Chapter 26

I watched as she knelt down and arranged the flowers in the vase and carefully placed it in front of the stone. As she spoke, she never took her eyes from the stone in front of her.

"She was a beautiful child, but always seemed to get herself into trouble. I suppose she was a daddy's girl because he always came to her rescue. I remember once when she got stuck up a tree trying to save some old tom cat. We had a hell of job getting her down and all she did was scream that we had to save the cat. Dam thing climbed down on his own and when she ran up to him, he spat and scratched at her. She said that was his way of saying thank you to her"

"She sounds like someone who saw the best in people"

"Yes, she did"

"What was she good at"

"Drawing, give her crayons and paper and she would be occupied for hours. She was working in the city when she disappeared, interior designer, but she still enjoyed drawing"

"I'm sure that she knows how much you loved her"

"I hope so. I feel so guilty that she left us, it broke my heart"

"I'm sure that she's resting peacefully now"

"I hope so. Thank you for talking with me, it helps for me to talk to someone"

"I'm glad I could help"

"You take care, you're a pretty young woman. I'm sure you have people who love you"

I didn't reply but my thoughts went to my Mum and Dad and Grandma. I couldn't imagine the pain that this woman had gone through and knew that it would break me if anything happened to them, especially something like this.

"Now, I'd like to talk to Emma on my own if you don't mind"

"Of course not"

I turned and walked away, leaving the woman knelt in front of the stone. I could hear her voice but not what she was saying, her tone though seemed almost conversational. I was so deep in thought as I walked, feeling so saddened at what I'd come across. The pain that that woman had gone through was unimaginable. How could someone do that to another human being, how could they take a woman's life like that and not even consider the effect it would have on family and friends.

In some ways it brought home to me the reason why my mother was always trying to make me stop doing my job and maybe why Joe always had stomach problems. I'd never really thought about the impact of what I did or the close calls I'd had on the people around me. The problem was that I just seemed to end up in the middle of things, like now.

I hadn't done anything that I was aware of that attracted people to want to hurt me. Maybe Ranger was right in trying to make me be better at the job. Carrying a loaded gun and having trackers was probably something I needed to do willingly and as for training, well that just made sense now. It could save my life in the future and save the anguish that I would cause other people to suffer.

I was in a very contemplating mood as I stepped from the small path and onto the track. I breathed a sigh of relief as I realized my cabin was just a short walk along the track so increased my speed to get there.

I hadn't realized how long I had been gone for, because sat on the worktop was a dish with food in. It was still hot, so I'd probably just missed Mandy. I didn't bother with a plate I just took the foil lid off and started to use a fork. Less washing up to do. I had to say that the meal was unusual, and I was having trouble trying to decide what it was. It seemed to be a mixture of fish, rice and vegetables in a spicy sauce, but it tasted good to me. Once I'd finished and washed the dish, I decided to do some stretching and then shower and get ready for bed.

Laying in bed I went through what I'd found out about Emma. She'd been in the woods for 3 ½ years before anyone had found her and if I remembered the date, 2014, then that meant that she'd died not long after she disappeared. I wondered how someone had found her and when that was, obviously more than nine months ago, and that her body was unrecognizable meant that either it had degraded badly or the person who killed her made it like that.

That was something Ranger hadn't got around to telling me. I was sure those details would be in the files from Daniel. On that thought I drifted to sleep, which was a really bad idea.

I awoke feeling scared for the first time that I'd been here and as my breathing slowed down, I put it down to the nightmares that had plagued me. I was starting to get annoyed that what happened with Jack was making me so weak. Surely by now the dreams should be disappearing. That's what usually happened. Something would happen to me that had me scared shitless and I'd dream about it for a few nights but then they'd disappear. The only one that seemed to recur was of Ranger being shot in my apartment and that only happened when I was stressed out.

Maybe the other incidents had been put to rest when the culprits were caught or dead. Ramirez was the first and let's not forget Abruzzi and the tricks he tried on me in order to scare me. Maybe denial had played its part and the need to cover up how I was feeling.

Joe had never had any sympathy for me when I would wake him up during the night, another reason I could put in the column of why he wasn't the right man for me. His usual response was that if I didn't get into such dangerous situations then it wouldn't happen to me and giving up my job was a way to stop them. But come on, Abruzzi had nothing to do with my job, I was doing my neighbor a favor by trying to find her daughter and granddaughter.

As I calmed and felt myself getting more control of my emotions I looked over to the clock. It was only 6am, early for me but not for Ranger, he would be in the gym at this moment doing his workout and probably trying to find a way to bring me in. Yeah, I was running from so many people it made my head spin. Trying to find out who was after me though was turning out more difficult than I'd thought.

