Page 57 of Scent of Death

“Shut up.” He was calm, but she sensed he was walking on the edge. “Get on Highway 14 heading east.”

East would take them out of Greybull toward the Bighorn Mountains. Had Griff found a cabin linked to one of the properties? She prayed he had and kicked herself for not remembering Tyler’s last name was Jenkins.

This was all her fault for not going through the names of all her tutoring students with Griff.

She turned onto Highway 14 but didn’t increase her speed because she was too busy looking at the sheriff’s deputies that were still parked in the residential area on the other side of the river. As they rolled past, she willed one of the deputies to glance over and see them.

They didn’t.

“Faster, but not over the speed limit.” Tyler’s icy voice sent a ripple of fear over her. She risked a quick glance toward him. There was not an ounce of emotion reflected on his features. He would kill her without a smidgen of remorse.

The way he’d killed Josie, Megan, Wendy, and likely Maureen.

She pushed harder on the accelerator to increase their speed. The police vehicles were well behind them now and of no help to her. The rope bit into her wrist; she wasn’t used to driving basically one handed. And every turn she made twisted her left elbow and shoulder to a painful angle.

Nothing as bad as the fate that awaited her. Panic welled in her chest, and she willed it back, trying to think. She needed to stall for time. If they were headed to a cabin the way she thought they were, Griff would find them.

Hopefully in time to save her.

“In three miles turn left.” Tyler’s cold voice broke into her thoughts.

“Okay.” She racked her brain for something to say. “Why did you stop coming to our tutoring sessions?”

He ignored her question. The gun he held pressed against her side never wavered.

Alexis had a bad feeling that he wouldn’t hesitate to kill her once they’d reached their destination.

“Maureen’s parents are worried about her.” The words barely left her mouth when he jabbed the gun harder against her ribs.

“What part of shut up don’t you understand?” The eerie calmness did not reassure her. “You can talk when I say you can talk.”

Okay, so this was a control thing. Tyler needed to always maintain control over his victims. She remembered what the ME’s report said about the possibility of his using drugs prior to strangling his victims.

Would he drug her too? Probably. A ripple of aversion washed over her, but she tried not to lose hope. Griff would find her.

She tried to make eye contact with the drivers of other vehicles to no avail. The speed limit was high enough that the cars whizzed past.

“Turn here.” She was so engrossed in trying to communicate her situation to other drivers that she’d completely forgotten his instruction to turn left in three miles.

Without answering, she obliged by slowing down to safely make the turn onto Hawkeye Road. Here they were the only car on the road. They passed one house that she could see through the trees, but after that, there was nothing but wooded acres of land.

“Go for another four miles,” Tyler said. “There’s a two-track road to the right.”

“Okay.” Ironically, they weren’t that far from Greybull. Maybe halfway between the towns of Greybull and Shell.

Griff had been right about the killer staying close. And about how his attacks against her had been more than just eliminating the chance to be found via her K9.

It had turned personal.

She didn’t ask any more questions, though, for fear he’d simply shoot her. He was buckled in and would likely survive a crash.

“I should have killed your dog before we left.” Tyler’s voice sounded annoyed. The first emotion she’d noticed since he’d taken her away by gunpoint. He jabbed the gun against her ribs again. “If I see that dog of yours, I’ll shoot him.”

“I believe you.” She wasn’t a chatty Cathy by nature, but keeping silent was more difficult than she’d ever imagined. The need to know what was going through Tyler’s mind threatened to burst free. She was desperate to understand why he’d started to stalk and kill young women.

Especially what had caught his attention about the four very different victims. If she didn’t include herself.

There was a very real possibility she’d end up dead as Tyler’s fifth victim.

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