Page 41 of Marked For Revenge

All the other victims had lived closer to Silver Creek, and none had been from a large city. Ava had no idea if Lacey fit the profile of the other victims by having or losing a child, but she was well aware of the woman’s connection to at least one of their suspects.

“Years ago, Lacey had some run-ins with my father about his policies,” Ava added. “Which means she had run-ins with Duran.”

And that obvious connection had her mentally stopping to consider what this might mean.

Duran likely wouldn’t have murdered someone with such an immediate link to him unless this was some kind of reverse psychology. If so, then he might have thought he could eliminate someone who’d been a pain to Edgar and him while pushing his agenda to torment her. Maybe with the end game to kill her or drive her mad.

Theo eased the mask back in place and took out his phone to call in the CSIs and the medical examiner. Harley took out his phone as well, and a moment later, Ava realized that was so he could run a background check on the dead woman.

While they did that, Ava glanced around, first looking for any signs of explosives or someone who might be lurking and ready to attack them. She didn’t see either of those things. However, since the body was close to water, she stepped around Harley and looked down at the soft, damp dirt on the narrow bank.

“Maybe a shoe print,” she pointed out when she saw the indentation.

Theo and Harley continued their phone conversations, but both of them leaned in to have a closer look. “Nelline,” Theo called out to the deputy. “I need an evidence marker down here and steer away from the section of the grass that’s been trampled. Follow in our footsteps.”

The marker was a flag that would alert anyone to the possible evidence and prevent someone from stepping onto it and destroying it. If they got lucky, there might be enough of an impression for the CSIs to determine the shoe size and type of footwear, and that could maybe help them narrow down their suspects.

While Nelline hurried to Theo with the marker, Ava continued to look around, moving slowly and cautiously, scanning the ground for anything.

“Lacey George,” Harley said, obviously relaying what he’d just learned about their dead woman. “She’s thirty-six, an investigative reporter for Fulbright Media. Divorced. She has a son who’s fourteen, but her ex has full custody of the child.”

So that was a deviation, too, of sorts. “Had she been reported missing?” Ava asked.

“Only about a half hour ago. That’s why we haven’t gotten the alert yet. She lives alone, and her boss reported her as missing when she didn’t show up for work and he couldn’t contact her. He hadn’t seen her since she’d left her office the previous afternoon.”

That was a large gap of time, more than twenty-four hours, and it meant any of their suspects could have taken Lacey, killed her and posed her here. The posing likely would have happened at night, but none of their suspects had been in custody or in interviews then.

“Since she’s a reporter, the killer could have lured her out with the possibility of a story,” Ava commented.

That kept all of their suspects in the running. An investigative reporter likely would have met any of the three if promised juicy details about the murders.

“I requested a thorough background check on her,” Harley explained, putting away his phone. “The Rangers will try to pin down anyone who might have seen her so we can figure out how and where she was taken.”

So far, knowing those things hadn’t helped them catch this killer, Ava had to hang on to the hope that this time it would be different. This time, there had to be an eyewitness or some surveillance camera footage. That footage had been a long shot with the women taken in or around Silver Creek, but a city the size of San Antonio had plenty of operating cameras.

“Take a quick look around, and then we’ll head back to the cruiser,” Theo instructed while he started snapping some photos as well.

Ava didn’t balk at having to leave the scene. Now that they had verified there was a body and had gotten a preliminary ID, there wasn’t much more they could do other than secure the scene and wait for the CSI team to arrive.

Harley moved closer to the creek, peering down into the water, maybe looking to see if anything had inadvertently been dropped in there. It was another of those things that needed to be checked. If something was there, it’d need to be secured in case the water swept it away before the CSIs could retrieve it.

Ava scanned the trees that were on the bank just upstream. One of the bigger oaks had a rope swing tied to it, and the underbrush around it had been tamped down. She didn’t think that was a recent occurrence though. It looked like that specific spot got plenty of use.

The area to the right of the rope swing, though, was congested with trees of varying sizes, weeds and vines. The trees were thicker here, so not much of the sunlight was making its way through, but she still saw something that caught her eye.

Something that had Ava’s stomach dropping to her knees.

Because there was something on the ground that didn’t look as if it was part of the natural landscape. It looked more like green camos.

“I think there’s another body,” she said, motioning to some underbrush about ten yards away from where she was standing.

She took one step closer to get a better look and she felt something brush over the top of her boot. Harley must have seen or heard something because he practically lunged at her. He turned her, sheltering her body with his just as he’d done when the shots had been fired at them. But this was no shot. No.

It was an explosion.

HARLEY HAD SEEN the glint of the thin wire that had nearly been concealed with leaves, and he knew instantly what it was. A trip wire no doubt connected to an explosive device.

He didn’t have time to shout. Didn’t have time to do much of anything except grab Ava and pull her to the ground, all the while praying that would be enough to save her and the baby.

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