Cold Case at Carlton's Canyon (9 page)

“A class ring from Canyon High was found in Tina’s hand, Mr. Reisling. Added to the fact that all the girls lived in the town at one time and that the majority of the victims attended the local high school, we believe the abductor/killer is from this area. That he has some personal beef with these young women.”

Reisling shook his head, his right eye twitching. “I still don’t get why you’re here.”

“Because we know what happened to your son,” Justin said flatly. “How unfair it was that he was permanently paralyzed and persecuted for driving under the influence when the girl that was with him escaped and then dropped him.”

“Good God, that happened ages ago,” Mr. Reisling said, his face reddening with anger. “And yes, I was bitter, sometimes still am bitter, because that little tramp lied and hurt my son. But—” he stepped closer to Amanda, eyes flaring “—my son forgave her and managed to make something of himself. So I’m incredibly proud of him.”

“That doesn’t mean you didn’t harbor hatred for all the girls who turned him down for dates after the accident.” Justin matched the man’s intimidating stance.

If the guy laid a finger on Amanda, he’d deck him.

“Maybe I did hate them,” Reisling said, his lips curled into a snarl. “But that doesn’t mean I’ve been kidnapping or killing them! I’m a businessman and well respected in this town.” He jerked his thumb toward the door. “Now, unless you’re here to arrest me, get the hell out of here. And leave my son alone. He’s suffered enough.”

Amanda’s phone buzzed, cutting into the tension, and she snatched it up and headed to the door.

Justin clenched his jaw. Reisling was the kind of man who used his power and money to get what he wanted. The man might not be guilty, but Justin didn’t like him. Reisling was smart, calculating and, he suspected, vindictive.

If he was methodical in his business, he was probably also meticulous, organized and patient—patient enough to wait ten years to build toward his endgame.

* * *

A
MANDA
GLANCED
AT
the caller ID on the phone, surprised to see the number for Canyon High. Was this call about the reunion? Maybe the staff had heard about the discovery of Tina’s body and decided they should postpone it.

“Who is it?” Justin asked.

“The school.” She punched Connect. “Sheriff Blair.”

“Sheriff, it’s Principal Blakely at the high school. You need to get out here.”

Amanda gripped the phone tighter. “What’s wrong?” Not a school shooting. God, there were too many of those....

“This morning when our track team met at the track, they found a body on the bleachers in the stadium.”

Amanda’s legs threatened to buckle. “Who is it?”

“Kelly Lambert. She was murdered, Sheriff. Murdered and left here for the kids to find.”

Chapter Eleven

Amanda staggered toward the car. “Lock the school down, Principal Blakely.”

“It’s on lockdown and we’ve confiscated cell phones, but I can’t say for sure that one of the students hasn’t already texted or sent this out. There may be photos already on the internet.”

Oh, God...

“We have to contain the situation,” Amanda said. “Keep everyone away from the field. I’m on my way.”

Her vision blurred with the mind-boggling implications of the phone call. “We need a CSI team at the school along with extra officers,” she told Justin as he met her at the car.

“What’s wrong?”

“Kelly Lambert’s body was found on the high school bleachers in the football stadium.”

Which meant everyone in the entire school needed to be questioned. And that whoever had killed her was ready to make a bolder statement... and to make that statement in a public way.

* * *

A
MANDA
’
S
FACE
PALED
as she disconnected, and Justin couldn’t help himself. He reached out and steadied her with his hands.

“Amanda?”

“I have to see her family before word gets out about this. If it hasn’t already.”

“With teens and their cell phones, it probably is out,” Justin said in disgust. “People have no respect for privacy anymore. The more morbid or shocking the better.”

Amanda visibly shook herself as if to pull herself together. “We need to go.”

“I’ll call for backup and for a crime scene team,” Justin said. “Hell, we’ll need a whole crew to question all the students.”

Her phone was beeping again and she checked it. “Dammit, it’s Mr. Lambert.”

“He knows.” They jumped into the car, and Justin started the engine and headed toward the school.

“Sheriff Blair, Mr. Lambert—” A pause and Amanda massaged her temple with her fingertips. “I just heard, Mr. Lambert. I’m so sorry that you found out through a text.”

Justin punched in his chief and explained the situation, and he agreed to send teams to help canvass the students. Phones would have to be kept, photographs of the victim and crime scene analyzed.

Had someone touched the body? Changed anything?

All details that would affect the investigation.

They could only hope a witness had seen the killer leaving the body...

No, the drop-off had probably been done during the night when the place was empty.

But...if the perp was getting daring enough to leave a dead victim at a public place, maybe he’d gotten sloppy and they’d find some evidence this time.

He glanced back at Reisling’s business and wondered if the rich cocky jerk had been at the high school last night dumping Kelly’s body.