Okay, I knew the police were looking for me and probably Ranger was because they thought that I had killed Hayes, it was the other ones that were eluding me at the moment. Coming across that memorial site yesterday and talking to Emma's mother brought about two conflicting emotions. One was that this person needed finding and stopping and the other was the futility in thinking I could do it.

I wasn't one to give up though and I had to let that trait about me win on this. Though whether it was stubbornness and that need to succeed that drove me I didn't know. With that final thought I pulled myself from the bed and dressed ready to go and do my marathon exercises. I took the clock with me this time and to set myself some targets of improving the time it took to complete the circuit that had evolved.

I was hot and sweaty as I looked at the time for second time this morning, smiling to myself that the second time around the circuit had been faster. I didn't feel enthused about doing it again and looked up at those bars that had so far beaten me. As I cooled down. I felt the need to look around from where I was sat. Seeing nothing different I shook the feeling from me and proceeded to jump up and cling with both hands to the first bar.

Hanging there I stretched out my first hand and grabbed hold of the second bar, trying to get a good enough grip that I could bring my other hand across to reach it. Once done I did the same for the next bar but could feel myself tiring from the effort. I knew I had to get to the fourth bar to beat my previous attempts. As I hung with a hand on two bars a sound had me losing concentration, a sound that was a voice from the side.

I hadn't heard exactly what was said but my immediate reaction was to lose my grip and fall to the ground. I scooted on my backside until my back hit a post, fear radiating through me. Fear that someone had found me.

"They're called monkey bars for a reason. You need to swing across, get some momentum to help you move across"

I looked up seeing a man stood in front of me and immediately started to breathe quickly. What was the saying, oh yeah, flight or fight, but I wasn't too sure I was in a position to do either.

"Hey, I didn't mean to scare you"

Okay maybe he was just some random guy who walked around here, I didn't have sole rights to being here. I looked as he offered his hand toward me not really sure what he was up to.

"Let me show you instead"

He seemed to have a limp as he walked to the other end of the bars but could easily reach up to the bars. I watched fascinated as he swung his whole body, almost swinging back slightly before moving onto the next bar. His movement was fluid, so I was sure he'd done this before, and it didn't take long before he dropped to the ground in front of me. I did notice though that the landing must have caused him some discomfort as a grimace passed across his face.

"Now you try it"

This time I took the outstretched hand and allowed him to pull me up from the ground. His hold was solid around mine, but he let go as soon as I was stood up. I'm sure he muttered something like "Progress" as he stood back to the side watching me. I jumped up and grabbed hold of the first bar and used my body to swing back, as I moved forward, I reached out for the second bar aware that because my body was still moving my second hand easily joined it.

I repeated the process again, finding it so much easier and surprised myself when not only did I pass the fourth bar easily but went on to reach the end of the section. I was so happy at having done that I was ready to do a happy dance once my feet hit the ground, but the sound of clapping had me spinning around.

I'd almost forgotten about the man stood there because I'd been so excited that I had beaten those damn bars.

"Brilliant. Are there any other sections you're struggling with?"

I pondered as I looked around but came to the conclusion that I could do most of them, maybe my technique was a bit random, but I wasn't too worried about that.

"I don't think so"

I turned to see him smiling at me, which immediately made me feel vulnerable.

"Who the hell are you, do you work here?"

"No. I came with a group of boys for Mandy to work her magic on"

"The ones from the city?"

So sue me, I was curious what reason he could have for being here with them. Maybe my face asked the question because he was quick to give me an explanation.

"I support the group that works with them. They needed an extra adult for supervision so seeing as I can't work at the moment I agreed to help"

"Supervision?"

"You have no idea the trouble those little shits can get into even out here in the middle of nowhere"

I laughed at the exasperation that came through in his voice, because maybe I could.

"Did you never go to summer camp and try your best to avoid the adults and do things you weren't meant supposed to do?"

"Yeah, I suppose you're right"

I liked that he'd laughed as he said that, and I was a little more comfortable talking to him now.

"So have you lost one?"

"I hope not. It's my morning off as Mandy has them all confined to one of the big rooms. I thought I'd take a look around and try to get this damn leg of mine a bit more mobile. What's your excuse?"

"Me?"

"Yes. What are you doing out here on your own?"

"I needed time out, you know some time to myself"

Well that was true, the fact that it was enforced on me wasn't something he needed to know. I looked back at him, the silence becoming a bit heavy as we stood there. He looked at the clock resting against the post and then at his own watch, as if to be sure what the time was.

