Carving Knife by Christian Claudia Hall

Author:Christian, Claudia Hall
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: mystery, ufo, colorado, vietnam, cattle mutilation, cu chi tunnels, seth and ava
Publisher: Cook Street Publishing [email protected]

SIXTEEN

“Well?” Ava asked when Seth walked into the kitchen.

“Cat and mouse,” Seth said. “He intentionally reached for Clara so he had an excuse to call animal control. Then he sniffs around to see if they’re onto him for animal mutilations.”

“What animals?” Ava asked.

“I asked him,” Seth said. “Dogs.”

“He was going to . . .” Dale started. “With Clara?”

“We have to assume,” Seth said.

“She’ll be safe with us,” Switch said. “You have enough sway, O’Malley, to get him banned from base.”

“I’ll call,” Seth said. “What’s the hand look like?”

“It’s not a knife wound,” Fran said. “That’s what I was hoping for. Ava, you want to take a look? Bob?”

Ava and Bob went to stand behind Fran. She increased the size while Ava bit her lip.

“Ava?” Fran asked.

“Looks like an animal bite,” Ava said. “But too small for Clara. Maybe a cat or a ferret? And . . . something’s not right.”

“Bob?” Frank asked.

“It looks like a wound that’s supposed to look like an animal bite,” Bob said. “I had a case once where a guy did this with a pair of nail trimmers. Got infected.”

“Do you remember the case?” Seth asked.

“I can find it,” Bob said. “Sure.”

“Anything might help,” Seth said.

“You know what I think,” Ava said.

Everyone turned to look at her.

“I think we should focus on the remains from Arizona,” Ava said. “If there’s even a remote chance that he did the mutilations, he’s bound to have screwed up on at least one. Sure, he’s perfect now. But ten years ago? Fifteen? His first one? I’d bet he wasn’t so cool.”

“We need only one solid murder conviction to put him in prison for life,” Seth said.

“Good thinking, Ava,” Bob said.

Fran, Leslie, and Nelson nodded their heads in unison.

“Switch and I will move to his apartment at the Fort. We’ll take Clara. My employees can take care of the store for a while,” Éowyn said. Switch put his arm around her shoulders, and she smiled. “What are you going to do?”

“I’m going to look into cattle mutilations,” Seth said.

“We should have at least three weeks before he kills again,” Nelson said. “It’s not a lot of time.”

“Let’s hope we find a way to stop him in that time,” Seth said.

“What are our questions?” Ava asked.

“Why the detectives got involved?” Bob asked.

“I’ll talk to Martha and see if she knows,” Seth said.

“We can track down the wives and surviving relatives of these others,” Fran nodded. “I bet they have some idea.”

“What else?” Ava asked.

“Why detectives?” Maresol asked. “There are lots of smart people in the world. Why go after police detectives?”

Everyone looked at Seth, and he nodded.

“We have to figure out why he dated me,” Éowyn said “He must have wanted something. Did I give it to him? Or was it all a part of the game?”

“Or just the thrill of the lead-up to murder,” Seth said.

“Anything else?” Ava asked.

“We have to find evidence,” Bob said. “Real, concrete evidence that we can try him on and get him off the streets.”

“I’m wondering about money,” Leslie said.

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