A Trail of Murders

Chapter XIV

"Agent Wilson!" One of the local police officers yelled out, bringing my attention away from the murder board.

    I scanned his face for signs of the news to come. It was bad news. "Yes, Officer?"

    "We've got another murder, just across the border at a small hotel." He choked out.

    My team members all shot up, grabbing their stuff and shouting orders. I glanced at the clock. 2 A.M. I looked at him again, anger filling my face.

    "Was it them?" I asked, already knowing the answer.

    "Yes, they were caught on camera fleeing the scene."

    I squeezed my eyes shut before running after my team to the SUVs. We roared down the highway, following the instructions to the crime scene. When we arrived, it was a mess of hysteria. We climbed out, heading to the detective on the scene. He introduced himself as Detective Karver.

    "What do we have Detective?" I asked, watching the coroner's van pull away.

    "Mikayla Spears, 23. Five feet, four inches tall. On observation, stabbed sixty-seven times including having her throat slit. She was thrown off of the balcony belonging to Room 511, under the name of Wilson.... Valdez." He looked up, gulping slightly.

    That bastard used MY NAME? How sick is he? "Any ideas as to what killed her?"

    "Coroner said she was dead before being thrown from the hotel room, but he won't know more until he completes the autopsy."

    I nodded at his statement, surveying the scene as I tried to get over the anger and shock of Myles's actions. How many more people will die before I catch him? Three hours passed of us searching for answers and clues to his next whereabouts before the coroner called, telling the detective that the preliminary results were ready. We all ran over to the police station, heading down to the morgue. The coroner, an older woman named Poppy, was waiting for us with a preppy new assistant.

    "Welcome Agents, Detective. My preliminary findings are that this woman was completely sober when she was lured to her death. She did not die from the stab wounds or the slitting of her throat, strangely enough. She died from ingestion of Ethylene glycol prior to her injuries, as well as the bloodloss. She had defensive wounds along her arms and two different skin samples under her fingernails. She was also two months pregnant, and the rape kit I performed confirmed that she was in fact, raped." Poppy explained, continuing to point out other observations.

    I turned away, confused. Why would Myles poison her with anti-freeze? It's not his M.O. Why would he change so drastically? Unless, two people tried to kill her! I turned back to the coroner asking her if she had run the DNA against the sample from Myles' previous scenes.

    "Of course I did son. One DNA sample was positive against your suspect, Mr. Valdez, but the other didn't match against the other DNA from your crime scenes. Someone else fought with Miss. Spears prior to her expiration."

    I turned to the detective, determined to solve this case as well. I need a small victory.

    "Detective I need you to run the alibis of all of Miss. Spear's acquaintances. If Myles didn't end up poisoning her, then I want to know who did." I directed, exiting the room with my team.

    We all headed upstairs, nodding respectfully at the officers in the precinct. We all got to work, checking out her enemies, friends, family members, everyone. Hours flew by before we hit a breakthrough. Agent Collins ran into the room holding up a mugshot for one, Cooper Earle.

    "Who is he?" I asked.

    "Ex-Boyfriend. According to her friends, Mikayla dumped him a week ago and he was extremely unhappy about it. We checked his alibi and it's sketchy." She said, pinning the photo on the board.

    "Alright, run his face against the hotel security cameras." I said to Agent Gerard, who was already pulling out his laptop to pull up the digital feed.

    He sped through the footage with the facial recognition software, stopping on a man exiting the hotel at midnight. He gave me a grim look as the software confirmed it to be Cooper.

    "Pick him up." I ordered, watching as Collins and Gerard grabbed their coats, running from the building to the parking lot.

    The rest of us waited for them to come back, eagerly awaiting the chance to interrogate this possible murderer. Twenty minutes passed before they walked through the doors, suspect in handcuffs. We met him in interrogation room A. Cooper didn't even attempt to fight for his innocence, proudly admitting to the poisoning and murder. I almost smiled at the victory, before remembering the real reason we were brought here. Myles Banks.

    I shook my head angrily and walked back to the board staring at the evidence again. Why did Myles choose her? Did he know about the poisoning in advance? Why was the crime scene so messy?

    My cell phone rang and I picked it up. "Hello?"

    "Special Agent Valdez, my name is Detective Serena Ridgeway with San Bruno PD. Twenty minutes ago a man and woman entered Kaiser Permanente Medical Center. The man, who we identified to be your suspected serial killer, shot one security guard and fled." A woman's voice said.

    I motioned for my teams to pack up. "Alright Detective, we will be there as soon as possible, did you find them?"

    "No sir, but we found that they were attempting to camp in Border Field State Park. A family a few campsites over reported their boat had been stolen. We've called the Coast Guard, but so far we have no sightings of them."

    "Thank you Detective. Tell the Coast Guard to focus north, we've profiled his actions and believe he intends to move north again, possibly to Los Angeles. We're heading to you now." I exclaimed, hanging up the phone.

    We all climbed into the cars, hitting the highway at a high speed, set on getting there before it was too late to search for clues. If we can find something, anything to shed light onto his end game, then maybe we can stop him before it becomes too late, and too many innocent victims perish.