One Last Breath Read online

  “Any way to know if it was sexually motivated?” Tara asked.

  Detective Wade shook his head. “We’ll have to wait until forensics reviews the body in the lab.”

  Tara nodded. She knew the statistics. Strangulation was firmly associated with sexually motivated murders, especially in young female victims. The absence of such was rare. And even more rare was strangulation by ligature, but they would have to wait until the body was in the lab for forensics to get an idea of what the actual murder weapon was.

  “And no one saw anything?” Warren asked.

  It was a question both of them had. It seemed odd that on such a popular beach, with houses not too far from where the bodies were found, no one had seen someone dragging a body.

  Detective Wade shook his head. “We spent all this morning going door to door. We didn’t get any leads.”

  “Whoever it was was a careful planner. They must’ve come in the dead of night,” Patel added.

  Tara looked around her. It was certainly possible not to be seen. The houses were far enough back that someone could easily be hidden among the beach grass and curvature of the dunes. Plus, in the middle of the night, when everyone would be asleep, it was even more likely.

  “Did you speak to family yet?” Tara asked.

  “Not yet.” Patel shook his head. “We just told them about the news a few hours ago. They were of course really shaken up. We wanted to give them a bit of time.”

  Tara certainly understood, but she also knew that they could hold some answers about their daughter’s last few days that would be crucial in finding her killer. She hated having to interview family. It was always so delicate, and it was always difficult to watch someone in so much pain, especially since she understood it so well. However, she knew that the only way to help them now would be to get justice.

  “What about her place of work?” Warren asked.

  Wade nodded. “When she went missing, but we couldn’t get any leads there either.”

  Tara turned to Warren. “Start with the family?”

  Warren nodded, before thanking the sheriff and Detective Wade. Tara followed him as he turned to the car. They both didn’t want to waste another moment.

  Chapter Seven

  Tara sat in the passenger’s seat, staring down at a stack of documents in her lap. They were the case files of Alyssa White. Warren had retrieved them from headquarters before he left for Dewey Beach. He hadn’t had a chance to go through them yet, he had told her, but he handed them to her once they got in the car. Now she flipped through them, eagerly reading.

  Every once in a while, Tara would look up, but Warren’s eyes remained steady on the road. Warren had barely said anything to her since they left the beach. Part of her wondered if it was because she was short with him when he asked about her trip to New York. But she also wondered if he was afraid Tara would ask about him and Dr. Harris, or if his reasoning had to do with both. Tara didn’t mind the silence; in fact, she rather liked it. She didn’t want to talk about New York.

  However, seeing the awkward exchange between Warren and Dr. Harris made Tara realize how little she knew about Warren. Yet he knew so much about her. All he’d ever mentioned about his family was that he wasn’t married and that he lived alone. He had told her he was married once, but he had never expanded beyond that. He never mentioned children. It made her feel suddenly exposed. She had told Warren about her mother—something she had told very few people in her life. Yet here he was, completely guarded.

  She wanted to ask about Dr. Harris, but the papers in her hand felt heavy, and she knew she had limited time to review them. She looked back down.

  The details of Alyssa White’s disappearance were similar to the second victim’s. Both went missing as they walked home alone. However, unlike the second victim, Alyssa White was not walking home from work. In fact, she wasn’t a local at all. She was on vacation with her family, Tara had read. She had met some friends and played mini golf with them that night. And then she had walked home, alone, never to be seen again.

  Tara finally looked up. “The killer had to have been stalking them,” she said before reading the details of Alyssa’s case out loud and reiterating how each victim had gone missing while walking home late at night.

  “Whoever it was had to have been watching them. He must’ve known they’d be walking alone.”

  Warren nodded. It was the only logical explanation for how they both vanished at the perfect moment—when no one was around, when it was late. He must’ve been watching them, studying their routine, studying when that perfect moment would be. The thought sent a shiver down Tara’s spine. He was living among them, and they didn’t even know.

  “There must’ve been someone who saw something,” she added as she stared out onto the road ahead of them, dusted with a small layer of sand and littered with broken branches. She knew that if the killer was watching each of the victims, it was likely someone would’ve seen him and thought he seemed a bit suspicious—that his car was parked too long, that he seemed odd, anything.

  Warren agreed. “We’ll see what the family has to say. Then I think we head to the coffee shop that the victim worked at. Who knows, he could’ve even been a customer.”

  Tara nodded. He was right. The killer most likely knew when she was getting off work. He may even have known her hours. And being a customer, having the perfect opportunity to learn more about his victim while not getting caught could’ve been the ultimate thrill.

  Warren turned onto a side street and then pulled over in front of a house. It was the home of the second victim, and Tara could already feel the unease swirl within her belly. She hated this part, interrupting a family’s grieving. But she also knew that families often held more valuable information than they even realized.

