CHAPTER ELEVEN
Five years ago, July
Madison fought her growing unease. After Ashleigh and Josh’s fight, the tension had become unbearable. They’d hiked all day yesterday, but this morning they’d decided to write the trip off as a loss and turn around. Better that than to risk tempers fraying further and worse fights breaking out.
The group had split in two, leaving her in the middle. There was no pleasing anyone. Either she spent too much time at Ashleigh’s side, which earned her nasty looks from the Conlon twins, or she walked with Lauren, feeling her best friend’s glare between her shoulder blades the entire time.
By afternoon, they’d reached Fifty Mountain, which was where they’d camp overnight. It was one of Madison’s favorite spots, a place where Highline Trail and Mountain Trail converged, which meant they usually ran into another group of hikers. Sharing a fire with strangers was their way of carving out a little piece of immortality. They’d never see the people again, but there would always be the shared memory.
Like the doctor who’d been so terrified of bears that he’d jumped at every sound in the darkness but, when he’d finally relaxed, had told the most wonderful stories of his time spent in Africa working for Doctors Without Borders.
Or the pair of brothers they’d met late last fall, who had spent the last six months hiking the Continental Divide trail, all the way up from New Mexico’s southernmost border. The stories they’d told about those months awakened a yearning unlike anything she’d known. It was that conversation that had finally spurred Madison to do what she’d been so afraid of up until senior year—leave Kalispell.
There was an entire world out there. Montana was only a tiny piece of it—a wonderful, glorious piece, but a piece nonetheless.
Disappointment clogged her throat as they reached the campsite, only to find it empty of anyone but their group. There would be no sharing the fire tonight or wonderful conversations. She was left with only her warring friends for company.
Which meant she had to do something to at least temporarily mend the bridges. Otherwise, they’d spend the remaining four days of their trip in hell, and she’d like to think that none of them wanted that.
“This is bullshit,” Ashleigh muttered.
Madison thought so, too, but she doubted it was for the same reason. She focused on getting her tent put up, all too aware that she’d have Ashleigh sharing it despite her friend having planned on sharing with Josh.
She glanced over to check the progress of the others. Ethan was gone, but she’d expected as much. He’d already set up Lauren’s tent, but he didn’t sleep in there unless the weather drove him to it, preferring the open sky above him. He’d been like that ever since she could remember. When they’d play in the woods behind the Conlon home, Ethan would lead them deeper than she’d have ever dared go by herself. The things he showed her always made it worth it—a brand-new nest of baby birds, a fox, once even a bear, though they’d stayed far away from that one.
He didn’t like the campgrounds or well-trodden trails that much. He’d disappear for long stretches during their hikes, exploring different parts of the park and meeting up with them around nightfall. She’d even come out here with him alone a couple of times. Ethan didn’t feel the need to fill up the silence, and she’d enjoyed being able to appreciate the park without having to divert her attention to her hiking partner.
And then there was Josh, who had disappeared while she was distracted, leaving only Ashleigh at the camp with her.
She sighed and rubbed her hand over her chest. She desperately didn’t want to hunt Josh down and risk him turning that anger on her, but there was no way Ashleigh would be the one to do it. Just as well, since after that fight she didn’t completely trust him not to do something they’d all regret. She’d never feared him before, but there was something like it wrapping around her chest, growing tighter with every heartbeat.
Silly. It’s just Josh.
“I’m going for a walk.”
Ashleigh snorted. “We just spent the entire day walking.”
And if I don’t do something to chill the hell out, I might scream. She didn’t say it. She couldn’t. Ashleigh might not always understand her, but she was her best friend. “Just for a few minutes. Lauren went to check out that huckleberry patch just south of here. I’ll check in on her.” A flimsy excuse as such things went, but she needed the break.
There were plenty of bears in the Fifty Mountain area, but they mostly left humans alone unless someone was stupid enough to leave food out—or they were startled. Lauren knew what she was doing, but Ashleigh couldn’t argue with her wanting to check on their friend. “I’ll be back soon.”
She escaped before Ashleigh could say anything else.
The quiet washed over Madison as soon as she slipped through the trees. She instinctively used the skills her father had taught her to move soundlessly through the forest. He’d been taking her hunting since she was a little girl, carrying her in one of those kid backpack things when she was too small to keep up. When she was older, there had been the lessons and gun-safety courses and, finally, their hunting trips. The last two years, they’d only gone on one annual trip instead of one for each hunting season, her job preventing her from taking too much time off.
She missed those trips—they were yet another thing that caused the guilt to drive home, no matter how often he told her that he supported the move.
