"Agent Rivers?" Martinez approached, holding a rolled-up schematic. "You wanted maps of the tunnel system. This showsall seventeen access points and the main corridors between them."
Isla took the schematic and spread it out on a relatively clean section of concrete floor, using her flashlight to illuminate the details. The tunnel network was more extensive than she'd imagined—a sprawling web beneath downtown Duluth, connecting dozens of buildings and stretching nearly a mile from end to end.
"Where are we right now?" she asked.
Martinez pointed to a section marked "D-8" on the east side of the network. "Here. This chamber services the old maritime buildings near the port."
Near the port. Near where Brune had operated, where he'd staged his victims' deaths, where Isla had confronted him two weeks ago.
The proximity couldn't be a coincidence.
But Isla forced herself to stay objective, to not make connections that weren't there. The port district was large, home to dozens of businesses and hundreds of employees. Just because this murder happened near Brune's hunting grounds didn't mean he was involved.
Still, the doubt lingered.
"I want uniformed officers at every access point," Isla said to Morrison. "Nobody enters or exits these tunnels without being logged and questioned. If our killer is still down here, I want them contained. And if they already got out, I want to know when and where."
"I'll coordinate with my captain," Morrison said. "We can have officers in position within the hour."
"Do it." Isla straightened, feeling the weight of the investigation settling onto her shoulders. This was hers now—her case, her responsibility, her chance to prove that the Lake Superior case wasn't a fluke.
And her opportunity to either confirm or eliminate Brune as a suspect, because until she was certain this wasn't his work, she couldn't afford to dismiss the possibility.
"We need to notify Langford's next of kin," James said quietly. "Wife and two kids, according to his employment records."
The reminder cut through Isla's analytical focus, bringing her back to the human cost of what they were investigating. David Langford had been someone's husband, someone's father. He'd had a life, a family, a routine that had been interrupted by violence in these underground passages.
"I'll do it," Isla said. "After we finish processing the scene."
They worked for another hour, documenting everything, collecting evidence, and building the foundation of what would become their case file. The heat never let up, and by the time they were ready to extract the body, Isla felt light-headed and nauseated from the extreme temperature.
Dr. Henley supervised the body bag and transport, ensuring that every movement was documented and nothing was disturbed that might compromise evidence. The crime scene techs continued their work, photographing every inch of the chamber and carefully collecting samples of the modified wiring.
Finally, there was nothing more to do at the immediate scene. Isla climbed back out of the tunnels with James, emerging into December air that felt shockingly cold after the superheated passages below. She stood at the access door for a moment, breathing deeply, letting the frigid air cool her overheated skin.
"You okay?" James asked, appearing beside her with her coat.
"Yeah." Isla took the coat, though she wasn't ready to put it back on yet. Her shirt was soaked with sweat, and she could feel her hair sticking to the back of her neck where it had escaped her ponytail. "That was brutal."
"I've never experienced heat like that. I can't imagine being trapped down there, knowing you're slowly cooking to death." James's expression was grim. "This is a bad one, Isla."
"They're all bad," she said automatically, but he was right. There was something particularly cruel about this murder, something that suggested a killer who took pleasure in their victim's suffering.
Her phone buzzed with a call from Kate. Isla answered, still trying to regulate her breathing. "Rivers."
"Status?"
"Definite homicide. Victim was tortured before death by hyperthermia. Security footage shows he followed someone into the tunnels voluntarily, but that person never came out—or found another exit. We're processing the scene now."
"Connection to Brune?"
The question Isla had been dreading. "Unknown. The MO is completely different, but the proximity to his hunting grounds is concerning. I can't rule him out, but my instinct says this is someone else."
Kate was quiet for a moment. "Your instinct has been pretty reliable lately. Keep me updated. The Director's going to want briefings on this—a second active killer investigation while Brune is still at large makes everyone nervous. I know it’s not your first rodeo, but tensions will be higher now that The Lake Superior Killer has a name.”
"Understood."
"And Isla? Be careful. If this isn't Brune, that means we've got another predator out there. One who's bold enough to murder someone in a space where they had to know the body would be found quickly."