  They both stepped out of the car as a gust of wind whirled. Particles of sand danced across the stone driveway. The house was small but charming. It was a pale yellow, with a blue front door and white trim. It had the looks of a quintessential beach house, with surfboards strapped to the hood of a Jeep Wrangler in the driveway. Tara wondered how long those surfboards had been strapped there. They had fallen leaves scattered over them. She assumed they were placed there before the storm, before their daughter went missing, before her body was found. The thought gave Tara an unsettled feeling. They had clearly been too stricken with grief even to consider taking them off the roof.

  Tara and Warren walked up the front steps, and Tara knocked. Muffled sobbing could be heard coming from inside. But at each knock, the sobbing would die down, replaced by whispering and a sniffle before the door started to open.

  A balding man with sun-kissed skin, wearing khaki shorts and a t-shirt that read Dewey Beach stood in the doorway. His eyes were red and watery. He looked blankly back and forth between Tara and Warren, as if in a daze, and then a look of reality sank in.

  Tara held up her badge. “Do you mind if we just speak with you a moment? I’m so sorry to intrude. We won’t be long.”

  The man’s face sank to the floor as he sighed and opened the door farther without a word. The door opened into the living room, where a woman sat on the couch, comforting a child who looked to be about ten. She held him close to her chest, kissing the top of his head as he sobbed into her shirt. The woman looked up as they entered, her face streaked with pain. It was clear she was trying desperately to hold it all in. Her eyes were bloodshot, her face was red. It looked as if she would burst into tears at the slightest trigger, but she was holding it together for her son. She stroked his head continuously, his face still buried into her chest as she cradled him like a baby and looked at them questioningly.

  The man motioned for them to sit down, and the woman, realizing who they were, looked down at her son.

  “Maybe you should go to your room,” she said to him.

  He looked up and around him as he slid from his mother’s lap and took a seat next to her. His face was swollen and red, his skin as tanned as his parents’. H
is hair was a light brown, but sun-kissed, which brought out bits of fiery red.

  “I want to stay with you,” he cried as he looked up at his mother.

  She looked around the room for approval, at her husband, Tara, and Warren. It was clear she couldn’t bear to tell him no.

  “Is that okay?” she asked.

  Warren looked at Tara and then back at the woman. “As long as it’s okay with you,” he replied as he took a seat on a couch next to the one she was sitting in. Tara sat next to him. The house was all light and beachy, from the white furniture to trinket decorations placed throughout the room. A large wooden antique sailboat sat on the table next to the couch.

  The husband took a seat next to his wife with the boy between them, still clinging to his mother’s arm. The mother and her husband stared at Tara and Warren with concern, cautiously awaiting what they were about to ask in the presence of their son.

  “Your daughter was coming home from work when she went missing, correct?” Tara asked.

  The woman nodded. “She gets out at ten. She’s usually home before ten thirty.”

  “Do you know of anyone who could’ve possibly wanted to harm her?”

  The woman looked from her husband to Tara as she began to stroke her son’s hair again. “No,” she started, her voice cracking at the end. “Reese was loved by everyone. I can’t think of anyone who would want to hurt her.”

  “Did she have a boyfriend?”

  Again, the woman shook her head, and so did her husband.

  “Reese wasn’t allowed to date until recently,” the father added. “Not until she was seventeen, which was only a month ago.” His eyes welled up at his words.

  Tara could easily get the sense that they were protective parents, and at that realization, she lost slight hope in her questioning. If she were right, then it was very possible that their daughter kept things from them, unless she was a complete angel, but Tara knew that most seventeen-year-olds were not.

  “Have you ever suspected that she might’ve been seeing someone without you knowing?” Tara finally asked.

  The parents looked at her with utter shock and surprise. The boy looked up at his mother as if he too knew it was a question no one would dare to ask. Tara could see just from their faces that they could never imagine their daughter would hide something like that.

  “No,” the mother replied as she shook her head with full force and certainty. “Reese would never lie to us. She’s a good girl.”

  The father echoed her words, and Tara felt her last flicker of hope die out. She knew she wasn’t going to get answers here, but she still covered her bases. She asked about their daughter’s friends, about her place of work, if their daughter ever mentioned anyone that seemed off. But each question was only met with a dead-end answer. When they finally exhausted their efforts, Tara and Warren said their goodbyes and stepped outside.

  As they reached the driveway and were far enough out of earshot, Warren whispered, “Anyone who thinks a seventeen-year-old wouldn’t lie to her strict parents is a bit delusional, don’t you think?”

  Tara nodded. They were her exact thoughts. “I say we check out the coffee shop she worked at. See if anyone came in there.”

  After all, they both knew it was the last place she was seen alive. At her suggestion, Warren nodded, reached for the door handle, and slid into his car. He didn’t even skip a beat, as if Tara echoed his thoughts as well.

  Chapter Eight

  Tara and Warren walked down the sidewalk, which was still littered with fallen tree limbs and branches, as Warren ended a call. He had been speaking with Dr. Harris, getting the results of the dental records. As he placed the phone into his pocket, he turned to Tara.

  “They match. It’s definitely Alyssa,” he said.

