Page 20 of Danger in the Wilderness (National Park Protectors #1)
“Sorry for commandeering your boardroom. I asked Supervisor Nicols, and he approved it. He wants this killer caught and out of his park just as much as we do.” She tapped the marker on her chin, studying each photo.
“Wait, do you have a map covering all the parks we could hang? I would like to recreate the geographical map I had started back in Whitehorse. It will help with the profile.”
“Yes, but first, let’s eat before the pizza gets cold.” Dekker removed his new cell phone and tapped on the keyboard. “I’ll text Nicols and get him to bring the map board in here.”
“Thanks.” Blaire sat and took a pizza slice.
“Did you start this party without me?” Quinton waltzed into the room and plunked himself in front of the food. He nabbed a piece. “Pizza. Yum. I’m starving.”
Blaire had called him from the station’s landline a few minutes ago to let him know they had set up a makeshift bullpen in the boardroom and asked him to come.
She required both his law enforcement mind and Dekker’s park experience.
“Just getting situated here, Quinton. Thanks for coming. I know you’re off duty now, so I appreciate your input. ”
“You had me at pizza.” He stuffed the slice into his mouth.
Blaire wiped her lips with a napkin and stood, moving to the board. “Okay, here’s what forensics found when they peeled back this special photo paper.” She pointed to a picture. “This was in our first vic’s hand.”
“I can’t see what it says. Can you read it?” Quinton asked.
“‘I’m the Park Campfire Killer, but who am I? Can you guess? JL’”
Dekker shifted in his seat. “Wait, he dubbed his own serial killer name from the beginning?”
“Yes, which is odd. Normally the press nicknames a serial killer.” Reed joined Blaire at the board. “The next victim’s message says, ‘Do you see me? KO’.”
Blaire read the messages on the next two out loud and tapped the photo they found in Clara’s hand. “They are all similar, but this one is slightly different. It says, ‘The clock is ticking. Find him if you can. See if you can figure me out. The others couldn’t. Are you smarter, DH?’”
Dekker jumped up. “Wait. Hand me the marker.”
Blaire obeyed.
Dekker wrote the letters from each message beneath the photos then ended with DH and circled it. “What if these are all initials, and DH is Dekker Hoyt?”
“I feel PCK singled you out on this last one because he has your father. Reed, capture the letters and add them into our system.” Blaire reflected on each. “So we have JL, KO, EB, PK and DH. Not a lot to go on.”
“What if these initials represent people, though?” Dekker sat back down. “We shouldn’t rule that out.”
“Agreed.” Reed tapped on his laptop. “Inputting them now.”
Supervisor Nicols entered, rolling in the glass-encased map. “As requested.” He positioned it to the murder board’s right.
“Thanks. You okay if I mark on it?” Blaire hated to mess with any of the search team’s data.
“Totally fine. Don’t erase anything as we’re marking off areas we searched.
” Supervisor Nicols grabbed a couple of pizza slices.
“Gotta run. Wife needs me at home. Everyone else has left. Dekker, please lock up when you’re done, and don’t stay here long.
You all need rest. Search begins bright and early in the morning. ” He took a bite and exited.
“Okay, let’s switch gears.” Blaire picked up the green marker.
“I want to focus on where each victim was abducted and where PCK left them.” She repositioned herself to the map’s right.
“Victims one and two were found in the park east of here.” She circled each spot and numbered them appropriately.
“Reed, remind me where vics three and four were found.”
Not that Blaire didn’t know, but she wanted Reed to feel like she was involving him. She needed to change his mindset toward her.
“Florweed Park, north of here.” He took the marker, circling and numbering the spots before handing it back.
“Thanks. Clara was abducted here on the edge of Lunfire Park.” She tapped the board and circled the area, numbering it. “But she was found here.” She marked the spot inside Clovercross National Park.
“Wait, why wasn’t her body left in the same park she was abducted from, like the others?” Quinton asked.
Blaire circled the Fortcastle Mountain campsite. “I think because PCK made it personal when he abducted Frank Hoyt here.” She marked and numbered another spot. “And the latest victim here. He’s claimed Clovercross as his own to tell Dekker he’s in control.”
“Do you think Dekker knows the killer?” Reed asked.
“Possibly.” Blaire traced a line from all the abduction sites to each spot where the bodies were found, following the numbering sequence like a connect-the-dots puzzle. “Okay, let’s see what we have.” She stood back, studying the geographical map.
“That’s an odd shape, don’t you think?” Reed took a picture using his cell phone. “No real pattern. Blaire, we need to finish the profile tonight.”
She clenched her fingers around the marker. “But we don’t have a profile until we’re able to provide solutions to the case. Serial killers always have a rationale as to why they pick the spots they do. We must find it.”
“The profile was done, Blaire, and now you’re grasping at straws.” Reed’s tone turned hostile.
Blaire placed her hands on her hips. She had to convince him. “Reed, we have to reset the profile. It’s not complete.”
He harrumphed and slumped in his chair.
Blaire suppressed her frustration and tilted her head, once again studying the lines connecting the sites on the geographical profile.
An idea formed. “Wait.” She snatched the brown marker, erased the lines from spots four and five, then retraced them in a different order, forming a wide, horizontal X.
“Does that look like a campfire to you? These four form the logs.” She took an orange marker and reconnected the dots. “Kind of like a logo or something.”
“It does, but it’s not complete,” Dekker said.
She circled three spots at the top. “It’s missing this part of the flame.”
Silence thundered in the room.
Blaire’s heartbeat hammered. “He’s signing his kills, and this means PCK has three more victims in mind.”
Could that be the end of his game?