A faint groan had her turning toward it cautiously. That didn’t sound like an animal. Madison went still, listening hard. There it was again, low and pained. She picked up her pace, still moving silently. If it was an animal, she didn’t want to scare it.
She peeked around a tree and froze, her mind frantically trying to come up with a reasonable explanation for the scene in front of her.
There wasn’t one.
Josh’s pants were around his thighs, his bare ass too pale from lack of sun, the muscles flexing with each thrust. Lauren had no pants on at all, her legs wrapped around his waist, her fingers gripping his shoulders tight enough to whiten her knuckles. She moaned, low and restrained—the sound Madison had heard.
They were . . .
But . . .
She must have made some sound, because Lauren’s eyes shot open, and her jaw dropped. She slapped Josh’s shoulder. “Let me down.”
“Almost . . .” He realized something was wrong and turned, going still when his blue gaze met Madison’s. “Mads, I can explain.”
There was only one explanation, and from the ease with which they touched each other, this wasn’t the first time this had happened. Madison shook her head, backing up. “How could you?”
“For fuck’s sake—”
“Josh, shut up.” Lauren slid out of his arms and held out a hand. “Please, Mads. Please don’t tell Ethan.”
Her stomach lurched. Had they been doing this since before Ashleigh had cheated? She shook her head again, the taste on her tongue bitter. The breeze changed, bringing with it the scent of sex, and it was everything she could do not to puke. “I can’t believe you—either of you.”
Josh opened his mouth, but Madison slashed her hand through the air. “I don’t even know you right now. Don’t you dare ask me to keep this secret. Just . . . don’t.” She turned and stomped away, wishing she could leave the memory behind as easily.
She’d known Josh and Ashleigh and Lauren the majority of her life. Before this trip, she would have bet everything she owned that none of them would ever cheat. And they all had.
And to do this to Ethan . . . He was the only innocent in the whole situation, and it made her sick to think that he had no idea that his twin was having sex with his girlfriend.
What other secrets did her friends have that she didn’t know about?
Madison moved faster until she was almost running. She didn’t want to know. It was better to remember them as she thought she knew them than to deal with the fact that she didn’t actually know them at all.
For the first time since she got her acceptance letter from SPU, she was actually looking forward to leaving Kalispell behind.
The faster I get out of here, the better.
Before I find out any other ugly truths about the people I care about.
Tuesday, June 20
8:12 a.m.
Vic barely looked at Maggie as they drove into Kalispell. He could feel her there, a grand total of twelve inches away, and it was everything he could do not to pull the car off onto one of the little side roads and give her what they both wanted. Her taste still clung to his lips, and it was driving him crazy.
Maggie, apparently, didn’t have the same issue. “I was thinking about the unsub—and the group of hikers. If this guy is really connected with those kids in some way, then we need to know more about them.”
That, at least, gave him something to focus on. He reached between the seats and grabbed the file he’d put together last night. “Here.”
“Two steps ahead of me. Of course.” She snorted and flipped through the file.
“You keep calling them kids. They’re, what, ten years younger than you? Not that much difference.”
She didn’t look up from the file. “I’m five years younger than you, and I distinctly remember you calling me ‘kid’ half a dozen times before I lost my shit when we were partners.”
“Point taken.” He let her read in peace. He hadn’t been lying yesterday when he said he valued her input. She’d been a great partner during the Drover case. Kids being hurt fucked with everyone, and getting so close to catching the killer time and time again, only to miss and have to wait for another victim . . . It had been one of the worst years of his life.
He couldn’t blame that solely on the case. There had been so much background shit going on with his marriage reaching the breaking point and his attraction to Maggie flaring into being.
Some nights he lay awake and wondered if his distraction with personal matters had been the reason Sean Drover slipped through their fingers repeatedly.
Ultimately, they’d caught the killer. Not soon enough for the victims’ families, but he wouldn’t hurt another little girl. The Drover case was one of those that seemed designed as a reminder that the BAU was not all-knowing, and sometimes they were outmatched despite the resources they had at their disposal.
He set it aside. It was harder to pack away his need for Maggie. Kissing her like that had been a mistake. It wasn’t her fault. The blame lay solely on Vic. He was the one who’d crossed the line last night and then stampeded over it again the first chance he got this morning.
She closed the file as they hit the city limits and tapped the folder against her knee. “They’re local, and they’ve been friends for years, and every single one of them has a background in hunting and fishing and basically every outdoor activity. Normally, I’d say that’s what you get when you have folk from Montana, but when you pair it up with this case, it’s suspicious, to say the least.”