Was Reisling cool enough to fake his calm when they’d arrived at his office?

“No, sir, you cannot come to the school,” Amanda said. “The school is being locked down, Mr. Lambert. Police and Texas Rangers will be all over the place. I promise you I’ll let you know as soon as we move her body so you can see her.”

Justin heard the man’s sobs as he ended the call. Traffic was picking up with morning commuters, but Justin flipped on his siren and careened around cars and trucks, knowing every minute counted.

This case was about to blow up in their faces. The crime scene was probably already contaminated six ways till Sunday. And now the suspect pool would only mount.

Not to mention the press...

He saw the first media van roll up just as he and Amanda did. He wished he’d had that coffee Donald Reisling had offered.

It was going to be a helluva long day.

Worse, the unsub would probably be watching the circus and gloating, adding up his body count and choosing his next victim.

* * *

A
MANDA
AND
J
USTIN
met the school’s security guard for the school at the front door and were immediately escorted out to the football stadium where the principal and football coach were keeping watch. The students who’d found the body had been sequestered in the gym with the track coach while all other students had been retained in their homerooms.

Principal Blakely looked haggard as he greeted them at the entrance to the stadium and led them over to Kelly’s body where it had been staged on the bleachers at the fifty-yard line.

Emotions caught in Amanda’s throat when she saw the young woman’s matted hair, ashen skin and eyes glazed with the shock of death. Amanda snapped on latex gloves and handed Justin a pair, and he did the same.

“Who found her?” Justin asked.

“Coach Turner came out here with the track team. The team captain, Naomi Carter, spotted her first. She screamed and everyone else came running.”

Amanda winced. “Did the students touch anything?”

“I don’t think so,” the principal said. “Coach said he shouted at them to stay back. Some of the kids are pretty shaken up.”

“Get the counselors with them right away.”

“Already done.” Blakely shook his head sadly. “I don’t understand why a killer would leave her at school.”

“To send a message,” Justin said.

“There’s a string of young women who’ve gone missing the past ten years from this area,” Amanda filled in. “We think their disappearances are related to a former student from Canyon High.”

Amanda stooped down to examine Kelly’s neck and saw the telltale markings indicating strangulation. Wide marks reddened her throat, marks that looked as if they’d been made by a belt.

“Do these look like the marks on Tina’s throat?” she asked.

Justin stooped down to examine them. “Yes. Looks like the same belt was used.”

She snapped several photographs with her camera phone while Justin focused on the surrounding area, the bleachers beside the body and the ground beneath her.

Kelly’s skirt and blouse were wrinkled, one sleeve torn, but at least her clothing was intact, and she saw no evidence of sexual assault. The ME would have to confirm that though.

“Did you check her hand?” Justin asked.

A bevy of voices sounded behind them, and Amanda realized the ME and backup officers had arrived.

“Get the officers set up to interview the students,” Justin told the principal. “We’ll need all their phones to look at pictures and contacts they’ve had since then.”

“You think one of them killed her?” Blakely asked.

“No,” Amanda answered. “But they may have caught some important detail on their cameras that could help us.”

The principal headed over to meet the county police and ME and to do as they asked.

Amanda glanced at Kelly’s hands. Her left hand was splayed open, her nails jagged as if she’d fought for her life. Hope budded. If she’d fought with her attacker, maybe they’d find the suspect’s DNA beneath her fingernails.

Gently, she stroked Kelly’s right hand, the one folded up. It was stiff, rigor having set in. “I’m so sorry, Kelly. I wish I’d found you before this happened. But I promise you, I’ll catch whoever did this and make them pay.”

She uncurled Kelly’s fingers, her suspicions confirmed. A class ring was clutched in her palm.

“Same MO,” Justin said.

Amanda snapped a picture of it, then lifted the ring, knowing immediately it wasn’t Kelly’s but had belonged to a boy.

She turned it over and peered at the inside of the band for the engraving. TS. This was Terry’s ring.

How had the killer gotten it? And why put it in Kelly’s hand?

Had Terry done so as a message that Kelly had always been his?

She bagged it for evidence, hoping they would get something useful from it.

The crime scene team approached, Lieutenant Gibbons in charge. “What did you find?”

Amanda showed him the ring. “A class ring was found in Tina Grimes’s hand that had DNA from a previous missing victim. This ring belonged to Terry Sumter, Kelly Lambert’s former boyfriend.”

“Did she keep it all these years, or did someone plant it in her hand to turn suspicion toward Terry?” Justin said, speculating aloud.

A ruckus sounded near the fence to the stadium, and Amanda saw a media frenzy pushing at the gate, cameras flashing as reporters volleyed for footage.

The sound of more cars roaring up rumbled from the parking lot, then more shouts and voices.

