Haunted

XI

I slowly walked away from the crime scene until I was at the same ice cream shop where Grace dropped me off that first day. From here the vision of the body was blocked, so there weren't any gawkers with cameras. Though it was still seven in the morning, so the shop wasn't open. It was a good thing that a coffee shop was next door was.

I sat down at one of the little tables on the sidewalk and enjoyed my Frappuccino. It wasn't long before someone pulled out the chair next to me and sat down.

"So, I'm guessing you saw all the commotion at the town square?" Cade asked.

I nodded and took another sip. "Yep. Victim number four."

"If they don't release the statement that these bodies are connected soon, the public is going to start making the connections first. A small town like this doesn't have murders often."

"Yeah," I nodded. "If we could figure it out, someone else probably has too, like maybe a reporter."

Cade didn't catch my hint at Ms. Porter, but took a sip of his own coffee, dark.

He sighed after we had a bout of silence. "Man, it seems like this killer is as random as it comes."

"How do you mean?" I questioned.

Cade shrugged. "It's like this, okay? Most killers kill in a certain group of people, and most of the time the victims are connected. They also have a concrete way of killing them and of disposing the bodies. This killer is like the opposite. The only thing it looks like they all have in common is that they live in this state. Two of the bodies have been African American, number one and four, number four looks male, and none of them even look alike or have the same hair color. The only thing that connects them is the numbers on their hands."

I agreed. I watched enough Criminal Minds to know that this guy was rare, with no specific type of victim or way of killing. He didn't even have a clear motive yet.

"Hey, Raven."

I lifted my eyebrows. Emily was standing in front of our table, a whipped cream topped drink in her hands and an eager look.

"Emily, Hi." I greeted. She took it as an offer to sit in the third chair at the table.

"So," she started, "I didn't know you two were friends."

Cade shrugged. "I was her welcome wagon to Elk Springs."

Emily nodded like this was the explanation she was looking for. "And, I couldn't help but to listen in before. You guys have a theory about that body on the flagpole?"

Cade hesitated, so I jumped right in. "Yeah, we do. The other day, I was sitting in front of AJ's house when an officer sat next to me and asked about Amanda. He let it slip that they think she was connected to the body found behind your house and a body they found a county over before that. He didn't say why they thought they were connected, but right now it looks like they have nothing in common. We were theorizing what their connection could be."

Cade gave me the evil eye, which was quite threatening considering his parentage. Apparently he thought I shouldn't be sharing that we though there was a serial killer out there with a friend, even though she already knew Cade thought Jeanine wouldn't be the first body back when he broke into her backyard.

Emily gasped. "Another serial killer? What are the chances? I mean, when you and Joey broke into my backyard to do some detective work, I never imagined that it was an actual serial killer like you thought."

"Yeah, what are the chances?" Cade said.

"The only problem is that they have nothing in common." I added. "The only thing is that they're all between the ages of sixteen to twenty."