At First Light(Dr. Evan Wilding #1)(91)

Hope rose in Addie like a balloon lifting into the sky. “You’re amazing.”

“That remains to be seen. Don’t get excited until you check out these locations. My experience with them is purely virtual.”

While Addie used a pen to mark the locations on Patrick’s map, Evan filled her in on his new theory—that the victims were people who had committed crimes against nature. She listened in growing astonishment while he explained the concept of Earth Laws and then told her about Talfour’s and Desser’s supposed crimes—taking the pelts of animals, accepting money from those who ripped open the earth for treasure.

“Helskin’s abuse of the dogs would certainly qualify him,” he said.

“But he wasn’t the target.”

“Maybe he was.”

“What do you mean?”

“Based on the lines of the poem,” he went on, “it’s quite possible that Helskin was the killer’s intended victim. But something went wrong. Maybe Helskin fought back and the killer had to strike quickly. Thus forgoing the torture and special burial he requires to fulfill his fantasy.”

“Helskin was tased first,” she said. “We thought that his killer might have tried to subdue him, then resorted to smashing in his skull when Helskin kept coming.”

“Being tased wouldn’t keep you down for long.”

“Maybe a few minutes.”

“Which brings us back to one of our original questions of how—”

“How the killer is capturing his victims and getting them to wherever he’s torturing them,” she finished for him.

Evan let loose a sigh that carried over the ether. “If Helskin was his target, then it means that he has to select a new victim to be his thorn, his number three. For whatever reason, having five victims is important to him. He won’t allow his plan to be diverted.”

She pictured her name written neatly on the manila envelope. But she couldn’t be one of the intended victims, could she? The worst thing she’d done against Mother Earth was buy nonorganic produce.

Maybe that was enough.

She’d finished marking up Patrick’s map. Now, with rising excitement, she closed the atlas, tucked it under her arm, and stepped back outside, facing into the wind.

“This second area you mention in your email,” she said, the wind cutting across the mic of her phone. “The Damen Silos near the Canalport Riverwalk. That’s a half mile from the store where we found Raven’s fitness tracker. It looks like a person can take a bridge to the 29th Street ramp and waltz right on over. The silos are abandoned, if I recall.”

“Ever since an explosion back in the seventies,” Evan said. “Which makes the site particularly interesting. You have water and isolation and—presumably—nature striving to take back her own.”

Addie strode to the edge of the parking lot and looked west. On the far side of the expressway were the tops of a series of concrete structures—the silos.

The anger and fear seething in her gut melted away, replaced by a hard fist of certainty. Raven was close by. She was sure of it.

“I’ve got to go.” She paused. “You haven’t left your office, right?”

“I haven’t so much as left my desk.”

“You’re awfully calm about all this.”

“I had a panic attack earlier.”

“Promise me you’ll stay right where you are until I come and get you.”

“Addie. We’ve been through all this.” His voice was gentle. “I do have to go home at some point.”

“You have food, water, and a bathroom. Probably tea and alcohol, too, if I know you. You have everything you need in that office palace of yours.”

“Except Ginny. I have to feed her.”

“Have someone else do it. Or she can wait. You’ve let her go hungry before.”

“Only when she needed to cut weight in order to—” He stopped. Sighed.

“Evan?”

“Okay. You win. I’ll stay right here.”

Suspicious, she said, “Promise?”

“Of course.”

“Say it. Say I promise.”

“I promise.”

“Good.” She allowed herself a small, fierce smile. “I love you, my wise friend. I’ll see you soon.”





CHAPTER 29


A gust of wind shoved against the car as Addie and Patrick pushed open their doors and stepped out into the gale. Immediately, her hair whipped into her eyes. She reached back into the vehicle and searched around until she found an old rubber band on the floor.

Squad cars pulled in behind them. Patrol cops and detectives emerged and moved aside for two up-armored Hummers, which drove down the paved lane that led to the silos. The drivers parked, and eight members of the SWAT unit emerged wearing tactical gear.

Now her familiar three-ring circus in blue was poised to operate like the tip of a spear, with SWAT leading the charge.

Around the city, additional groups were descending on the other sites Evan had mapped, looking for victims, for evidence, perhaps for the killer himself.

Addie zipped her jacket and found the gloves she’d shoved in a pocket. No rain, thank heavens. It was too cold now. But a few flakes of snow whipped past.