  It was a piece of information they all already assumed, but now they knew for sure, and it was only confirmation that the killer would most likely strike again. Two random killings a year a part. It was just the beginning, Tara assumed, and it made her feet quicken instinctively as they walked toward the coffee shop.

  The road was mostly quiet, except for a cleaning crew collecting the remnants of the storm and a street cleaner that swept the road ahead of them. The stores were lined on a long strip, and at the end, in the distance, they could see the ocean.

  When they reached the shop, a Closed sign hung from the inside of a large glass door, but Tara could see someone moving about within. She knocked. A woman with a mop in hand soon swung open the door.

  “We’re closed,” she muttered. “We don’t open for another half hour.” Tara assumed she was in her thirties. She was tired-looking but still young and youthful. She was tall and slender, with piercing green eyes and a loose braid that fell just past her shoulders. She held the mop in one hand, slightly leaning on it, and heaved a tired sigh as she flicked her braid behind her shoulder.

  Tara held out her badge, and life burst into the woman’s face. It was a look of confusion and concern. But then understanding blossomed, and her face morphed into horror.

  “Come in,” she said before opening the door wide and then leading the way. Once they stood in the store, her hand moved to her mouth. “What, is it Reese?”

  She clearly hadn’t known that the body was found, and now Tara would have to break the news to her.

  Tara nodded. “Her body was found on the beach this morning.”

  The woman gasped, closing her eyes tight.

  “Did you know Reese well?” Tara questioned.

  The woman looked up at her as she steadied herself. She nodded. “I’m the manager here. I’ve worked with Reese for the past year.” She turned to the counter behind her, staring at it longingly. “She was such a sweet girl,” she added before bringing her hand to her mouth again in utter horror. She shook her head again, this time in disbelief. “Did you find who did it?”

  “Not yet, that’s why we’re here.”

  The woman heaved another sigh.

  Tara reminded her that Reese went missing after leaving work, and the woman nodded. She had already been informed when the cops first came in after Reese first went missing.

  “Did she happen to mention where she was going? Did she mention anyone?” Tara asked.

  The woman shook her head again, her eyes falling to the floor as she tried to recall. “No, I already told the police this, though.” She looked back up, meeting Tara’s eyes. “It was late when she left. She said she was just going home, and I believed it.” She paused for a moment. “She has really strict parents, you know.”

  The woman’s words only confirmed Tara’s suspicion, but based on her impression, Tara was starting to think that maybe Reese was as obedient as her parents believed.

  She asked a few more questions: if she was aware that Reese had a boyfriend, if Reese ever seemed frightened by anyone, if she could think of anyone who would want to harm her. But each time, the woman would just shake her head.

  Warren looked at Tara. He could feel defeat surfacing.

  “What time did Reese finish her shift?” he finally asked.

  She thought for a moment. “I think she left here about eight thirty. The store closed at eight—so yes, she would’ve been out of here by eight thirty.”

  Tara and Warren met eyes. Her parents had said ten. Why would she give her parents that time? She was seeing someone. Tara was sure of it.

  “Had anyone ever come in here to visit Reese? Anyone who may have been a bit flirtatious?” Tara asked.

  The woman chuckled a bit at her question, and then her face fell again at the remembrance that Reese was no longer alive, that the memory was now only that.

  “There’s Brian,” she started, pain tainting her expression. “He’s a lifeguard at Rehoboth. He lives around here, though. A couple years older than Reese. He comes in here every day, and he definitely had some sort of crush on her. I think he came in just to see her because he always seemed to come in when she was working. I always thought they would be cute together—bu
t you know, her parents would never allow it.”

  “And what did Reese do?”

  The woman shrugged. “She’d flirt back. She definitely had something for him too, but she was quiet about it. I think they did exchange numbers at one point.”

  “When was that?”

  “A couple months ago, I’d say.”

  Tara looked toward Warren, and she could see the urgency in his eyes. They clearly both had the same thought. Could Reese and the lifeguard have had a secret relationship? Did she lie to her parents about when her shift ended so she could meet him?

  “Do you know where we can find him?” Tara asked.

  The woman turned to a clock behind her and then nodded. “He’s probably at Rehoboth Beach by now. The lifeguards have been working on cleaning up the area.”

  Tara thanked her, and she and Warren were soon out the door, now with a lead and a newfound purpose in their step.

  ***

  Tara and Warren pulled up along the boardwalk and stepped out into the sandy road. A row of businesses lined the long wooden pathway, creating a barrier between them and the beach behind.

  Tara and Warren walked up the stairs and briskly down the boardwalk, scanning the beach below it for any sign of lifeguards. It was early still, the beach and boardwalk were still in need of minor repairs, and the businesses were still closed. The beach was closed too. They were the only people walking about, but every once in a while, a jogger would breeze past them.

  “There,” Warren said sharply.

  Tara looked out onto the beach, and just a few yards in front of them, she could see people in red shorts moving about. They were the lifeguards.

  Tara and Warren were soon on the beach as well, moving toward them. Their presence was quickly noticed, and one of the lifeguards looked up and said something to the others that Tara couldn’t hear from afar.