Page 27 of Seeking Evil

Rounds of enthusiastic affirmations ripped through the group.

Cooper brought out his ID. “We’re wondering if you’d mind if we ask a few questions.”

“This about the missing woman?” one of the men asked.

“It is. Did any of you see her?”

Several in the group nodded. “Sure. She joined with us for a few climbs. It’s better to climb with someone close by.”

“Did she mention anything unusual happening? Was she being followed?” Zeke wondered if either Dawn or Sierra would have known they were being stalked by a serial killer.

The man looked to the others before shaking his head. “Honestly, no. She was always upbeat. She never mentioned having a problem.”

Several people voiced their agreement.

Zeke brought up a photo of Sierra. “What about this woman? Do any of you remember seeing her? Talking to her?”

The group gathered around the phone.

“Yeah, she was here too,” the same man said. “Day before yesterday?” He glanced around the group for confirmation.

“Yeah, that’s right,” a woman said. “She said she’d planned to climb Cirque of the Towers the next day. She was an excellent climber.”

“Anything seem off about her? Was someone showing her an unusual amount of attention?”

The woman’s eyes slowly widened. “Wait, has she gone missing too?”

Ripples of unease ran through the group.

“We believe so.” The group, especially the women, needed to know what was happening around the climbing community. “Hang on a second.” Zeke stepped out of earshot. “We need to shut this down now,” he told Cooper. He’d noticed at least two women who fit the age group for the suspect’s victims.

“You want to close the climbing range?”

Zeke didn’t hesitate. “I do. Now. We have the power to do that.”

Cooper rubbed the back of his neck. “We do, but this is going to create a lot of friction. People come here to climb. Tourism will take a nosedive if we shut it down. It will affect the community’s bottom line.”

“And if we don’t, more women may go missing.”

Cooper checked his phone for service. “I’m calling Jack and Patrick. We need to get their approval.”

“Fine. I’ll send the climbers home.”

Zeke went back to the group. “I need you all to return to town. They’ll be no climbing today.”

“What? Hey, that’s not fair. We came here specifically to climb.”

More displeasure ran through the group.

“It’s just until we catch this man. We believe he may be preying on female climbers.”

The women of the group showed real fear.

“We don’t want to have any more women go missing. Go back to town. I’m going to stop the rest of the climbers.”

Zeke went to the two single climbers who were preparing to start their adventure. “I need you to go back to town.”

Both were men and not happy about the decision.

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