Experiment in Terror (Koehler Brothers Book 1) by Alene Anderson Page A

would keep another university student from being attacked. The night passed slowly and he was grateful when morning came.
    His schedule was to stay awake until the early hours of the morning when he was certain no one would be out on a weeknight. He tried to sleep from three until eight and then make his way to the stone bench. After lunch, he always grabbed a few hours of sleep on the grass, either in the park or in front of the library.
    He had tried asking the group of homeless men their opinion of who the Boulder Creek Killer might be, but none of them appeared to have a clue. He was sure it wasn’t any of them because they all went up to the North Broadway Shelter in the evening. He was glad none of them had offered to stay with him during the night.
    As he headed toward the meeting place at the stone bench, he glanced at his watch. It would be a couple of hours before he could expect to see the woman on the bike. He hoped he hadn’t startled her so much the previous night she would decide to take the bus or drive to work.
    What was he going to do after he caught the killer?
    He would have to go back to Denver and then he wouldn’t be seeing her again. He didn’t like that thought. He would have to find a way to see her after this job was finished. Making the decision to face the problem when the time came, he reached that conclusion and the stone bench at the same time.
    He couldn’t help but wish he had asked her for her name the previous night when it was only the two of them. But he was sure she would have wondered why a homeless man would want to know her name. Maybe it would have frightened her and she would quit riding her bike on the Creek Path.
    When he saw the group of homeless men approaching the bench, he realized something must have happened. They were talking in excited voices.
    “Did you hear the latest?” one of them asked.
    He shook his head.
    “They found another girl raped and murdered.”
    Matt’s heart sank. “Where?”
    “According to the news, her body was found under a bridge down by 30 th Street.”
    That was not far from where he had seen the blond biker the previous night.
    Icy fear wrapped around his heart. He had to talk to Heller, but it would be another hour before the library opened and he could call him. He should get a cell phone. He had noticed some of the men had them.
    He was at the library when they opened the doors and he hurried inside to call the chief.
    “Glad you called,” Heller said. “I guess you’ve heard the news.”
    Matt told him he had. “Has the body been identified?” The words almost stuck in his throat as he asked the question.
    “Another University student,” the chief said, and Matt breathed a sigh of relief, and then immediately felt guilty because he had been glad that it wasn’t the blond biker.
    “He appears to be deviating from his usual MO,” Matt said.
    “Unfortunately, this is going to make it harder to catch him. Not only has he changed the place, but it has only been a few days since the last one.”
    A tense silence fell between the two men.
    “Did you talk to Karen again?” Matt asked. “When is she going to be able to get up here?”
    “I did, but she is just finishing an assignment and it’s going to be a few more days before she can get up here.”
    “Can you talk to her boss and see if someone else can take over for her? I’m more sure than ever that we need a decoy.”
    “I’ll see what I can do.”
    “Can someone get a cell phone for me? I was mistaken when I thought a homeless man wouldn’t have a cell phone. Most of them do. It’s wasting time when I have to come to the library every time I want to talk to you. Not that I have all that much to do, but I would like to be able to talk to you at any time I feel I need to.”
    “Now that I can do. How shall I get it to you?”
    They made arrangements for someone to bring the cell phone to him and he went back to the stone bench to join the group of homeless men,