Chapter 43

Darrell had sat and stared at the board in the task force room for hours trying to find the one clue that would take them to their ‘Mastermind.’ The clue seemed elusive to him. Darrell closed his eyes and rubbed his face with his hands, trying to relieve the pressure that was building behind his eyes. When the young officer tapped him on the shoulder Darrell realized he had been asleep.

“What time is it?” Darrell snapped trying to recover from his unexpected sleep.

“It’s 3:30am sir.” The officer replied. “The reason I woke you sir, is that there has been a new discovery.”

“How many?” Darrell asked.

“Four”

“Where?” Darrell blurted out impatiently.

“Same place sir.”

Darrell shook his head and got up slowly, feeling the ache in his thighs told him that he had been sleeping for at least an hour in a sitting position. As he walked out of the task force room he met up with Agent Talon.

“Ride together?” Darrell asked.

The Agent nodded and the two of them took off for the crime scene. When the men got there, a slew of officers were standing around waiting for things to do. As Darrell approached the officers he heard a large vehicle pulling up behind him. When he turned to look he saw that it was the large Medical Examiner’s van. Darrell was grateful that the M.E. was there quickly. The faster he could get these women taken care of the better things would be.

Agent Talon instructed six of the officers to erect a large square screen of blue tarps around where the women were. The last thing they needed was a nosy media person getting photos of these victims.

As the Detective and the FBI agent looked over the dead women, Darrell thought he saw one of them moving ever so slightly. Darrell watched more intently than before.

Darrell suddenly screamed,

“Hey, get EMS here NOW! This one is alive!”

Darrell took off his jacket and draped it over the quivering woman. He held her hand, rubbing it ever so gently.

“Are you Bridgette?” Darrell whispered to her. He kept a calm voice.

“Squeeze my hand Bridgette. You are safe. My name is Darrell. Your mom sent me to find you.”
Darrell kept repeating this to the girl he was holding. He instinctively knew this girl was Bridgette Westholm.

“She is a novice nun, she would pray, she would repent, and she would pray.” Darrell kept thinking to himself.

As EMS worked on the woman she had tried to wake up, Darrell could see that she was trying. He kept watching as the paramedics did what they needed to so they could transport her to the hospital. When the ambulance was gone, Darrell’s focus changed back to the task at hand.

Dr. Deveroux was starting to assess each of the three women that were lying on the cold earth in front of them. The scene had been similar to the others. The women were lying side by side, hairless, lifeless and dead. As Dr. Deveroux and Agent Tallon moved and lifted each woman the missing parts revealed themselves.

The first body had a heart and a tongue beneath it. The second had a spleen and eyelids beneath it and the third had a single rib bone beneath it. Agent Tallon made notes as the Doctor worked away and collected all of the body parts. When the Doctor was done he nodded at the Agent and then proceeded to load his cargo into his large van to take the women to the morgue. Darrell had come over somewhere in the middle of the loading process and Agent Tallon updated him on what was found.

As Dr. Deveroux drove slowly away from the crime scene a small smile crept across his face. He was proud of his work, both kinds of his work.

Darrell watched as the van drove away, Agent Tallon grabbed Darrell by the arm and pointed to the tracks of the van that had just driven away.

“Notice anything?”

“Not really, I’m going to the hospital, you gonna come?” Darrell replied.

“No, I’m gonna stay here.” Agent Tallon said as he got on the phone to call the other Agents about his new discovery.

As Darrell started walking toward his car he noticed what the Agent had motioned to. Matching tire tracks. Darrell also wondered if the video cameras they put up had caught any of the activity that had taken place. He felt excited now, but first things first. Living victims take precedent so he put those thoughts to the back of his head as he wanted to get to the hospital.