Page 41 of So Insane

But dammit, she couldn’t resist that kiss.

She sighed and rolled her eyes. “Fine. But you owe me tonight.”

Shawna brightened and kissed Frankie again. “I will more than make it up to you, my love. Trust me, you’ll be very satisfied with your reward.”

Frankie rolled her eyes again but smiled. "All right, well, hurry up before I change my mind."

Shawna kissed her a third time, a quick peck on the cheek, then started for the entrance to the cave. Frankie picked up her camera and followed the beam of Shawna’s flashlight as the two of them started into the mine.

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

Clara Montpelier had fared no better than Tyler Stone. The cause of death was the same—multiple stab wounds to the torso and abdomen—and the rats had chewed through most of the soft tissue of her chest, leaving a hollowed-out gaping wound that looked like something off of the cover of a death metal album.

She was found in the same exact spot where Tyler Stone was found, dropped through the same shaft and dragged near the entrance of the cave. Splintered glass lay strewn across the surface of the cave, the remains of the cameras the police had left behind in case the killer returned to the scene of the crime.

“Were you able to recover any footage?” Michael asked Jones.

The detective shook his head. “We don’t have an internet feed like the big cities too. We were counting on the memory cards of the cameras.”

“And none of them are recoverable?”

Jones shook his head again. “He destroyed all of them. I mean, I assume it’s a he. The killer looks like he’d have to be pretty physically strong.” He looked at Faith. “No offense.”

Faith sighed and said, “I want officers stationed here twenty-four-seven.”

“They’re not going to like—”

“I don’t give a shit,” Faith said, cutting him off. “I want officers stationed here twenty-four-seven. If your officers are too cowardly, find some from Brightwater.”

“Faith,” Michael interjected, waving his palm to indicate she should tone it down.

Faith wasn’t about to tone it down. Once more, their killer had been visible, out in the open, and once more, he had eluded them. Faith had had enough of killers hiding in plain sight and getting away with it.

She and Michael had gotten the call on their way back from Tom Martle’s house. The officers assigned to retrieve the memory cards and look for footage had come upon the scene and called Jones, who called Faith and Michael.

“How long until CSI gets here?” she asked Jones.

“First thing tomorrow morning.”

She glared at him, and he lifted his hands and said, “I’ll call them and see if I can convince them to come by tonight.”

“No, you’ll tell them it’s an order, and if they don’t get their asses here within one hour, I’ll personally report them and you to the state law enforcement commission. Screw the damned ghosts. Real people are being murdered by a real person.”

“All right,” he said softly, “all right.”

Faith pressed her palm to her forehead. “Shit!”

“Faith,” Michael said, “a word?”

Faith followed Michael outside of the cave. Turk remained behind, sniffing for clues. When they were outside of the entrance, Michael said, “Look, I’m every bit as pissed as you are at this, but we need to be cool about it.”

“Cool about it?” Faith nearly shouted. “How are we supposed to be ‘cool’ about people dying?”

“We’re supposed to remember our jobs and focus on solving the case, not being upset that it exists in the first place.”

Faith pursed her lips, unable to think of a response to that.

“We’ve dealt with frustrating cases before,” he said, “We’ve dealt with incompetent local authorities before. None of this is new.”

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