Out Of Control (23 page)

A
hand tapped her shoulder, and she turned to see Cole standing beside her.

“Tina
Solize is the best there is at Search and Rescue, but we’re only surmising
Shannon’s…Shannon will be found here. We divided the county into five sectors,
but we’re starting here, closer to her home. This is where she was last seen.
There are a lot of hiding places so we’re hoping to get lucky. We’ve got air
support coming shortly. You say you’ve done this before?”

She
nodded. “I’ll help in any way I can.”

“Come
on then.”

When
Cole introduced her to Tina, the woman held out her hand. “I’ve read several of
your books, Miss Moretti, and I’ve talked with teams you worked with before. They
say you’re an excellent spotter.”

“Thank
you. I told Cole I’m here to do whatever I can. Where and how are we searching?”

“Okay.”
On the hood of Cole’s SUV, she smoothed out a large aerial map with a segment
marked off. “The bus left Shannon right there at the head of the road. The
driver says she started off toward home, and that’s the last anyone saw of her.
Cole and one of his deputies have gone up and down both sides of the road and
haven’t found a thing.”

Dana
studied the map. “Where was Leanne’s body found?”

“At
the park where the other kids were waiting for her to come back.” She pointed
with her finger. “Close enough so if her friends looked, they’d find her.”

“That’s
probably what he did here.” Dana said. “And having a helicopter will help
identify likely areas. I’ve learned there’s always a pattern. Each of the
serial killers I’ve written about had a special pattern for disposing of the
bodies. One guy always used pools, another flowerbeds. One had his own killing
ground on a piece of land he owned. Usually related to whatever the trigger was
from their past.”

Cole
frowned. “So…similar places?”

She
nodded. “Just like in the child killings. He wants his victims found without
too much trouble and makes it just enough of a challenge to prove how much
smarter than us he is. So. He’ll pick someplace close but not obvious. I’m
pretty sure we’ll find her somewhere in this area.”

“I
hope you aren’t still trying to connect the two cases,” Cole warned.

She
shrugged. “You have to at least consider the possibility.”

“Let’s
find Shannon first, before we go off on any tangents.”

“I
just don’t want you to write it off completely.”

Tina
snapped her phone shut and rejoined them. “The helicopter will be here in less
than five. I’ll have them overfly this area first. I marked out a five-mile radius
to start. No more. We can always widen it.” She looked at Cole.

“Good.”
He turned to Dana. “Don’t go anywhere. I still need you.”

“I’m
not leaving,” she assured him.

“Smart
lady,” she heard Tina say to Cole as she turned back to the topographical map. “Not
at all what I expected.”

“Me,
either,” Cole said, and Dana swallowed a tiny grin.

Dana
listened while Marty Ahern, the pilot, ran his finger over the five-mile area Cole
had outlined on the map.

“I’ll
take one wide pass,” he explained. “Then I’ll fly an X pattern. Corner to
corner. Tina, give your dogs a good sniff of something of the girl’s. Then take
them out to the corners of this space and work toward the middle. If she’s not
here, we’ll move to the next section. Your regulars know what to do. They can
instruct the others.” He turned to Cole. “Sound okay to you?”

“Yes.
Fine.” He looked at Tina. “Whatever you all think best. I just want to get
started. That’s still a lot of ground to cover on foot.”

“All
right, then.”

Dana
watched as Tina trudged back to her van and took out a paper bag just as the
handlers walked up with the dogs. All four animals were German shepherds, straining
at their leashes but tuned to the commands of their handlers.

“Listen
up, everyone.” Tina pulled a T-shirt from the bag. “We’ll let the dogs sniff
this then start at the corners and crisscross the area. Marty’s getting ready
to fly a pattern and see what he can spot from the air. Once the dogs are set,
everyone load up. Jerry?” She looked at one of the handlers. “Divide up the
group, okay? And head for the outer corners of this sector.” She handed each of
them a map.

“Where
do you want me?” she asked Cole as the four groups loaded up and took off.

“I
hope you don’t get air sick, because I’d like you to go up with the helicopter.”

Dana
swallowed hard. “I’m okay. Not my favorite ride, but I’ve done it plenty of
times before.”

“Here.”
Cole shoved a large envelope into her hands. “Take this up with you.”

Marty
helped her climb into the helicopter. “I’ve read some of your books. Happy to
have you aboard on this one.”

“Thanks.”

She
buckled in, hoping as always she didn’t disgrace herself by throwing up. Marty
handed her a set of headphones with a lip mic attached.

“You’ll
be able to talk to me this way,” he explained. “It gets pretty noisy up here.”

“Been
there, done that.” She gave him her best smile. “I’m ready.”

“So
I gather. All right, then. You know the drill. If you see anything you think is
a likely spot, tell me and I’ll go in lower.”

“Okay.”

As
the helo lifted off, Dana felt the familiar sensation of her stomach dropping.
She swallowed hard several times, and as Marty leveled off so did her insides.
Below, cars and trucks moved out to the corners of the sector and people climbing
out and falling in behind the dog handlers.

First,
they flew over the entire area Cole had marked out.

“I
do this to fix the landscape in my mind,” Marty said over the headsets. “Now I’ll
start the pattern.”

Dana
kept her eyes glued to the ground, watching for the kind of places she knew men
like this liked to leave their victims. In her hands, she gripped the photo from
the envelope Cole had given her. It was taken where Leanne was found and she
tried to spot something similar.

She
could see the four lines of searchers converging slowly from the distant
corners of the area, spreading out like an army of ants. The land was mostly
pasture, but trees lined one side of Hancock Road and in several places a heavy
copse of sycamore and oak broke up the landscape.

