Lisa Gardner - The killing hour

“When did you start putting it together?” Kimberly asked.

“Two months after Kasey Cooper was found in the cotton field. The last of the evidence reports came in, and we made the connections after the fact. Gee, we’ve had four girls disappear in pairs. In both instances, one girl is found right away, next to a major road. And in both instances, the second girl isn’t found for a long time, and when she is found, it’s in a remote and dangerous area. The first girls, however, have evidence that ties them to the second location. Gee, maybe if we figure out those clues sooner, we can find the second girls in time. Good golly, Miss Molly, that might make some sense.” Mac blew out a breath of air. He sounded disgusted, but then he got on with it.

“We assembled a task force. Not that the public knew. We worked behind the scenes at that point, identifying some of the best experts on Georgia-biologists, botanists, geologists, entomologists, etc., and getting them thinking about this guy and where he might strike next. The goal was to be proactive. Failing that, at least we’d already have the experts in place to give us real-time answers should the man strike again.”

“What happened?” Kimberly asked.

“The year two thousand,” he said bluntly. “The year we’d thought we’d gotten smart. Instead, everything went to hell in a hand basket. Two more kidnappings, three girls dead.” Mac glanced at his watch. He shook away the rest of what he was going to say, and startled them both by taking her hand instead. “But that was then. This is now. If this is the Eco-Killer, Kimberly, we don’t have much time. The clock is ticking. Now here is what I need you to do next.”

Quantico, Virginia

2:03 P . M .

Temperature: 98 degrees

SPECIAL AGENT MAC MCCORMACK was going to get her kicked out of the FBI Academy. Kimberly thought about it dispassionately as she drove through Quantico’s winding roads on her way to the main highway. She’d showered after talking to Mac. She’d changed into the appropriate uniform of khaki cargo pants and a navy blue FBI Academy shirt. Then she’d tucked her good ol’ Crayola gun into a holster on the waistband of her pants and attached handcuffs to her belt. As long as she was going to trade in on the cachet of being a new agent, she might as well look the part.

She could’ve told Mac no. She thought about that, too, as she drove. She didn’t really know the man. Good looks and compelling blue eyes aside, he had no claim on her. She wasn’t even sure she believed his story yet. Oh sure, this Eco-Killer guy had probably ravaged the state of Georgia. But that was three years ago. In a state hundreds of miles away. Why would some Georgian nut suddenly turn up in Virginia? Better yet, why would a Georgian nut leave a dead body on the FBI’s doorstep?

It didn’t make sense to her. Mac saw what he needed to see. He wasn’t the first cop to be obsessed by a case and he wouldn’t be the last.

None of which explained why Kimberly had just blown off her afternoon classes, a violation that could get her written up. Or why she was now driving to a county ME’s office, after her supervisor had explicitly told her to stay away from the case. That little act of insubordination could get her kicked out.

And yet from the minute Mac had made his request, she’d agreed. She wanted to speak to the ME. She wanted to con her way into the autopsy of a poor young girl she’d never met.

She wanted… She wanted to know what happened. She wanted to know the girl’s name and the dreams she’d once had. She wanted to know if she’d suffered, or if it’d been quick. She wanted to know what mistakes the unidentified subject might have made, so she could use those mistakes to track him down and find justice for a young girl who deserved better than to be abandoned like garbage in the woods.

In short, Kimberly was projecting. As a former psych student, she recognized the signs. As a young woman who’d lost her sister and mother to violent deaths, she couldn’t stop if she tried.

She had found the victim. She’d stood alone with her in the dark shadows of the woods. She couldn’t walk away from her now if she tried.

Kimberly followed the address she’d received from the Marine base. She’d asked about the NCIS investigator while there, only to discover he’d already left to observe the victim’s autopsy at the morgue.

In the good news department, Special Agent Kaplan’s presence at the autopsy gave Kimberly a better excuse for insinuating herself into the procedure. She’d just come to talk to him, but hey, as long as she was there…

In the bad news department, an experienced special agent was probably going to be a bit savvier about a new agent trying to horn in on his investigation than an overworked ME.

That’s why Mac had volunteered her for this mission after all. No one was going to let another cop into the case. A mere student, on the other hand… Play to your weaknesses, he’d advised her. No one ever suspects the small, bewildered rookie.

Kimberly parked her car outside the nondescript five-story building. She took a deep breath. She wondered if her father had ever felt this nervous before a case. Then again, had he ever gone off the beaten path? Risked everything to learn the truth for yet another dead girl in a world of so many murdered blondes?

Her cool remote father. She couldn’t picture it. Somehow that bolstered her spirits. She squared her shoulders and got on with it.

Inside, the odor hit her at once. Too antiseptic, too sterile. The smell of a place that definitely had things to hide. She went to the glass-enclosed receptionist area, made her request, and was grateful when the woman buzzed her straight through.

Kimberly followed a long corridor with stark walls and linoleum floors all the way to the back. Here and there metal gurneys were shoved up against bone-colored walls. Steel-gray doors led off other places, security boxes demanding access codes she didn’t have. The air was colder in here. Her footsteps rang out with a startling echo, while the fluorescent lights buzzed overhead.

Her hands were trembling at her sides. She could feel the first trickle of sweat slide stickily down her back. Being inside this cool place should’ve been a welcome relief from the stifling outdoor heat. It wasn’t.

At the end of the hallway, she pushed through a wooden door into a new lobby area. This is where the ME’s offices were housed. She pressed a buzzer, and wasn’t horribly surprised when a door cracked open, and Special Agent Kaplan poked out his head.

“You lookin’ for the ME? He’s busy.”

“Actually, I’m looking for you.”

Special Agent Kaplan straightened in the doorway. This close Kimberly could see the faint sheen of silver mixed into his dark, buzz-cut hair. He had a weathered face, stern eyes, and thin lips that reserved judgment before smiling. Not a cruel man, but a hard one. He was the guy, after all, who kept all of the Navy plus the Marines in line.

This was not going to be easy.

“New Agent Kimberly Quincy,” Kimberly said, and stuck out her hand.

He accepted the handshake. His grip was firm, his expression wary. “You had quite a ride.”

“I understand you have questions for me. Given my schedule, I thought it might be easier if I found you. At the Marine base, they said you were here. So I decided to make the drive.”

“Your supervisor know you left the Academy?”

“I didn’t mention it to him directly. When I spoke with him this morning, however, he underscored the importance of cooperating fully with NCIS’s investigation. Naturally I assured him I would do whatever I could to help.”

“Uh huh,” Kaplan said. And that was it. He stood, he stared, and he let the silence drag on and on and on. If this man had kids, they never snuck out at night.