Faith checked her watch.That was just about an hour ago.
“This news comes on the heels of the death of Quantico resident Iris Caldwell whose body was found hidden in a stand of trees at the Rooster Memorial Dog Park in Quantico.As with Iris’s death, this man—who police have not yet identified—was found in the presence of his injured dog, a loyal golden retriever named Beau who sadly will no longer have a best friend to go home to.”
“Jesus Christ.”
Faith flinched and spun around, nearly stabbing David with her fork.He faded backwards, eyes wide.
“Sorry,” she said.“I’m sorry.I was… Yeah, Jesus Christ is right.”
David smiled ruefully.“I was actually going to apologize to you.Both for being late and for being an ass yesterday.”
“It’s okay,” she said.“You weren’t an ass.Just a little distracted.Actually…”
She hesitated.She was going to ask what was going on with him and if there was anything she could do to help, but with the arrival of a second dog-park victim in as many days, there was something more important for her to deal with right now.
“Yeah, I was also going to shamelessly pick your brain,” David continued.“But I think that can wait.”
She smiled apologetically.“Sorry.”
“Don’t be sorry.Go figure out what’s up.I assume you’re going to be assigned to this case since it involves dogs.”
“Probably,” she said, getting to her feet, “but I’m jumping the gun and assigning myself.You too, Turk.”She got on her tiptoes and kissed David briefly but hard.“I love you.I’m not mad at you.We’ll make it up to each other later.”
He smiled, and a part of her, incredibly, wished she could just let this go and make it up to him now.But with two innocent people killed in her own backyard, she definitely couldn’t justify cuddling with David right now.
“I get it,” David said, as though reading her mind.“Go save the world.”
She kissed him again, then led Turk out of the food court.She dialed her friend and occasional partner, Special Agent Jessica Torres.Jessica replied on the first ring.“Hey, buddy.I already got Hozier’s permission.”
Faith blinked.“What?”
“Yeah, I saw the news, and I knew you’d be all over it since it involves dogs.I told Hozier that Smythe asked for our help again.He’ll be pissed when he figures out Smythe didn’t actually call us, but I have a feeling Smythe will just chuckle and tell Hozier to let us work.Besides, this case has Faith Bold written all over it.If anything, we’re only getting a head start.”
Faith grinned.“Jessica, have I ever told you that you’re amazing?”
“You have, but not often enough.Your place, my place, or meet you there?”
“I’ll meet you there,” she said.“Thank you!”
“Don’t thank me yet.We still have to catch this asshole.”
Faith’s grin faded, replaced by a look of determination.“Oh, we will.You can count on that.”
***
The Stafford Courthouse Dog Park was a much smaller park than the Rooster Memorial Park near Faith’s house.It consisted of three acres of fenced-in grass with a small sand pit and a storage shed that contained plastic cones, frisbees, and hoops for owners who wanted their dogs to perform tricks, and about a half-dozen trash cans with small plastic baggie dispensers scattered around the fences.
That shed was the only place in the entire park that provided any sort of cover.The park was closed from ten p.m.to six a.m., and the Stafford County Sheriff’s Office was only three miles away.Parks in the county were pretty well-patrolled to make sure that drug addicts didn’t loiter after hours, so it wasn’t likely the killer had committed his crime overnight, especially given how unlikely it was that the victim happened to take his dog to the park after hours.
So, their killer had once again killed someone in broad daylight very close to where other people were playing with their dogs.He had beaten another large dog, once more not enough to kill the pup but enough to stop the attack.He had gotten away somehow without provoking suspicion in any other people or pets who could have been nearby.
Who the hell was he?
“Mark Patterson,” Jessica said.“He worked for the county parks department.According to the officer I talked to, he was usually the guy who opened the gate to the dog park in the morning.”
That didn’t answer Faith’s question, but it answered a couple of others.They knew who their victim was now, and they knew that he had died at or near opening, possibly a little bit before.That was probably why the killer hadn’t been seen.It was still amazing that dozens of dogs and owners had drifted through the park without seeing him, but she supposed most dog owners had their own toys and the dogs were contending with a lot of conflicting smells.
Still, it seemed almost… Irreverent.Like the killer was mocking them by killing his victims so publicly.In one of Faith’s earlier cases with Turk as part of the Philadelphia Field Office, she had investigated a series of murders in a subway station.The murderer killed his victims with lethal injection and left their bodies in public, waiting to see how long it would be before they were reported dead.The Vampire of Twin Cities Terminal, as the media christened him, did this to send a message about how self-centered society was.Maybe their killer was sending a similar message.