Marty
was starting the second leg of his pattern when something caught Dana’s eye.
Forgetting the comm system, she yelled his name.

The
pilot touched his ear. “You can speak normally with the headphones and I can
hear you.”

“Oh.
Sorry. Look.” She pointed to a dusty ribbon cutting in from a highway at the
edge of the sector. “See how that road goes into that thick stand of live oaks?
Right there? The really heavily forested one? Can you get any lower?”

“You
bet.”

He
swooped down, and Dana ignored her stomach and concentrated on the ground
below. It was hard to see through the trees, but she was sure she spotted
something that didn’t belong there.

“Can
you talk to Tina?” When he nodded, she pointed again. “Tell them to move the
searchers over to that area?”

“Will
do.” He picked up a satellite radio and held it so Dana could hear, too. “Tina,
come in. Come in, Solize leader.”

“I’m
here, Marty. Got something for us?”

“I
think so. Got a spot for you to check. I’ll mark it for you.” He hovered over
it, giving her the coordinates.

Immediately,
they saw the closest team begin to converge on the spot Dana indicated. Marty
continued to hover until the searchers reached it and entered the thick stand
of trees. It seemed like forever to Dana before the radio crackled again.

“Tell
the lady she’s got great eyesight and better instincts,” Tina said. “We found
her. And the dogs are going wild.”

“How
come?”

“Wait
until you see what this bastard did to kill her scent.” Even over the sat radio
Tina’s voice held barely contained fury.

“I’m
taking my passenger back to Cole,” Marty told her. “I’ll pick him up and bring
him to the site. Better radio him and tell him to call off all the other
searches.”

He
clicked off the radio and turned to Dana. “Hope you don’t mind, but we need to
keep the scene uncontaminated.”

“I’m
not so sure I want to see it, anyway,” Dana replied, nausea clutching at her.

****

Cole
hoped he wouldn’t embarrass himself by being sick. He’d seen some terrible
things in Afghanistan and Iraq, but the sight of Shannon’s body was enough to
turn anyone’s stomach. After the helicopter dropped him, he called Nita
Sanchez, keeping his back to what was left of Shannon Fowler until the county
van arrived.

“I’m
going to have to transport her before I can tell you anything,” she said, her
voice taut with rage. “I’ll need to clean her up to look for trace evidence and
I can’t do it here. If I ever get my hands on that bastard, I’ll gut him like a
wild animal.”

Shannon
was completely nude, lying in a position similar to Leanne’s. But probably
assuming dogs would be used to hunt for her, the killer had smeared her entire
body with honey. It was getting on toward summer, and the Texas heat made her a
ripe target for ants and other insects. At first, Cole thought her skin had a
black substance all over it, until he saw the black moving and realized what it
was.

“I
think a lot of people will be standing in that line,” he told the coroner. “Jesus.
I can’t believe this.”

“I
can’t even tell what other damage was done to her until I get rid of the bugs,”
Nita told him.

The
Crime Scene Unit photographed the scene from every angle. Then Shannon’s body
was loaded in Nita’s big Ford Expedition, and she bumped along the field to the
dirt road.

Cole
turned to Tina. “Thanks for all your help. Send me the bill, and I’ll beat up
the commission to get it paid.”

“I
wish it could have had a different ending.” She shook her head. “I can’t
believe another human being did something like that.”

“Whoever
he is, he isn’t human.” Cole tightened his lips. “When I get my hands on this
animal, he’ll wish he was never born.”

“Just
don’t get yourself in trouble, Cole,” she warned. “It isn’t worth it.”

“Yeah,
I know. All right, tell your people thanks for me. CSU will go to work here now
and see if they can get anything at all. I’m heading back to the office to handle
things from there.”

“Will
do.”

They
shook hands, and she trudged off to round up her crew.

Mickey
and Andi had stretched crime scene tape around the drop area and the CSU techs
were in the process of combing every inch for any stray bits of evidence. Anything
at all that could be useful.

“This
is probably a waste of time,” Cole told them. “He was meticulous about not
leaving any trace with Leanne so I don’t expect to find anything here. But it’s
got to be done.”

“No
problem,” Mickey said. “I’ll do whatever it takes to get this maniac.”

“Me,
too,” Andi echoed.

“All
right, then. Check in with me when you’re done.”

The
helicopter was long gone, so Gaylen had someone pick Cole up and bring him back
to his SUV. He climbed into it weary to his soul. He hoped someone had given
Dana a ride back to her car, and she’d gone home as he suggested. He was glad
she hadn’t seen the scene close up.

Cole
knew the media would be nipping at his heels for information. The deputies were
still keeping them out of the area, but he’d have to tell them sooner rather
than later. The Fowlers were at home with their pastor and friends form the
church, but Cole had no such insulation.

Shit.
Once the details got out, they’d have reporters converging from all over the
country. What a freakin’ mess.

And
Grace had radioed him that people were gathering at the office again. Word of
the body’s discovery had spread like wildfire, and the good citizens of Salado
County were after his hide.

Double
shit.

Well,
at least people’s attention had been turned away from Dana’s project. Now,
instead of being after her hide, they were after his.

He’d
already decided to call the FBI office in San Antonio first thing when he got
back. This had all the makings of a serial killer, and he needed to look for help
beyond the Texas Rangers.

Chapter
Twenty-Two

Dana
stopped on her way home from the sheriff’s office and vomited until her stomach
was empty. She’d heard two people from Solize discussing the condition of the
body. She knew the images in her mind would find their way into her nightmares.

Bastard!