Page 118 of Pretty Broken Dolls
“Think about it! I have no reason to track down female military K9 officers!” He turned to her. “Why would I do that? I have no connection to the military. Why, Katie? Ask yourself!”
Katie really studied Campbell and saw him as a scared and desperate man. She believed him about his job, but…he fit every part of the profile for the killer. The military K9 connection had to be something from his past—something they weren’t aware of yet.
“You do believe me,” he said. “Don’t you?”
“If it’s true what you’re saying, who else would have the same access as you, the skills, capability, knowing what the next steps were?” Her mind raced in several directions. For some strange reason she thought of Jared Stanton and how his parents were the closest people to him, but they were the ones who had killed him and disposed of his body. These cases and victims were close—like family? Close like friends? K9 handlers and trainers—a close-knit group. She saw the crime scenes and Darla Winchell on the Ferris wheel—why? Why was it this particular location? Did it hold something personal to the killer? The murder location wasn’t just a convenience like in the Stanton case. Katie guessed it was someone who had either an abusive past and wanted someone to pay that took something from them—based on the humiliation of the posed victims. Everything in her gut dismissed Agent Campbell as the killer as she studied him.
It had to be someone who knew everything that Agent Campbell knew…
The list of names that Sergeant Serrano had emailed from the training videos…R. Rodriguez…S. Davis…D. Haley…
Katie flashed back to when she arrived at the fairgrounds crime scene and approached her uncle. Of course! He had introduced her to Agent Campbell’s rookie agent.
“I want you to meet Agent Dawn Haley,” said Sheriff Scott.
“It can’t be…but…” Her mind whirled with everything she had read in the reports, the crime scenes, the autopsies with the layered bruising on the chests, the victims’ backgrounds, military K9 training, and what Sadie Caldwell said describing a person with a slight build moving onto Jeanine Trenton’s property. As Agent Haley beamed with enthusiasm at the fairgrounds—obviously a perfectly planned pretext—Katie suddenly remembered seeing a Band-Aid on her right index finger which she carefully tried to keep from view. Of course! Someone who was close to Agent Campbell and knew everything about the cases—watching and waiting. Someone who knew everything about Katie. Watching. Waiting. The pieces of the murder puzzle were steadily being put into place. “DH stands for Dawn Haley,” she said.
Several shots rang out in succession. The bullets ricocheted from the buildings and pinged from metal parts of the rides making a variety of musical noises.
Katie instantly hit the ground and began crawling, army-style, away from the shots. The guns still held aloft in her hands, she commando-crawled on her elbows, moving to a covered area underneath a food kiosk with oversized pictures of hotdogs and iced drinks painted on the side.
“I know it’s you, Agent Haley,” Katie shouted and took aim in the direction where the shots originated. She remembered her fake smiles and overenthusiastic gestures.
Glancing to Agent Campbell, she saw he was bleeding out from being hit in the neck—no doubt the carotid artery. She had seen soldiers bleed out in less than a minute before on the battlefield but she couldn’t let it slow her down or stop her from saving Lizzy. There was nothing that she could do for him. Another unnecessary death.
Katie rolled onto her back and inched away even further. To her best estimation, the bullets were coming from the west and from a higher elevation—probably from a ride.
“What’s the matter, Dawn? You wash out from military K9? Is that what this is all about?” Katie kept moving, skinning her exposed legs against the asphalt. She could now see the Ferris wheel and Lizzy about halfway up. The ride was now stationary, which meant that she was safe for the moment until Katie could safely get to her.
“Someone a victim in your family? Something horrible happened to them at a fair?” called Katie as she searched her mind through the articles Denise had brought her. There was a murder at one of the new fun house exhibits.
Two more bullets struck the building just above her.
“Wow. You figured that out all by yourself. I thought you were supposed to be a better profiler than that. Fairs and carnivals were supposed to be a place for family and fun,” Dawn said.
“But not for you. Who was it, Dawn?” Katie tried to gain more time keeping her talking so that she could get to Lizzy.
“She was my mother,” Dawn said with hatred. “A miserable, abused drug addict. I would watch her apply hideously heavy makeup that she thought looked beautiful before she went to do her sex business. But… nobody should be a victim to rape and murder. May she and her killer rot in hell.”
“So she didn’t take care of you—love you—is that what this all about? C’mon, Dawn, you’re a walking serial killer profile. And the wash out at the military training. Poor you. That’s so boring. Tell me something that I don’t know.”
“You don’t know anything!” she yelled and her voice cracked.
Got her…
Katie knew that now Dawn was emotional, she could make a mistake. That’s where Katie’s strength would come from—the killer’s mistake would give her the upper hand. It was the way it had to be.
“You weren’t cut out for K9. It takes special, intelligent people with a true bonded relationship with a dog.” She waited for the next bullets so she could see the muzzle flash. Bracing herself on her back and holding her aim steady between her knees.
Like clockwork, two shots fired again in her direction with a fiery flash.
Katie fired back with three shots in quick sequence.
It was unclear if she had hit Agent Haley or not. It was quiet and then finally…
“I didn’t wash out!” the agent yelled. “It was taken from me. They lied! I never washed out! If it wasn’t for the precious Jeanine and those others, I would have made it without any problems. It was because ofthem. I didn’t wash out!”
“Seems to me you did,” said Katie as she moved closer to the ride. There was another ride near the Ferris wheel that flung people up and down that she could use as her cover.
