Under the Moon's Shadow (11 page)

The men walked over to look at the package. When he read the note, Marshall whistled.

“
How many men have you worn this for?
” he read aloud. “
You're nothing but a common whore. Only a whore would wear this trash. Are you a whore, Beth?
”

“My God. Any idea where this came from?” Sampson asked.

“Yes. It’s mine. It’s part of the clothing that’s missing from my apartment.” They all turned as the door opened and Ethan came in. He pulled off his sunglasses and tucked them into his suit pocket, moving to the counter. “Is this it?”

“Yes.”

Marshall stood back so that Ethan could inspect the package. Setting the toolbox he carried on the counter, he looked over the contents. As he opened the evidence kit, Vanessa hung up the phone and caught Beth’s eye. She shook her head, and Beth knew that whatever she had found out wasn’t good news. She held up a finger and Vanessa nodded, keeping her silence.

“Anybody touch the contents?” Ethan asked tersely, meeting Beth’s gaze.

“None of us. I used scissors, that pencil, and a pair of tweezers.”

“Good.” They watched as he pulled on a pair of latex gloves and carefully lifted the slip out of the box. Beth and Vanessa gasped as Ethan held it up, exposing the slashes and cuts in the material. With his jaw clenched, he carefully laid it back down in the box and read the note.

“Where was this?”

“It was folded on top,” Beth said as he placed the note back in the box and closed the lid. He pulled a large evidence bag out of his kit and placed the box inside, along with the packaging it had been wrapped in. Carefully sealing the bag, he noted the sender’s name and address.

“Have you called Harbison yet to find out who sent it?”

Vanessa spoke. “I talked to Maisie, their office manager. She said that they have no idea who would have sent it, but it didn’t come from inside their office. That’s the courier service they use, but no one over there sent the package.”

Ethan nodded, not seeming surprised. “I presume that was yours?” he asked Beth, referring to the slip.

“It was. It was part of what was taken Saturday night. Have you gotten any leads on who might be responsible?”

He shook his head as he drew the gloves off, not directly answering her question, a fact that didn’t escape Beth’s notice. He pulled out his clipboard, retrieved a blank incident report from inside, and started to fill it out.

“Has anything else happened that was unusual the last few days or weeks?”

She rubbed her forehead with her hand. “No, I can’t think of anything. We’ve had a few complaints about one of the stories we ran, but I told you about that the other night.” She looked to Marshall, who agreed.

“There haven’t been any complaints other than the ones coming from the mayor’s office, Ethan. It’s been relatively quiet, what with people being on vacation and getting back to school.”

“So absolutely nothing unusual? Nothing that stood out as odd, even if it wasn’t necessarily menacing?”

Beth started to tell him “no,” but stopped. She frowned and answered slowly. “There was one thing. I got a bouquet of flowers, of red roses, a few days before the wedding. The card wasn’t signed, and Annie didn’t know where the order came from. It was an online thing, and the sender didn’t leave a message. I’d forgotten about it until now.”

Ethan raised an eyebrow. “How many roses are we talking?”

“It was a large arrangement, maybe two dozen? It cost whoever sent it a pretty penny.”

Sampson moved over and slid his arm around her shoulders, squeezing gently. “Are you getting so many bouquets these days that something like that doesn’t stand out?”

“It isn’t really all that uncommon, Poppy.”  An embarrassed flush climbed into her cheeks. “There are quite a few readers out there who follow what I write, and I get gifts like bouquets, stuffed animals, that sort of thing, on a fairly regular basis. I have one lady who knits something for me for every season. The roses were unusual, but they didn’t really stand out.”

“You said they were red roses?” Ethan asked, scowling a little. When she nodded, he eyed her with a frown. “You sure they weren’t from a boyfriend?”

She narrowed her eyes at his tone. “Well, let me get out my little black book, and I’ll start calling all of them, and we’ll see.”

“Now, children, calm down,” Marshall said. “That sort of sniping won’t get us anywhere.”

Beth had to force herself to not snap back. “I’m not seeing anyone right now. You know that. Not seriously enough to justify those flowers, anyhow.”

“What about Dr. Ormsby?” Vanessa asked. “He seemed pretty serious about courting you.”

