He looked up from his phone and frowned. “We did hit a spot of traffic on the way over. All because of that fender bender snarling things up.”
“I guess.” She nodded at his phone and the records he was pulling. “Did you find anything?”
“Hmm.” He bent his head again, while she hopped out.
She came around, leaned in through his window, and asked, “What did you find, Rodney?”
“Nothing good.” His tone was grim.
She shook her head. “What do you mean?”
“You were asking about a third?”
“Yeah…” Her heart was already sinking.
“How about a fourth and a fifth?”
“What the hell? Where?” she asked.
He replied, “All within a couple blocks of here. And… all of them on this same weekend. One a year for the last five years.”
She stared at him. “Shit.” Just then her phone rang. She looked down at a text from Simon, just saying,Call me, her stomach dive-bombing at the timing, yet calling him. “Hey, what’s up?” she asked. “I’ve just arrived at a crime scene.”
“I know, and all I’m seeing are bikes, bikes, bikes, and more bikes.”
“Yeah, how many of them?”
“Right now, I’d say five.”
She swore. “Great.” She sighed heavily. “Apparently I’m at a crime scene in an area where crimes of the same kind occurred every year for the last five years, on this very weekend.”
Dead silence came first on the other end, and then she heard Simon’s weary voice. “You’ll track this one down, I presume?”
“I won’t have a choice,” she said.
He whispered, “Neither do I.”
“Any help you can give me?” she asked.
“No,” he murmured, “not yet. But it’ll come. Don’t worry. It’ll come.”
At that, she hung up, nodding, a grim expression on her face..
Chapter 2
Kate wasn’t surewhat to think of Simon’s message. Even Rodney didn’t know what to make of it, even though he’d heard part of it. She looked down at him, still seated in her car. “Can you send that search to me, please?”
He nodded. As soon as he was done, he hopped from the vehicle, and they both stared at the people everywhere, on both sides of the street, in the street, and generally getting in the way. Cops were moving everyone back, but it took some work.
“Of course we’ve got a massive crowd.” She pushed her hair off her forehead. “I’ll start with the body.” She headed to the coroner, who already leaned over the dead woman’s body. He had pulled back a sheet, covering her to her waist. “Well, Dr. Smidge?”
He looked up at her and glared. She glared right back. He sighed and sat back on his heels. “You know that I’m not quite adjusted to seeing your face at all these scenes yet.”
“I’m in homicide now.” She shrugged. “I’ll be on most of them, so get used to it.”
“It’s like you’re a harbinger of bad news. You and the other members of the team—and I see a lot of them around too,” he snapped, “but somehow they don’t give me that same ugly feeling.”
Her eyebrows shot up. “Thanks, Doc. You don’t really think I’ve got anything to do with this, do you?”