Her Broken Wings by D.K. Hood
Twenty-One
Snakeskin Gully, Montana
Exhausted, Jo Blake dropped into her office chair and pushed both hands through her hair. What am I doing here? The truth slapped her in the face and she pushed it to one side, unable to cope with any more stress. As if moving homes with her seven-year-old daughter and setting up an FBI field office in a remote, backwoods town in Montana wasn’t enough to deal with, now her phone was ringing. “Special Agent Jo Blake.”
“Jo, it’s Shane Wolfe.”
Jo brightened, stood, and walked into the main office. “Now there’s a voice from the past. Last I heard, you’d given up the good life and gone into forensic science. Where are you living now?”
“I’m out of Black Rock Falls, Montana, aka Serial Killer Central. I’m the medical examiner for here and the neighboring counties.”Wolfe cleared his throat. “We have a fine profiler here, but if you have time, could I pick your brains on a case that’s come our way?”
“Montana? Small world that’s where I am too. I’m out of Snakeskin Gully.” Jo’s voice echoed in the massive, almost empty room. “Yeah, I’ll be glad to help as soon as I get settled. Give me a couple of days. I don’t have any staff and haven’t located the agent assigned to me. I’ll put you on speaker but don’t worry, this place is like Fort Knox. They used the old firehouse, so it’s a huge building and has a helipad on the roof. I even have my own bird but no one to fly it.”
“What? Why did you leave DC?”
The sinking feeling in Jo’s stomach lurched again and she swallowed hard to prevent the anger and remorse from welling up inside her. “Long story, but after a messy divorce, the boss sent me to here to set up a field office. I’m here with Jaime, and you’ll remember Clara, her nanny?” She sighed. “But enough about me. I was so sorry to hear about your wife’s passing. Are the girls coping okay?”
“Thanks, and yes they’re fine.”
Jo’s mind filled with memories of a happy family and amazing barbecues. “Okay, what do you need?”
“Do you recall the string of unsolved murders in and around Baltimore?” Wolfe paused a beat. “The kills had similarities, in particular a black feather left on scene, and you thought they’d been committed by the same person?”
Jo thought for a moment and nodded to herself. The brutal murders and their strange twists had her mind working overtime. “Yes, I remember. The Chameleon Killer. I found similarities in murder cases in other states as well. Some of the murders resembled hits and the others more personal. He’s had me baffled a few times because we’re either looking at three or more killers or a person with a variety of violent personality disorders. He may be suffering from dissociative identity disorder. He’s still out there, we never caught him.”
“I think he might be here.”
A cold chill seeped through her as if warning her to stay away. Images too horrific for her mind to comprehend blindsided her for a moment before she pulled herself together. “Send me the file. I’ll see if it matches anything I have on file. If this is the same killer, I’ll need a team to assist your sheriff; right now, it’s just me.”
“There’s no rush. We have an excellent team here. Jenna Alton has solved many murder cases, and she has an ex-military profiler for a deputy.” Wolfe sounded proud of the people he worked alongside. “I’ll talk to her. If this is the same man, you know him better than we do. I’ll send out to all agencies to contact me if any similar cases have happened in their state. This killer may be spreading himself wide.”
Jo googled Black Rock Falls on her computer and peered at the map. “I’ll get back to you as soon as I’ve gone over the files and unpacked.” She blinked at the remote town, sitting snug in the mountain range. “I’ve found your location; it’s almost as remote as here. It must be at least three hours’ drive away. If it’s the same man, I can give you a few days, but I can’t be away from home too long. We’ve just arrived and Jaime starts at her new school in the morning. She’s taken the divorce pretty hard.” She stood and wandered to the window overlooking the local sheriff’s department.
“I can imagine. Anna went into herself for weeks after her mom died. Look, I don’t want to upset her. We can make a video call if necessary. The roads into Black Rock Falls aren’t safe for someone traveling alone, and the weather out here has been unpredictable.”Wolfe sounded exhausted. “It’s a beautiful town, lovely people, but for some reason a magnet for murder.”
Jo walked back into her office and sat down behind the desk. She turned the chipped mug on her desk with the words “World’s Best Mom” on the side and selected a pen from the stack inside. She added notes to the list of to-do items. “I don’t intend to drive there with the first snow forecast. It will depend on when I can get someone to pilot the chopper. I have an off-the-grid operative out in the woods, Carter. I have the task to go tell him he’s now back on active duty.”
“Don’t tell me they’ve assignedTy Carter to work with you?” Wolfe sounded astonished.
Jo dropped her head into her hands. “Oh Lord, please don’t tell me he’s a problem.” She stared at her cellphone screen. “All his jacket tells me is he’s thirty-six, an ex-Navy Seal turned FBI. He’s a first responder and spent five years in the crime investigation division. Top in his field. Helicopter pilot and arms expert. On leave for PTSD after three innocent kids died during a raid and does not intend to return to work any time soon.”
“He’s good—one of the best crime investigators around.”Wolfe cleared his throat. “Well, he was before he went off the grid. He had a few family problems around that time too. It must have been substantial because his trail kinda ran cold around two years ago.” He paused a beat. “He was involved in cybercrime as well. Do you have an agent to cover that end of things?”
“Allow me to explain.” Jo rolled her eyes. “Do you remember Alexis Davenport, the head of my department?”
“Oh, yeah. She comes with a warning.”
“John was having an affair with her and gave her some personal information on me that could ruin my career.” Jo gripped her hands so tight her knuckles ached. “Alexis wanted my signature on the divorce papers and me as far away from Washington, DC as possible. She gave me an ultimatum and I had to comply or end up penniless on the street. She gave me the mission from hell. I’m in the backwoods of the Wild West with orders to scratch up a team and set about creating an FBI Crime Scene Investigation go-to for the remote sheriff’s departments.” She forced her voice not to tremble. “She gave me a list of possible staff members—let me see, she supplied me with three. An office administrator, a local who didn’t show this morning, then we have Ty Carter. The third is our cyber superstar Black Hat Hacker from juvi turned White Hat with the tag ‘The Undertaker,’ who works at the local computer store.” She snorted. “So, my friend, life here is just peachy.”
“Oh, I see. You’ll need an ME. You can call on me if you don’t have anyone.”
Jo straightened in her chair. “I might steal you. We have a state-of-the-art facility here. One thing I did insist on was a building outfitted with everything we need. I must admit, Alexis did supply me with the best equipment. I guess she believed my husband was worth it.”
“And what do you think, Jo?” Wolfe’s voice soothed her shattered nerves.
Forcing down the need to laugh hysterically at the way her life had disintegrated, she stared at the phone. “To be honest, I believe they deserve each other. Enough about me. I’ll look over the files and call you back.”
“Thanks, Jo.” Wolfe disconnected.
Jo waited for the files to arrive and scanned them quickly. The familiarity of the crime scenes made her stare into space trying to make sense of it all. The Chameleon Killer had moved into Black Rock Falls. She shook her head in disbelief. “And so it begins.”