“There is him.” She grimaced, hedging, then outlined the relationship for the others, including their exchange the day before.

“How did he take your rejection?” Ethan asked.

She shrugged. “Not well, really. He said some nasty things about my ‘type’ of man and let me know that he wouldn’t hold that against me, if I changed my mind about dating him.”

“You’ll interview him, right?” Marshall asked Ethan, who nodded and slipped the incident report into the clipboard’s storage compartment. He closed the evidence kit and picked up the package.

“I’ll take this back to the department and get the lab started on processing it,” he told them. His gaze rested on Beth. “Make sure you let either Jason or me know if anything else happens. Even if it seems insignificant, okay?”

Her voice was subdued when she answered. “I will. So have you turned up anything? Jason said you’d be looking at the registered sex offenders.”

“We’ve found nothing. We’ve talked to a few people, but everyone seems pretty clean, relatively speaking. We’ll let you know as soon as something turns up.”

Marshall nodded and clapped Ethan on the shoulder as he turned and headed back into the newsroom. “I’ve got to head back upstairs. Beth, come see me later, okay?” Sampson also excused himself after making the same request.

As the men went into the newsroom, Ethan looked at Beth. “Walk me out?” He held the door for her, gesturing toward his car, and they walked in that direction. She watched as he unlocked the unmarked car and sat the evidence kit and package inside. Closing the door, he leaned up against the car and studied her.

“How come you’re not interested in the doctor? I figured someone like that would be your ideal mate.”

The words set flame to Beth’s temper. “Just what criteria are you using to base that assumption on exactly? I can’t wait to hear what you think my ‘ideal mate’ is.”

His jaw tightened at her words, and she watched a nerve pulse in his cheek. “Well, let’s see - he’s successful, something of a pretty boy, but handsome enough, I suppose. He fits in with your crowd, is upwardly mobile - what more could a girl like you possibly want?”

She took a deep breath in an attempt to calm down. It didn’t work. “Did you or did you not work the Charity Vaughn murder?” She lowered her voice as she stepped toe-to-toe with Ethan and jabbed her finger into his chest, causing him to wince. “Don’t answer that - I know you did, and I’m sure you saw the sex tapes, too.” His own gaze narrowed at that, but before he could interrupt, she continued, ticking the items off on her fingers.

“Let’s take your little list item by item, then, since you apparently know me better than I know myself. Yes, he’s successful. He’s also a doctor, and they tend to have God complexes. Handsome - yes on that score, as well. Problem with guys like that, guys like
you
? You know just how handsome you are, and you’re so used to getting your way because of it, you think you can do no wrong. I’d take an honest, average-looking man any day of the week over someone with an ego as bloated as Chad Ormsby’s. Fits in with my crowd? What the hell is that supposed to mean? My
crowd
. If you mean my family, well, think again. My parents and brothers can’t stand him, neither can most of my friends. If you mean the rest of my family, my dad’s folks? Yeah, they probably love Dr. Chad because he’s one of their kind, and that’s not a compliment. The only point I’ll give you is upwardly mobile - I don’t want a man I have to support, so that one isn’t completely wrong.” She snorted as she walked a few steps away, hands on hips. “Why in God’s name would I want to be involved with a man who cannot possibly even engender the concept of love? Do you honestly think that’s who I am, Ethan? I thought we’d settled this last week. Apparently, you can’t let go of your ‘misperceptions.’ ”

Looking away, he thrust his hands into his pockets. “Apparently not. Where’d you hear about the sex tapes?”

“Does it really matter?” Beth asked after a minute, surprised he wasn’t going to continue the argument. “Someone who didn’t want to see me get hurt told me about them, and no, I’m not telling you who it was, so don’t bother asking.” She sighed, suddenly weary. “Are you finished with me here? I have to get back to work.” Ethan nodded, and she turned to walk away.

“Beth.” She hesitated before she turned toward him, a wary look on her face. “Watch your back? I don’t like this.”

She nodded grudgingly in acknowledgment and turned. As she went back into the building, she rubbed at her chest where a pang of disappointment burned. It was a physical hurt, Ethan’s attitude, and after the two nights they’d shared when he’d opened up a little to her, it was just that much more painful to have to take.

