Scene of the Crime: Deadman's Bluff Read online

  Linda reached over and patted his hand. “Go home, Seth. This isn’t your crime scene. Remember, you’re on vacation.” She stood. “And I’m not, so I’ve got to get back to work. I’ll see you at home late tonight.”

  He nodded absently and watched as she disappeared back down the hallway. She was right. This wasn’t his job. He’d done what he needed to do and there was nothing to keep him from walking away.

  Except those startling blue eyes and that moment of connection he felt with her before she’d freaked out and then had passed out. He couldn’t just head home and forget about all of this. Besides, he thought with a touch of humor, he had no way to get home.

  He had no doubt that the kids from the dunes would see to it that his truck and bike got back to Linda’s okay. This was a small town and if they screwed with his rides, there would be no place for them to hide.

  Still, despite the fact that he was on vacation, he couldn’t walk away from this until he had some answers. He wanted to know her condition, assure himself that she was physically okay. He wanted to know her name. He needed to know what had happened to her.

  He jumped up from his chair as his cell phone rang. Seeing on the caller ID that it was his boss, Director Forbes, calling from Kansas City, he answered and walked with the phone outside the building doors and into the early-evening sun.

  “Hope you’ve enjoyed the first few hours of your vacation because it’s officially over,” Director Forbes said. “I just got a call from Sheriff Atkins requesting your aid in the investigation of a serial killer who is burying women in sand dunes. Apparently you’re already a part of the most recent case.”

  “A serial killer?” Seth felt as if he were missing a significant piece of a puzzle. Linda had mentioned one woman whose death had been ruled some sort of an accident, but nothing else.

  “The sheriff has managed to keep the details of the other two murders under his hat. This woman you found is apparently the third victim in as many months. Since you’re already there in town Sheriff Atkins would like you to assist his team, and it sounds like you need to be there. Three women buried in the sand sounds like a case where the locals might be in over their heads. They definitely could use your help.”

  “Yes, sir,” Seth replied, fighting an overwhelming irritation that the sheriff had gone directly to his boss before mentioning to Seth what he intended to do, and he’d neglected to tell Seth that this wasn’t the first woman found buried in the sand dunes.

  As the conversation ended Seth noticed with dismay that the wind was picking up. A little wind out on the dunes would destroy any hope of collecting any evidence that might have been there.

  He went back into the waiting room and within half an hour Sheriff Atkins showed up once again. “Any word on the victim?” he asked.

  “Nothing so far. The only thing that’s happened is that I got a call from my director indicating that I’m now on this case. Why didn’t you tell me while we were in your car that this was the third woman found buried in the sand dunes?”

  Sheriff Atkins winced, the lines on his face appearing to deepen into bone-weariness in the span of a heartbeat. “I wasn’t sure what I had going on here until you found this woman today. This makes number three and that officially makes it bigger for me to handle. It’s obviously a serial killer at work and I know as FBI you’d have more experience with this sort of thing.”

  Whatever else he might have said was interrupted as a doctor came into the room. “Tom.” He greeted the sheriff with a nod.

  “And this is Special Agent Seth Hawkins,” Sheriff Atkins said. “Doctor William Kane. How is she?”

  “Other than being a bit dehydrated and showing some sand abrasion, she appears to be surprisingly fine physically. Her vitals are stable, but we’re giving her fluids and we’ve drawn blood for a tox screen.”

  “Is she conscious?” Seth asked. “Has she said anything?”

  “She’s conscious and we’ve moved her to a regular room, but she came to so agitated we had to give her a mild sedative. She’s calm now but so far she hasn’t said a word to anyone,” Dr. Kane replied.

  “Can we see her?” Seth asked.

  Dr. Kane hesitated a moment and then nodded. “But I have to warn you that she appears to be emotionally fragile. I don’t want her upset. I understand that you have questions and want answers, but right now my main concern is her health and welfare.”

  “Understood,” Sheriff Atkins agreed.

