She smiled and stood. “See you tomorrow then.”
She headed outside and then home, where she quickly changed into her running gear, then walked back out to her car. Once outside, she drove to the location that she was interested in and parked in the lot closest to the crime scene. If nothing else, it would give her ground zero. With that in mind, she left her car behind and set off down the trail to where the bodies had been found and, from that point forward, picked up her pace and started to run.
She wasn’t even sure where she was running or why, but she did want to check out these endless loops with multiple entrance and exit points. So possibly any number of places could be all along here, where this guy watched the joggers. As she passed each ingress/egress, she checked the areas. She noted people walking their dogs and people running; this area was busy.
That really struck her. It was busy even now. People were all over these trails, coming and going throughout the day, and, although it was hot, it wasn’t deadly hot. Vancouver didn’t get crazy hot like in some places. It certainly did get hot enough though that you’d leave your jogging for later. “That or early in the morning,” she murmured.
She kept on going, her lungs expanding, her body stretching, her muscles pulsing with joy, as that lovely energy flowed through her. The first couple miles were spent getting used to the different terrains. She didn’t run much on uneven ground, like this was. Yet the change-up was good and made her muscles work a little harder. She came to a rise, where she pulled off the path and took a look around.
As much as she didn’t want to stop running, she needed to check out how far she’d come, where she was, and if it made one damn bit of difference. From where she stopped, she noted other vantage points. And this one actually looked down on where the bodies had been found. It was a distance away, but, even as she watched, she saw a couple people in the distance heading toward the area where the bodies had been. All crime scene remnants had been removed at this point in time, even the police tape, so nothing was left to hint something had happened.
She was pretty sure the rumor mill was working overtime, and it would probably hit the news tonight, something she always tried to avoid watching, if she could. It never ceased to amaze her how they could get information on something like this, when supposedly there was a ban on all information on active cases. If the police wanted to release an official statement, that was a whole different story, and that came from the actual PR section of the department.
If left to Kate, she would have told them all to fuck off and to leave her alone. But that would never go down properly in terms of publicity. And it was all about good PR and keeping a goodimpression of the department fresh in everybody’s mind. Didn’t matter whether it was all bullshit or not.
Pausing to survey the area and checking her time to see how long it had been and how far she’d gone, she picked up the pace and ran again. She passed several people—some pushing strollers while talking with friends; others jogging alone, talking on Bluetooth as they went down the path; still others listening to something on earbuds. Some men, some women, some groups, some singles. Mostly pairs. She thought about that as she ran.
Why had the killer attempted to take out two at once? No, not attempted, he’d succeeded. But why had he chosen two? One would have been a better bet. Unless he was after the one and realized that the two could never be separated. Still, it was hard to see how someone could conclude that this would be the best place to take them out. Two was taking more of a chance, more likely to be seen, harder to control. Double the trouble literally, so why two?
That question was a constant thought that sat at the back of her mind. Until Kate found an answer for it, she knew it would bug her. She found it hard to believe it was just a casual choice because, if that were the case, this crime hadn’t been well thought out at all. Nobody would choose to take out two victims with twice the trouble and twice the headache, not if there was any way for it to be easier. Serial killers were just as lazy as everybody else.
Not that this guy was a serial killer by any means. Even having that thought go through her mind made her cringe. She’d been on too many cases lately that were bad news all the way. She didn’t want another ugly case right now. What about a nice run-of-the-mill homicide or a simple escalated-argument shooting? But, no, this one had all the earmarks of something much deadlier.
In the back of her mind, she couldn’t let go of the thought that this could be a random stranger-killing. And, if that were the case, they couldn’t assume this guy was done. The minute that thought crossed her mind, she winced again because who the hell even knew if this was his first killing? Maybe he’d done this before. They hadn’t even considered that; at least she hadn’t.
She shook her head because she knew better. Assholes were just out there who seemed to prey on the weak.
At least the women didn’t appear to have been raped, although Kate would have to leave that determination for the medical examiner. Only then would they have clarity on that and many other issues. But, at this point, it didn’t seem like sexual assault was part of the motive. So why these two women?
Were they specifically targeted, or was it just a matter of opportunity? Were these women just unlucky random victims, who came by at the wrong time, unwittingly becoming the successful applicants to whatever trial or test the killer was running? The very idea sounded gross when Kate thought about it that way, and she didn’t mean any disrespect.
But the way serial killers talked about their victims, it’s not as if they were mentally well either. They disassociated from their victims in order to not have to deal with the reality of it all. In some cases they were psychopaths and sociopaths and really didn’t give a shit to begin with.
She scrubbed her face, feeling a sweat coming on. She wasn’t exactly sure where the hell that came from, except that she was on uneven terrain, and she’d pushed herself harder and faster. As the fatigue creeped up through her, she slowed down, not happy with her own performance on the trail.
As she walked, she found another vantage point that looked out over the water, with hills up and around, that could look down on this trail as well. She disappeared into the grass anddeeper into the bushes, and she had excellent viewpoints of several pathways. What were the chances that the women had felt like they’d been followed or watched at some point in time? Maybe this guy had stalked them earlier or watched them from a distance long enough to learn their habits and actually knew where they would be, choosing them specifically. Or, this killing could be a one-off whim.
Of course that brought Jenna’s ex-husband to mind, as they tended to make great suspects anyway. It wasn’t necessarily the truth though, and she couldn’t focus solely on that and forget about everything else. Once again, they needed data, and what she’d really like were the autopsy reports. But that would take a couple days yet.
Frustrating, but true. She didn’t dare push Smidge into doing it earlier. Not only did she know perfectly well that other cases mattered just as much as hers but anything that pushed her rocky association with the coroner into the drink would make it even worse on everybody.
So far, she was keeping up and cultivating some sort of a relationship with Smidge, and that was working out well. As long as she didn’t push it and go too far into the deep end, they would keep working on their interactions. She wasn’t the best at relationships in general and was definitely not the best at communication.
She would bet that Simon considered her the shittiest of all on that topic, but that wasn’t fair because he’d never actually told her that. She just assumed he felt that way. Seemed like she was always on a case, always busy, never having time to really settle down into their relationship. She felt that he wanted more, but she was too afraid to ask—in case the answer was something she didn’t want to hear.
She didn’t want to do anything that would rock the boat, so what she did was nothing. She was fine with this situation as itwas, but she wasn’t so sure he was. Again, if she didn’t ask, she wouldn’t find out the truth and wouldn’t have to fix anything.
Swearing at herself, she picked up the pace and headed down the pathway again. By the time she’d gone five miles, she felt it. Five miles on a flat stretch, five miles on a treadmill, five miles in the gym was nothing, but five miles out on the trail? What a difference. She felt her lungs burning, as she finally made her way back around to where she had parked her vehicle. She walked the last couple hundred yards to the parking lot. People were coming and going in a steady stream.
One guy was off to the side, stretching, so she walked over and asked him, “Is it always as busy as this here?”
He nodded. “Yeah, it’s popular this time of day,” he noted. “Saturday mornings are bad too.”
“Got it,” she replied.
He looked at her, frowned. “I’ve never seen you here before.”
She smiled. “My first time. I’m just checking out some places to run.”