Protruding from the earth was a human hand.
The sun was just coming up when they dug the last body out of the ground. The horizon took on a scarlet tinge as two officers lifted the corpse onto a stretcher. Around them, other officers walked slowly over the muddy floor of the construction site in search of more graves, but the area had been scoured so thoroughly that no one expected to find one.
A prowl car perched on the edge of the pit. The door on the driver's side was open. Alan Page sat in the front seat with one foot on the ground, holding a paper cup filled with scalding, black coffee, trying not to think about Nancy Gordon and thinking of nothing else.
Page rested his head against the back of the seat. As the darkness retreated, the river began taking on dimension. Page watched the flat black ribbon turn liquid and turbulent in the red dawn. He believed Nancy Gordon was in the pit, buried under layers of mud. He wondered if there was something he could have done to save her.
He imagined Gordon's frustration and rage when she died at the hands of the man she had sworn to stop.
The rain had ended shortly after the first police car arrived. Ross Barrow took charge of the crime scene, after consulting with the lab techs about the best way to handle the evidence. Floodlights shone down on the workers from the rim of the pit. Designated search areas were fenced off with yellow tape. Sawhorses had been erected as barriers against the curious. As soon as Page was certain Barrow could get along without him, he and Highsmith had grabbed a quick dinner at a local restaurant. By the time they returned, Barrow had positively identified Wendy Reiser's body and an officer had located a second grave.
Through the windshield, Page watched Randy Highsmith trudge toward the car. He had been in the pit observing while Page took a break.
"That's the last one," Highsmith said.
"What have we got?"
"Four bodies and positive ids on Laura Farrar, Wendy Reiser and Victoria Miller."
"Were they killed like Patricia Cross?"
"I didn't look that closely, Al. To tell the truth, I almost lost it.
Dr. Gregg is down there. She can give you the straight scoop when she comes up."
Page nodded. He was used to dealing with the dead, but that didn't mean he liked looking at a corpse any more than Highsmith.
"What about the fourth woman?" Page asked hesitantly. "Does she match my description of Nancy Gordon?"
"It's not a woman, Al."
"what!"
"It's an adult male, also naked, and his face and fingertips were burned away with acid. We'll be lucky to identify him."
Page saw Ross Barrow slogging through the mud and got out of the car.
"You're not stopping, Ross'?" '-There's nothing more down there. You can look if you want."
"I was sure that Gordon… It doesn't make sense.
She wrote the address."
"Maybe she met someone here and left with them," Barrow suggested,
"We didn't find any footprints," Highsmith reminded him. "She may not have found a way in."
"Did you find anything down there that'll help us figure out who did this?"
"Not a thing, Al. I'm guessing all four were killed elsewhere and transported here."
"Why's that?"
"Some of the bodies are missing organs. We haven't found them or any pieces of bone or excess flesh. No one could clean the area that thoroughly."
"Do you think we have enough to arrest Darius?
Page asked Highsmith.
"Not without Gordon or some solid evidence from Hunter's Point."
"What if we don't find her?" Page asked anxiously.
"In a pinch, you could swear to what she told you.
We might get a warrant out of a judge with that. She's a cop. She'd be reliable. But, I don't know. With something like this, we shouldn't rush."
"And we don't really have a solid connection between Darius and the victims," Barrow added. "Finding them at a site owned by Darius Construction doesn't Mean a thing. Especially when it's deserted and anyone could have gotten in."
"Do we know if Darius is Lake?" Page asked Barrow.
"Yeah. The prints match."
"Well, that's something," Highsmith said. "If we can get a match between those tire tracks and one of Darius's cars…"
"And if we can find Nancy Gordon," Page said, staring into the pit. He desperately wanted Gordon to be alive, but he had been in the business of violent death and lost hopes too long to grasp at straws.
Chapter Eight
"Detective Lenzer, this is Alan Page from Portland, Oregon. We talked the other day."
"Right. I was going to call you. That file you asked for is missing. We switched to computers seven years ago, but I did a search anyway. When I couldn't find it listed, I had a secretary go through the old files in storage.
There's no file card and no file."
"Did someone check it out?"
"If they did, they didn't follow procedure. You're supposed to fill in a log sheet in case someone else needs the file, and there's no log entry,"
"Could Detective Gordon have checked it out? She had a fingerprint card with her. It probably came from the file."
"The file isn't with her stuff in the office and it's against departmental policy to take files home unless you log them out. There's no record showing anyone logged it out. Besides, if there were six dead women it would be the highest victim count we've ever had here. We're probably talking about a file that would take up an entire shelf Maybe more. Why would she be lugging around something that big? Hell, you'd need a couple of suitcases to get it home."
Page thought that over. "You're certain it's not in storage and just misplaced?"
"The file's not in storage, believe me. The person who looked for it did a real thorough job and I even went down there for a while."
Page was silent for a moment. He decided to tell Lenzer everything.
"Detective Lenzer, I'm pretty sure Nancy Gordon's in danger. She may even be dead."
"What?"
"I met her for the first time two nights ago and she told me about the Hunter's Point murders. She was convinced the man who committed them is living in Portland under a different name, committing similar crimes here.
"Gordon left my apartment a little after midnight and took a cab to a motel. Shortly after checking in, she left in a hurry. We found an address on a pad in her motel room. It's a construction site. We searched it and discovered the bodies of three missing Portland women and an unidentified man. They were tortured to death. We have no idea where Gordon is, and I'm thinking she was right about your killer being in Portland."
"Jesus. I like Nancy. She's a little intense, but she's a very good cop."
"The key to this case could be in the Hunter's Point files. She may have brought them home. I would suggest searching her house."
"I'll do anything I can to help."
Page told Lenzer to call him anytime, gave him his home number, then hung up. Lenzer had characterized Gordon as intense and Page had to agree. She was also dedicated. Ten years on the trail and still concerned with that fire. Page had been like that once, but the years were getting to him. Tina's affair and the divorce had sucked him dry emotionally, but he had been losing ground even before her infidelity took over his life. Fighting for the office of district attorney had been great. Every day was exciting. Then he woke up one morning with the responsibilities of the job and the fear that he might not be able to fulfill them. He had mastered those fears through hard work, and he had mastered the job, but the thrill was gone. The days were all getting to be the same, and he was starting to think about what he would be doing ten years down the road.
The intercom buzzed and Page hit the com button.