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“That’s right,” Hal responded once he’d gotten close enough. Since Brook wasn’t his favorite person right now, she noticed that he kept his focus on Otto. “I’ll help with the grid search until about three o’clock, but you and I both know that we’re not going to find a weapon. We could cover miles and miles of this terrain, and we’d never recover the knife that asshole used on her. Shame, too.”
Brook would have rather stuck with the guide who had originally escorted her and Otto this morning, but she understood why the sheriff wanted to keep Emilio Acosta at the crime scene. Emilio’s original shift should have started at noon and ended at nine o’clock this evening. He’d clocked in some overtime by meeting them a couple of hours before the start of his shift.
“Would you escort Ms. Sloane to…”
Otto let his sentence trail off as he waited for Brook to pull out a set of coordinates that Bit had written down on a piece of paper. There was also some other information attached that should make it easier for a park ranger to locate the site without too much trouble. Specific trail intersections had been added, and it didn’t take long for Hal to give an estimated time of arrival.
“We can reach this location in about an hour.”
Hal met her gaze, and she waited for him to voice his opinion. He’d been vocal up to this point, never shying away from asserting his opinion into a conversation. She decided to take matters into her own hands now that their strategy had been set in motion.
“We believe that structure is the location where Carissa Norman was killed, but it was burned down about five years ago.” Brook paused for effect, garnering the attention of not only Otto and Hal, but also of the deputy standing guard about thirty feet in front Darlene Hummel’s remains. Far enough away not to contaminate the crime scene, but close enough to make sure nothing was disturbed before a forensics team could process the area. “Coincidentally, right after Carissa Norman’s disappearance.”
“What do you expect to find if the place burned down?” Hal asked with a frown. He tucked the piece of paper into the pocket of his jacket. “When we need to veer off the main trail, there are parts of the terrain that can be tricky to hike. Are you sure it’s worth a trip out there if there’s going to be nothing but ash?”
“A lot of people don’t realize that trace evidence, such as DNA, hair, fibers, and even footprints could have been left behind by the unsub. Should we discover that Carissa Norman was the first victim as we suspect, then it stands to reason mistakes were made during her murder. It would certainly explain why the structure was burned to the ground, wouldn’t it?”
Hal considered her explanation before nodding his agreement.
“We should get started then,” Hal said before looking over his right shoulder. “We can use that trail for about a half mile before we need to cut through some dense vegetation.”
Otto seemed to want to add something to the conversation, but he compressed his lips together. It was obvious that he didn’t approve of her choices, but the unsub had probably already returned to his regular life by now. The only reason that he was being constantly reminded of those momentary lapses in judgement was due to pressure from law enforcement.
What would the unsub do when a little more pressure was applied to his conscience?
Brook was hoping for desperation to set into the unsub’s frame of mind, knowing full well that it could lead to a mistake that would ultimately spearhead an arrest. It was a chance that she and the team were willing to take, but the seeds of doubt needed to be planted first. She just so happened to be the one with the shovel.
Chapter Twenty
Bobby “Bit” Nowacki
October 2023
Tuesday — 6:47pm
Wouldyouliketomeet at a coffee shop one evening when you get back into town?
Bit stared at the invitation on the laptop screen with apprehension. He hadn’t had time to log into the online game that he’d created, and now he wished that he hadn’t pulled up the messaging board. The only reason he’d opened his personal tabs was to reply to an email that his sister had sent regarding Halloween. They always enjoyed a scary movie marathon, but he wasn’t so sure that he’d be back home for the holiday. Once he’d sent his response to his sister, his gaze had been drawn to the notification from Zoey Collins.
He couldn’t bring himself to type a response.
“Are you ready, Bit? We should walk over to the diner to pick up those pizzas and bait the hook.” Erika stood near the doorway, clearly anxious to take a more active role in the investigation. “I went downstairs to see if any members of the press were at the bar, but a lot of them are still over at the diner eating dinner. This is the perfect chance for us to talk in front of them and have them believe they got the inside scoop.”
“Yeah,” Bit mumbled as he quickly logged out of several applications, including the one with Zoey’s invitation. He wasn’t the type of man who got coffee with a woman. He wasn’t even the type of man who dated, which was why he’d gotten so comfortable around Sylvie. “I’m coming. Hey, Boss? We should be back in twenty minutes, but just in case we’re not, you’re all set up for the video conference with Tricia Zetter. Just accept the video call when prompted, okay?”
“I won’t touch anything else but the enter button, Bit.” Brook leaned back and stretched out her legs. She’d just gotten back from what remained of the burned structure where they believed Carissa Norman had been murdered, and Brook’s cheeks and nose were still red from the cool, crisp weather. “Do the two of you need to go over what needs to be said in front of the members of the press?”
“No, Boss. We’ve got it.” Bit adjusted his knit hat so that the soft fabric covered his ears. “Theo and Riggs returned to town while you and Eggers were hiking this afternoon. The two of them gathered enough food, supplies, and equipment to spend the night near the area of interest. No one noticed a thing since they went out the back exit.”
“Do you think this plan will work?” Erika asked as she smoothed the front of her uniform shirt.
Bit noticed that Brook winced a little upon hearing the question. This wasn’t how she preferred to run an investigation, but he understood the reasoning behind her decision to try and lure the unsub out of hiding. They’d discussed it in-depth before the sheriff had called and requested her presence at the crime scene of Darlene Hummel.
“It’s our best shot,” Bit said confidently as he walked around Brook’s chair. “We won’t be long, Boss.”
Bit brushed past Erika, but he waited for her to close the door. It wouldn’t do to have anyone overhear Brook’s conversation with Tricia Zetter, especially Wyn. His son was still a suspect. A lot of the people who hung out at the bar were suspects, and Bit noticed right away that a lot of the members of today’s search party had claimed several tables. They had to be well into their second round of drinks.
There was one individual who wasn’t at the bar, and that person just so happened to be Gabe Raskins. If he was their unsub, would he make the decision to return to the scene of the crime? Only those who had been up on the mountain today had overheard Brook request a guide to what remained of the burned structure where they suspected Carissa Norman had been killed. Bit had the list of those who’d joined in on yesterday and this morning’s search parties, and Gabe’s name hadn’t been listed on the spreadsheet that Erika had retrieved from Hal Eggers.
