Page 26 of Ranger Bravery

Piper rose, intending to circle the table to the whiteboard. The window of the conference room had been replaced since the shooting, the bullet holes in the walls patched and the damaged chair removed, but Jackson still had the sudden urge to grab Piper’s hand so she’d stay next to him. But that wouldn’t be professional. Or reasonable. So he curled his hands into fists to tamp down the impulse.

She used a marker to add dates to the timeline. “Shawn repeatedly attempted to get Elena back. He sent dozens of messages and called her numerous times. Even sent flowers to her house. She deliberately ignored him. Three days later, she was dead.”

Silence filled the room. All of them had worked enough cases to know that rejection could turn into deadly obsession. Jackson’s stomach soured at the thought of his childhood friend luring Elena to the woods to beat and kill her. “Do we know why Elena went to the nature preserve? Who was she meeting?”

“It’s unclear. She received a phone call from an unknown number about an hour before her death. The killer used a burner phone to hide his identity. I’ve traced the purchase of the phone to a store three counties over. The person paid cash. I attempted to obtain security footage from the store, but it’s deleted every three days. Since the phone was purchased five days ago, the footage is gone.”

Frustration nipped at Jackson. It would’ve made things a lot easier if there was security footage of the killer buying the cell phone. He did a quick calculation in his head. “The killer bought the phone two days before Elena was killed.”

“Yes.” Piper’s mouth flattened into a thin line. “This was premeditated. The only communication between our victim and the burner phone was this one call to set up the meeting at the nature preserve.”

“If Elena had ignored Shawn’s texts and other gestures, why would she agree to meet him?” Daniel asked as he flipped through the pages. “Seems to me, she was purposefully avoiding him. In fact… why call her at all? They worked at the same place. He could’ve arranged the meeting in person. It would’ve been a lot easier and untraceable.”

Jackson had to admit his fellow ranger had a point. Shawn was clearly upset over the end of his relationship with Elena, but that didn’t make him a killer.

“We need to be careful,” Derek said, echoing Jackson’s thoughts. “I don’t want to narrow our investigation to one person. According to several neighbors, Wally Hutchinson threatened Elena openly. He was furious with her for helping his ex move out. He’s abusive and aggressive and has been arrested for violence against women in the past.”

“Wally’s also missing,” Felicity added. “No one has seen or heard from him since Wednesday afternoon. I checked with the Watering Hole, which is a bar Wally and his brother frequent. The bartender confirmed both men were there from about noon until 4:30 or so. Then they left with Gerdie.”

“All together?” Piper asked. “Todd told us he stayed for a few hours at the bar after Wally left.”

“Not according to the bartender. They closed out their tab at 4:32, and he says left right after. All together. I asked for the security footage, but the cameras above the door and the register are broken. The system hasn’t worked in two years.”

“The meeting between Elena and her killer was set for 5:00.” Lieutenant Rodriguez ran a hand over her dark ponytail before tossing the strands over her shoulder. “How far is the bar from the nature preserve?”

“About 15 mins. Wally could’ve easily driven to the parking lot to meet Elena with time to spare. Did they take separate cars to the bar?”

“No way to know for certain. The parking lot doesn’t have cameras.”

Jackson mulled that over. “Todd says he met his brother there, but he lied to us about what time he left, so I wouldn’t take anything he said as gospel. Did the bartender notice if they came in together?”

“He didn’t, but Wally left work around 12:45. It matches the timeline if he drove directly to the bar.” Felicity shrugged. “Having said that, Todd’s house isn’t far from the bar. Wally could’ve picked up his brother along the way.”

“Would Elena have agreed to meet with Wally?” Piper challenged. “Or his brother, Todd. Considering what she knew about Wally—including the fact that he’s an abuser and had openly threatened her—I seriously doubt she’d have agreed to meet either of them in a secluded location.”

“We don’t know what the killer said to her,” Daniel argued back. “All we know is there was a phone call.”

Felicity nodded. “According to the bartender, Wally was hanging out with a woman for most of the afternoon. Gerdie James. Apparently, she and Wally go way back and have dated off and on for years. She left with the Hutchinson brothers. It’s possible they asked Gerdie to make the call to Elena to arrange the meeting.”

Piper nodded. “There are photos of Gerdie and Elena together on social media. They knew each other.”

Jackson’s worry for the woman deepened. She could’ve unwittingly helped with the murder. He could easily imagine a scenario where Wally convinced—or threatened—Gerdie to call Elena claiming to have a flat tire or some other kind of car trouble. Based on what they knew about Elena, she would’ve come to her friend’s aid.

“Where’s Gerdie?” Derek asked.

“She’s missing. Hasn’t been seen since leaving the bar with Wally. Right now, there’s no way to know if she’s willingly with Wally or if she’s being held against her will. Or…” Felicity winced. “She’s dead.”

A dark feeling settled over the group like a heavy cloak. Jackson sent up a prayer for Gerdie’s safety. If Wally had killed Elena, there was no telling the horrors he was capable of.

“A BOLO has been issued on Wally’s vehicle,” Felicity continued. “So far, it hasn’t been spotted. We’re also interviewing coworkers and neighbors, but no one can tell us where he is. There’s not any evidence tying Wally to Elena’s murder, so we don’t have enough for a search warrant of his residence. Even if we did, it wouldn’t help much. He was living at a pay-as-you-go hotel and hasn’t paid rent in two weeks. They evicted him on the same day Elena died.”

“Could he have been living with his brother?” Lieutenant Rodriguez asked.

“We spoke to the neighbors. No one saw him there, but that doesn’t mean much. In that neighborhood, they mind their business. Mrs. Wainwright was the most helpful and she hadn’t seen Wally’s truck around lately.”

Piper shrugged. “Doesn’t mean much. If he’s late on his rent, he’s probably late on his truck payment. He might be hiding the vehicle to prevent them from repossessing it.”

Jackson leaned back in his chair. “I tried to interview Todd again after the bombing this afternoon. No one answered the door. His truck and his dog were gone.” His jaw tightened. “Whoever set the bomb was close enough to watch as Piper and I entered Elena’s house. It was a targeted attack. Todd’s house has a clear line of sight. He also knew we were there because we spoke to him before going across the street.”

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