Buried Page 8

  Forty out of forty. Anything above thirty qualified him as a genuine psychopath, but this was the first time that she had interviewed someone with a perfect score.

  * * *

  Notes in hand, Sayer retreated to the kitchen. She popped open a beer and went to check on Adi before heading to bed.

  In the small circle of her reading light, Adi looked up from her textbook. “Another good interview, I see.”

  “Well, they’re psychopaths, none of them are good. But this guy’s history was disturbing. Suburban childhood with middle-class, doting parents.” She took a swig of beer.

  “So why does that bother you?”

  “Because it sounds like he had a picture-book childhood. It’s hard to reconcile that with the seriously dark shit he claims to have done in his lifetime. I understand all the science of psychopathy, but I still just have a hard time understanding how someone so screwed up can come out of such a good family.”

  Sayer flopped down next to Adi on the futon.

  “You look kind of like you’re about to be sick.” Adi put her book down.

  “Yeah.” Sayer wiggled her fingers at Vesper. He enthusiastically jumped onto her lap. She buried her hand in his silvery fur. “It’s pretty disturbing sometimes.”

  “What part is disturbing? That they’re out there, or that the ones you’re interviewing now have never been caught?”

  “Both.” Sayer realized that she was far more shaken than usual. That he named Adi in his list of theoretical targets caused a ball of conflicting emotions—primarily anger, but also fear, because now that she’d taken Adi in, it was her job to protect the girl from harm. Adi had already been through hell in her eighteen years. Sayer wanted to protect her, give her a stable place to live while she recovered from everything. But what if taking Adi in had just put the young woman at risk?

  Adi grunted understanding. Her eyes looked slightly scared, and that made Sayer’s rage flare even more. Adi had almost died at the hands of a psychopath, and here she was being triggered by Sayer’s research.

  Sayer wrapped her arms around Adi in a fierce hug. “But then I remind myself that, for every one of them, there are a hundred people like me working to make sure they can’t hurt anyone.” Sayer tried to sound confident, but the pit in her stomach wouldn’t unclench. Something about Subject 037 set off every alarm in her body, but she couldn’t pinpoint why. What was she afraid of?

  EZRA COEN’S APARTMENT, QUANTICO, VA

  Data analyst Ezra Coen sat in the dark and listened to Sayer’s phone message a third time.

  “Hey, Ez, Holt said you’re up for working on my latest case. I’ve sent you the files. I dropped off DNA samples from the bodies and swabs off a sword we found. Can you talk to someone at the lab and get them going on the three-hour DNA machine ASAP? Hope you’re ready to get back to work. Let me know if you’ve got questions.”

  He pushed play again and looked down at his amputated legs. The ends just below the knees looked like fleshy cookie dough, puckered and lumpy. The wounds were long healed but he still had phantom pain where his calves, ankles, and feet had once been. The burning sometimes hurt so much it forced a cry from his lips. What if that happened while he was talking to someone about the investigation?

  Even worse, sometimes the explosion that took his legs played in his mind, and he could never really predict when it would happen.

  It was great to hear Sayer’s voice, but dread also settled into his chest. It had been on the last case he worked with her that a bomb had done this to him. Once Sayer Altair got her teeth into a case, she was a juggernaut, single-minded and unstoppable. What if he couldn’t keep up? What if the pain interfered with his ability to do the job? Would Sayer understand?

  “Okay, Ezra,” he muttered to himself, “it’s go time.”

  He roughly pulled on his gel-lined socks and his new full-sized prosthetics. The metallic devices glinted in the bluish light from his computer screen, glowing like robotic legs. That thought at least made him smile.

  “You got this,” he said loudly.

  He pulled himself up with his walker and tried to hurry to his car, which was outfitted specially for him. The slow click-step-step, click-step-step of his walker and stiff legs made him grit his teeth. He’d always been in a hurry and now nothing he did felt fast enough.

  He drove the few miles to Quantico, repeating over and over, “You got this, Ezra. You got this.”

  The guard at the front gate recognized him and welcomed him back. Ezra forced a cheerful smile.