  “Room 223.”

  Seth took the lead down the long corridor that would take him to her room. He told himself his eagerness to see her, to talk to her was because she was now his case. It was official business.

  Room 223 was in semidarkness, the curtains pulled across the windows to shield the late-day sun, and only a small light illuminated the area just above the bed.

  Seth nodded in surprise at his sister, who rose from a chair next to the bed at their entrance. “We did the best we could to clean her up, but there’s still a beach-full of sand in her hair,” she said in a soft whisper. “I think she’s asleep right now, but it’s hard to tell. She hasn’t made a sound since you brought her in.”

  Linda moved away from the bed as Seth stepped closer. Sheriff Atkins remained just inside the doorway, as if perfectly happy to take a secondary role to Seth.

  Seth gazed at the woman in the bed and then looked up at the sheriff. “You sure she isn’t a local?” he asked, his voice low and soft.

  “Fairly sure,” Tom replied.

  Seth sank down into the chair that Linda had vacated, satisfied to simply sit and watch until the mystery woman woke up. He had no idea how long Sheriff Atkins was willing to stand in the doorway, but Seth was committed to sitting all night if that’s what it took.

  It didn’t take all night. They’d only been waiting about fifteen minutes when she drew a deep intake of breath and opened her eyes. Almost instantly the tension level in the room shot through the ceiling.

  She half rose from her prone position, eyes wild until her gaze landed on Seth and then she appeared to relax a little bit and leaned back into the pillow.

  “You’re safe now,” he said softly. “You’re in a hospital and nobody is going to hurt you again.” He realized her eyes weren’t just a simple blue, but had silver shards around the pupils, giving them a depth that drew Seth in.

  “Can you tell us your name?” Tom asked as he stepped up to the foot of her bed.

  She looked at the sheriff and then back at Seth and tears began to fill her eyes. She clutched the sheet that covered her and Seth noted that her fingernails were medium-length and polished with a pretty pink gloss that had dulled slightly, probably from sand abrasion.

  Still, no broken nails, no obvious defense wounds, no wounds at all on her. So, what had happened to her and who had attempted to bury her in the sand?

  “Can you tell us your name?” Seth repeated gently, aware of the tremor that had begun to show on her face, in her shoulders.

  Slowly, she shook her head and closed her eyes, as if seeking the numbness of sleep once again. Seth and the sheriff remained in the room for another fifteen minutes or so and then left her room and stood just outside it in the hallway as Linda resumed her seat next to the sleeping woman.

  “We found nothing at the crime scene,” Sheriff Atkins said as they began to walk down the hallway. “The wind started howling out there and sand was blowing everywhere.” He released an audible sigh. “I was hoping we’d get some answers by talking to her tonight.”

  “She’s obviously still traumatized. We’ll probably get some answers in the morning. She needs to rest tonight.” Seth was as frustrated as the sheriff, but nothing could be done for the remainder of the night. “I would like to get the files from the other two crimes that you believe are linked to this one.”

  “You’re staying at your sister’s house?”

  Seth nodded. “It looks like I’ll be there until we get this mess cleaned up.”

  “I’ll
have one of my men bring you the files sometime this evening.”

  “One more thing, I’d like the names of the young men who were out there on the dunes with me when our mystery woman was found,” Seth said.

  “The short one with the dark hair is Jerome Walker. He’s nineteen and home for the summer from college. The blond is Ernie Simpson, also nineteen and works at the hardware store.”

  “And the tall one?” Seth asked, thinking of the kid who had stood as if frozen in shock while all the activity had gone on around him.

  “Sam Clemmons. He’s twenty-one, spends his evenings working part-time as a bartender at a tavern on Main and most of his days out at the dunes riding.”

  Seth mentally took note of each name, intending to check them all out. Just because they’d been there to help him didn’t mean they’d had nothing to do with how the woman had gotten into the sand. It was possible they’d been burying her and had only stopped and pretended to discover her when Seth had shown up. At this point everyone in Amber Lake was a potential suspect.

