Temptation Trails - Page 123

“Was she a hiker?” Luke asked.

“The case file says she liked to go for walks. But she wasn’t described as a hiker. She was found wearing regular tennis shoes, not hiking boots. But the trail where she was found is pretty flat. Her shoes didn’t raise any red flags at the time.”

“But what do you think?”

“I think she was abducted somewhere else. The killer wasn’t lurking in the woods, waiting to grab the first woman who was hiking alone. He chose her. There’s evidence that he might have engaged in stalking behavior before he killed her. I think he grabbed her, subdued her, and brought her somewhere. Then he left her body near that trail. Made it look like it was a random attack.”

“Which could be why her bracelet was here.”

“Trent Jones got a stolen car out here. Allegedly,” I added with a roll of my eyes. “But you wouldn’t be able to see a vehicle from the parking area. The killer could have abducted her, driven her out here, then taken her somewhere. And her bracelet fell off in the process.”

“Was this area searched at the time?”

“Not well. She was last seen at home, and like I said, no reason to think she’d have been in the woods. A hiker found her body.” I checked my map and glanced around again. “Let’s go that way. It’s not a direct line to the location of her body, but we can always double back.”

“Lead the way.”

We started walking and it wasn’t far before the pine trees got thicker. I scanned the area, not sure what I was looking for. Anything, really. Something the original investigators hadn’t thought about or had missed.

“Her time of death is a question as well,” I said as we walked. It wasn’t that Luke needed all the details, but talking it out might help me put pieces together. “Determining time of death is as much an art as it is a science, so it’s not always as accurate as we want.”

“So you don’t think it was accurate?”

“It just didn’t have a lot of detail. Makes me wonder if something was missed. We don’t even know for sure when she was abducted. She lived alone. Her sister reported her missing, but we don’t actually know how long she’d been gone before that report.”

“Which means the killer could have had her longer than they assumed.”

“Exactly. The whole random act of violence on a hiking trail theory seems to work until you dig a little deeper.”

A squirrel scampered down a tree trunk and stopped in front of us, as if hoping we were going to pause to give it a snack.

“Sorry, little guy.” I patted my pockets as we walked by. “I don’t have anything for you.”

“He looks crushed,” Luke said.

“I’m sure he’ll be fine. I don’t think any of the Tilikum squirrels are underfed.”

We hiked up another rise and the trees opened up into a clearing, revealing the crumbling remains of an old barn. The wood panels were grayed with age and exposure to the weather and there was a tree growing in the middle of it, the branches reaching up through gaping holes in the roof. One wall was caved in, leaving the whole thing looking lopsided.

“I feel like I’ve been out here before.” He pointed to a makeshift fire pit near the barn. It was mostly old coals with a few charred beer cans in the rubble. “Yep. We used to party out here sometimes.”

“I thought you guys used to party down by the river.”

“We did that too.”

I kicked an old beer can as we walked around the barn. There were a few party spots local teenagers liked to use. They tended to rotate so guys like me wouldn’t find them.

On the far side of the barn, the ground sloped up again and a faded wooden door was built right into the hillside.

“What’s that?” Luke asked.

“Probably an old root cellar. They were common back in the day. Not many of them left.”

“Who do you think owns it?”

“I don’t know.” I approached the door. It had an old padlock on it. “I thought this was all county land out here, but maybe it’s private. I’ll have to do some digging.”

“Abandoned root cellar would be a good place to hide a victim.”