"I have to get back for lunch time. It was nice meeting you"

"Yeah you as well. Good luck with the kids"

"I'll probably need it"

I watched as he turned and started to walk, well limp across to the path. Any other time and I was sure I would be looking at him and eyeing him up. He was a good looking guy, almost Rangeman good looking, with what seemed to be a hot body. Come on, I wasn't totally dead when I saw the muscles of his arms and stomach working when he was showing me how to cross the bars. In fact, he had the looks, from the pale brown long hair that fell to his shoulders and the clear hazel colored eyes that looked out from under his long lashes.

I couldn't help but compare him to Ranger but knew he wasn't in the same league. It did make me wonder what his job was though and how he'd managed to hurt his leg.

I returned to the cabin to shower and have some lunch and then settled down inside on the couch with the laptop. I reviewed the pages of notes that I had already put together and found the information that I now knew was Emma. Looking at the date that I'd recorded she hadn't been found until 15 months ago, 3 ½ years after she died.

I'd trawled through loads of newspapers in the last few days, looking for where the bodies of women had been found. At first there had been so many, it shocked me just how many there were so after designing a spreadsheet I had recorded any details, so it was easier to look for patterns.

There were lots of patterns to be seen. The age of the women or where they had come from. Their background or job or how they looked but my mind kept coming back to Emma. I wasn't sure why, maybe because I felt finding that stone had been fate, that I was meant to find it because she had been one of the women who had been murdered and wondered if Jinski had been involved with Emma's death.

Having spoken to Emma's mother I started to look for a pattern of where the women had disappeared without a trace and where there was a considerable time to them being found and where the police had never charged anyone. That took my focus down to a considerably smaller number. Though I was sure that a lot still had nothing to do with Jinski or his accomplice.

I copied those names to another search and then used filters to regroup the women. I removed those younger than 25 and older than forty first because there were very few within those age brackets. The next filter was to take out any married women or women who had had children. There were very few who worked in low paid jobs so they went next.

I was left with nearly twenty names and didn't believe that there could be so many and thought back to the search that I'd done on Jinski. If he had been involved with any of the murders, then I could exclude those who went missing before he'd disappeared. I hesitated with that. I mean just because he was still living at home that shouldn't automatically eliminate them.

His accomplice could have started earlier so I removed those prior to ten years ago. That didn't help much so next I looked at their jobs. According to the newspaper reports Emma had been a psychotherapist, but her mother had said she loved to draw. Maybe part of Emma's job was to use art as a therapy?

I narrowed the search to any job that could have anything to do with art. An accountant and a paralegal secretary went, as did a math lecturer and a pharmacist. I continued with that until I was left with eight names.

One of the names I almost removed because she didn't seem to have a job, but what intrigued me was that the woman had been from Trenton. The details in the newspaper had been scant, as though no one was really sure of her importance except her mother who had continued to look for her until her body had been discovered.

That wasn't particularly newsworthy because her cause of death had never really been determined, the coroner came to the conclusion that she got lost in the pine barrens and been ravaged by wild animals. Somehow, I didn't think so.

I lifted my arms up to stretch and re read through the list and information I had now and felt that somehow, I needed to save the work that I'd worked so hard at compiling. I didn't have a memory stick and knew when I left here, I wouldn't be taking the laptop with me and to be honest I didn't want Mandy or anyone else finding the spreadsheet.

I couldn't email it because that meant using my account and I already knew that someone was watching it. I hit my hand against my head as I thought of a really easy solution. I set up an email account under the name of Senna Parker thankful that it didn't already exist and once done I emailed my spreadsheet to that name.

I deleted any work that I'd done, cleared the browser history and then shut down the laptop. I still had all my papers, so I filled up the sink in the kitchen with water and pushed them under the water. It didn't take long for the writing to disappear and the paper to begin to disintegrate. I squeezed it with my hands until it turned into mulch. I was sure that if I fed this to the toilet it wouldn't take many flushes before it had disappeared.

That done I waited for Mandy. Sorely tempted to go on the internet and look for any news on myself. I didn't have the courage to do it, telling myself a search on me, Stephanie Plum, could raise an alert somewhere. Maybe that was a stupid excuse because to be honest I didn't want to read how I was being hunted down as a murderer.

I really hoped that my Mum and Dad didn't want to know what was happening back home, that they were busy enjoying their vacation cutting out any news or gossip that would be floating around. I thought of Val, my sister, and was sure that I groaned. She would be so keen to tattle to our Mum the trouble I was in, just like she had done when we were kids.

I was still sat looking at the closed laptop when Mandy came in. Even though I knew she was coming her entrance still startled me and I must have been looking kind of shocked to her.

"I'm so sorry Laura, hell, usually you're not here when I call. Are you okay girl?"

