Truth in the Bones Read online

  “I could use a road trip,” Zoe offered.

  “Nice try,” Skye fired back. “But you have school for two more months. Not to mention staying put to help Lena and Travis take care of Sierra. You guys are the go-to babysitters along with Josh’s parents. We’ll need you to take your turn looking after Sierra when the time comes.”

  “I don’t mind traveling,” Judy said.

  “I need you here to keep the Foundation humming along at its peak performance. But thanks for offering.” She eyed the guys, Leo, Winston, and Reggie. “You’re all off the hook for Sierra duty.”

  At hearing her name the little girl toddled over to her mother. Skye scooped Sierra up in her arms. “I hate leaving her. But as you can see, this guy leaves devastation wherever he goes. He destroys families. The ones left to deal with the pain are probably in no shape to do anything about it. They’re left to believe the police theory. They’ve been told that someone they loved and cared about lost it one night and did the unthinkable, killed at will. That’s cruel and harsh and just plain wrong. How can we, or anyone in this room, turn our backs on that kind of evil?”

  Travis set down his plate of pizza. “You can’t. Babysitting isn’t a problem for me. If Lena isn’t available to help, I’m happy to stay here on Bainbridge Island so Sierra will have less upheaval in her life while you’re gone and won’t have to leave all her things behind that make her feel more comfortable. The only thing she’ll be missing is Mama and Daddy.”

  “What about your horses, Dad?” Skye asked. Lately, she’d started calling him Dad a lot.

  “Don’t you worry none about that,” Travis assured her. “I’ll get Giles Forney to feed the stock.”

  “I’d be willing to stay here as well,” Lena offered. “On weekends. But until Zoe’s out of school, I’ll need to be back on the mainland. You and Josh do what you have to do, though. None of us here will let you down. We’ll all pull together to do what has to be done.”

  Zoe cut her eyes to Skye. “What about me? I have my driver’s license now. I can help you catch this guy. You’ve spent hours teaching me all those powerful moves just so I’ll know how to take down the bad guys. What good does it do if I’m not putting it to use? Now’s as good a time as any for me to prove what I can do.”

  Skye smiled and bounced Sierra on her hip. “You can definitely take care of yourself, no question about that. But it’s mainly for that reason that Josh and I need you protecting Lena and Travis in case this psycho comes looking for trouble.”

  Skye turned back to the white board to study the pins. “Did anyone else pick up on the fact that—with the exception of St. Louis—there isn’t a single attack recorded in the center of the country? He basically stays to the west coast, the east coast or the south. Does anyone else find that odd, or is just me?”

  Reggie finally opened one of the cardboard food containers and dished out spaghetti, piling it high on his plate. “Yeah. During four and a half years of activity, you’d think he would’ve taken a tour through the heartland a time or two. It’s more than odd. His avoidance to that region might be telling.”

  Josh brought Sierra into his arms. “Then let’s focus on that part of the country, first to make sure the FBI didn’t overlook an incident. The big gap between Colorado and Georgia are the states like Kansas, Nebraska, Iowa, and Oklahoma. Then there’s Tennessee and Kentucky. That’s a chunk of country that gives us a place to start, or eliminate.”

  Leo the skeptic seemed downhearted, taking it all in. “That’s a lot of contact with the local authorities, assuming they’ll even want to cooperate. They may think we’re off our rockers. I’ve seen some crazy stuff since I started helping you guys out with the Foundation business. If this is all connected, if all the FBI data is accurate, then this guy…is a whole other kind of evil. Think about it. He breaks into their houses and kills. That’s not what makes him special. Plenty of other serials have done that. What sets this guy apart from the rest is that he wipes out entire families all the while leaving law enforcement thinking that one of the family members committed these horrific acts. Cops aren’t going after a stranger for this. Nope. They’re buying into this ‘missing family member’ crap, have for five years. These people who were kidnapped are dead, just like Christy Maldonado ended up. That’s just wrong on every level. The one who’s missing and dead is the one taking the rap for something they didn’t do. But the cops still consider them guilty. That sickens me right down to the core. They’re not after the truth. They’d rather believe some bogus crap than bother with a real investigation.”

  “When is the truth not the truth?” Winston muttered aloud, as he scanned through several more reports.

  Skye pivoted toward Winston, noticed him deep in thought. “What does that mean exactly?”

  “The truth should be difficult to manipulate. It’s either the truth or it isn’t. This guy can’t be that brilliant. And the police are likely not that gullible either. He must do something at each crime scene to sway the cops into that way of thinking. It has to be convincing enough to make them believe a teenage son or daughter, or a mother or a father for that matter, could do such a violent thing to their own flesh and blood.”

  “The local cops in De Kalb mentioned a note left behind,” Josh provided, as he perused through the documents. “But there’s no mention of that in any of the other reports.”

  “I don’t recall a note left at the Maldonado home,” Skye offered. “But Winston has a point. Something must be significant enough to the investigators that the ‘missing man’ theory becomes more than speculation, more than a mere notion. Maybe clothes go missing, things they’d grab to take with them are gone and that raises suspicions.”

