The Killing Tide by Kate Bold

Author:Kate Bold [Bold, Kate]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Kate Bold
Published: 2021-10-25T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

Down at the station, Alexa watched as Rebstock showed her and Stuart the security camera footage.

“The cameras are all high up on the buildings,” the homicide detective said, fiddling with a desktop computer. “So they’re all long shots. The killer took care not to come close to any ATMs or doorway cams.”

Scoped out the scene even for this outdoor attack, Alexa thought. This guy knows what he’s doing.

The video came on. It showed the parking lot in black and white, Billings’s vehicle parked almost in the center, with only a few other cars scattered throughout the lot.

The state prosecutor came into view, weaving across the lot, obviously drunk.

After a moment, another figure came into view. It looked like a man, but it was hard to tell because the figure wore a hooded sweatshirt, along with sweatpants, sneakers, and carried a large gym bag. A casual viewer would assume he was coming back from a late-night gym session.

Alexa guessed the height at about five-eight, although it was hard to tell given the angle and distance. A bit stocky. Walked in that ponderous way stocky men do. The figure followed about ten yards behind Billings.

“Look how he keeps directly behind the victim,” Stuart said. “In Iraq, locals psyching themselves up for a suicide stabbing would try doing that to us.”

“Suicide stabbing?” Alexa asked.

“Not everyone had access to a suicide belt. You had to have connections to the insurgency or one of the Islamist militias to get that. So some people would decide to do it themselves. Tuck a butcher knife under their shirt, follow right behind us, and attack if we weren’t paying enough attention. They knew they’d get killed, no way you can take out an entire squad that way, but they hoped to kill or maim at least one of us. Hard to stop a man who wasn’t afraid to die.”

Alexa shuddered. The things this man had seen. It put her own suffering in perspective. While she had to deal with the worst of humanity on a day-to-day basis, she got to go home to a loving kid and a pair of horses. What did he get to go home to? A barracks full of homesick young men and women who got rockets launched at them in their sleep.

She set that thought aside and studied the footage. The killer, just as Stuart had noted, walked directly behind and about ten yards distant from Billings, who was too drunk to notice him. Many sober men would probably not have noticed him either. A woman would have, but women are more attentive when walking alone at night.

Billings got in the car and closed the door. The killer increased his pace, then slowed, coming up on the back of the car.

Why not rush for the door? Didn’t he worry Billings might lock it?

The killer stopped for a moment, then looked around. The deep hood kept his or her features in shadow.

“I checked every camera. No angle gives a view of the face,” the homicide detective grumbled.

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