The Trench

Chapter 44 - The Suspect

"So you're telling me sometime either before, after, or DURING the time Taylor and I were at the marina someone was murdered." My palms started sweating and I hastily wipe the moisture off on my jeans, I notice my hanks shaking a little and I place them back on the steering wheel.

"The article doesn't give any autopsy reports or approximate time of death, only that he was shot in the head from the back. He was an employee there, mid twenties and fits the description of the other victims that have been targeted lately." Aimee scans the report as she reads off the important tidbits. "He was the only night guard, so it could have literally happened at any point." She scrolls through the article once more time before I swing the truck into the parking lot.

We speed walk down the sidewalk to the front door and take the stairs two at a time, once we reach my apartment we fling the door open and lock it behind us. For good measure.

On our way home I had called Taylor and brought her up to speed, when we got inside she was in the living room floor with a poster board on the coffee table. We walk over and she has listed all of the victims taken by this one person and I frown in confusion.

"Tay, what's this?" I kneel beside her, all eleven names written in a line including dates and locations were on the board.

"You said there was a murder there last night, the victim matches the other ones taken recently physically. It's also the same murder, shot from the side or the back. You've told me before you had marked down a few days that Kane was out because you were going to ask Austin about it. Where did you mark those down at?"

Aimee's eyes got wide as I went to my bedroom. I filtered through the loose papers in my desk drawer until I found my miniature calendar. I really don't know why I marked down the night I saw him leave, but thankfully I did.

Miss Nosey Rosy at her finest. I think comically to myself as a grim smile came to my face.

I head back to the living room and hand Taylor my calendar, she coordinates the dates I had marked down to the previous murders. I pace the floor, not wanting to watch and not wanting the possible answer. But as I hear Aimee and Taylor gasp my heart sinks, and I reluctantly hover over her shoulder.

"Holy shit..." Aimee whispers as she traces her fingers over the poster board.

Holy shit is right...I glance at the calendar and back to the board again, there are six consecutive dates that match.

"The fucked up thing is, he's been gone more than these times. These are just dates you just so happened to write down in case you had to ask Austin about it. How many more times has he left within the past few months that you didn't write down, or times you never even saw him leave at all?" Taylor runs her hands over her face, exhausted.

Then as if a light bulb went off in my brain I snap back up, my hands running through my hair and I start pacing again. Taylor jumps to her feet to look at me.

"Taylor, we were there. What if they see our footprints, or a security camera saw your car, we could be brought in for questioning!" I could feel myself start to panic, my heart rate was increasing by the second and my head felt like it could explode.

Taylor came over and put her hands on my shoulders and gave me a small shake. "Will you calm the fuck down! Even if they bring us in what are they going to do? We tell them what happened, tell them who else was there, and that would be it! We didn't do anything Riley."

I reluctantly nod my head and she lets me go, Aimee is still standing by the coffee table with a bemused expression on her face.

"So what are we going to do?"