  At the front door, he struggled to balance himself against his walker and fumbled the door pass from his pocket. Things that had once been mindlessly easy suddenly felt insurmountable. By the time he got to his old desk in the evidence lab, Ezra was shaking with exhaustion.

  The physical therapist had told him to take it easy, but Ezra’s new legs felt like the promise of freedom; he didn’t want to take it easy. But he could see that learning to walk all over again was going to take some time. His eyes watered with frustration.

  Rather than let himself cry, he lowered himself into the chair and phoned the DNA lab to make sure they were already on the results. Recent murders always took precedence, and once he dropped Sayer’s name, he had no trouble convincing the tech to move this case to the front of the line. Although the media and Congress were questioning Sayer, people inside the Bureau knew she was the real deal.

  While the samples were processed, Ezra closed his eyes to rest for a moment.

  “Just a minute of rest,” he murmured.

  A loud bong on his computer jolted him awake. Heart pounding, he looked around, dazed.

  “Did I just fucking fall asleep?” he said out loud, incredulous. Embarrassed.

  Shaking off grogginess, he clicked on the alert. The DNA results from the bodies were back. He must’ve slept for hours.

  He opened the file and began to read. He compared the DNA with women in the National Missing Person DNA Database.

  “What the…?” He opened one file and another and put them side by side. He checked the original report. Back to the comparison.

  Confusion slowly transformed into horror. This case was about to take off like a bullet train. Ezra hurried to pack his things. He’d better get on the road if he wanted to get to Shenandoah National Park before dawn.

  ROAD TO SHENANDOAH NATIONAL PARK, VA

  Before the sun reached the horizon, Sayer made sure Tino and Adi could be on full-time Vesper duty for a few days and then packed her waterproof bag. She double-checked that the ballistic panels were properly inserted in her bulletproof vest as she slid it into the bag. She briefly touched the scar on her shoulder before carrying her gear out to her bike. Sayer rode away from her quiet Alexandria town house already missing her warm bed where she’d left her snoring dog.

  Mist-heavy air beaded off her FBI rain parka as she rode back toward the Shenandoah Mountains.

  Letting her mind wander, Sayer still couldn’t shake the chill left from her interview with Subject 037. She jumped when her phone buzzed in her headset.

  “Agent Altair,” she barked into the mic.

  For half a second she expected to hear Subject 037’s low voice.

  “Good morning!” Sophia McDuff’s cheerful voice sounded overloud inside Sayer’s helmet.

  “Nana, are you okay?” Sayer increasingly worried about her seventy-three-year-old grandmother. The former librarian and widowed wife to Senator Charles McDuff had been acting wild lately, going skydiving and staking out criminals.

  “Honestly Sayer, why wouldn’t I be okay?”

  “Because it’s not even seven A.M. and I worry.…” Sayer didn’t want to admit how much last night’s interview had shaken her. “What’s going on? Is Adi all right?” Even though Adi was technically an adult, Sayer was still adjusting to having a young person to watch over.

  “Yes, of course, Adi’s fine! I’m actually over at your place with her and Tino.”

  “Hi, Sayer!” Tino’
s and Adi’s voices called out in the background. Vesper barked, joining in the shouting.

  “What’s going on?”

  “Goodness, Sayer, when did you become such a worrywart?”

  Sayer let out a sharp breath. “Well, you aren’t calling for no reason … and what’re you doing over at my place so early?”

  “You know I’m up by five most days. When Adi called with her news, I came right over to celebrate.”

  “News?” Sayer asked.

  The phone jostled and Adi’s voice came on. “The e-mail with my SAT scores came right after you left.”

  “And?” After the last few years of turmoil, Adi had fallen behind in school. She only recently took her GRE to get her high school diploma and decided to try taking the SAT just to see how she would do. If she did well she would apply for college this year. But if she bombed, Sayer knew it would hit Adi hard.

  “I aced it! Like, I really aced it.” The joy in Adi’s voice caused a flutter in Sayer’s chest—an unfamiliar sensation she vaguely recognized as happiness.

