Page 128 of Love Me Fierce

Zach spins into the stairway and descends. I follow, a sickening feeling taking root in my core. Though he and I have partnered on searches and seizures dozens of times together, neither one of us has encountered anything as high-stakes as this.

A dry, dusty scent permeates upward as we descend, and that hum gets louder. At the open doorway at the bottom of the stairs, Zach glances in and flips the light switch on the wall. The space beyond brightens, but it’s a muted, flickering glow. Not like overhead lights. He and I lock eyes for an instant. I give him a nod, and we swing into the space.

It’s one open room with bare cement walls and garish red carpeting. Set up around the perimeter are little tables. Each is decorated differently, with a framed picture and a candle. In front of each shrine is a padded rectangular cushion, like you might see in a church pew.

“Oh fuck,” I say, my voice faltering.

Ballard slips in next to me and releases a slow, measured breath. “They’re shrines. He comes here to worship them.”

I don’t have to get a closer look at the framed pictures to match Marin and Michelle’s. Instead, I look away. It feels wrong to see them like this, so exposed.

My phone chirps, but it takes me a moment to remember what I’m supposed to do about it. “Hey,” I say, turning away from the room.

“Thanks to you I missed my lunch,” Walker says. “But I’ll let you make it up to me, you know why?”

I pinch the bridge of my nose. “No, Walker, why.”

“The inside of this van is crawling with DNA.”

I start climbing the steps. I’ve seen all I need to see in this place. “That’s good news.”

“Let’s just hope it gives us what we need.”

“Thanks for the update, and sure, lunch is on me.”

“Fucking right it is.”

He’s likely not leaving here anytime soon thanks to what we just found, but I don’t tell him that.

Outside, I gulp the dry mountain air, focusing on the heavy scent of pine and the dome of blue sky dotted with puffy clouds. As the earth spins back into focus, the spear of my anger turns razor-sharp.

This ends now.

Ballard appears at my side. “We’re bringing in Tisdale.”

I cross my arms. “When?”

He arches an eyebrow. “How would you and Zach like a chopper ride to Idaho Falls?”

It takessome creative teamwork and scrambling to get our crime scene secured and the necessary authorizations signed to get Zach and I to the helipad located behind the Finn River Sheriff’s Department building. The ride is cold and loud, and though there’s tactical chatter going on between Ballard and the rest of his team and the police department in Idaho Falls, I use the idle time to try to process what we learned.

There were six shrines in that basement room. Six young women who lost their life to satisfy Tisdale’s sick urges. Though someday Imight feel satisfied that we stopped him, right now I’m too angry that it took us this long.

Six families torn apart. Six young women with dreams and plans that will never be realized.

I think of Marin’s family and what our discovery will do to them. Will they ever find peace?

After the chopper lands on top of the Idaho Falls police department, Zach, Ballard, and I are shuttled into vehicles. Our convoy closes in on the Idaho National Laboratory, a federal research facility not far from downtown.

Because the INL is a federal research facility, it’s under tight security, but Ballard’s team has already set everything up, so we’re inside and heading to Tisdale’s floor without a hitch.

Tisdale is in the middle of giving a presentation to a group of about ten men and women gathered around an oval table inside a large conference room, the lights partially dimmed. When we file in, surprise ripples through the small crowd while Tisdale takes a step back, his gaze darting from me and Zach to the others, a look of disbelief on his narrow face.

The bystanders sit frozen as we file around them to reach Tisdale.

“Christopher Tisdale, you’re under arrest,” I say. Though I’ve dreamed of saying these exact words since I learned this guy’s name, it doesn’t bring me any joy.

“What? There’s some mistake,” Tisdale says, his eyes snapping to anger. He puts up his hands, like he can stop us from moving in. “Wait!”

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