A First Love to Die For

Chapter Twelve- Disturbing

(Lincoln's POV)

Leaving Josie's place last night, I had felt incredibly foolish.

I think maybe it would be best if we focus on the job.

Why did I keep putting myself out there for this woman that had chosen long ago that I was not worth her time, love or apparently even friendship?

It had been exactly what I needed to remember that I needed to keep my guard up and not allow myself to get distracted by the stunning woman in front of me.

How did she look so good this early and in workout gear? It was nice to know that one of us hadn't lost any sleep over our conversation last night. Fuck.

When we decided to go check out the site, Josie had mentioned that she wanted to walk. She wanted to get a feel of both the distance and time, in order to wrap her head around what it would look like for our killer to get to the grave site.

She glanced at her apple watch, "We've been walking about ten minutes. How much further do you think we've got?"

"I'd say fifteen." She took a sip of her coffee. Somehow, she was managing to drink her coffee, keep a steady pace, wasn't out of breath and looked completely fresh.

I, on the other hand, felt more out of shape than I had expected and realized I needed to spend a little more time away from my desk. All this huffing and puffing was god damned embarrassing.

She paused and put her empty coffee cup in one of her backpack pockets and then looked at me, "I see what you're talking about, there is no way that a vehicle would fit on this trail and I can't see how it's possible for our killer to carry a body this far. A decent-sized ATV would make it, but I don't see the killer doing it in broad daylight."

It's exactly what I had been questioning. "The only thing that I can figure is that the body dumping is happening at night. You put decent headlights into the ATV, and you would be able to see. Plus, you would have the whole trail to yourself. No one comes out here late at night because of the coyotes and bears."

She nodded, took out her phone and snapped a couple pictures of the trail and then sent an audio message out. "Would you look into any traffic cameras that might lead here, taking note of any late-night visitors? We think that the dumping has to be happening in the black of night."

She put her phone away as we kept moving. Her eyes were steady and alert as they took in the trail. But what she asked surprised me. "Have you ever thought of that first night that we got together? When my dad was away, and you and Hailey got me home?"

All the time... I think about every moment with you all the time.

"Sometimes. Why?"

She looked uncomfortable as she said, "I was thinking more about that Canada Day last night and wondered if maybe there was more to it. Maybe I wasn't just out of control wasted."

I stopped for a second and felt my chest squeeze. "How did that not occur to us before? Josie, you're the killers type. What if it was an attempt? What if you were the first?"

She nodded as if that's what she had thought too. My feet dragged as we silently started walking again. Holy shit!

"It would explain why you were so sick and let's face it we were all shocked that you ended up in the toilet that night."

She gave me an embarrassed smile, "You know, I've made sure to never overdrink again. I'll have a few drinks, but I've always been petrified because I didn't think I had actually overdone it to the extent that I was sloppy and completely blacked out."

I wasn't surprised. It had been scary and if we were to follow this theory, it would make complete sense why she was so out of it. There had been a moment that we had been convinced we needed to take her to the hospital. We had been waiting for her to be able to leave the toilet. By the time her puking had stopped, it appeared she was on the mend so instead, one of us had stayed awake at the foot of the bathroom door all night.

"I wonder if it was the killer starting to dabble with dosages. Obviously, you were given too much because you were violently ill."

I hated that I was just thinking about this now. If we had been more aware could we have stopped our killer from ever escalating?

When we got to the site, she again pulled out her phone, snapping pictures. I stood back and watched her work. Impressed with her attention to detail. It wasn't until she paused for a drink of water that I asked, "Anything to add to our findings?"

Her eyes caught mine and I had to work hard to not become ensnared in the deep blue. I followed her gaze as she pointed to a cliff overhang, "Honestly nothing really stood out. You guys did a good job in your report, but I want to see if we can get up there."

Before I could help myself, I teased, "Just want to hang out with me longer, eh?"

She smirked and opened her mouth as if to tease me back and then closed it quickly, and her eyes clouded over with seriousness. I wish I knew what I had done to make the joy seep out of her eyes. I missed the easiness of our interactions and felt like I was missing something.

She shook her head, "Most often, serial killers are drawn back to the scene of the crime. It's why we often will videotape the surroundings of a crime scene when we get there. I can't tell you how often we catch our killer because they were watching us enter the scene. Our killer called you in, I am just wondering if there was a spot where they could watch the show."

A chill slivered up my spine at the casual way she described these monsters and at the possibility that we had been watched that night. I pointed at a side path. "I'm pretty sure this will get us up there."

She nodded and led the way. I knew just how disturbed I really was as we ascended the steep path because I was only the littlest bit tempted to stare at her phenomenal ass as we climbed.