Black Orchid Girls (Detective Amanda Steele)

THIRTY-ONE

Amanda hustled through the campus with Trent keeping up next to her. It wasn’t hard to determine where the discovery had been made with the bulging crowd.

“Get these students to move back, but don’t let them leave until everyone’s been questioned and their names and numbers collected.” She gave these directions to the first PWCPD officer she saw and shook her head. Part of a uniformed officer’s job was crowd control, and the area was swarming with people who shouldn’t be there. Contamination of the crime scene was at risk.

One officer had established a perimeter and held up a hand as they came toward him. “I’ll need your names and badge numbers before you go any farther.”

Amanda and Trent flashed their badges and gave their names.

“Go on ahead.” He waved them through.

Amanda hurried across the grass toward the edge of the river. Crime Scene wasn’t there yet, and neither was anyone from the medical examiner’s office. But the closer she got to the victim, the more her heart raced. Another young woman killed on her watch, and she’d been powerless to stop it. That implication burrowed deep, but this job could eat you alive if you let it. It was why the importance of detachment was beaten into them at the academy. Career cops learned to preserve themselves emotionally because the alternative was landing in a psychiatric hospital or developing an alcohol or drug dependency. Amanda liked to believe she could balance the emotional aspects of the job, but there were still times when they caught her unaware. Like Zoe.

As much as Amanda had tried to convince herself that Zoe was just an eyewitness and nothing more, Amanda ultimately lost the battle. Detachment hadn’t worked. She wanted to protect Zoe, heal her.

And now another young woman was dead. There would be no healing for her.

Was this all on Amanda’s shoulders? Maybe if she’d put in more hours, sent Zoe to stay with Libby as soon as she’d picked up Chloe’s case on Monday, it would have been solved already and this girl saved.

But she had to shake those thoughts. Could have, would have, should have. None of that mattered now—only the present moment.

The young woman had been stripped and cleaned, and as with Chloe, a black orchid had been placed on her chest. Its petals appeared crisp and fresh, like it had just been plucked. Amanda counted seven stab wounds, and if memory served her correctly, they appeared to be positioned in the same locations as with Chloe.

But it was the girl’s face that had Amanda drawing back. “Jayne Russell,” she muttered, unable to take her eyes off her. Amanda’s penance for acting too slowly. Just yesterday she’d been in the girl’s home and spoken to her. Jayne had been a living and breathing individual. Today, she was a body, a cadaver, a casualty at the hands of a killer. And she’d spent so much of her life putting on a tough front, like nothing could penetrate it, but Amanda had glimpsed some softer aspects to the girl.

Trent blew out a mouthful of air. “What the hell? Is someone out there targeting Chloe and her group of friends?”

Lauren!Amanda rushed to the closest officer. “I need you to find a Lauren Bennett and bring her to me. If she’s not on campus, try her house.” She gave him the address.

“Will do.” He hurried off.

Amanda looked over her shoulder, doing so as casually and covertly as possible. Chloe and Jayne’s killer could be among the crowd. But at first glance no one stood out—unless she counted Luke Hogan and Stephanie Piper, who were on the outskirts of a throng of people. She turned to Trent. “We need to start focusing on people who disliked both girls.”

“That could be Ashton Chambers.”

“Jayne was involved with that high school prank, but Ashton was locked up last night.”

“What about Luke Hogan? He probably knew Jayne’s opinion of him, maybe even suspected she had pointed us in his direction for Chloe’s murder.”

“Which could also mean that Lauren is in danger.” She glanced at Luke again, but he was talking with Stephanie and not looking their way.

Trent put a hand on her shoulder. “That officer will get Lauren.”

She met Trent’s eyes and nodded. He had a way of calming and grounding her. She took a few deep breaths, and he removed his hand. “And Luke is right here. If he’s the killer, he’s within sight,” she said. “But have you heard from that Metro PD detective? Maybe we should give that cold case more attention.” She just hoped she hadn’t dropped the ball there—and more importantly, that Lauren Bennett was safe. Two out of three roommates murdered. Horrid odds.

“I can call him and follow up.”

“Thanks.” Just when she’d started to relax, easing back from suspecting a serial killer at work, this happened. Another student dead. “Be sure to get all the details, crime scene photos, a list of suspects. See if there’s any connection to Geoffrey Michaels University. We’re going to want to talk to Luke and Stephanie again. Also, we need to find out who discovered the body and have a talk with that person too.”

“Yep. Cover all the bases.” He smiled, patient. He didn’t need her to give him the blow-by-blow of their next steps but talking them out made her feel in control—far more than she was.

Trent got on the phone, and Amanda saw CSIs Blair and Donnelly coming toward them, holding evidence collection kits. Donnelly had a camera around her neck. The investigators offered Amanda and Trent a brief greeting and got to work.

“This can’t be happening!” It was a man’s voice, and it had Amanda turning around. It was Craig Perkins, senior associate dean. Gone was the initial image of a man who was calm and unshakable. She was curious why he was so upset this time—was it the victim or the fact another of his students had been murdered? Both? Or the fact this body had been found on his campus?

She trudged across the grass toward him. Trent held back, now talking on the phone. Hopefully to the actual detective and not his voicemail.

“Dean Perkins,” she said, “I appreciate this is quite a shock, but I’m going to need to ask that you please calm down for the sake of the students.”

“Do you know who it is? I mean rumors are going around, but I’m not sure if it’s true.”

“At this point, I can’t confirm,” she responded. “But if you’ll go back to your office, we’ll catch up with you shortly. We will have questions for you.”

He hesitated, his eyes peering over Amanda’s shoulders to the body. Eventually, he consented with a nod and walked off without a word.

Sergeant Malone came to the perimeter and was let through quickly. He beelined straight for her. Trent was still on the phone, so she’d take that as a good sign he’d gotten through to the detective.

“We were in such a hurry to get here. Do you know who found the girl?” Amanda asked him.

He nodded, slipped a hand into his jacket, and pulled out a small notebook from his shirt pocket. He opened it and said, “Lauren Bennett.”

Trent joined them just then. He shot a knowing look in Amanda’s direction.

“I take it this means something to you two?” Malone asked, eyebrows raised.

“You could say that. She’s the roommate of both victims. Where is she now?”