  “That’s great!”

  Adi’s words flooded in a jumble of excitement, “I mean, I might be able to get a full ride somewhere! I’m gonna apply to all the Ivies and then I guess UVA and maybe Georgetown and I don’t know where else. I might need to visit some of the schools and then I’ll get to pick one and I hope I get a scholarship but even if I don’t I’ll work and make sure I can swing it!”

  “Huzzah!” Tino called out in the background, and the whole group laughed.

  Sayer smiled, imagining her motley family piled into her apartment, all joyous together.

  “Well, that is really great news, Adi. I’m so proud of you!”

  “Thanks, Sayer.” The excitement in Adi’s voice softened and Sayer realized that she must be thinking about her dead family. How proud her parents would have been. And her twin sister.

  “We’re all here with you,” Sayer said gently. Sayer knew nothing she could say would make Adi feel better, but she wanted the young woman to know that she wasn’t alone. “When I get home let’s have a family meeting and plan some college visits?”

  “That would be great.” Adi paused. “I’m going to go message my friends, but wanted to call you first.”

  “Okay, Adi. I’m just so happy for you. You all should go out and celebrate.”

  “Nah, I want to wait until you’re home. We’ll do something when your case is done. So hurry up.”

  “Yes, ma’am.”

  Adi laughed. “Okay. ’Bye!”

  The rumble of Sayer’s Silver Hawk replaced Adi’s happy voice, leaving Sayer feeling slightly melancholy. Morning fog turned into a light rain as she swung the motorcycle onto Skyline Drive. The predawn chill made her shoulder ache and she momentarily wondered if it was time to buy an actual car.

  “A little cold won’t kill you,” she muttered.

  When she finally got to the ranger station, she fervently hoped that they had a coffee machine somewhere in the building. Inside, the smell of maple syrup made her stomach clench with hunger and she realized that she’d completely forgotten to eat breakfast. Had she even eaten dinner the night before? She waved a good morning to the park ranger sitting at the desk just inside the front door and made her way to the conference room.

  Max, Piper, and Dana sat around a table over plates stacked high with pancakes and bacon. A blond man sat with his back to Sayer.

  “Morning, Sayer.” Max called her over. Kona sat at attention next to him, watching the bacon on the table with rapt attention. “Dana and I got up early, so we decided to whip up breakfast for everyone. Oh, and your friend just got here.”

  He turned and Sayer gasped. “Ezra! What on earth are you doing here? I thought you would be working from Quantico.” She hurried over to give him a hug.

  Ezra smiled and struggled to stand from the table.

  “No, no, don’t get up.”

  “I want to.” Though his hair was no longer bright blue, he had put back in all his piercings. His tongue piercing clacked lightly as he spoke. His eyebrow bar arched up as he smiled.

  He grasped the walker next to him and pulled himself up. Breathing hard, he balanced himself and let go. “Ta-da!”

  They hugged and Sayer stepped back to look down at his double prosthetics. “Ezra, this is amazing.” She had been regularly visiting Ezra in the recovery ward. Only a month ago he had just gotten his first prosthetics, called “stubbies” because they were only a few inches tall.

  He nodded, slightly pale from the effort of standing. “I graduated from the stubbies two weeks ago. I still can’t move very fast, but I’m getting there.”

  “And Holt let you come down here?”

  Ezra squinted with discomfort. “I might have called for permission after I left. But yeah, as long as I promised to keep up with my physical therapy exercises every day, she let me stay. Though I’m supposed to tell you that this isn’t officially a field assignment. I’m on desk duty only.”

  “I thought the doctor said it would be a month or two before you progressed to full-sized prosthetics. You must be working your ass off.”

  “No joke, check it out.…” He did a little ass-shake.

  Sayer rolled her eyes. It felt good to see Ezra the smart-ass emerging again.

  Trembling a little from the effort, he lowered himself back down into his seat and propped one of his legs up on a chair. “And check out these babies. I’ve got a buddy over in the tech department helping me tweak them out. Soon I’ll be running faster than you.”