“We found one of the girls—at least, allegedly. We’ll have to wait for Dr. Huxley to confirm, but I think it’s safe to say that it’s not the whole group killing these hikers.”
Maggie made a face. “Can you imagine? They’d be like a pack of wolves, herding their prey through their territory, amping up its fear until they put it out of its misery. I can’t imagine much more terrifying than that.”
He couldn’t, either. Fleeing from a single predator was nightmare enough. Being herded by a pack? He shook his head. “It’s one guy—or one woman. Everything in the profile points in the direction of a thrill-seeking hunter who’s upped his game to the most dangerous prey. Judging from the victims piling up in Glacier, I’d say we’re on his home turf, and this is what he’s been training for.”
“The normal course of escalation would be to jump to two people—which it looks like he did with the couple from Whitefish. But two are difficult enough to handle without them getting the upper hand. Even if they were the easiest victims in the world, jumping to five people is insane. This guy isn’t insane—not beyond the typical sociopathic tendencies.” She tapped the folder faster. “So why this group?”
“He’s got to have some kind of connection to them—a personal one.”
Maggie raised her eyebrows. “It reads a little cold for revenge. And isn’t that something like out of a horror movie? They bully this guy years ago in high school, and now he’s constructed this elaborate plan to make them pay. If that’s his motivation, wouldn’t it be easier to break into their houses and put a bullet in their brains?”
“This guy doesn’t want easy.” He pulled into the parking lot and shut off the engine. “Their being local opens up more possibilities than it removes. If it was a seasonal worker killing tourists, that would be easier to track than someone who has a personal vendetta but was just practicing until now.”
“There are only so many people in Kalispell.” She sighed. “But you’re right. We don’t have twenty thousand seasonal workers, so that at least would have shrunk the pool of suspects. Right now, we can’t even restrict it to someone who graduated when these kids did, because it could be literally anyone they met before they went their separate ways—or since, because the only two people who didn’t stay in town are Madison and Ashleigh. This sucks.”
“It does.” He finally had control of himself enough to turn and look at her. The full night of sleep had done her good. Maggie looked . . . brighter. It might be his desire for her coloring his perception, but Vic didn’t think so. “You ready for this?”
“The morgue doesn’t bother me the way it used to.” She climbed out of the car before he could pursue that topic of discussion. It drove home a point that had been hovering at the edge of his mind for the last couple of days.
He might have known Maggie seven years ago, but he didn’t know her anymore.
Which wasn’t to say that she was a stranger. She wasn’t. No matter how much they’d both changed in the last near-decade, he knew her on a level that he didn’t share with anyone else. It didn’t make a damn bit of sense, but times like this really brought that knowledge to the forefront.
They strode into the morgue together, and Maggie walked like she knew where they were headed. It made sense. She was on a first-name basis with Dr. Huxley—something that only came after quite a bit of time spent together.
“Kat?” Maggie knocked on the door as she opened it.
Dr. Huxley looked up from the body she’d been leaning over with a smile. “Maggie. I’d say it’s nice to see you, but it seems you have a problem of the worst sort out at the park.”
“You can say that again.” She walked into the room and motioned to Vic. “You’ve met Agent Sutherland?”
“He stopped by earlier.” The medical examiner gave a half-hearted smile. “It seems your killer hasn’t decided to change his ways.”
“It would seem so.”
Maggie moved to the body they’d found first. “Wyatt is dragging his heels about sending me back into the park right now, but if we end up with enough info, that might be right where we’re headed.” The comfortable way she spoke translated into a history between these two women. Vic wasn’t sure where it ended—if they just chatted when Maggie was in here for work or if they socialized—but it was obvious they were fond of each other.
Dr. Huxley gave her a look. “If I were you, I’d stay the hell out of that damn park.” She waved at the two bodies. “This guy’s on a spree. He’s not going to stop, is he? If he was, you wouldn’t be needing to go back.”
Vic shifted, drawing her attention to him. She flushed, instantly looking embarrassed. “Sorry, Agent Sutherland. As you might have noticed, things tend to be informal in Kalispell. We’re more small town than big city, especially when you work for government in any kind of official capacity.”
“It’s okay, Kat.” Maggie nudged him with her elbow as if telling him to tone it down. He thought he’d been pretty damn toned down, but everything about him was off right now. Part of it was the case, and part of it was the temptation Maggie offered just by standing there.
Get ahold of yourself.
Easier said than done. To distract himself, he moved to the woman’s body. “We thought it was a bear that got to her.”
