Field of Graves(69)

Taylor hung up the phone in shock.





57



Taylor was walking back to the conference room when Sam appeared at the end of the hall.

“T!” she called.

Taylor held up, and Sam jogged down the hall to her. Taylor could see this wasn’t going to be good news. Sam’s face was drawn, and she looked tired. Little wonder, they were all burning the candle at both ends. But there was something else in her look that sent a shiver down Taylor’s spine. Sam grabbed her arm and pulled her into Price’s office.

“Have you heard anything about the floater that was pulled from Old Hickory this morning?”

Taylor thought for a moment. “Oh yeah, the prostitute. Lincoln said he’s given you a positive ID. Why?”

“Better sit down, Taylor. You’re not going to believe this.”

“What? You already called off the wedding?” she joked halfheartedly.

“No, I’m serious. We’ve got a big problem.” Taylor sat down, and Sam started in with the details.

“The prostitute didn’t drown. She was poisoned. Her liver presented just like Shelby’s and Jordan’s. Fox caught it and called me down. She was dead before she went into the lake.”

Taylor’s thoughts were spinning, and her chest tightened. “Aconite again? What the hell? A black prostitute completely breaks the pattern. Why would he...oh, wait a minute. Could she have been a test case? Was he trying out the poison on her to see how it worked?”

“Girl, I don’t know, but this thing is getting really screwy. Whoa there, are you okay?”

Taylor was having a hard time catching her breath. “He’s been out there doing this for fun. Just to see what would happen. My God, I can’t stop him. None of us can stop him.” She was wheezing and losing her focus on Sam’s face.

“Head between your knees. Good girl, now breathe. C’mon, T, give it a shot. There, that’s right.” Sam was smoothing her hand along Taylor’s back. It was comforting, but Taylor couldn’t seem to get a grip on herself. This was the second one she’d had today, damn it all.

She’d just started to catch her breath when Baldwin came into the room.

“Hey there, Sam, have you seen... Jesus, Taylor, are you okay?” He rushed over to her and knelt down beside the chair. “Is it like this morning?”

Taylor gave him a dirty look. She didn’t want anyone to know about this. She hadn’t hidden it from Sam; her best friend knew she was riding on the edge, but now Baldwin was on board, and Marcus and Fitz. And she suspected Fitz might have said something to Price, too, damn his eyes.

Sam leaned back against the desk. “Second one today? You had one earlier?”

Taylor had her voice back and was feeling a little more in control. “It was nothing, Sam. I saw Jill’s posters and got upset. I spent two hours with the grand jury this afternoon, and I’m just worn out. I feel like crap. I need some antibiotics and a good night’s sleep, and everything will be just fine. Okay? So back off, both of you. Baldwin, Sam has another poison victim.” Good job, girl, she thought. Focus their attention elsewhere.

“What?”

Sam pulled up her legs and sat cross-legged on Price’s small desk. “We had a floater this morning. Black prostitute named Tammy Boxer, alias Mona Lisa. We thought she had drowned, but the post showed the same necrosis that was present in both Shelby’s and Jordan’s organs. This may have been your very first victim.” She held up a hand, anticipating Baldwin’s next question. “And yes, I’m having the tox run on the fire vics. Maybe that’s your commonality, I don’t know.”

Baldwin was shaking his head. “Wow. This guy is getting around. How long had she been in the water?”

“At least a couple of weeks. Taylor suggested she might have been a test case.”

“That’s an excellent thought, given the timing. This case is so screwed up.” He turned to Taylor, who was enthusiastically blowing her nose. “Better?” She nodded, blew out a breath. “Good. How was your conversation with Shelby’s mom?”

Taylor tested her voice and found it working properly. “She wanted us to know Shelby had been date-raped. More than once, according to her mother. She called and told her the weekend before she died. She wouldn’t tell her who had done it; she was scared to death of the guy. But she promised that she was going to go to the campus police and report the rape. That’s probably why her roommate was so evasive when we asked if she was seeing anyone. I got the sense she suspected Shelby was involved with someone. She was involved, all right, with some son of a bitch who was forcing her to have sex with him. Bastard!”

“There’s our motive for Shelby’s murder. She tells him she’s going to the police, and he has to kill her to make sure he’s not found out.” Baldwin’s eyes drifted off, and he was silent for a moment. His eyes came back into focus, and he gave them a huge grin. “That’s it. That explains the herbs you found on Shelby. They were burial herbs.”

Both Sam and Taylor were looking at him blankly.

“You don’t get it? Okay, roll with me for a minute. He left her at the Parthenon. The ancient Greeks, hell, most of the ancient cultures used herbs during a burial to ensure that the spirit of the deceased made it into the spirit world without problem. That’s what he was doing. In his mind, he was giving her a proper burial. I’ll be damned. And I’ll bet he put her at the Parthenon so we would understand, that we would pick up on the connection and know that he was reluctant to kill her but had no choice. That he gave her the most proper and sympathetic burial he possibly could. And the aconite. The aconite!”