyle. “Discovering where Simard was kidnapped might help us zero in on the UNSUB’s location, aswell.”
“Yeah. Simard’s financials haven’t come in yet.” Ethan took another bite of the sandwich, swallowing before adding, “Credit-card records might make the searchsimpler.”
Nyle ate in front of his computer, while scrolling through the day’semails.
Ethan finished first, wolfing down his sandwich while sending text messages with impressive one-handed dexterity. By the time he’d put down his cell, three-pointed his wrapper in the trash can, and turned to Alexa, she was only halfway done with hermeal.
“I don’t know how far you got through that file on the plane,” hestarted.
“Are you offering a recap?” She picked up her napkin to dab at her lips. “Please, go ahead.” Last night had been spent in a meeting with Raiker after he’d tapped her for this assignment, and then bustling home to pack a bag. The files she’d looked at on the plane had included an overview of the crimes and more in-depth information about the ones that had occurred more recently in New Brunswick, but they were by no means complete. And honesty forced her to admit that she’d been unusually distracted on the journey. She had few pleasant memories of her time in Nova Scotia, and Ethan figured in most of those she did have. It would have been difficult enough just returning to the province. Mentally preparing herself for facing him the next day, working side by side with him on this case had been like staring at the headlight of the oncoming locomotive of herpast.
There was little Raiker didn’t know about his employees, so the meeting with him, as he’d probed her readiness for this case had been almost as grueling as seeing Ethan again. She’d managed to convince her boss that the past had no hold on her. There’d been moments since her arrival when that conviction had been sorely tested. She suspected Raiker knew that, too. He was still the foremost profiler in the States. The man was a human lie detector. Little could be hidden fromhim.
“…span of thirteen years he’s killed fourteen victims, three of them in the last couple weeks.” With a jolt, she redirected her focus on Ethan. “There was a three-year hiatus, so that was eleven in ten years untilrecently.”
“Just over one a year until now.” She thought about that for a moment. “If he’s making up for the time away, perhaps he’s now finished for a while. I’m sure you’ve checked prison records on recent releases. Passports and visa information for visitors to the country in the last few…” Recognizing the glint in his eye, she swallowed the rest of her words. “I was just thinking outloud.”
“Inquiries are in progress. If I may continue?” His exaggerated politeness was more telling than a growl. She decided it would be wiser to finish her meal as he spoke. She picked up the remainder of her sandwich. Bit delicately intoit.
“We’ve determined the offender approaches them from behind and is left-handed, based on the angle of the blows that initially incapacitate the victim and the side he chooses to inject them.” Ethan prowled the space with long lithe strides, his activity a marked contrast to Nyle’s loose-limbed slouch in the folding chair. “Until Simard, there’d been no discernible manner of death. We’d settled on possible asphyxiation. Or an undetectable drug that would stop the heart, using the same injection site as that used for administering theScopolamine.”
“Potassium would do the trick.” Nyle’s voice sounded remarkably cheerful. His gaze never left his computerscreen.
She chewed pensively. Swallowed. “Those options say remarkably different things about your killer.” Stopped to shoot him a guilty look. But he didn’t seem irritated thistime.
“Howso?”
Twenty years and two degrees had imbued her with the confidence and experience she’d lacked in her youth. But having Ethan’s intense pale-blue gaze on her brought a flush to her system that she’d been certain only yesterday that she’d outgrown. “You mentioned the torture was a new addition to the three most recent victims. Before that, other than the blow to the head, the others didn’t show signs of untowardviolence.”
“No. And I see where you’re going with this.” He leaned a shoulder against the wall, his laser regard still trained on her. “There’s a contrast between the brutality of the initial assault and the relative ease of suffocating the victim. But asphyxiation can be plenty brutal. Placing a pillow over one’s face might take minutes, but if, say, he secured a plastic bag to the victim’s head and waiting for the oxygen to be depleted it would take far longer and be much moreunpleasant.”
Because he was watching so closely Alexa suppressed the shudder that skated through her at the thought. “Still a sadistic death, yes.” But something else was niggling at her, skating at the edges of her consciousness before dancing away again. “How long have you been assigned to thiscase?”
“I joined the task force five yearsago.”
“Don’t let him go all modest on you,” Nyle shot her grin over his shoulder. “The team came up empty-handed under the last lead investigator’s sojourn. When The Tailor became active again, the new commissioner went with a new lead, plucking Sergeant Manning here from IHIT inOttawa.”
Alexa’s brows skimmed upward. IHIT was Canada’s elite homicide team. Ethan must have risen through the ranks of the RCMP to command a certain level of respect, despite his age. He’d be thirty-eight now. A year older than her. She didn’t recall him ever mentioning an interest in police work. Of course, her occupation was a far cry from her beginnings as a biology undergrad,too.
Belatedly, she seized on the rest of Nyle’s words. “TheTailor?”
Ethan looked pained, whether at the other man’s compliment or her question she couldn’t be sure. “The media loves their hooks. The detail about sewing the mouths of the victims shut leaked after the second victim wasfound.”
“But not the reasonwhy?”
“No, the insertion of the dragonfly has been kept quiet. Some of the victims have been engaged in criminal activities. Prostitution rings, organized crime…but others were just the opposite. We’ve got a doctor, a housewife, the mayor of a small town and almost zero overlap between any of them. He’s struck in nearly every province in the country and oneterritory.”
A vastly ambitious hunting ground, Alexa thought, finishing her sandwich and folding the wrapper into a neat square. “Did the other victims live near the dumpsites where they were found, or were theytransported?”