“It was. Or at least the jaw measurements line up.” Dr. Huxley switched gears effortlessly, once again the unflappable woman he’d met the first time. “Mountain lions and bears have different teeth, and the way they go at prey is different.” She pressed her lips together, something like pity blossoming in her brown eyes. “She didn’t die from the arrows. She was weakened from blood loss and might have died of it, given enough time—or she might have made it to the ranger station.”
Even though he suddenly very much did not want to know the answer, Vic asked, “What was the cause of death?”
“Blood loss from a torn femoral artery.” The medical examiner pointed to the savaged legs and torso. “I don’t know if she was conscious for it. There aren’t any defensive wounds, and she didn’t curl into a ball or try to get away. From what I can tell, she just . . . lay there as the bear attacked.”
Maggie made a pained noise. “I hope to God she had passed out at that point.” She patted her hip like she’d forgotten she didn’t have her radio on her. “Shit. That means we have a bear to track in the midst of this cluster.”
“I’m sorry, Maggie.”
“It’s not your fault. It’s this damn hunter. Who knows if that bear would have hurt this girl if she wasn’t bleeding because she’d been shot twice by a sociopath?” She shook her head. “What else have you got?”
“We had to use dental records to identify her because of the damage done to her face and hands, and there not being conveniently placed tattoos.” Dr. Huxley moved to a file set on the counter, well out of range of anything she’d have done to the bodies. “Your partner, Agent Kendrick, sent over the information about who you think this girl was. I made some calls, and though we’ll have to go through official channels to confirm it, I happen to share a dentist with the woman.” She shuddered. “Though that’s a whole different type of eerie if I think too hard about it. He confirmed that what was left of her teeth could match Lauren Rosario’s records, but that doesn’t mean a whole lot since we don’t have a complete set. Without her prints on record, we’re left to a DNA test to be sure, and that will be weeks before we get a conclusive answer.”
“How likely is it that there were two girls matching the same physical description on that trail at the same time?” Maggie shook her head. “While it’s possible it’s not Lauren, realistically, that’s the only person it could be.”
Vic was inclined to agree. The most obvious answer usually was the truth. “We’ll know for sure once we compare the DNA to her parents.” There wasn’t much more to do before then. He nodded at the arrows on the tray next to the bodies. “Are the arrows the same as the first victim?”
“Yes. I did some checking on the brand.” She flushed. “I know that’s your job, but this whole situation bothers me. I know you hear this kind of thing on a regular basis, but this doesn’t happen here. We’re not exactly the smallest town ever, but we had one murder last year. One. And now I have three bodies in as many days, so you can understand why I’d like to do my part to make sure this monster is put behind bars.”
Maggie instantly went to her and took her gloved hand. “It’s okay, Kat. I understand. This case is hitting me a lot harder than I expected, too. You helped us by picking up a piece of work that we didn’t have to. What did you find?”
Vic let her handle the conversation because he didn’t think Dr. Huxley would take any comforting words he said to heart. He was used to his size and looks intimidating the people around him—especially women. Most of the time, he did his damnedest to tone down the factors that created an instinctive wariness, but it was still better for Maggie—someone the medical examiner knew and trusted—to tell her that she wasn’t in the wrong.
Truth be told, they could use every bit of help they could get.
Though, technically, he couldn’t remove Dr. Huxley—or anyone—from the suspect list, his instincts said she was so low on the list of possible unsubs that she might as well not be on the list at all. He’d still verify the information she passed on.
“They’re Bloodsport Evidence.” Dr. Huxley paled as she spoke, which was saying something, because the woman looked like she didn’t get much sun to begin with. “Obviously, that goes without saying, since the name is plastered on the arrow itself, but this particular arrow is expensive—almost one hundred dollars for a bundle—and it’s supposed to give extra penetration to the hit. While that makes sense when someone is hunting a deer or an elk, it seems a strange choice for hunting people.” She motioned to her body. “The average person has a whole lot less bulk than even a small deer. If this guy is close enough, he’d run the risk of shooting right through his victim.”
And yet he hadn’t appeared to do that—not with the victims in Glacier, and not with the two previous. Vic moved closer to the man on the slab and studied him. “You hunt, Dr. Huxley?”
“God, no.” She laughed nervously. “It might seem strange considering the work I do, but I can’t get over the idea of taking something’s life, even for food.”
“Kat’s a vegetarian.”
“I don’t eat meat, but my entire family lives in Kalispell and in the surrounding area, and nearly every single one of them hunts on a regular basis. We all got the safety training growing up and were forced along for at least one season of turkey hunting.” Dr. Huxley made a face. “Suffice to say if I hadn’t been planning on never eating meat again, picking out pellets from a turkey that my cousin had shot would be enough to make that decision for me.”
