Carnival of Secrets

Chapter 9

Ben met Nathan in the conference room and asked, "Can Annie join us? She had some pretty good insights."

"Sure."

When all three of them were seated, Nathan looked at Ben.

"What are your thoughts so far?"

Ben gestured to Annie to take point.

"I couldn't help but wonder why none of them had defensive wounds. I would think that most people would have put up a fight, or at least attempted to get away from someone being that close to them with a g*n," she said. "So, I was wondering if maybe they were incapacitated in some way, maybe drunk, or drugged."

"Nothing at all showed in toxicology," Nathan answered. "I had that same thought myself, so I checked."

"And then I thought perhaps they were just really distracted," Annie continued. "But I mean, come on. How distracted do you have to be to not notice something like that?"

"I found something in the coroner's supplemental notes on the first two cases that might actually help answer that one."

Ben leaned forward. "What?"

"The coroner noted traces of residue across each man's lower torso in those cases," Nathan stated. "It resembled soap, but the coroner's notes don't indicate if anyone was able to identify the brand."

"Just lower torso, nowhere else? That's weird," Annie said, slightly confused.

"Huh," Ben exclaimed, then, "Oh. I get it."

Nathan nodded.

"What?" Annie looked at them both.

"Like whoever killed them was maybe trying to wash away any evidence of s****l activity, Annie," Ben told her gently, and watched her flush scarlet.

"Well," she finally said, "I suppose s*x could be a pretty damn big distraction."

An awkward silence fell among them as Annie took a long drink of water.

Nathan moved to another topic.

"So. Site walks. Anything in particular stand out?"

"Well, the Greenwood, Chico, and Lake Bridgeport dump sites had a lot in common. Each was on a gravel road that terminated onto private property about a half-mile past where the bodies were found. None of them had any sort of 'dead end' or 'no through street' signage that was readily visible. The road just ended at a cattle guard at each location. And whoever placed the bodies had to travel for a while down the gravel road to reach each site. Annie calculated the distances."

Annie nodded and picked up the story.

"Yep. From the time we turned off the paved farm-to-market road onto the gravel road until we arrived at each site, we traveled..." - she flipped through her notes- "four point two miles in Greenwood, just under eight miles in Chico, and almost six in Lake Bridgeport."

"Pretty far off the beaten path."

"Absolutely," Ben confirmed. "No way someone who wasn't already very familiar with the area would know about these three roads. Even if they happened to stumble across the first one, what are the odds of getting lucky two more times with backroads with the same configuration?"

"Interesting," Nathan murmured. "And it immediately brings up a huge question - if those three dump sites were so remote, then how were the bodies discovered so quickly?"

"Greisen said that the Wise County 911 switchboard received anonymous tips about the bodies in Chico, Lake Bridgeport and Greenwood."

"What about the other scene? The one close to Boyd?" Nathan asked, after a long, thoughtful pause.

"Not nearly as isolated," Annie revealed. "By a long shot. That body was seen by a passing motorist, and he stayed onsite and talked to the police when they arrived."

"Any indication at all that perhaps that site might have been an impulsive choice, rather than a deliberate selection?"

"What do you mean?"

"Let's take them in order for a moment," Nathan suggested. "Pull up a map of the county and let's plot them in order."

A few minutes later Ben had an area map of Wise County projected onto the white pull-down screen that Annie had lowered into place.

"Okay, first victim was found here, in a very isolated place," Nathan indicated with a laser pointer. "Then there are two more sites - here, and here. One is like the first, but the other, by comparison, is a high-traffic area, right?"

"Right," Ben confirmed. "A drainage ditch that runs along the south side of the main road through town."

"Then the killer reverts back to an isolated spot to place the fourth body up near Greenwood. The question is, why? Why change that part of their process with the third victim?"

He started to speak further but the phone trilling in the center of the conference table broke his stride.

"Yes," Nathan said into the handset, then listened for a moment. "Let him know I will call him back within five minutes, please."

He stood, then looked at Ben and Annie.

"I need to go. Start thinking about the questions we've formulated so far."

As he walked toward the door, Nathan continued, "And as you work to find those answers, also keep in mind that the body found in Boyd didn't have that residue on it."

"It didn't?"

Nathan paused in the doorway and looked at them over his shoulder.

"No, it didn't. It's also off pace from the four-week spacing - and we need to ask 'why' on those two points, as well. I have a feeling the answers are all interconnected. We'll reconvene at two p.m."

"On it, boss."

***

* * * *

"Thomas," Nathan said once he was seated behind his desk and pushed the flashing button.

"Hey, Nathan," Steve, his boss, answered. "I saw your email about the newbie coming down to Dallas. Got a few minutes to talk?'

"Hang on, let me close my door."

That accomplished, Nathan told him, "All right. What's going on there?"

"Well, information isn't exactly readily available. On the surface it seems to be a straight up transfer. But from what I've found so far, two huge red flags have popped up."

"Like what? Who initiated it?"

A pause.

"The branch Director up there is the one that put it through channels."

"Really?" Nathan was incredulous. "He submitted the transfer personally? That's... unusual."

"Indeed," Steve agreed. "Normal transfer paperwork gets filed with HQ by the division secretary. It feels to me like someone does not want this kid staying in Chicago."

"Huh." Nathan's mind whirled. "That could mean anything."

"Yep. The other thing is, everything that I could see indicates he's moving to the Bureau's Tampa branch, not Dallas. Which is why I plan to dig deeper. Something's not right about this, Nathan. Not at all. I'll be in touch."