Page 7 of A Dark Place

“First Christian Church outside of Gaithersburg, Maryland. It’s a small church—around a hundred members. The pastor arrived this morning to work on his sermon for Sunday and found her at the altar. The police were called. They’re there now waiting for us. According to the detective who caught the case, the church leaves its doors open twenty-four-seven. They keep the pastor’s office and the media room locked, but otherwise everything is left open—even the annex. The pastor said people who travel through the area stop in to rest. Some even spend the night.” Luke stopped before stating the obvious. “There are going to be a lot of fingerprints.”

Olivia grabbed her jacket from the back of his chair. “It’s Tuesday. Did the pastor mention the last time he’d been at the church?”

“Sunday for the evening service. He stops by a couple of times during the week to check on things and prepare his sermon.”

Asher was already way ahead of her. “I’ll drive.” He headed out the door. This wasn’t the news they wanted to hear, but it was crucial that they work the crime scene carefully. They couldn’t afford to miss anything.

“Declan and I are right behind you,” Luke called after them.

Olivia raced to catch up to her partner. Both hit the back entrance and hurried to the parking area for employees. Asher slid into the driver’s seat and barely waited until Olivia was in the vehicle before he reversed.

While the SUV sped toward the location of their latest body, all Olivia could think about was the pain that would be coming Sylvia’s parents' way when they learned about their only child’s death.

“Why a church?” She faced her partner. “He’s always left the victims at the Anacostia Park.”

Asher glanced over at her. “I wish I knew. Nothing about this new Van Gogh makes sense.”

She agreed. Most serial killers kept to a certain pattern, but this guy wasn’t playing according to normal.

She and Asher made the rest of the trip in silence. Olivia had worked the Van Gogh case since she’d been assigned to the task force, but she was not part of the original investigators like Asher and Declan.

Still, Olivia had done her homework. The Van Gogh Killers had claimed five lives that they knew of before they took Lizzy Grayson. She was the only victim to date to survive. Was it because Edward Buckley realized she was his granddaughter?

She’d read Buckley’s file after Lizzy identified him as part of the two-man team of serial killers. The man was a sociopath who had killed his wife in cold blood. He’d been sent to prison for the murder, leaving his son and daughter to be raised by family members. And it was that son—Martin Collins—who had orchestrated Buckley’s escape from prison where he’d been on the run ever since.

Olivia’s belief was that Buckley had more body counts associated with his name than the five victims assigned to Van Gogh. So far, there was little background on Edward Buckley’s childhood. Was it something buried in his childhood, a fascination with Van Gogh’s work that made Buckley chooseStarry Nightas one of his calling cards? Then there was the strange fetish of cutting off the victim’s lower part of the left ear and sending it to the FBI. It spoke of a twisted fascination with the Dutch artist.

So far, there had been no trophy sent to the Bureau. Declan and Luke hadn’t found the usualStarry Nightat Sylvia’s apartment or the Polaroid showing a bound Sylvia like the previous victims. Instead, the killer had chosen to contact Lizzy. But there had been noStarry Nightphoto. Unfortunately, she and Asher hadn’t been able to tell the director about the connection to Lizzy because of Holden’s unknown agenda. Olivia sure hoped it didn’t come back to haunt them both because if it did, they’d end up without a job or worse, in jail for treason.

Asher slowed the vehicle and turned into the parking lot of the white church with a steeple that took Olivia back in time to when she was a kid.

Growing up, she’d attended a little church like this one with her grandmother in a small town not too far from here. Back then, everything was perfect. She’d had an almost idyllic childhood. Then, she’d grown up and met Sawyer. They’d become engaged. She’d imagined getting married in her grandmother’s church one day. But that hadn’t happened. Sawyer had joined the marines and had been sent to Afghanistan. Two years later, he was dead.

Olivia pulled in several breaths. That was three years ago, and yet she still remembered getting the news as if it were days earlier. She glanced to the man who was Sawyer’s older brother. Asher had been her rock. She couldn’t imagine her life without him in it.

The amount of police vehicles parked in front of the church sanctuary stood in stark contrast to the simple building with stained glass windows and steeple shooting up into the cloudy skies.

Asher parked away from the activity and shifted her way. “Are you okay?” He always had a way of knowing when something was bothering her.

“I’m fine,” she said and slid out before he could ask another question.

She and Asher waited silently by their vehicle until Declan and Luke arrived.

The group headed up to the police activity. Asher showed his credentials to one of the officers standing guard near the police tape.

The officer studied the credentials for a long moment before nodding. “She’s inside at the altar. The pastor is in the annex next door. Do you want to speak to him first before you see the body?”

“Let’s see the victim first.” Olivia wanted to know what they were dealing with because she had a feeling the torment Van Gogh had put her through was going to be different than the previous victims.

The officer raised the tape to allow them to come up the steps. He opened the door and stood aside as they entered.

Olivia paused long enough to take in the scene before her. Police officers were stationed all around the inside of the church. Half a dozen gathered at the altar near where the woman’s body was draped across several steps.

Olivia turned to Luke. “What’s the ETA on our Evidence Response Team?”

Luke pulled out his phone. “I’ll check.” He stepped away.

Olivia and Asher started up the center aisle side by side.

---