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Holly’s eyes stopped on the tenth victim on her right-sided list. Her corpse had been discovered north of SeaTac airport last spring. While the victim had no criminal record for prostitution, police believe she had dabbled in it. The grim discovery of the eighteen-year-old’s body had made theTribune’sfront page news. Brooke Holtman, the other victim who, like Sally Hickman, didn’t exactly fit on either of Holly’s two lists, had gone missing the very next day.
She stepped to the two-page typed list of young women who’d gone missing in the Seattle area in the last five years. One of the most recent was twenty-year-old waitress Jennifer Duran, last seen two weeks ago, whose disappearance had garnered extensive news coverage. Holly glanced at the date before checking the day the most recent Green River Killer victim hadbeen discovered near Star Lake, where detectives had found the suspect walking around today with his son.
And then she saw it. Holly covered her mouth with her hand as she drew in a sharp breath. It was a crazy theory, but a pattern, nonetheless.
A sharp rap against her apartment door tore Holly from her thoughts.
Chapter 11
HOLLY
Holly unhooked the lock and opened the door, realizing she should’ve checked the peep hole first. Fortunately, it was Jared.
“Hey.” He ran a hand through his dark wavy hair as she stepped aside to let him in.
His eyes were bloodshot, but he was still wearing his suit. Her apartment was between his house and the Major Crimes Unit, so she doubted he’d been home yet.
Normally, she would’ve told him she couldn’t see him when she had less than two hours to turn in a piece she hadn’t started writing, but her heart raced with excitement at what she’d found. Five more minutes wouldn’t hurt. Especially for something this important.
“I could use a drink,” he said after she closed and locked the door behind him.
She pointed to the kitchen. “There’s beer in the fridge.”
“You got anything stronger?” he asked.
From his swagger toward the kitchen, she guessed he’d had a few already. Probably after finding out their only real suspectin the city’s senseless slayings had passed a lie detector test. “There’s vodka in the freezer.”
He unholstered his gun and set it on the kitchen counter, like he did every time he came over. She got him a glass while he opened the freezer.
“You want me to do that?” she asked as he sloppily filled a generous pour into the short tumbler.
He shook his head. “Nah.” He lifted the glass to his mouth. “You should move into my place. It’s stupid to drive fifteen minutes out of my way to see you when you could live at my house.”
She nodded, not up for an argument tonight, even though she had no intention of moving in with him yet. In less than a year, they would be married. Until then, she wanted to enjoy her freedom. And her space from Jared’s mood swings.
She put a hand on his arm as he lifted the glass again. “I heard about your suspect passing the lie detector test. I’m sorry it wasn’t him.”
Jared winced after knocking back a big swig. “Don’t be. It’s not my problem anymore.” He wiped the edge of his mouth with a sleeve.
“What do you mean?”
He swung the glass to the side, sloshing vodka onto the floor. “I’m off the task force.”
“Why?” From what she’d gathered, Jared was the one who’d brought in their first suspect since a truck painter named Gary Ridgway passed a polygraph last May.
Jared’s mouth twisted into a frown. “They said it’s due to manpower, that they had to take someone off the GRK task force because we don’t have enough staff for our other increasing homicides. But the truth is my sergeant hates me. He thinks I’m too abrasive or some shit.” He pointed at Holly with a wavering finger. “But you can’t tiptoe around a serial killer investigation.”
Holly bet it had to do with him questioning the suspect’s son today. Jared took another drink, and she wondered how aggressive he’d gotten with the boy. She knew Jared well enough not to ask—it would only worsen his mood.
“I want to show you something.” Holly glanced at the binder on the kitchen table as she led the way to her office. She would tell him the good news about her book deal later. She heard him refill his glass before following her.
A flutter stirred beneath her skin as Jared stepped into the office behind her. “You know how the suspect you interviewed today had an alibi for some of the Green River Killer murders?”
Jared took a drink and stared at the wall.
“What if there are two killers?” she asked.
Jared shook his head. “That’s an old theory. We know now that the Green River Killer has a pattern.” He ran his gaze over Holly’s long list of missing women. He lifted the glass toward the pages filled with names. “Some murders and disappearances that we’re attributing to him may turn out to be unrelated. But the majority are connected.” He stepped in front of the map marked withX’s. “We’re looking for a serial killer who’s strangling mostly prostitutes and runaways. Some boyfriend might’ve offed his girl, and another might be the victim of a random mugging gone wrong, but there are nottwoserial killers out there.”