  “I’m glad to have you on board,” Sheriff Atkins said as they stepped out into the waning light of day. “The first young woman I just assumed was some kind of freak party accident. When the second one showed up a month ago I had a bad feeling. And now this...” He allowed his voice to trail off and then continued, “I’m just glad your director allowed you to join me on this.”

  “I’ll meet you at your office at seven tomorrow morning and then together we’ll head over here to see if our Jane Doe can wrap things up for us. If this is some kind of a serial killer at work, then she might be able to give you a description, some information that will lead to an arrest.”

  Sheriff Atkins raked a hand through his hair. “I hope so. You need a ride back to your sister’s place?”

  “No, thanks. We’re close enough that I can just walk there.” Linda’s house was only three blocks away and Seth needed to expend some of the adrenaline that still coursed through him. The walk would do him good.

  “Then I’ll see you in the morning.”

  Seth watched as the sheriff got into his cruiser and pulled out of the hospital parking lot. Only when the cruiser had disappeared from view did he begin the walk to Linda’s place.

  It’s just a job, he told himself, like so many he’d worked before in his career. But, even though that was what he thought, he knew it was more than that. Something had happened in that split second of eye connection they’d shared, something that made him decide long before he’d been officially assigned to the case that he was in until the end.

  Chapter Two

  She awoke in increments of consciousness, first aware of the sharp smell of antiseptic and then the feel of the stiff mattress beneath her. A hospital. Full consciousness came to her like a slap in the face, bringing with it a spill of memories that were too strange for her to want to claim as her own.

  Sand...and sun...and a terror so huge she couldn’t now embrace what she knew she’d felt before. Safe. She was safe now. Her head filled with a vision of a handsome, dark-haired man with soft gray eyes. He’d told her she was safe and she’d believed his low, calm voice, the steady assurance of his gaze.

  She heard the approach of a rattling cart in the hallway, smelled the scent of coffee and bacon and realized she was ravenous.

  A hand control allowed her to raise the head of her bed at the same time a nurse came in. “Ah, good. You’re awake,” she said cheerfully. “And just in time to enjoy Amber Lake Memorial Hospital’s finest cuisine.” With an efficiency of movement, the nurse pulled out a table and swung it across the center of the bed and then placed a tray on top.

  She looked at the nurse with her short, curly dark hair and eyes that were a blue-gray and remembered her from the night before. She’d been kind.

  “My name is Linda,” she said as she pulled the cover from the tray, exposing a plate of bacon and eggs and toast. There was a cup of coffee, a carton of orange juice and a small fruit cup, as well.

  Linda smiled at her once again. “It was my brother, Seth, who found you yesterday.”

  So, Gray Eyes had a name. Seth. Even just hearing his name took away some of the knot of anxiety that pressed tight against her chest.

  “I don’t know if you remember or not, but we got you off the IV in the middle of the night. Your vitals are all good and the doctor should be in later this morning to see you. I know Seth and the sheriff are going to be here anytime, so you’d better enjoy your meal in peace and quiet before they get here and start bothering you with questions.” Linda’s smile faded into a look of concern. “Is there anything else I can do for you now?”

  Tell me this is all a dream, she thought. Tell me I’m going to wake up soon and all of this has just been a crazy nightmare. She shook her head to indicate that she was fine and then picked up her fork.

  As she began to eat, Linda hesitated a moment at the door. “Can you tell me your name this morning?”

  Her hand trembled slightly as she shook her head.

  Linda offered her a reassuring smile. “It’s okay...maybe later.” She left the room. The scrambled eggs were cooked perfectly and the bacon was crisp. The coffee was a bit strong, but it warmed her a little bit as she drank it. And she needed the warmth, for there seemed to be a cold hand clenched around her heart that refused to release its hold.

