Page 93 of Forever Dark
Price followed her gaze.“You think he could be counting ahead?Like the number could be for the next victim rather than this one?”
“That’s a great catch,” Selena said.“Maybe he thinks of the act itself as part of a sequence bigger than the bodies.But I still have a hunch the number is referencing the current victim, which means we still haven’t found the first.”
Connor folded his arms.“The first two scenes were abandoned churches.This one’s a silo.If it’s about symbols more than sites, we’ve got a wider field than I’d like.Anything you can tell us, Matt?”
Price took another photograph.The flash popped white against the steel.“The victim was likely brought here, not killed on site.No heavy blood pool under the chair.”
Selena nodded.“Different again.”
Price glanced at the scrapes on Tara’s wrist and the dirt on her hem.“There was a struggle somewhere before this, given the bruising on her arms.”
“So, he was forced to kill her immediately rather than let her escape or do him damage,” Connor pondered out loud.
A cold frustration pressed at the base of Selena’s throat.“We should get forensics to check under her nails.If she struggled, she might have scratched him and got some DNA.”
“Already ahead of you,” Price answered.
While Selena and Connor had been watching Croft’s bus through the trees, Tara Brennan had been taken somewhere else entirely.Whether the killer had followed the woman from work or lain in wait near her home, he had moved with confidence.Planned it.Executed it.Then transported her here and staged her before daylight.
Connor looked at Price.“Anything else?”
“Not yet.Tire marks outside, some boot marks with the same custom boot sole, but this whole area’s churned up from farm equipment.We’ll cast what we can.”Price shifted his attention to Selena.“A little birdy told me you guys were at the Elias Croft revival.You think it’s connected?”
“Nothing is safe around here,” Connor bemoaned.“Let me guess, Cheryl’s the little bird.”
“I think the revival ties in as a place where he’s identifying the victims,” Selena said.“Whether the preacher, Croft, himself ties in is still the question.We need to figure out if Tara had a connection there, too.”
Connor cast one last look at the body, then nodded toward the door.“Let’s talk to Arnold again.He might be able to tell us more about the victim since he knew her.”
Outside, the morning had brightened by degrees.Walter Epp now sat on the tailgate of an old pickup parked near the fence, cap in his hands, staring at the ground.Arnold stood by the SUV, looking down at his notepad.
Selena approached him alone while Connor spoke with Epp for a moment.
“How are you holding up?”
“Okay, Agent Raven,” Arnold answered.
“Please, call me Selena,” she said, her voice soft.“What can you tell me about Tara Brennan?”
Arnold looked up.Fatigue and old grief had mixed into something tender and embarrassed on his face.
“She worked nights at the hospital.Lived alone.A great person.”
Selena kept her voice level.“I know you might not want to hear this, but was Tara known for being promiscuous?”
Arnold’s ears colored.For a second he seemed younger than he had before, all that early eagerness showing through the hurt.
Then he nodded.
“Yeah.”
A gust moved the tape behind them.Arnold looked off toward the field rather than at her.
“Years ago,” he said, and stopped.
Selena waited.
He swallowed.“Me and her once…”
