TWENTY-SIX

Portia stood next to Livy Bach while the crime scene techs continued their careful work, uncovering the latest victim. One small sneaker jutted through the soft dirt and the sight of it broke Portia’s heart. She dreaded the moment when the face would be uncovered, sickened by the thought that she would recognize it. She hadn’t heard back from Jim, so she felt relatively certain it wasn’t Finn. But just as certainly, she knew it would be someone who’d been at the table with them the previous night, eating pizza and celebrating their victory.

“Jesus, he’s escalating at too fast a rate,” Livy muttered under her breath. “What do you think is spurring him on?”

Portia couldn’t respond. Her mouth felt frozen, her tongue powerless to speak. She prayed whatever random prayers came into her head, begged a merciful God that the face hidden by the dirt would be unknown to her. Yet even as she prayed, she knew that this latest victim was meant for her, not for Sheldon Woods.

The techs were almost forty-five minutes into their task when one of them called for a light. A beam was shined into the channel that had been dug, and Portia had to force herself to look.

“Take him out carefully,” the assistant from the ME’s office said. “See if he has anything on him we can use to identify him with.”

“It doesn’t matter,” Portia heard herself say. “I know who he is.”

Her hands were shaking and it took her several tries to dial the number on her cell phone. When Jim picked up, he said, “I was just coming inside to call you back. Justin McAfee is missing.”

“I know,” she said softly. “We just found him.”

It was a full minute before he could respond. When he did, he merely asked, “Are you sure? You’re positive?”

“I saw him” was all she could say without breaking down.

“Jesus,” he said, his voice trembling. “What do I tell Finn?”

“Right now, you don’t tell him, or anyone else, anything. Let the police contact the family. For now, all you can do is hug your nephew and keep him close tonight.” She thought for a moment, then added, “Tonight and every night until we find the killer.”

“There’s a group of volunteers forming in the neighborhood to go look for Justin. Dani is getting ready to go out and join them.”

“Let her go, Jim. Let the police handle this. Justin’s family needs to be told in the right way.”

“The right way?” he asked. “What’s the right way to tell someone their child has been murdered?”

When she could not respond, he said, “Keep in touch, Portia.”

“I will,” she said before she realized he’d already hung up.

She walked back to the site. “Keep digging,” she told the techs, even though something told her that no other body had been buried in this spot. It was too much of a coincidence that Sheldon Woods would have buried one of his victims, ten or twelve years ago, in the very park where Portia had watched Jim’s nephew and his friends play ball.

This was personal. This one was meant for her.

She walked to the far end of the park and leaned over, retching until her throat hurt. When she thought she had control, she took her phone from her pocket and called Jim back.

“The restaurant where we ate last night with the kids,” she said. “What was the name of it?”

“Torro’s Pizza.”

“He was watching last night. He had to have seen us there, had to have seen the boys.” She swallowed hard, unable to put into words that the killer had seen Justin talking to Portia. In her mind’s eye, she saw herself ruffling the boy’s hair, and wished she could go back to that moment, and not touch him. Not speak to him. She pushed the wish from her mind. “Maybe Torro’s has a security camera.”

“Good idea.”

“Only if he’s on it.”

When she returned to the site, she asked the local chief of police if he’d send someone to Torro’s to ask about a camera and to obtain the tape if one existed. He dispatched an officer immediately.

“We don’t have things like this happening,” the chief told Portia, anger radiating off him in waves. “Guess I won’t be able to say that anymore.”

He smacked a fist into his open palm.

“God help this guy if I find him before you people do.” He was almost growling. “I want a few minutes alone with him.”

“You’ll have to get in line, Chief,” she told him.

“You really think there’s another body in there?” he asked.

“There has been every other time,” she told him. “This time, I don’t think so, but we need to be sure.”

She walked away before he could ask her what made this time different.

The ME arrived and transported the body. It had been all Portia could do not to touch the boy’s sweet face as he lay on the ground.

She left without even telling Livy she was going. She knew Jim’s street address and knew the town was a small one. She figured she could find his house easily enough. She had to apologize for bringing this terrible thing to his door, for tainting their relationship. She slowly turned onto his street. There was a crowd gathered in the front yard of a house near the corner. She knew why they were there, and she looked straight ahead, searching the mailboxes for the number of the house Jim shared with his sister and his nephew.

She found his car parked in the driveway of a 1920s-style four-square with a wide front porch. A row of holly trees grew along the drive, and beyond the Jag, a small compact was parked near a two-story garage. Portia parked out front, and when she reached the front door and raised her hand to ring the bell, she saw that her hand was trembling.

“It’s because of me, you understand that, right?” she told Jim when he came to the door. “Annie said the killer might be trying to get my attention and I brushed her off because it was too terrible to think about. I should have thought it through.”

“Portia, for God’s sake, come inside.” He took her arm and led her into the front room.

“I didn’t think it through. I never should have been around those boys. He saw me with Justin…he was watching and he saw me…”

“Don’t do this to yourself.” Jim shook her gently. “You’re not responsible for what this man did.”

Dani came down the steps from the second floor.

“You brought this here?” she asked. “This happened because of you?”

“Dani, stop,” Jim said. “You don’t know what you’re saying.”

“You knew about this killer and her involvement with him, and you brought her around my son?” White with rage, Dani faced her brother. “It could have been Finn. You’re supposed to be protecting us, and you bring a child-killer into our lives.”

She turned to Portia and started to say something, but instead shook her head and turned back to her brother. “I’m going back to stay with Jeanette tonight. The police just left. Her husband’s traveling and they haven’t been able to get in touch with him. I told her I’d stay with her until he gets back. Finn’s asleep in his room. He doesn’t know about Justin and I don’t want him to know until I can tell him myself.”

She brushed past Portia and went through the front door.

“She’s right, you know.” Portia’s eyes met his. “He’s been watching me, so he knows about you. He’s watched you, so he knows about Finn.”

Jim reached for her but she backed away.

“He was going to go from me to you to Finn. Somehow, he got Justin instead.”

She turned toward the door. He tried to stop her, but she pushed him away. “Danielle is right. I brought this here.” She shoved past him and went out the open front door.

“Portia, don’t leave.” He followed her to her car.

“Stay with Finn, Jim. Don’t let him out of your sight. This isn’t over yet. He’s still out there. If he’s followed you, he knows how to find Finn.” She shook off his hands. “I need to find him first.”