  She focused solely on the meal, not wanting to think about anything else, afraid to delve too deeply into her own mind until she figured out some things.

  She ate everything on the plate and then swung the table away so that she could get out of bed. She needed to use the restroom. She moved her legs to hang off the side of the bed and sat up, wanting to make sure there was no dizziness that would create a potential fall.

  As she got to her feet, she was grateful that the IV was gone and pleased to discover that she felt strong. She quickly made her way into the bathroom, the green-flowered hospital gown swimming around her small frame.

  The reflection that greeted her in the mirror was that of a stranger. The knot of anxiety that had momentarily subsided grew bigger, tighter in her chest.

  She didn’t recognize the woman in the mirror with her blue, widened eyes and her dark hair hanging limp and dirty to her shoulders. She reached up to scratch her itchy scalp and her fingers came away with tiny granules of pale sand beneath the nails.

  Sand...everywhere, pressing in on her, suffocating her. She couldn’t move as she heard the scrape of a shovel, felt the weight of the sand covering her. As the strange memories shot through her she slapped a hand over her chest to keep her rapidly banging heart from beating right out of her skin.

  She whirled away from the mirror, took care of her needs and then quickly exited the bathroom and got back into the bed. Safe, you’re safe now. The words reverberated through her head, finally slowing her heartbeat to a more normal pace, and the trembling that had taken hold of her eased.

  She wasn’t in bed long before an aide came in. She looked like a teenager and chirped a cheerful greeting as she removed the breakfast tray and then disappeared out of the room.

  Linda came back in the room, carrying a pair of lightweight blue jogging pants and a matching T-shirt and underclothes. “Do you feel up to a shower?”

  She nodded eagerly. There was nothing she’d love more than to wash the sand out of her hair, to feel clean again. Maybe a shower would better prepare her for whatever happened next.

  Even though she needed no help, Linda offered her an arm to lean on as they walked to the bathroom. This time she consciously avoided looking in the mirror and leaned against the wall as Linda started the water in the small shower enclosure.

  “I brought you some clothes,” Linda said. “Actually, they belong to my daughter, Samantha. She’s sixteen and you look to be about the same size. Shampoo...soap, it’s all in the shower. Take as long as you need and I’ll be back to check on you in just a few minutes.”

  Moments later she stood beneath a warm spray of
water and scrubbed the shampoo into her hair. It took three shampoo-and-rinses before she felt as if all the sand and grit were finally gone.

  She’d wanted to thank Linda for the clothes, for her kindness, but she was afraid to speak, afraid that somehow the sound of her own voice would make this all frighteningly real. And she didn’t want it to be real.

  There was toothpaste and a toothbrush, a hairbrush and a comb on the sink and she used them all before finally leaving the bathroom. She almost felt human again...almost.

  As she returned to the bed and sat on the edge, the knot of anxiety returned, make her feel half-breathless. Amber Lake Memorial Hospital. The name was everywhere. But where exactly was Amber Lake, and how had she gotten here?

  At that moment the sheriff and Seth walked into the room. Linda entered as well, leaning against the wall and out of the way.

  She immediately looked into Seth’s eyes, seeking the same kind of calmness she’d found there the night before. She wasn’t disappointed.

  “Well, you look much better this morning than when we left you last night,” the sheriff said with obviously forced cheerfulness. “How are you feeling?”

  She knew an answer was required from her, but her mouth would form no words, and her diaphragm refused to work to allow her any speech.

  The sheriff frowned. “Are you up to a few questions?”

  She hesitated a moment and then nodded.

  “What’s your name?” he asked.

  Tears began to press hot at her eyes. Sand...it was everywhere, stifling her ability to draw a deep breath, filling her mouth and making it impossible for her to speak, to move.

  “Ma’am? Can you tell us who you are?” the sheriff asked.

  She was aware of the tears beginning to trek down her cheeks as she remembered the weight of the sand on her body, the sound of the shovel scooping up more...more sand to throw on top of her.