Deadly Fate (Krewe of Hunters #19)(35)

He reached out with his gloved hands and grasped a tuft of blue fabric.

A tiny piece of the jeans Amelia Carson had been wearing. At least, a good chance that was what he’d found.

He touched the ground.

Still damp. Dark and damp.

It was the blood pool, the place where Amelia Carson had been severed in two.





7

Clara didn’t speak about her conversation with Amelia until she was on the little Coast Guard cutter heading back to the mainland. The officers aboard were courteous and tense, aware they were in the middle of an investigation in which many lives might still lie in the balance.

She waited until she was alone with Jackson and Thor at the back of the boat.

Even then, she couldn’t shake the feeling that they were being watched. She didn’t know why; she felt safe with Thor and Jackson and the Coast Guard men. Mike wasn’t with them because he had remained behind on the island—the FBI officers had decided that one of them should stay there until the situation was solved.

Some situations were never solved, she knew.

This one had to be—it just had to be.

Once they were headed back to the mainland, however, she knew that she had to tell Jackson and Thor what had happened.

She knew that both men would believe her, and she dreaded that, because it meant her newfound camaraderie with a dead woman was far too real. And they did believe her; they both listened to her gravely as she spoke.

“We found where she was killed,” Jackson said.

“On the island, right?” Clara asked.

“Yes,” Thor told her, watching her as he spoke. “We’ve been in contact with Special Director Enfield and Detective Brennan. They rushed the autopsies yesterday.” He paused, looking over at Jackson. “Both women were struck with hard objects and rendered unconscious quickly, and then strangled before they were—cut,” he said. He glanced over at Jackson, whose lips pursed grimly. It seemed they both knew something she didn’t, and they weren’t sharing it with her. Even though anyone associated with the two dead women might be in danger.

“Thank God for that at least. I mean,” she added, wincing, “hopefully, it was...quick. I couldn’t begin to imagine if someone had been alive while being...cut.”

“So, a man called Amelia and told her he had an amazing story for her—and that he’d meet her on the island?” Thor asked.

“That’s what I understood,” Clara told him.

“Her cell phone hasn’t been found, but the phone company sent her records. Techs are chasing down her calls,” Jackson said. “We may find something.”

Thor nodded. “Yep, we’ll find that she was called by a no-contract phone bought with cash. But it will be important to track down where that phone was purchased.”

Jackson rose. “I’m going to get some coffee. Want some?” he asked the two of them.

“No, thank you,” Clara said. She’d had plenty of coffee while waiting for them to return.

Thor was staring out over the water. Clara remained silent for a minute, and then decided that she’d just ask.

“What’s going on between you and Jackson?”

He turned his attention to her, frowning. “Pardon?”

“What is it that you two are sharing—about Natalie and Amelia and...whatever is going on?”

He was quiet for a minute.

“Jackson and I were partners years ago,” he told her.

“Yes, I understand that.” She hesitated. “Did you have a bad time, or...”

He shook his head. “We were good partners—great partners. But there was a killer out there at the time. The newspapers called him the ‘Fairy Tale Killer’ because he left his victims’ bodies displayed as if they were characters from stories—tales by the Brothers Grimm. Cinderella, Briar Rose—or Sleeping Beauty, as she’s more widely known—Rapunzel, Snow White.”

“I remember... I had just started college,” Clara said. “He was shot by agents but he survived and went to prison and...oh. You were those agents?” she asked.

He nodded.

“But—you caught him. You saved countless other potential victims. Why do you suspect him?”

“Because he’s out.”

“What?”

“He’s out—he killed a doctor and escaped from a prison in Kansas.”

“Oh,” she said. “I hadn’t heard—”

“Because the news just hit yesterday morning and by the time any of us saw television out on the island, all the stations were carrying all the ‘new’ news on the killings that happened here,” Thor explained.

“Oh, I’m so sorry. I can only imagine how you feel, having caught him and now... Do you think that this man, this Fairy Tale Killer, could be here—in Alaska?” she asked, wincing as she heard her tone, which was slightly incredulous. She went on quickly. “From what I understood back then, he left his victims looking...beautiful. As if they were sleeping.”

He nodded and looked away from her. She found herself studying him, and in doing so, and from their conversation, feeling as if she knew him better, as if they’d formed some kind of bond. Despite their bizarre beginning and the resentment she’d felt at times, she suddenly felt close to him—like an old friend. More than a friend. She looked down quickly, realizing that in an instant, something inside her had changed, and she felt an almost overwhelming attraction to the man. He’d become so human.