Page 9 of Crossing Lines

“I don’t think so. Lucas liked him, but I wasn’t that close with him either. My brother was closer to him. I haven’t really seen much of him since we were kids, but there was something I didn’t like about him even back then. Robert used to go fishing with him every summer before he got sick. We have a family cabin on the Sacagewassett River. ”

Woof!

The tone of Lucy’s bark alerted Sam. Something was wrong.

He could just barely see her about a hundred feet into the woods. Her stance was rigid, ears pointing forward, eyes fixated on a particular spot on the ground. The same exact way she’d alerted him when they’d found the bodies buried in the woods just a month ago.

* * *

Sam sent Beryl off, called Jo and Wyatt, and dispatched a text to Bev Hatch after Lucy’s disturbing find. Now he stood looking down at the young victim in the shallow grave they’d partially uncovered. The red hair, pink T-shirt, and jeans left no question. It was Kirsten Stillwell.

“Dammit!” Jo looked around the woods as if the killer could still be there. The silence was unnerving. Even the birds hadn’t made a peep since the grim discovery. Squirrels and chipmunks had taken their business elsewhere. Lucy sat off to the side. Her job of finding the body accomplished, she watched intently as Wyatt crouched down, taking pictures.

“Do you think this is personal or…” He looked up at Sam, the question of whether or not it could be the work of the serial killer in his eyes.

Sam had been wondering that as he inspected the grave. “Hard to say. My money’s still on Thorne for those other murders.”

“The ritual is different.” Wyatt stood. “No tarp like the others. And this girl isn’t a drug addict or runaway.”

Sam nodded. “Points to a different guy.”

“Or maybe just a change in his process. It’s five years later. If he was dormant, his methods could have changed,” Jo said.

“Does that happen?” Wyatt looked at Jo quizzically.

“Sometimes. But let’s say it’s not a serial killer. Could have been a random killing, or maybe someone who knew her.” Jo walked slowly around the perimeter of the crime scene, careful not to disturb anything.

“Seems like they had things planned out.” Wyatt pointed at the grave. “They’d need a shovel, and they picked an out-of-the-way spot.”

“And why pick this spot?” Sam asked. It was remote, and people hardly ever came there. When they did, they mostly stayed in the clearing because that was the best way to see the owls. No one ventured into the woods, so the grave had a low likelihood of being discovered. Or did the location have some meaning to the killer?

“Lots of ways to get a body here through the trail system.” Wyatt nodded deeper into the woods. There were acres of wooded area and trails with lots of places to park and move a body in.

Jo had wandered off and was inspecting trees and branches. Beyond her, Sam could see the steel frame of the hotel that Lucas Thorne had started and now, apparently, his wife was continuing. “The killer could have parked at the construction site. It’s not far to transport a body to here.”

Wyatt raised a brow. “Another tie to Thorne.”

“Yeah, except he’s in jail.”

Sam caught Lucy’s eye. He tapped his thigh, and the dog trotted over. He crouched down, eye to eye. “Good girl.”

He pulled out a treat and fed it to Lucy then scratched her behind the ears before standing. “I guess this is all we can do for now.”

“Bev should be here in a few minutes. John Dudley is about five minutes out.” John was the medical examiner, and Sam didn’t want to disturb the body too much before he got there.

Jo sighed. “If it’s our serial killer, then maybe Bascomb really does have a case.”

“Or it could be a different killer,” Sam suggested.

Wyatt looked incredulous. “What are the odds of that? Two serial killers in this small town?”

Sam took a deep breath. “You’d think, but as we learned on the last case, there seems to be a network of them. Remember how Menda said that he gets fan mail, and serial killers try to copy each other? Maybe this one is following in the footsteps of Thorne.”

“Do you think it’s possible the discovery of those graves from five years ago spurred him to do this?” Wyatt asked.

“Let’s hope not, because if that’s the case, this may not be the last victim.”

Chapter Seven

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