Page 26 of All He Takes
"It was by the cash register, mixed into a pile of old photographs and postcards. The owner said he didn't see it until the police came in looking."
"When did this happen?"
"About twenty minutes ago. We're processing the scene now. I was told to contact you by Chief Gammage."
"Thanks, Officer Green," Nicky said. "I'm on my way."
She hung up and faced Ken. This was huge, but not necessarily in a good way.
It meant there was a third victim--a third woman who had lost her life. But it also gave them another scene, another clue to chase down, which would hopefully lead them to the killer and stop him from claiming anyone else.
But they had another body. Another photo. She knew that it was a woman, but there was no way of knowing for sure what the circumstances were surrounding her death.
Only one thing was certain. This guy was escalating. And he wasn't about to stop.
CHAPTER TWELVE
Nicky couldn't stop trembling as she drove her car toward the small town of Cedar Bay, over an hour away from Stoneycreek. Evening was descending upon them, and plumes of pink and orange took over the sky as it darkened, the sun dipping over the Florida horizon.
"It's going to be okay," Ken said from the passenger seat. "We'll get him, whoever he is."
Nicky nodded. She was so nervous she could barely speak, but she knew she had to try. She had to keep going--for those girls.
She'd gotten in touch with Officer Green, who was going to meet them at the scene. Now, she was driving as quickly as she could across the state, trying to keep her thoughts in order.
"I can't believe he's been leaving evidence behind," she said. "It's like he wants to us to chase him."
"Yeah, it's hard to imagine how these sickos really think," Ken said. "Back when I was training to be an agent, one of the hardest things for me was to get into the mindset of the killer. It's disturbing stuff."
"But necessary for our jobs," Nicky said. "Otherwise, we'd never be able to catch them."
"Yeah, yeah," Ken said. "But that doesn't mean I have to like it."
It was true, though—getting into the mind of a killer was never easy.
Nicky was quiet, letting her mind whir, trying to piece together the clues they had. It was clear that this guy was smart--but he was also cocky. He'd dropped the photos in an antique store, but they'd ended up in the hands of police. It was inevitable they would, and surely he knew that.
"I mean, all these girls--we have no idea what he's doing with them," Nicky continued, ranting more than anything else. "They're just gone. And we can't find them. We don't even have their bodies, just those horrible pictures."
"That's the hardest part," Ken said. "But we will, Nicky. He's going to slip up. He's going to make a mistake. And we'll be there to catch him."
Nicky nodded, but she knew that there was a high chance that the man they were looking for was smart. And the thought of that scared her the most. The thought that he was smart enough to evade them long enough to kill one, two, maybe even three more victims before getting caught.
Nicky couldn't handle that amount of blood on her hands. They'd already lost too many. If Nicky didn’t crack this case in good time, she feared that the task force would be declared a failure—and she would be a consequence of that. This whole task force was Nicky’s shot to prove she could get results with as few deaths as possible. If she continued to fail, maybe they’d put someone else in charge, or axe it altogether.
The thought made her stomach bottom out. No… she had to prove herself. Nicky’s destiny was the FBI, and she did want to advance. Maybe even become Special Agent someday. Special Agent Nicky Lyons… she liked the sound of that.
But she’d never get there if she gave up.
Nicky's mind wandered as she drove, her exhaustion taking over. As she saw the small town go by out her window, she thought about those girls, their lives cut short.
She thought of the man who'd done that to them, who'd taken their lives. She thought of what they were going through. And she knew, with a deep sense of conviction, that they were going to stop him.
In her mind, she could see them. The three women, their lives snuffed out in an instant. She could see the man who'd taken them, who'd killed them. His face was blurry, but Nicky knew she could pull it into focus.
She wasn't going to stop. Even if she never got promoted, even if her task force did get snuffed out—she had to fight for these girls.
She wanted to be the one to catch that bastard.
