Page 50 of See How They Hide

“Gardner appears to want to cooperate, but he’s agitated right now.”

“Because of his partner?”

“He hasn’t heard from Smith in hours. His panic is telling me he knows about the other murders and is worried that Smith may be in danger.”

“I think,” Catherine said, carefully, “that one of the initial questions we need to ask is if they fear they are in danger, why didn’t they go to the authorities? That tells me they know the motive of these crimes and don’t want to bring in law enforcement.”

“Are you thinking they might be guilty of a crime themselves?”

“It’s a consideration,” Catherine said. “But the victims and, I’ll say potential victims, are demographically different—age, gender, race. A religious married white man, an interracial gay couple, two white female college students, a black math teacher. What do they have in common other than the fact that they all live or lived in Colorado?”

“It’s a place to start,” Matt said. “We don’t have much else at this point.”

“Matt, you have to leave,” Ryder said. “Your driver is at the entrance.”

“I don’t need a driver.”

“If you want to make your plane, you do.” Ryder handed him his bag and herded him to the door.

“Call or text any new information,” Matt said as he walked out.

His cell phone rang as he climbed into the back of the sedan waiting for him. It was a sergeant with the Fort Collins Police Department. “Is this Agent Mathias Costa?” he said.

“Yes, this is Matt Costa.”

The driver pulled away from the curb before Matt shut his door. He juggled the phone and pulled the door closed.

“I went with two officers to Mr. Smith’s house. When no one answered the door, we inspected the property and through the rear windows spotted a body on the kitchen floor, giving us probable cause to enter for a welfare check. The individual was deceased and we identified him by DMV photo as one of the homeowners, Mr. Donovan Smith. Someone slit his throat.”

“Secure the property and don’t touch the crime scene. I’ll call in the FBI Evidence Response Team to process. My team is investigating four other murders we believe are connected to Smith.” He should have been more diplomatic, but he feared if he didn’t claim jurisdiction now he’d be battling later.

“Okay, I can do that.”

“Were there flowers on or near the body?”

“Yes, sir,” the officer said with surprise. “Hundreds of red poppies.”

19

South Fork, Colorado

Kara watched Michael’s expression as he spoke to Matt. Usually her partner had an enviable poker face, but right now she saw stress in his tight jaw.

“Matt, I don’t think Gardner killed him,” Michael said.

Kara raised an eyebrow. Matt didn’t think that, did he? Did he have evidence they didn’t have?

Michael continued after listening. “Gardner was forthcoming, showed receipts from a gas station that he was a hundred miles from Fort Collins when Donovan left the nursery, telling his co-worker that he was going home because of food poisoning. Gardner seems genuinely concerned and very agitated.” He listened, relaxed, and said, “Okay. Call when you land.” He pocketed his phone and told Kara, “Matt’s on his way to Denver.”

“The boyfriend is dead?”

“Yes. Same MO, except his body was found in his house, not outside. It appears they were waiting for him.”

She glanced at the closed door. “We need to tell Andrew.”

“Now that it’s just us,” Michael said, “how do we approach these two?”

She’d been thinking about that for the last hour. “Did you see the look on Riley’s face when she first saw us?”

---