turned her attention back to the sheriff, who was speaking.
“We’re putting every resource we’ve got behind this case,” Travis said. “We’re going to look at every bit of evidence again. We’re going to reinterview everyone even remotely connected with the women who died, everyone in the areas where they were killed—anyone who might have possibly seen or heard anything.”
“What about suspects?” Nate asked. He indicated a board on the far left side of the room, where photos of several men were pinned.
“Where we can, we’ll talk to them again.” Travis said. “We’ve ruled them out as the murderers, but they may know something.” He rested his pointer on photos of a pair of young men at the top of the chart. “Alex Woodruff and Tim Dawson drew our attention because they were at the Walking W Ranch the day the third victim, Fiona Winslow, was killed. They didn’t have an alibi for the previous two murders, of Kelly Farrow and Christy O’Brien. Once the road reopened, they disappeared. I’m still trying to confirm that they returned to Fort Collins, where they’re supposedly attending Colorado State University.”
He shifted the pointer to a photo of a handsome, dark-haired man. “Ken Rutledge came to our attention because he lived next door to Kelly Farrow and had dated her business partner, Darcy Marsh. When he attacked Darcy several times and eventually kidnapped her, we thought we had found our killer. But since his arrest, there have been three more murders.”
Quickly, Travis summarized the case against the remaining suspects—three high school students who had been seen the night Christy O’Brien was murdered, and a veterinarian who resented Kelly Farrow and Darcy Marsh setting up a competing veterinary practice. “They all have solid alibis for most of the murders, so we had to rule them out,” he concluded.
He moved back to the head of the conference table. “We’re putting together profiles of all the victims, to see if we can find any common ground, and we’re constructing a detailed timeline. If you’re not out on a call, then I want you studying the evidence, looking for clues and trying to anticipate this killer’s next move.”
They all murmured agreement.
“Some of this we’ve already done,” Travis said. “But we’re going to do it again. The person who did this left clues that tell us who he is. It’s up to us to find them. Colorado Bureau of Investigation has agreed to send an investigator to work with us when the road opens again, but we don’t know when that will be. Until then, we’re on our own. I want to start by considering some questions.”
He picked up a marker and wrote on a whiteboard to the left of the women’s pictures, speaking as he wrote. “Why is this killer—or killers—here?”
“Because he lives here,” Gage said.
“Because he was visiting here and got caught by the snow,” Dwight added.
“Because he came here to kill someone specific and found out he liked it,” Jamie said. She flushed as the others turned to look at her. “It would be one way to confuse authorities about one specific murder,” she said. “By committing a bunch of unrelated ones.”
Travis nodded and added this to their list of reasons.
“Are we talking about one man working alone, or two men working together?” Ryder asked.
“That was my next question.” Travis wrote it on the whiteboard.
“I think it has to be two,” Gage said. “The timing of some of the killings—Christy O’Brien, Fiona Winslow and Anita Allbritton, in particular—required everything to be carried out very quickly. The woman had to be subdued, bound, killed and put into her vehicle. One man would have a hard time doing that.”
“Maybe he’s a really big guy,” Cody said. “Really powerful—powerful enough to overwhelm and subdue the women.”
“I agree with Gage that I think we’re probably looking at two men,” Travis said. “But that should make it easier to catch them. And if we find one, that will probably lead us to the second one.” He turned to write on the board again. “What do we know for certain about these murders?”
“The victims are all women,” Dwight said. “Young women—all of them under forty, most under thirty.”
“They’re all killed out of doors,” Nate said. “Away from other people.”
“Except for Fiona,” Jamie said. “There were a lot of people around when she was killed.”
“They were all left in vehicles, except Fiona,” Ryder said. “And they were alone in their vehicles.”
“The killer uses the weather to his advantage,” Gage said. “The snow makes travel difficult and covers up his tracks.”
“I think he likes to taunt law enforcement,” Ryder said. “He leaves those cards, knowing we’ll find them.”
“He wants us to know he’s committing the murders, but is that really taunting?” Dwight asked.
“He killed Fiona at the Walker Ranch,” Gage said. “When the place was crawling with cops.” He shifted to look at Jamie and Nate. “I wouldn’t be surprised if he knew the two of you were nearby when he killed Michaela this morning.”
Jamie gasped. “That deer!”
Nate touched her arm. “What deer?”
“When my sister and I were on the trail this morning, a buck burst out of the underbrush suddenly, as if something had startled it,” she said. “That’s what my dogs were chasing. I wondered at the time if a mountain lion was after it. And when I was trying to catch the dogs I felt…unsettled.” Her eyes met his, tinged with fear. “As if someone was watching me.”
“That could be a good thing, if he thinks he’s taunting us,” Travis said. “We might be able to draw him out into the open.”
“So far he’s been very good at evading us,” Gage said.
“He has, but from now on, we’re going to be better.” Travis pointed to Nate. “Did you see anyone else when you were in the area near the murder this morning?”
“I talked to an ice fisherman—checked his fishing license. A local guy.” He searched his memory. “Abel Crutchfield.”
“Gage, find him and interview him,” Travis said.
Gage nodded.
“Anyone else?” Travis asked.
Nate shook his head. “Nobody else—except Jamie—Deputy Douglas—and her sister.”
“Jamie, did you see anyone while you and your sister were out there?”
“No one,” she admitted. “We didn’t even pass any cars once we turned off the main highway.”
“You start with the women,” Travis told her. “See if you can find any commonalities—or any one woman who had a reason someone might want to kill her. Enough that he would kill others to cover up the crime.”
“Yes, sir.”
Travis