To be honest my nerves were shaky, but I put it down to Mandy's entrance.

"Yeah, sorry, I was deep in thought and you startled me"

"I'm glad you're here because I got stir fry for you and it's still hot"

I walked over to where she was now, as she placed a dish on the table. I was surprised when she brought over two sets of cutlery and two bowls, pleased that she was staying to eat with me.

"I've got time tonight to stop and eat with you, I reckon you're in need of some company"

"That would nice Mandy"

As I sat down Mandy divided the contents of the dish between the two bowls and I tentatively scooped some onto my fork before putting it into my mouth. The sweet chili taste hit my taste buds and I couldn't help the moan that came from me.

"I see you like it"

"It's amazing. Are these prawns?"

"Sure are. You should have seen those kid's faces when we served this up"

"They didn't like it?"

"Oh no. They loved it. We had them in one of the kitchen areas this afternoon, trying to educate them on food choices. Those kids probably live off hot dogs and burgers"

"Did they appreciate what you showed them?"

"Sure did, especially when we also gave them the cost"

"I suppose it's easier to get take outs"

"That's what one of the adults said who's with them. Though I can tell he don't do no crappy food like that"

I was curious as to what Mandy meant and felt a bit embarrassed that I probably had a diet similar to the kids. I was curious though what she meant about one of the men who was with them.

"Why do you say that?"

"The way he was agreeing with what we said and man, the way he looks, he has one hell of a body, if you get my drift"

I laughed as she said that and the memory of the man I'd met this morning came to my mind. Yeah, he was probably like Ranger in what he ate, making sure he treated his body like a temple by not polluting with fats and sugar.

"So, what have you been up to?"

"I've been going to the ropes every day and think I have it bossed"

"That's great, we weren't too sure how it would work out but maybe we've got the right combination of instilling confidence, but making it challenging"

"I'd agree with that. Mandy, I met a woman yesterday, she was visiting a shrine to her daughter"

"Mrs. Huntley, I haven't seen her for a while"

"Apparently she heard from the police that they caught the man who killed her daughter"

I watched as Mandy lowered her head obviously taking in what I'd said.

"We hadn't had this place long when one of the grounds men found her body. He was in a hell of a state because of that. Seemed her body hadn't done too well in the woods, but he told us that it looked like she'd been cut all over"

"Maybe her mother can move on now"

"I hope so, I'll let Tom know. He'll appreciate knowing"

I took what she said as the final say on the matter and wondered if I'd done right by telling her. It was too late now so as the silence continued, I stood up and started to move the plates from the table. Mandy helped and as we stood in front of the sink our conversation continued with Mandy telling me how this place had been a dream for Barry and how both of them felt good about the work they did with disadvantaged children.

Apparently, the work they did with large corporate companies enabled them to subsidize the other things they wanted to do. The payment for the kids that were here at the moment came through donations and volunteers, like the guy I'd met this morning.

I was actually sorry when Mandy had to leave and was left feeling very restless. I spent some time doing my stretching and continued to try and push from a headstand into a handstand. Okay I was still using the wall for balance, but I could almost do it. Well, that's what I told myself.

I showered and dressed in my usual shorts and T-shirt and sorted out some clothes for the morning, but I was still feeling very restless. Maybe it was meeting that man this morning, after all he'd been the only person I'd spoken with since coming here. No, that was wrong, I'd spoken to Emma's mother, so why was I feeling this way?

Once in bed I tossed and turned finding sleep very elusive. As I lay on my back all I could do was think and that had never been a good thing for me in the past. I suppose I knew that at some stage I would have to move from here but had no idea how I would do that or where I would go.

I was probably feeling hemmed in, like when Ranger tried to put me in lockdown, so knew it was time to start planning. I had no money or any idea of a destination. Maybe Mandy might know of where I could get a job, surely it would be safe enough around here to try that now. Yeah, that decision made me feel a bit better and I felt my eyelids grow heavy.

I woke quickly clutching the sheet to my chest knowing it hadn't been a dream that had woken me. Hell, I'd only just managed to fall asleep so what the hell was it that had disturbed me. I lay perfectly still aware of how fast my heart was beating in my chest and strained to hear anything unusual. My eyes had grown accustomed to the dark and were darting around the room focusing on the window and the door.

A slight sound outside of the window had me rolling quietly from the bed, squatting down and then creeping forward until my back was against the wall underneath the window. That's when I heard the noise again making me flinch as I realized someone was outside trying to ease the window open.

I knew it was securely locked as it was part of my night time routine along with a chair propped up against the handle of the front door. That's when I heard whisper soft voices that were directly outside.