Kate might haveneeded a good night’s sleep, but she sure didn’t get it. Not even at Simon’s penthouse. When the phone rang, she dragged herself out of her sleep and groaned as she saw her phone. “Morgan,” she answered.
“This is Dispatch. You have a new potential homicide at the running path where your previous two DBs were. You’ve been tagged on this case specifically.”
She slowly sat up. “Do we know anything about it?”
“No, only that it was reported as two bodies.”
“Shit.” She muttered to herself as she disconnected, throwing back the covers, and standing up, looking for the clothes she’d had on. Not that they were appropriate for the job she was about to do, but she had no time to go home and get changed. She hung up and called Rodney.
“Hey,” he said in a sleep-induced tone.
“Two more bodies on the running path,” she noted briefly.
It took him a moment. “Shit, seriously?”
“Yeah, I’m just getting dressed and heading there now.”
“I’ll meet you there,” Rodney replied.
She hung up, looked in Simon’s closet, and found a sweatshirt to borrow, then stepped into the living room. Shoving her phone into her purse, she took a last look around and stepped out onto the balcony. It was a gorgeous morning, and the cool air was just enough to wake her up. She’d have to pick up coffee on the way. As she stepped back inside, Simon—completely nude—stood in front of the coffeemaker, getting her travel mug ready to go.
She looked at him and smiled. “Thank you.”
He leaned over, kissed her gently, and said, “Stay safe.”
With that, she bolted out the door and headed to the jogging paths near Stanley Park. She got there before Rodney. As she walked the trail, she caught sight of the cordoned-off area. She frowned because, at the moment, it looked like it was exactly the same location as the first two murders, and that would be as suspicious as hell. She walked down the pathway to see the cops and the bodies. She frowned because this changed everything. Not only was it two more bodies but this time it was a male and a female.
She walked over to the nearest cop. “Do we have IDs?”
“I haven’t looked yet,” he replied. “I’m just securing the scene and keeping the traffic back.”
“Any weapons? Anybody disturb anything?” she asked, looking around at the ground.
“No, we’re just getting enough daylight in here to see now,” he noted. “We’ve set up some lights but—”
“Who called it in?”
He pointed to the side, where a woman stood, shaking.
Kate walked over to her immediately. “Hi, I’m Detective Kate Morgan.”
“Oh my God,” the woman blurted out, staring at her. “I came for a run.”
“I’m sorry you found them,” Kate said. “That had to be a shock.”
“It was terrible. I don’t ever want to see something like that again,” she cried out. “I don’t get it. What happened? Why? This was such a great area to run in.”
“And it probably still is. We just have a problem with this killer right now,” Kate explained.
“Was that supposed to be funny?” the woman asked, staring at her in outrage.
“No, it’s not funny at all,” she noted. “I actually ran here myself last night.”
The woman seemed to relax a little at that. “I’ve been running here for years,” she shared.
On a hunch, Kate pulled out the photos of the other two women and asked, “Do you know these two women?”
“Sure, they run here all the time.”