  She shuffled through the stack of faxes. “Where’s the information about the murder weapon and what caliber of gun was used? Maybe the gun used in the crimes is one the family owned.”

  She compared several of the police reports and noticed that area had been redacted. “It looks like we didn’t get the full info as promised. Why would the FBI withhold that critical piece of the puzzle if they want our help? That’s ridiculous.”

  “Good question. And one we should take up with Harry,” Josh said as he paced the room, still holding a sleepy Sierra. “If it’s true that this guy purposefully leaves behind a vital clue that points to the missing family member, it shows a meticulous approach to detail. That’s thorough thinking, especially when you consider he’s under pressure. He has his checklist, all the while he’s involved in the heat of committing multiple murders. You don’t see that kind of cold, methodical planning too often.”

  Skye reached for her phone and stepped into the kitchen. “I’m sending Harry and Emmett a text. If they want our help they need to provide us with the facts. Otherwise we’re just spinning our wheels.”

  “But the truth is the truth,” Winston repeated with stubborn intent. “There are multiple crime scenes and with each one, these police departments concluded the same thing. It shouldn’t be that easy to mess with, or distort evidence. The relatives think they know the truth when they don’t. We need to find a way to get it out there so they do.”

  “Maybe this guy just happens to be brilliant,” Reggie decided.

  “No,” Skye said with emphasis. “He’s not that smart. Cunning and lucky are not substitutes for intelligence. So far, he’s had the advantage. That changes tonight.”

  Reggie bobbed his head. “Okay, but I see Josh’s point, too. Anyone who goes to this kind of trouble is seriously thinking about all the angles. And Leo’s take is this guy’s whacked. The killer might be suffering from a traumatic event that triggered his dark side.”

  “First and foremost, we aren’t here to psychoanalyze the guy. Warped, whacked, crazy, may all apply, but it’s not our job to find out what happened to him…psychologically. Our job is to catch this bastard and stop the murders,” Josh reiterated.

  “Maybe we should call this guy something other than ‘this guy,’” Zoe suggested.
“We should name him.”

  “The kid has a point,” Winston stated. “How about the Cross-country Killer?”

  Zoe whooped and stood up, throwing her arms around Winston’s neck. “Yeah. Now we’re talking. Perfect. Cross-country Killer it is.”

  “Whatever,” Leo said without enthusiasm. “Don’t you guys realize he could go on like this until he’s too old to carry out these murders.”

  Winston scratched his chin where a bit of stubble seemed to be trying to sprout. “If we don’t stop him he could continue just as he is without suspicion ever falling on him.”

  “We won’t let that happen. We’ll stop him,” Skye assured everyone, still searching the massive amounts of paper for some hint as to what caliber murder weapon had been used. Frustrated, she glanced over at Josh. “Is there any way at all to pinpoint where he might strike next?”

  Josh exchanged looks with his development team. “If there’s a pattern in the data, we’ll do our best to narrow it down. That’s not saying much though. You have three-fourths of the country still up for grabs. Even if you take away Alaska and Hawaii that still leaves thirty-nine states for him to choose from.”

  “Yeah. I suppose it’s too much to hope for.”

  Leo dished up a helping of pasta. “Maybe he’s trying for a fifty-state record. But realistically, he couldn’t possibly hope to fool that many law enforcement agencies over time. I mean, some low-level analyst at the FBI is the reason we’re here.”

  Skye finally sat down to grab a slice of sausage pizza. “I don’t know. If it’s true he somehow gets the troubled family member to leave fingerprints on the murder weapon and leaves the gun behind, cops would jump on that as corroborative evidence they have their killer. Leaving the weapon behind is risky but powerful evidence law enforcement wouldn’t be able to explain away. That’s why we need to know what murder weapon was used.”

  “Sad that the evidence is being manipulated like that,” Winston added. “The truth should speak for itself.”

  “Every crime scene has to go down differently,” Josh stated. “He’ll eventually screw up.”

  “But we don’t have the luxury of waiting for him to mess up. We need to catch this guy and soon. Leo might have a point. Our killer could be trying for a new record. He’s gotten away with this for five years, maybe longer. He’s not exactly looking over his shoulder.”

  “Cocky and confident will get you caught,” Josh declared. “We either invoke a media blackout or ask for the public’s help. Which is it?”

  “I vote for blackout. I don’t think we want this guy knowing we’re on to him until we figure out who we’re dealing with,” Skye noted, glancing around the room.

  It was Travis who agreed with his daughter. “I think that’s the smart way to go. If he knows he’s been made as a serial killer, who knows how he might change things up.”

  Skye nodded. “He could change victimology and then we’d have to start from scratch. We don’t want this guy hanging around free to do what he wants for decades.”

  After everyone had gone, Josh and Skye put Sierra to bed before heading downstairs for a nightcap.

  Josh built up a fire while Skye curled up at one end of the sofa.

  “Something’s bothering you. I can tell.”

  She smiled. “I’m not sure I like the fact you can read me so well. But yeah, a couple of things. Did you notice Judy and Reggie tonight? Are they…involved with each other?”

