Once Buried by Blake Pierce

Author:Blake Pierce [Pierce, Blake]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: FBI Agent, Midwest, Murder Investigation, psychological thriller, serial killer, Special Agent, suspense
Publisher: Unknown
Published: 2017-12-11T06:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER TWENTY ONE

Riley was still badly shaken from the troubling conversation she’d just had with Mike Nevins. She sat silently in the passenger seat as Bill drove the SUV through Sattler toward the address they’d been given for the witness. She was glad that Jenn, in the back seat, wasn’t asking any questions right now.

Riley was wondering if calling Mike had been such a good idea after all. She certainly hadn’t expected to be psychoanalyzed.

She remembered something he’d said …

“What we’ve been doing is profiling you.”

The very idea made her terribly uneasy.

She had no doubt that their conversation had provoked some valuable insights into her own psyche. It had also disturbed her deeply. Was looking inward something she really ought to be doing while working on a murder case—especially one that was so dire and so very urgent?

Mike had seemed to think so. He’d also warned her …

“More ugly stuff is liable to surface inside you before this whole thing is over.”

Riley shivered at the thought. She quickly decided that dwelling on her feelings about time itself hardly seemed productive at the moment. Her own anger and fear could wait. There were plenty of other things to do.

For example, she decided, it would be good to let the witness know they were on their way. This was hardly going to be a raid, and the element of surprise wasn’t needed. Besides, with time so tight it was a good idea to make sure the witness was home.

She punched in the number Chief Belt had given them for Hope Reitman.

When a cheerful woman’s voice answered, Riley introduced herself.

Then she said, “My partners and I would like to ask you a few more questions if we may.”

“About what?” the woman asked.

The question seemed a bit odd to Riley. Wasn’t the answer pretty obvious?

“About the description you gave of the man at the beach this morning,” Riley said.

“Oh,” the woman said.

A short silence followed.

“I answered a lot of questions earlier. I don’t think I left anything out.”

“Even so, we’d like to go over a few things.”

There was another pause, followed by an awkward-sounding laugh.

“OK, I guess,” Hope Reitman said.

“Great. We’ll be there in a few minutes.”

The call ended. Riley already sensed something odd about Hope Reitman, something a bit strange in her voice. But she couldn’t put her finger on just what.

As the drive continued, Riley brought up the composite sketch on her cell phone. Again she looked in vain for any distinguishing features.

From behind her, Jenn said, “He sure looks bland and ordinary.”

Riley agreed. The sketch lacked any sign of individualism or personality.

There has to be something, she thought.

Surely the sketch artist had failed to ask the right question to trigger the witness’s memory.

Riley hoped that she, Bill, and Jenn could do better.

The drive took them into a neighborhood not far from Belle Terre. It was more upscale than the area where they’d found Grant Carson. The address itself was in a gated community. A uniformed man stationed in a little booth at the gate asked who they wanted to see.

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