Principal Blakely strode toward them, visibly upset. “Good grief. The word spread and parents are starting to storm the school.”

“Get officers out there to control the crowd,” Amanda said. The crime scene techs went to work examining the bleachers and football field while Dr. Sagebrush approached the body.

The ME looked reverent as he knelt beside Kelly. “So sad to see someone in their prime taken this way.”

And so needless, Amanda thought. But she bit back the words. Her emotions were teetering close to the surface.

So she stepped aside to let him do his work while she phoned her deputy. She quickly explained what had happened and asked him to bring Sumter to the sheriff’s office for questioning.

Suddenly, shouts erupted and she looked up to see Mr. Lambert scaling the fence and running toward them.

“Oh, my God,” Amanda whispered.

A deputy was trying to catch him, but Amanda threw up a hand to warn him that it was okay. Not that it really was okay, but the last thing she wanted was the officer pulling a gun on the victim’s father and the situation spiraling out of control.

“I’ve got it,” she told the officer.

She rushed toward Mr. Lambert, blocking his view. “Mr. Lambert, I told you to wait and I’d call you.”

“I have to see her,” he cried. “It’s my little girl....”

“I know, and I’m so sorry,” Amanda said softly.

She pulled him into a hug and let him sob on her shoulder, her own chest aching with grief and guilt.

* * *

J
USTIN
DIDN
’
T
DO
emotional scenes and had to admit that Amanda was handling it well. Although he noticed the slight shiver in her body. The man’s outburst was definitely weighing on her.

Sympathy for her registered. She knew the victim personally and felt responsible because she was the local sheriff. Everyone was looking up to her, counting on her.

She probably viewed today as a failure.

But she’d inherited this mess and he’d make sure she knew it wasn’t her fault.

She coaxed Lambert back near the gate, and Justin watched as the ME examined the body.

“The MO consistent with Tina?” Justin asked.

“Belt marks look the same width.” The doctor peered at him over the rim of his glasses. “But your killer didn’t keep Kelly long.”

“He’s escalating, wants to show off, taunt us with the fact that he hasn’t gotten caught and that he’ll keep killing until we stop him.”

Shouts near the gate made him jerk his head up, and he saw Lambert still arguing with Amanda, so he strode toward them. Someone had to defuse the situation. The media were taking pictures left and right.

“Mr. Lambert, I’m really sorry for your loss,” Justin said as he coaxed him beneath the awning of the snack stand. “But right now you need to go home. Call a friend or family member to stay with you. Someone who can offer you comfort while we investigate.”

Lambert’s anguished look turned to anger that he directed toward Amanda. “You said you’d find her. I came to you for help and look what happened.”

Amanda’s hurt look tore at Justin. He understood about grief and anger, but Amanda didn’t deserve this.

“Mr. Lambert,” he said, his voice turning to steel. “Sheriff Blair did everything in her power to find your daughter, but Kelly’s disappearance is related to a string of missing-persons cases that has spanned a decade. She has already made more strides in this investigation than your former sheriff.”

Amanda gently took Mr. Lambert’s arm. “Please go home, Mr. Lambert. I swear that I’ll find the person who did this and lock him up.”

She gestured toward the officer who’d been chasing Lambert earlier, and he escorted Lambert toward the exit. Justin saw the feeding frenzy of reporters and parents converging and silently cursed.

But another deputy stepped up to intervene and push them back so he headed over to the principal, who was talking with one of the crime techs.

“Excuse me, Mr. Blakely,” Justin said. “Are there security cameras outside the school?”

The principal nodded, although his mouth thinned into a grim line. “We have a few, but not as many as we should, and I think a couple are broken.”

Unbelievable with all the school shootings these days. “I want to look at all the feed of the parking lot and area by the stadium for the last twenty-four hours.”

Justin gestured toward the crowd in the parking lot. “It’s possible that our killer is in that crowd right now watching the commotion. He’ll get off on our reactions and the drama.”

Because he enjoyed inflicting pain and suffering on the town.

* * *

T
HE
VIDEO
FEED
was all set up so Suzy Turner could watch the commotion. The reporters running to the school for the story. The students in upheaval.

The parents worried and racing to protect their spoiled offspring from the ugliness of the world.

Except they were hypocrites.

Those same parents allowed their teenagers to bully others. To taunt the weaker and berate the less intelligent and to shun the less attractive as if they were lepers.

Suzy Turner was one of them.

When the cameras finally showed Kelly Lambert’s dead body sprawled on the bleachers, Suzy would know what her future held.

Not parties and bragging about her looks and money to her classmates.

Oh, she thought she was popular and that everyone loved her.

But they were a fickle lot. They’d quickly forget her just like they’d forgotten the others.