Scene of the Crime: Deadman's Bluff by Carla Cassidy Read Free Book Online Page A

me out of a sand dune.” She smiled and raised her chin a notch. “But at least I know my name now and hopefully by the time I go to bed tonight some more of my memories will return or you’ll be able to fill in some of the blanks.” Her smile fell. “Tell me more about the other two victims.”
    He told her what he knew about the young Rebecca Cook, found after the wild party on the dunes and the second victim, Vicki Smith, who had recently moved to town and worked as a waitress in one of the local restaurants.
    He watched the play of emotions sweep over her face. Sympathy, horror and the relief that she hadn’t become a third victim found dead in the sand, it was all there in her eyes, on her features. There was also a hint of guilt there, the guilt of survival, the guilt that so far she’d been unable to help them identify the killer.
    She tucked a strand of her long silky-looking hair behind an ear and gazed at him thoughtfully. “So, don’t you FBI people work up a profile of some kind on the killer?”
    Seth nodded. “We also work up a profile on the victims. But a profile is only as good as the facts of the crimes, and in these cases there are few facts to go on. Unfortunately two months ago when Rebecca Cook was discovered Sheriff Atkins made an error in judgment writing it off as a freak accidental death instead of investigating it like a homicide. Then a month later Vicki Smith was found and he knew he had a killer somewhere in town.”
    “Does he have any suspects?” she asked. She shifted positions and once again he caught a whiff of her clean fresh scent.
    “A few, although nobody who is at the top of a fairly pathetic list,” he admitted. “I intend to revisit all those suspects and reinterview everyone who had any part of the initial investigations. Hopefully I can pick up on something the sheriff and his men missed.”
    “Was I drugged? Maybe that’s why I can’t remember anything? At least that would explain how I got in the sand and apparently didn’t fight my attacker.”
    “Maybe, but doubtful. The tox screens for both of the previous victims came back clean for drugs. Rebecca’s showed a bit of alcohol but not enough to render her mentally or physically impaired. Dr. Kane should have your initial blood tox report back sometime today, but if it’s like the others, it won’t show any drugs.”
    Her gaze remained locked with his and he could almost see that she was working to process everything he had told her. Her eyes had grown darker in hue, and the silver shards around her pupils looked more pronounced.
    “So, Rebecca Cook’s body was found in the dunes in April. Almost thirty days later Vicki Smith was found, and then thirty days after that you found me. So, it appears that the killer is on some sort of thirty-day timeline,” she said thoughtfully. “Since I survived, does that mean he’s already hunting for a new victim or will he wait thirty days to act again?”
    Seth released a sigh. “I can’t answer that. I don’t have enough information to know what he will do next.”
    Worse than that, he couldn’t know if the killer would just choose another victim or if he’d try to finish what he’d begun with Tamara.

Chapter Four
    It was just after six when Sheriff Atkins arrived at Linda’s house. Linda had left for her shift at the hospital an hour earlier, Samantha and the new puppy, Scooter, were in her bedroom, and Tamara, Seth and the sheriff all sat down at the kitchen table.
    It had been a strange afternoon. Once Linda and Samantha had come home, Tamara had spent most of her time with Samantha playing with the new little black fur ball.
    Seth had taken his cell phone, the files from Atkins and his laptop into the guest room where Tamara had slept the night before and worked through the afternoon. He’d tried not to get distracted by the sight of the bed where she’d slept the night before, the faint clean scent of her that lingered in the air.
    He’d thought that