Page 58 of Serial Love

Hating to let go, he slowly acquiesced. “More families?”

“Yeah, everyone is trying to get in their lastvacations. I’m going to be doing some checking into the wedding venue idea, so I’ll talk to you later.” Rising on her tiptoes, she grinned. “Well, hopefully, the next time I’m here I can give you other ideas that don’t involve work.” She poked him in the chest with her finger for emphasis. “Got that, big boy?” she teased.

Glancing down at her small, right index finger, he knew. The Saints were right. The girls had used their forefinger to poke the killer, probably for trying to come on to them. And it enraged the killer. Enough to cut off their fingers.

Bethany saw the strange expression crossing his face and said, “Okay, I get the hint. Your brain is on work. And honey?”

He looked down at her guiltily.

“That’s perfectly fine. Go solve crimes, Jack. I’ll be here when you’re finished.” With one last kiss, she headed to her car, giving him a goofy wave as she drove away.

Another month passed without the Campus Killer striking again. Most college campuses in Virginia, while still vigilant, were celebrating homecomings, football season, and the students were preparing for midterms.

Jack’s Saints were still on the job but were more diversified in their work. Taking on a personal case for their friend Jobe Delaro who worked for Tony’s security business had sent Cam out of the country. Jobe and Jack had been brothers in the Special Forces, and he wouldhave taken the case himself, but it fit Cam’s specialty so he received the assignment.

Mountville’s successful Labor Day weekend helped Bethany financially through the fall that was typically slimmer. Guests would still come out for the weekends, but until Thanksgiving, she would not have full cabins. She was hoping the holidays would be good so that the steady income kept coming in. As usual, Roscoe would come and go, sometimes working for a construction crew in town, but always showing up when she needed some work done that was too hard for her. During the non-peak seasons, Sally only helped on weekends, leaving Bethany to wash the linens and cleaning which was not time consuming since the rentals were not used as often.

She spent some of her downtime planning for her new venture. Already lining up a wedding planner who loved the idea and would help promote, she met with a local vineyard that had a building large enough to hold receptions.

Jack had someone come in to install the wall and, in two days, it was finished. She had to admit her worries were for naught—it looked great. Now when guests came in to register, they had a large area to sign in, pick up brochures of area attractions, a small bookshelf holding paperbacks to borrow, and behind the registration desk was still the small office. But behind the bookshelf was now a wall, dark paneling to match the original wood keeping the guests from wandering back to what was now Bethany’s area. She gave away the old table and chairs that had sat unused for so longand replaced them with a new, comfortable sofa facing the fireplace. Plans to expand the kitchen upstairs since the small living room up there was no longer needed had been discussed, but she wanted to wait to see how much money the wedding venue would bring in.

She and Jack, initially deciding to see where the relationship would go, had now decided that they were definitely a couple. Settling into a routine, he spent his evenings at Mountville when she could not get away or, when she could, she headed to his place.

The Saints were used to seeing her old sedan sitting in Jack’s driveway and that was fine with them. They all liked her and could see that she was perfect for their boss. And she baked kick-ass desserts, always making enough for the whole group.

The fall leaves were coloring the Blue Ridge Mountains when the Saints gathered again for a meeting in the command center. Cam was still away, and Marc was with him, but the others were opening their tablets with the latest reports. After discussing the various cases they were working on, the topic always came back to the Campus Killer.

“Luke has been narrowing down the field for us to take a look at and we now have, while it is still a large list, it is at least more manageable for you to divvy up,” Jack announced.

Luke began, “The last time we talked with Ms. Kerstig, she said something that stuck with me. It had to do with the knife and how he kills. She said his knife is an extension of himself, not just any weapon that amurderer might grab in an unpremeditated crime of passion.”

Bart queried, “So the knife means something to him and isn’t just a knife that he has lying around?”

“Right. And the cuts are very precise like. Jack reviewed the coroners’ reports, and they all say the wounds are deliberate, not random stabbings.”

“So…?” Chad prompted.

Luke said, “Commercial fishermen have the most handlings with a fish filet knife, but they usually work all year and wouldn’t have opportunities for being on college campuses. Butchers or ones working with preparing fish would have a better chance at moving around. Possibly.” He sighed before adding, “But I still don’t consider them to have jobs that allow them be able to travel much.”

“It could just be a sportsman, a man who enjoys fishing and is used to fileting his own catch,” Blaise added.

“I’ve gone back to see if there were any unsolved murders involving these kinds of cuts and changed the search to remove college campuses. Every serial killer has a first time. A first time when they kill, and subsequent events may follow different patterns. His first time may not have involved a college student.”

Monty leaned in closer, his eyes alight. “So, what’d you find?”

Jack smiled and said, “Maybe the next clue for us to investigate.”

“Almost thirty years ago,” Luke continued, “a young woman was found near the James River. CharlenePolaski. Her body was partially decomposed, but the coroner’s report included that she had been sexually assaulted, and her torso was cut with a very sharp knife. There was no pattern to the cuts, but her neck was also sliced. This was the first murder that I can find like this.”

“Shit,” Marc said, looking at the information on his tablet. “It’s not exactly the same, but it’s sure as shit close.”

Jack agreed, “I’m wondering if she was not the first. She wasn’t a college student and there’s not much about her background other than she’d just graduated from high school and was working for her dad’s company. Which was,” he paused and looked at them, “working for the diesel gas pumps for the commercial fishermen in the area.”

“You want us heading there?” Blaise asked.

Jack nodded, “Yeah. I’m going and I’ll take three of you with me. I’d like us to spread out and gather as much information on that old murder as possible. See if there is a tie into the ones now. Luke, you manage what we send back. Monty, see what you can dig up on the old murder with your Bureau buds. Bart, Blaise, and Chad, that means you go with me.”

Meeting back in the hotel room that night, the four Saints went over their findings. Bart, still grinning from his break-in, had managed to get the victim’s school records as well as her medical records.

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