  Sayer nodded appreciatively and sat next to Ezra, giving his shoulder a gentle squeeze. “I’m so happy you came.”

  Max handed Sayer a plate and a mug of coffee.

  Ezra looked around the ranger station with a sigh. “And I’m happy to be out of that medical ward. I never want to see the inside of a hospital again.”

  “You know I understand,” Sayer said as she gulped the lukewarm coffee. Her hand drifted momentarily to her shoulder scar.

  The group fell into companionable silence while they ate. Sayer was itching to ask Ezra why he’d come all the way from Quantico, but she knew everyone needed a good breakfast before jumping into the day. After coffees were drained and plates cleared, Sayer turned to Ezra. “All right, tell me what you got on the DNA.”

  Ezra’s cocky smile faded. “I found a hell of a lot. If you all can bring my equipment in from the car, I’ll show you.”

  * * *

  After they unpacked and set up what felt like a million pieces of electronic equipment in the main conference room, Ezra clicked on his computer and connected it to a small projector. Sayer, Piper, Dana, and Max crowded around the table. Always at Max’s side, Kona lay down against his feet. Piper, who had looked right at home out in the woods, struggled to force her bulk into one of the small office chairs. Dana tucked her small feet under her, face alight with anticipation.

  As the projector warmed up, Sayer stood in front of a whiteboard she’d asked Piper to rustle up from the supply closet.

  “All right, let’s get our murder board going.”

  “Like on TV?” Piper asked.

  “Yeah, just a place to visualize what we’ve got on the case so far. It can help us brainstorm and allows us to share data.”

  Sayer wrote Bones on one side and New Victims on the other.

  “Let’s summarize, bones first.” Sayer wrote 6–7 victims and straitjacket. “Dana, can you give me a very rough estimate of how long those bones have been there?”

  “You know I don’t like to—”

  “Rough estimate, please,” Sayer pushed.

  Dana nodded curtly. “Based on the level of wear to the bones, I’d say they are at least ten years old, probably more like fifteen to twenty.”

  “Thank you. Okay,” Sayer wrote 15–20 years old and thought for a moment. “Based on the age of the bones, I’d suggest that we set them aside for now.”

  “Even though they were dumped in the same location?�
�� Piper asked.

  Sayer sighed. “Yeah, we’ve got such a small team that I just don’t think we can divide our focus. Even if the cases are related, I think there’s a much better chance of finding an evidence trail from the new victims. Until we have more information on the bones, I want us to work the bodies first. We’ve possibly got live victims out there somewhere, and this gives us the best chance to save them.” She took a deep breath, frustrated at having to make do without a task force, because Piper was right, they should be working both cases at the same time.

  “Even though one of the skeletons could be Cricket Nelson?” the park ranger pressed.

  “I’m not saying we won’t work the case, Piper. Just that we need to focus on the recent victims first. Once Dana finishes the autopsies, she’ll analyze the bones. I had Chief Nelson send over his sister’s dental records, so we should be able to identify her if she’s here.”

  The projector lit up, interrupting Piper’s response. The image of two women appeared on the white wall.

  Sayer recognized the narrow chin and high cheekbones of Jane Doe One. She had long waves of blond hair and pale skin, her blue eyes smiling with genuine joy. She looked carefree, happy. “You found a match for both victims?”

  Ezra nodded. “Behold the results of my NMPDD search.”

  “Sorry I keep asking clueless questions, but the what?” Piper asked.

  “The FBI’s National Missing Person DNA Database. It’s part of our national Combined DNA Index System. Family members of missing persons can submit their own DNA or a sample from the missing person.”

  Ezra pulled his chair over to his notes. “We really lucked out identifying them both. What you see here are pictures of the two victims found yesterday.” He slid the cursor over the woman that Sayer recognized as Jane Doe One. “This is the victim with HELP US written on her body. Meet Victoria Winslow, twenty-two. She went missing from Old Dominion University in Norfolk, Virginia, on the morning of September twelfth.”