Page 36 of Nora
He lifted the curled-up section of fencing, and she slipped through. He wished he could do more for her, but he had more questions than suggestions.
“Or no crossover you know of yet,” he said, following her into the woods. She inclined her head in agreement, though it was a little hard to tell, bundled up as she was. “Who are you looking at?” he asked.
She glanced at him over her shoulder. No doubt checking in on him. Any of the suspects on her list would be people he knew. Maybe even people he considered friends. Her concern surprised him. Most of his family had written him off as a man who didn’t care much about anything or anyone other than his dogs. Well, that wasn’t exactly true. His family would never write anyone off. But his lack of interest in just about everything and everyone was the focus of their concern about him. They worried and fretted. And the more they worried and fretted, the further into his shell he climbed. And yes, that’s how he felt sometimes. A shell. Because the truth was, hedidn’tmuch care for anything but his dogs. He didn’t wish anyone anyharm, but he also didn’t have any interest in making, or keeping, any friends. Most of the time, he wanted to be alone.
“It’s fine, Nora. You can tell me. I like most of the people on the program, but I don’t consider any of them friends,” he said.
She glanced at him again, then answered. “James, Collin, Angelo, Jurgen, Craig, and Jean,” Nora said. “Although, I’m inclined to pull Craig from the group since I know he was out running yesterday. Cyn will double-check that he was, in fact, on a run. But if so, he’s out, too, leaving the five.”
Lucian wanted to defend James. Of the suspect pool, he was the man Lucian knew the best, and he was certain James wasn’t the killer. But she needed to look into everyone, and he wasn’t going to make it harder on her by questioning her process.
“And what are we looking for today?” The sun had come up although it was still shadowed in the forest.
She shook her head, and her long black hair swung across her jacket. The sight of all the curls caught his attention. She usually wore it up. Given she’d been on a run already, he was surprised it wasn’t at least pulled back. But no, it wasn’t. He felt an insane urge to reach forward and sift his fingers through the strands. Instead, he shoved his gloved hands into his pockets.
“I don’t know,” she answered. “Many killers revisit crime scenes for all sorts of reasons. But when I first caught sight of him, he was using a penlight to look on the ground.”
“As if he’d lost something.”
Nora nodded. “He was on the trail, but then went off into the woods.”
“There’s a lot of woods around here, Nora. We can’t search the entire area.”
“You’re right, we can’t. But I want to check the area around where the attack occurred. Chances are, if our killer lost something, it would have happened in the scuffle of subduing and killing his victim. I know, that may not be the case—”
“But you have to start somewhere,” he finished. “What if you don’t find anything? Or what if he found it last night?”
“If I don’t find anything this morning, I’ll call Ben and tell him what happened last night. He seems like a good guy. He’ll probably send a team out. It’s possible the killer found what he was looking for last night, but I don’t think so. I think he was making his way to the location of the attack, but then heard one of us and got spooked.”
“Who is Ben, and do you think getting spooked is what sent him into the woods?”
Nora lifted a shoulder. “It’s possible that he went into the woods because he heard one or both of us rather than to look for something. And Ben is the detective on the case. His team did a pretty good perimeter search. Still, I want to look.”
“They conducted a good search and yet they didn’t find whatever it is the killer lost?”
Nora slowed, then came to a stop. She turned to face him, her cheeks pinkened in the cold. “Ben and his team don’t know who I really am, nor do they have any idea that the killer is part of the program. I’m sure they are aware that the old base isn’t far away. However, they think, and I didn’t disabuse them of this, that the attacker came from one of the public trails that leads here from the road.”
“And so they didn’t search very far to the south. Toward the grounds,” Lucian said, turning around and surveying the area. “Is this where it happened?”
She nodded. “They think he was attacked here and dragged off the trail in a chokehold in that direction.” She pointed to their left. He could see trampled grass and disturbed bushes, although he wasn’t sure if it was from the killer or the crime scene techs.
“Did they find anything?” he asked, as they both started looking along the trail. Nora even grabbed a long stick to help move brush and ground cover aside.
“The victim’s headlamp was there.” She pointed to a spot on the narrow trail. “But that’s it.”
He didn’t have much to add, so instead, he started searching in earnest. Wandering off the trail, he followed the trampled path for several meters before stopping. Judging by the disturbed ground, he suspected it was where the body had fallen. The woods around them were thick, and there was no evidence of another trail.
“That’s where he crawled to,” Nora said, nodding to where he stood. “They think he was stabbed about there,” she said, pointing to a spot north of where she stood. “After that, they think he started crawling toward the main trail, probably to look for help. It’s that way,” she said, moving her finger to the west. “He only made it to where you’re standing.”
He eyed the area with that context in mind, then made his way to where she’d indicated Michael Kelly had been stabbed. As Nora said, if the killer had lost something, it was probably during the scuffle. However, the forensic team would have searched the area and immediate vicinity.
Opting to join Nora at the edge of the woods, he studied the options. The easiest and fastest way back to the grounds was via the trail they’d come in on. But it was also possible hehadmade his way back under the cover of the trees.
Again, he surveyed the area, letting his gaze drift lightly over the sights. A few minutes in, he saw something.
“What?” Nora asked. He looked down at her, surprised to find she was watching him. Her green eyes held his for a moment, then he tore his attention away.
“There’s a deer trail,” he said. “It’s not a real trail, but it might be worth looking at.”