  “Looks like those two have grown very close while working at the Foundation together. Who knows how long they’ve been seeing each other. We’ve been oblivious to a lot since right after Sierra was born.”

  “We’re really out of the loop, aren’t we? How did I miss that?”

  “We both did. Until tonight, that is.”

  “What did it for you?”

  “I saw them outside the bathroom with their heads together in the hallway. It wasn’t like they were discussing the elements of the case. What about you?”

  “I spotted them in the kitchen. Reggie was feeding Judy a piece of brownie cake. You know, stuffing it in her mouth like they do at weddings. I thought it was sweet how Reggie had decided to make sure Judy felt…normal. Like you did with me. But then it hit me. The gesture was too intimate to be new or for the first time. What’s wrong with me, Josh? I’m usually so much more adept at picking up on body language. I should’ve known about this. I’m the one who got Judy involved. What if Reggie hurts her?”

  “You’re kidding, right? Reggie isn’t the type to hurt anyone.”

  Skye pushed her hair out of her eyes. “I didn’t mean it like that. Reggie is the sweetest guy I know, even more so than Winston. I simply meant what if Reggie breaks up with her and…”

  “Breakups are part of life, Skye. It happens. You can’t insulate Judy from the everyday workings of a relationship. It’s her choice whether or not she lets Reggie into her life now. She’s made fantastic strides getting out into the world and becoming the person she’s always wanted to be. I’m sure part of that goes back to Reggie.”

  “You’re right. I’m shocked is all. Now that I think about it, Reggie and Judy showed up together at the Christmas party last year. Remember? I thought they just arrived at the same time. I guess not. Good for Judy. She’s probably ten years older than he is.”

  “Figuring in what she’s been through, and all the years she’d hidden from life, I’d say that makes them about right in age.”

  She ran a hand down the side of his jaw. “How did you get to be so smart?”

  He kissed her palm. “Maybe it happened when I became a father. I’m a wise man now, the leader of my pack.”

  Her lips bowed up. “Wow. Judy Howe and Reggie Bechtol. I never would’ve put those two together, not in a million years. But then I suppose that’s what a lot of people said about us.”

  “Yeah. Well. People shouldn’t be too quick to judge a relationship. What else is bothering you?”

  “I can’t figure out how this guy knows ahead of time about the troubled teen or the alcoholic mother. Would a stalker be able to figure that out from going through a person’s mail or taking a trip through their house? Or going through your medicine chest? Okay, maybe he found antidepressant meds there. It’s just…so…weird. I’m not sure how he’d know that ahead of time. It’s like he has a built-in fall guy already figured into the equation when he shows up at the door. That isn’t a coincidence. It can’t be. It’s a detail that’s vetted completely to his advantage.”

  Josh frowned and stared into the glass of cognac he’d poured. “Maybe he has access to their medical records, insurance records, doctor’s office access, something intimate and personal. Let’s face it, these days privacy policies are a joke. Anyone’s medical records are up for grabs in a hacking fest. And his access would have to be on the national level, not local, not with all the states he’s visited.”

  “Insurance company,” they muttered at the same time.

  “Interesting theory,” Skye said as she sipped from her own brandy. “Maybe he works for a large insurance company with all the detailed information he’d need already on file about mental health issues. One mouse click away, handy and available—to the wrong person.”

  She stared into the fire. “What else could it be?”

  “I don’t know,” he said quietly, trailing a thumb over her lips. “We’ll think about it more tomorrow. Right this second, listen. The house is so quiet. It’s times like this we should take advantage of the golden silence and the fact that our adorable, precious daughter is sound asleep.”

  Her face broke into a wide grin. All thought of serial killers evaporated. “You read my mind. We should go to bed. And Josh?”

  “What?”

  “Thanks for making my life so normal.”

  “You call hunting serial killers normal?”

  “I call married life with you…as normal as I ever thought I’d have.”

  He swept her up in his arms and started upstairs. “You’
re what I was looking for and didn’t even know it.”

  “I wonder if Judy and Reggie feel the same way?”

  “They’ll have to figure that out the way we did, a slow, natural progression, learning each other’s habits the way all couples do. For example, I know where you like to be kissed.”

  He dropped her on the wide, California-king bed and slid in beside her. “How long has it been since I told you how beautiful you look in moonlight?”

  “Since the last time we made love under the trees in the apple orchard. But that was last summer, a much warmer night than tonight. I’m not going out there when the temperature is still hovering around forty-five.”

  “Not even if I bring a blanket.”

  She snickered with laughter and kicked off her shoes. “Not even. Besides, the baby monitor doesn’t work that far away.”

  “It does if we stay near the pond.”

  “What is it with you wanting to make love outside?” She patted the soft mattress beside her as she began to unbutton his shirt. “We’re here now on eight-hundred-thread Egyptian cotton sheets and you want to make love on the dew-filled grass. I love your animal instincts and all but practicality should count for something.”

  He buried his head in her neck and began to spread kisses there. His hands got busy exploring her soft curves. “I love you, Skye.”

  “I love you, Josh Ander. Mmm, you taste good.”

  “That’s my line.” And for the next hour or so, he proved it.