He could imagine. “What can you tell me about this guy?” He pointed to the other victim.
She blushed again. “I’m sorry. I’m prattling on like I’m Sherlock Holmes.” She gave herself a shake and moved to the other side of the slab. “This man has been dead longer than the others—approximately ninety-six hours. He was killed the same way the first woman was—two shots to the back, the first of which pierced his lung. He didn’t last long after that. The killer removed the arrows like he did with the other woman.”
Vic did some quick math in his head. “Ninety-six hours puts his death as the first.”
“Yes.” Dr. Huxley looked at the body. “There were something like twelve to eighteen hours between his death and the first victim.”
Further proof that his theory about the Haglunds was correct. Vic crossed his arms over his chest, thinking hard. Why two victims? That was the part that stuck out to him. If the unsub had been planning for the group of now-missing hikers, he only needed one body to scatter them. However he chose his victims, it shouldn’t have been too hard to pick a single person. Less challenging. Less chance of something going wrong before the main event.
Dr. Huxley continued, “The field dressing is postmortem, and some of the organs are missing, but from the evidence of tearing, it looks like scavengers rather than our guy.” She moved to the man’s face. Or what remained of it. “Birds got to his eyes, though—I’d say crows, but that’s just a guess.”
“Why did they go for the eyeballs and leave the rest?”
“You’ll never believe this.” She touched the side of the corpse’s face with a gloved hand. “Honey.”
Maggie made a choking sound. “He smeared honey on a dead body’s face knowing it would draw animals.”
“That’s new.” Vic stared at the body. “Jennifer Haglund was killed later, but he didn’t do that to her.”
“Maybe he was interrupted?” Maggie shook her head. “No, that’s not what happened. He plans things out too well—at least up until Lauren’s death. He leaves them at well-traveled places, knowing they’ll be found before scavengers can get to his handiwork. This guy wants an audience.”
“Jennifer Haglund was nearly identical to the second body.” Except for the fact that her death was completely unnecessary to his plans. That’s what bothered Vic the most. Every other death had been carefully planned, excepting the mistake with the bear and Lauren. “Bill Haglund’s death wasn’t, even though he was killed before his wife.”
Whitefish wasn’t that far from Kalispell. If they were right about the unsub being local, it was likely that he’d had interactions with all the Glacier victims at one point or another.
Bill Haglund had done something extra to earn the unsub’s ire.
“Think it’s symbolic?” Maggie had regained control of herself, and her face was set in a careful mask that said she was thinking fast and trying to keep her emotions from interfering. “An eye for an eye and all that?”
“Then why not take the eyes himself?” Dr. Huxley had her arms wrapped around herself. “This guy kills people. Why leave things to chance when he could prove that point and ensure it’s done right?”
A piece snapped into place in Vic’s head. “He doesn’t have the stomach for it.” When both women gave him an incredulous look, he held up his hands. “Bear with me. Yes, he’s hunting them, shoring up their fear and probably enjoying the hell out of being the biggest, baddest predator in the area, but if his arrows don’t hit something vital on the first go, he runs them into the ground. It would be easier to walk up to the injured person and slit their throat.”
“That’s what they do with a deer that’s down but not dead yet.” The medical examiner looked a little green. “It’s bloody and terrible, but ultimately a mercy.”
“Our guy doesn’t do that. He waits until they’re dead.”
“If he’s so squeamish, why bother with the field dressing at all?” Maggie snapped her fingers as soon as the last word was out of her mouth. “To put them in their place. The unsub is the ultimate predator, like you said, and so shooting them isn’t enough. He’s got to string them up and mark them as prey for everyone to see.”
“Be a lot different gutting a dead man than gutting a live one. There’s blood, for sure, but it’s just so much meat. Easier to forget the person was actually a person.”
“But if you want to make a point—say, taking the eyes of some poor bastard who pissed you off something fierce—that’s a little different.” Maggie moved to Vic’s side, staring down at the dead man. “Hands and face are the two main things that mark us as people—as human. Harder to mess with the face than it would be to take a knife to the belly.”
Dr. Huxley made a sound, drawing his attention. “What?”
She waved a hand at both of them. “I can tell that you were partners once upon a time. You’re nearly finishing each other’s sentences. It’s kind of crazy.”
“Jeez, Kat. Way to make me feel like a circus-sideshow freak.” Maggie laughed, but it fell flat in this room of cold metal and corpses. “Let us know if you find anything else?”
“Will do. And Maggie?” Dr. Huxley waited for her to turn back. “Be careful.”