Total pages in book: 138
Estimated words: 126823 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 634(@200wpm)___ 507(@250wpm)___ 423(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 126823 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 634(@200wpm)___ 507(@250wpm)___ 423(@300wpm)
Shabina sank into the empty chair at their table. Raine, Zahra and Harlow leaned closer to hear.
Three days into Rainier’s absence, a fifth victim was discovered. The fact that he was discovered alive, but in a coma, shocked everyone. Lawyer Collins, a man well-liked and respected in the community, had been out climbing the Buttermilks. Usually, there were numerous people around this time of year, and that was probably what saved his life.
“Edward said he knew a good boulder for Janine to start. We’d already put our crash pads down and were discussing who would climb first, but he didn’t think the boulder was right for Janine. He was going to check out another one to see if any climbers had beat us to it.”
Val took up the story. “I was going to climb the boulder where we had our gear when Miguel showed up with Avita and her brother, Pablo. They had the same idea as Edward—to get there really early before too many climbers were out. Edward did have a flying gig later in the afternoon, so he wanted us to have fun and all of us get our climb in before he had to go.”
“We heard moaning. But it sounded awful like someone was really injured and in pain. We decided to investigate,” Theresa said. “There was a spot just where the next boulder was, and there was blood all over the ground. I’m not going to lie, I was scared.”
“Terrified,” Janine corrected. “I started yelling at the top of my lungs for Edward. We followed the blood trail and drag marks in the grass. His body had been dragged away from the boulder into the brush.”
“Miguel got ahead of us, and he was the one to find the body on the ground,” Val said.
“I screamed,” Theresa reiterated. “I’m surprised everyone in Knightly didn’t hear me. The man’s skull looked as if it had been bashed in.”
“It looked like a scene from a horror movie,” Val said. “Edward and Miguel said they knew him. They kept calling his name, Lawyer, and told him to hang on, help was coming. We called the emergency number, and they sent the paramedics and the sheriff.”
Shabina gasped. Lawyer. She knew and liked him. Why would the murderer choose Lawyer?
“Edward said it looked like his skull had been smashed with a rock, not once but twice,” Theresa said. She brought a shaky hand to her eyes as if she could blot out the image.
“A flat rock had been set very close to where his body lay, but only a few items were on what appeared to be a makeshift altar,” Janine added. “Some were scattered on the ground.”
“By that time, with all the screaming we were doing, or I was,” Theresa said, “more climbers showed up. Felicity and Eve arrived. They were meeting Miguel and Avita. They became very distraught or looked like it to me. Eve especially. I felt sorry for her and Avita. Miguel asked Felicity and Eve to take Avita away from the scene while we waited for the paramedics to arrive. I wasn’t any help with my screaming, so I volunteered to do it.”
Val continued their story. “The sheriff came to the conclusion that we must have scared off the murderer before he could finish off Lawyer and build his altar the way he wanted.”
Shabina dropped her head into her hands. “We need to figure out who’s doing this.” Her eyes met Raine’s. Raine nodded and immediately sent out a text to their friends to come to Shabina’s house if possible after work. She told them why.
Vienna and Harlow already knew about the attack on Lawyer because they were surgical nurses and had been called to the hospital to help try to save their friend.
“He was struck from behind,” Raine said, reading the text from Vienna. “He most likely didn’t even see his attacker. The sheriff believes he was actually on the boulder, back to the assailant, when the first rock smashed into his head. He was dragged into the heavy brush when he was unconscious. It was the murderer’s bad luck that, even unconscious, Lawyer made noise, and the other climbers heard him.”
“I was so scared once I realized we were right there, in the same place with whoever is killing people,” Janine said. “Poor Edward was so distraught. So was Miguel. Edward told me later that Lawyer Collins is a good friend and a really good man. I felt terrible that I couldn’t console him.”
“This killer has to be stopped,” Shabina reiterated.
* * *
—
The women gathered at Shabina’s home once again. As usual they brought their dogs with them, and Shabina had made more food than they could possibly eat. They were there for one real purpose—it was time to figure out who was doing the killing. They were all intelligent, and they had the same facts and clues the FBI had. They also had the advantage of knowing the two locals who had been victimized.