First to Die

Chapter37

FRESH AIR FILLED MY LUNGS as soon as we stepped outside. Chris Raleigh, Hartwig, and I walked down the dirt road. The grid of the valley floor stretched out below us. Rows of fallow grapes hugged each side. We were silent. Shellshocked. A scary idea shot through me. We were a thousand feet up, totally isolated. Something didn't sit right. "Why here, Hartwig?" "How about, it's remote and no one ever comes up here." "What I meant," I said, "is why here? This particular spot. Who knows about this place?" "There's isolated property all up and down these slopes. The consortiums have eaten up the valley floor. These properties take more work than capital. Labors of love. Check the listings. Dozens of them dry up every season. Anyone around here knows places like this." "The first killings were in the city. Yet he knew exactly where to come. Who owns this plot?" Hartwig shook his head. "Dunno." "I'd find out. And I would also make another pass through their room. Someone had them targeted. Knew all their plans. Travel brochures, business cards, see if there's anything from any limousine services." From below, I heard the sound of a large vehicle climbing up the dirt road. I caught sight of a white San Francisco Medical Examiner's Bronco pulling to a stop. Claire Washburn was behind the wheel. I had asked her to come- in the hope of matching evidence from both crime scenes. I opened her door and said gratefully, "Thanks for coming, sweetie." Ckire solemnly shook her head. "I only wish they had turned up differently. It's a call I never like to receive." She pulled her heavy frame out of the car with surprising ease. "I have a meeting later back in town, but I thought I'd look over the crime scene, introduce myself to the presiding onsite." I introduced Claire to Frank Hartwig. "Your MEs Bill Toll, isn't he?" she asked with authority. He blinked warily, clearly nervous. First, he had Raleigh and me here as consults. But he had asked us in. Now the San Francisco M.E. pulls up. "Relax, I already patched through to his cell phone," Claire said. "He's expecting me." She spotted the medical team standing over the yellow bags. "Why don't I go take a look." Trying to hold on to some sense of order, Hartwig followed close behind. Raleigh came and stood next to me. He looked tired. "You okay?" I asked. He shook his head. He kept his eyes fixed on the shed where the bodies had been dumped. I remembered how he had steadied me at the morgue. "Been a while since you took in a really bad one?" "That's not it," he said, with the same unsettled look. "I want you to know… that wherever this leads, it's not about interfacing with City Hall. Or containment, Lindsay. I want this guy." I was already there in my head. This wasn't about the big collar. Or my shot at lieutenant. Or even fighting Negli's. We stood there side by side for a while. "Not that either of us," he finally said, breaking the silence, "is in much of a position to be the last line of defense for the institution of marriage."