Page 97 of Coordinates of Death

One by one, they inched out the books.

Aurora lost hope by the time they reached the third shelf. “This is a waste of time.” She sighed and slid out a dusty copy of The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe.

Click.

She froze.

The bookcase opened a crack.

“That’s the one.” She moved to the right of the bookcase door.

“Let me. Your arm is weak.” Kordell tucked his fingers into the small space between the wall and the bookcase, wrenching it free.

The door scraped on the hardwood floor.

Aurora unclipped her Maglite from her belt and stood beside Kordell, shining it into the opening. “Well, I’ll be. This is the hidden passageway.” She removed her gun. “We do this carefully. I don’t want any more surprises.”

“Agreed.” He unleashed his gun and raised it. “Go.”

They inched their way inside, Aurora shining the light. The beam illuminated a tiny room, walls and flooring all in stone. She entered on full alert.

The small room housed a metal cot with a rotten mattress lying on top. A rat scurried through a hole in the stone wall.

“Ugh. I hate rats.” Kordell’s whisper boomed in the room.

“Don’t be a baby.” She shone the Maglite in a full circle around the area, the beam slicing through the darkness until it snagged something lurking in one corner.

High-school principal Candace Park, propped against the wall, knees drawn to her chest. One eye bulged open, the other was patched.

Her throat slashed.

Kordell and Aurora drew in ragged breaths at the same time.

Even though they had beaten SBK’s clock, they were too late.

Air left Kordell’s lungs in a sharp hiss, as bile burned the back of his throat. Shock numbed his limbs, and he couldn’t move—couldn’t breathe. He stared at the corpse neatly staged for their benefit. He wasn’t a coroner, but the dried blood and color of skin told him Candace Park had been dead for hours—probably the moment after SBK had shut off the camera at the town hall meeting.

“Kord, are you okay?”

Aurora’s question tore him from his thoughts.

Was he? It wasn’t like he hadn’t seen injuries being a paramedic, and he’d certainly seen lots of death, but these senseless killings ripped his heart out. “This is gut-wrenching and fills me with so many questions. Why target women?” He tightened his grip on his Glock. “Why play this sick game and give us a clock when he’s gonna kill the person anyway?”

“Exactly my thoughts. It’s clear she’s been dead for hours.” She sheathed her gun. “How do I break the news to Mr. Park? He’s going to be devastated.”

“I can go with you.” He checked his watch. “We beat SBK’s clock by hours.” He slumped his shoulders in defeat and remorse for this innocent woman. Why, God? Why?

Aurora squatted a few feet in front of Candace’s body, then lowered her head.

“What do you see?”

“There’s something under her legs.” She stood. “But I can’t touch anything until we get both Dr. Sharpe and Dirk here.”

“I’m guessing it’s another shadow box.”

“Me too. We’re gonna have to hike out at dawn to—” Her sat phone rang, interrupting her statement. Her gaze shot to Kordell’s. “Looks like we now have a signal.”

Kordell glanced around the room, spotting a tiny camera lodged between stones in the wall. “He’s watching and listening.”