was a tomboy.”
“You played sports,” he said, not surprised.
“Softball and I ran track and was on the swim team.” She rolled her shoulders. “My father once asked me if I wanted to try out for cheerleading and I said, ‘Why would I cheer for a bunch of boys when I could play my own sport and people could cheer for me?’”
In spite of the somber mood, Justin chuckled. He liked Amanda more and more every second.
Dangerous.
“Her father will be devastated,” she said lost in her thoughts.
He simply nodded, giving her a moment to assimilate her feelings.
Finally she gave him a determined look. “Cause of death?”
He tapped his foot. “Strangulation. Killer used a belt. No sexual assault.”
She sipped her coffee, mulling over that information. “So the killer is not driven by sex.”
“Or he’s impotent,” Justin offered. “Although it could also suggest that the killer is a female. Strangulation is a common choice for murder with females. It also usually implies that the kill was personal.”
Amanda jerked her head up. “Then again, we don’t know if Kelly’s disappearance is related to Tina’s yet. They attended the same school but the first girls who disappeared did so as teens. Kelly is in her twenties.”
Justin nodded. But there were too many disappearances for them not to be connected.
They just hadn’t found the connection yet.
“We need more information,” Justin said. “Who investigated Tina’s disappearance?”
“The former sheriff, Lager. But I inherited the files.” She rose, reached for a whiteboard on a swivel stand and turned it to face him. His eyebrows shot up. She had methodically listed each disappearance over the past nine years in chronological order along with details of the individual cases.
A map also showed highlighted markings. “The green indicates where the girls lived, the red is where they disappeared from or were last seen.”
He studied the map, searching for a commonality. “The first two victims were Melanie Hoit and Avery Portland. Both grew up in Sunset Mesa although Melanie moved to Amarillo after graduation and was last seen at a shopping mall. Tina lived in Sunset Mesa at one time, as well.”
He checked the map for Carly Edgewater and Denise Newman. “What about Carly and Denise? They went missing from neighboring counties. Did they ever live in Sunset Mesa?”
Amanda flipped through the file on her desk. “Hmm, Carly did when she was younger. She and her parents moved to Austin when she was fourteen.”
“And Denise?”
She skimmed another file, her mouth thinning into a frown when she looked up. “Actually she lived here for a couple of years when she was fifteen. When her parents split, her father took her to a small town east of here.”
She tapped the folders. “If all the girls lived here at one time, then Sunset Mesa is the connection.”
“It looks that way.”
“But why? What about this town triggered the unsub to kill?”
Justin remembered the rest of his conversation with the ME. “Dr. Sagebrush found a high school class ring in Tina’s hand.”
“So you think—”
“That whoever is taking or hurting these young women targeted your residents, specifically ones who attended Canyon High.”
Except that Carly and Denise hadn’t.
What the hell was going on?
* * *
J USTIN ’ S WORDS REVERBERATED over and over in Amanda’s head. “You’re right, but at least two of the victims didn’t go to the high school.”
“They must have crossed paths with the perpetrator when they lived in the town though, enough for the killer to track them down.”
She’d looked at each victims’ past boyfriends, girlfriends and family problems, even issues at a job where the women could have made enemies, but found nothing to link them.
Still, she couldn’t deny the truth—they had a serial kidnapper/killer in Sunset Mesa.
Were all the victims dead?
Whoever it was could be holding some of them hostage. But why? If
“You played sports,” he said, not surprised.
“Softball and I ran track and was on the swim team.” She rolled her shoulders. “My father once asked me if I wanted to try out for cheerleading and I said, ‘Why would I cheer for a bunch of boys when I could play my own sport and people could cheer for me?’”
In spite of the somber mood, Justin chuckled. He liked Amanda more and more every second.
Dangerous.
“Her father will be devastated,” she said lost in her thoughts.
He simply nodded, giving her a moment to assimilate her feelings.
Finally she gave him a determined look. “Cause of death?”
He tapped his foot. “Strangulation. Killer used a belt. No sexual assault.”
She sipped her coffee, mulling over that information. “So the killer is not driven by sex.”
“Or he’s impotent,” Justin offered. “Although it could also suggest that the killer is a female. Strangulation is a common choice for murder with females. It also usually implies that the kill was personal.”
Amanda jerked her head up. “Then again, we don’t know if Kelly’s disappearance is related to Tina’s yet. They attended the same school but the first girls who disappeared did so as teens. Kelly is in her twenties.”
Justin nodded. But there were too many disappearances for them not to be connected.
They just hadn’t found the connection yet.
“We need more information,” Justin said. “Who investigated Tina’s disappearance?”
“The former sheriff, Lager. But I inherited the files.” She rose, reached for a whiteboard on a swivel stand and turned it to face him. His eyebrows shot up. She had methodically listed each disappearance over the past nine years in chronological order along with details of the individual cases.
A map also showed highlighted markings. “The green indicates where the girls lived, the red is where they disappeared from or were last seen.”
He studied the map, searching for a commonality. “The first two victims were Melanie Hoit and Avery Portland. Both grew up in Sunset Mesa although Melanie moved to Amarillo after graduation and was last seen at a shopping mall. Tina lived in Sunset Mesa at one time, as well.”
He checked the map for Carly Edgewater and Denise Newman. “What about Carly and Denise? They went missing from neighboring counties. Did they ever live in Sunset Mesa?”
Amanda flipped through the file on her desk. “Hmm, Carly did when she was younger. She and her parents moved to Austin when she was fourteen.”
“And Denise?”
She skimmed another file, her mouth thinning into a frown when she looked up. “Actually she lived here for a couple of years when she was fifteen. When her parents split, her father took her to a small town east of here.”
She tapped the folders. “If all the girls lived here at one time, then Sunset Mesa is the connection.”
“It looks that way.”
“But why? What about this town triggered the unsub to kill?”
Justin remembered the rest of his conversation with the ME. “Dr. Sagebrush found a high school class ring in Tina’s hand.”
“So you think—”
“That whoever is taking or hurting these young women targeted your residents, specifically ones who attended Canyon High.”
Except that Carly and Denise hadn’t.
What the hell was going on?
* * *
J USTIN ’ S WORDS REVERBERATED over and over in Amanda’s head. “You’re right, but at least two of the victims didn’t go to the high school.”
“They must have crossed paths with the perpetrator when they lived in the town though, enough for the killer to track them down.”
She’d looked at each victims’ past boyfriends, girlfriends and family problems, even issues at a job where the women could have made enemies, but found nothing to link them.
Still, she couldn’t deny the truth—they had a serial kidnapper/killer in Sunset Mesa.
Were all the victims dead?
Whoever it was could be holding some of them hostage. But why? If
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