~ * * * ~

Ethan stood against the car, watching as she walked away. With a groan, he rubbed his hands over his face and pushed away from the car. Going around to the driver’s side, he got in, his mind going back to how pale her face had been when he had first walked into the newspaper.

For so long, he had fought his feelings for Beth, and now, seeing her suffering, the urge to go to her was even stronger. It made him angry to know he didn’t have the right to do that, and once again, he had lost his temper and lashed out, attacking her and driving her further away. Since she’d kicked him out, he’d spent the nights alone with a bottle of whiskey, trying to put her hurt and vulnerability out of his mind.

He allowed himself a moment to briefly consider what would happen if he were to ask Beth out, but he quickly rejected the idea. With a snort of derision, he asked himself if he had forgotten all the painful lessons he had learned over the years. Most of those lessons had been vicious, and though the scars were hidden inside where no one could see them, they were still there. Beth Hudson wasn’t for him, and one of these days, Ethan was going to convince his heart to accept that fact.

Chapter Fourteen

 The roar of the wood chipper was loud in the forest that surrounded the large sinkhole. Illuminated by the lights the killer had set up, the murky water churned wildly inside the natural depression. Recent rains had brought the level of the water up to just three feet below the sinkhole’s lip, instead of the normal eight or so feet. The fast-running underground river would take care of any debris or large particles the chipper didn’t break down.

As he fed the subject’s limbs through the hungry machine, he thought about tonight’s hunt. The chase hadn’t gone as well as he had hoped. The man tired long before the killer was ready to call an end to things. The latest version of his formula wasn’t working quite the way it should, and he was anxious to get back to the lab, to run tests on the tissue samples he had collected. He forced himself to slow down, however. Rushing through cleanup increased the risk of leaving evidence behind, and he couldn’t have that.

Impatient, he waited as the last body part cleared the chute on the other side. Without stopping the chipper, he went to the small lean-to which sat on the side of the sinkhole. Turning on the generator, he powered up the pump that provided water pressure for the fifty-gallon drums of cleaning solution stored there. He dragged the water hose to the chipper and started hosing it down. The odor of bleach reached him even through the respirator he wore, and he swallowed. He hated the smell, but knew it was necessary if he wanted to destroy the evidence.

After finishing the cleanup on the chipper, he turned to his van. Threading the water hose between the front seats, he carefully hosed the cargo area out with the bleach and water solution. When it was cleansed to his satisfaction, he switched the hose to plain water and rinsed the floorboards three times to get rid of the stench of chlorine. 

It was nearing sunrise, and the eastern sky was starting to lighten. With the generator shut down, he stored all his tools in the lean-to and pulled the van forward, reattaching the wood chipper to the hitch. As he drove out of the ravine, he stopped and looked around carefully to make sure there was no one watching. Satisfied that he was alone, he pulled out and drove the three miles to his house, pulling the vehicle into the barn.

With the cooler that held the tissue samples in hand, he hurried to his lab and set up the first tests, then carefully stored the remaining tissues in the lab’s small refrigerator. That done, he returned to the van and stripped down to his bare skin. Piling his clothes in the bag that held the test subject’s belongings, he padded barefoot and naked to the small incinerator that sat just behind the barn. He shoved the bag in, fired up the flame, and watched as the evidence burned away.

Satisfied that it had been destroyed, he jumped into the shower. He had installed it in an empty stall next to the lab specifically for nights like these, not wanting to take the chance of any trace evidence ending up inside his house. Though he knew there were minute fibers and particles that could tag along, the chances of anyone finding them after all his precautions were remote. He turned the water off and toweled himself dry before making one last trip to the incinerator to dispose of the towel.

After turning out all the lights in the barn, he walked to the house and let himself in, unconcerned by his nudity. The nearest neighbor was a mile down the road, and there was no one around to see him. He grabbed a beer out of the refrigerator and checked the clock as he opened the bottle. There were still a couple of hours before the tests would be complete, and the computer would run them without any human interference. He decided to try and get a little sleep and, once in his bedroom, he collapsed onto the bed with a sigh. He wasn’t scheduled to work that day, and intended to take full advantage of the fact. As he drifted off to sleep, the images from his previous hunts flitted through his mind, and he smiled.