Page 270 of Cold Case, Warm Hearts

“Emily Davis is coming to my wedding.”

“You didn’t!” He jumped to his feet, sending his coffee flying. He picked up the broken pieces of ceramic while Jamie grabbed paper towels.

“I thought you’d be happy.”

“She has a boyfriend.” He scowled and helped sop up the spill. “Why do you insist on interfering?”

“I told her she was welcome to bring Austin or her friend Samantha, but she’s coming alone. Her choice. Not mine.”

He tossed the towels in the waste basket and pushed back in his chair so he could make eye contact with Jamie. “She is?”

“Yep.”

“There’s something strange going on with her and Austin. I’m going to get to the bottom of it.”

“Stay out of it. Allow them to work it out on their own.”

He cleared his throat and grabbed his notebook. “Back to the case. I think I found a pattern.”

“What’s that?”

“Amanda Curtis and Stacy McGuire received gifts before they went missing. Nothing more came of it since there was no cardwith a store name to follow up with and nobody close to the victims admitted to sending them.”

“You don’t think it’s a coincidence?”

“I’m not comfortable writing it off as one, so I called the next of kin in the three cases that didn’t have anything about a gift in their files.”

“And?”

“Genevieve Adams’ sister, Stacy McGuire’s ex-husband, and Lorraine Moore’s stepson all confirmed they’d received gifts the week before their disappearance.”

“What did our creep deliver? Flowers?”

“Teddy bears and jewelry.”

“Interesting.”

“Amanda Curtis was wearing a heart locket when she went missing. Genevieve Adams received a heart locket and a teddy bear. Her body was found with a heart locket, but she was wearing a rose gold watch when she disappeared. Stacy McGuire received a teddy bear with a rose gold watch like the one found with her body.”

“Wait. Wasn’t Lorraine Moore wearing a diamond-studded cross when she was found?”

“She was.” He closed the open file on his desk and leaned back in his chair. “And it was exactly like the one Stacy McGuire always wore before she went missing.”

“Oh my.” She sucked in a quick breath and covered her mouth with her fist. “You may have found the break we need in the case.”

“It’ll only help if we can get evidence from the teddy bears. It seems all of the women were wearing jewelry when they were found except the judge, but with her grave partially dug up and her skull separated from her body the way it was, it’s possible some evidence may have been lost. If I’m reading the killer’spattern correctly, the jewelry he sends them is taken from his previous victim.”

“And he buries each one of them with a trinket from the previous one. It’s a trophy in a way, but he doesn’t keep it for himself.”

“That’s right. It’s as if he hoped the bodies would be discovered and was leaving us clues. Toying with us.”

“The women are all from different towns, so it’s unlikely he met them all at the same place. It would make far more sense that he’s finding these victims through dating websites, and if he met them through their dating profiles and sent them gifts, they’d probably wear the jewelry when they were planning to meet him,” Jamie said.

“I mapped it out. They’re all within thirty minutes of the park.”

“He must live or work near his burial grounds.” She frowned.

“That’s my best guess.” He crossed his arms over his chest. “We need to find out if Judge Van Britton received a gift. Her brother didn’t think so, but would she have shared that detail with him?”

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