Page 37 of Ace of Spades
After she hit the remote, unlocking the car’s doors, he slid into the passenger seat. “Start it up, and I’ll put the address in the GPS,” he said when she was seated next to him.
“It doesn’t make sense that he’s suddenly changing his M.O., leaving a victim behind a grocery store.” She glanced over at him. “Unless he was scared off. If so, we might have a witness.”
“Or the newscast messed with his head.” The piece about Linda Harding having two daughters had run on the evening news.
“That’s a possibility, too. We need to catch this guy, Nate. His kills are getting closer together. He’s losing it.”
“Which means he’ll start making mistakes. That’s what we want.”
Her fingers curled around the steering wheel. “Not at the cost of another woman’s life.”
He got that. Their job was to save lives, but it worried him that Taylor was letting this case get to her. He needed to have a talk with her, judge for himself how much of a problem that was going to be. He’d do that tomorrow.
A police car was parked close to the body, the officer leaning against the hood, guarding the scene. On the other side of the crime scene tape, a group of kids milled about, laughing and pushing each other around.
“No respect for the dead. The little buggers should be home in bed,” Taylor grumbled as they exited the car.
The area behind the store was well lit, so Nate took out his phone and snapped pictures of those standing around. While Taylor headed for the body, he made a wide circle, taking more pictures, watching for anyone who seemed nervous. Movement at the corner of the lot caught his attention, a man standing in the shadows. The man pulled the ball cap he was wearing down over his forehead. Nate took another photo, and just as he did, the man slipped around the building adjacent to the grocery store.
Was that their killer, or just a curious bystander? Nate ducked under the crime scene tape and jogged over to the other building. The man wasn’t in sight, but halfway down the block, a car pulled out of a parking space. Because of the pinkish glow of the streetlights, it was hard to tell the color of the car other than it was something dark. He snapped several more pictures as it drove away, hoping Court could pull up the license plate.
A van pulled up next to Taylor’s car, and two crime scene technicians got out. Nate walked back to where the man had stood, turned on the light in his phone, and searched the ground, seeing two freshcigarette butts and what looked like a photo folded in half. He took a picture; then, not wanting to leave possible evidence unattended, he called Taylor.
“Send one of the techs over here,” he said when she answered her phone.
She lifted her head, searching for him. At seeing him, she said, “Find something?”
“Not sure. Maybe.”
After saying something to one of the techs, she came back on the phone. “I have something to show you when you’re done there.”
When their tech walked up to him, he said, “Hey, Laura. How’s Daniel?” Her son had suffered a severe concussion in a high school football game.
“Much better, but now he’s mad at me because I said no more football. Seeing him lying on that field, not moving? Not going there again.”
“Can’t say I blame you.” Although if he were Daniel, he wouldn’t be happy either, so he could sympathize with both sides. “A man was standing here, watching us when we arrived. As soon as I spotted him, he took off. Might be nothing, but let’s bag these butts and whatever that is.”
She took some of her own pictures, then snapped on a pair of rubber gloves and pulled a baggie out of her jacket pocket. “It’s from a Polaroid. Who even has one of those anymore? Do you want me to open it?”
“Yeah, let’s see if it’s anything of interest.”
After dropping the two butts into a bag, she picked up the photo, prying it apart. He leaned over her shoulder to see the picture. “Shit,” he muttered. This wasn’t the first time he’d seen the woman staring up at him with dead eyes.
Laura frowned up at him. “What?”
He glanced over at Taylor. He’d been worried about her taking this case too much to heart, and now, she was going to have every reason to.
“That’s her mother.” He’d pulled up the police files of Taylor’s mother’s case. Had seen the crime scene photos. The file had been thin, as apparently the police at the time hadn’t cared about a dead prostitute.
“No,” Laura gasped. “Oh my God, we can’t show this to her. This woman is dead.”
Not just dead, but murdered. Which raised a new question. What was the connection between Taylor’s mother and their case? “We don’t have a choice.”
“Oh, Jesus,” Laura said.
Nate swallowed bile as another thought entered his mind. What if the killer knew who Taylor was? He was going to find the man and kill him. “Hold that up.” He took a picture of the Polaroid and then emailed it to Court, following it up with a text that he wanted a meeting in the morning before the one already scheduled with the team. That done, he strode over to Taylor. “What did you want to show me?”
Taylor frowned at the sharp edge in Nate’s voice. She narrowed her eyes as she studied his face. Rage vibrated from him. “What happened?”
