His phone rang and he immediately grabbed it, desperate for a distraction from the horrors he was reading about.
“Bolton.”
“This is Detective Jason Glass with the Shasta County sheriff’s office. You’re handling a Jane Doe found two days ago in Deschutes County, correct?”
Evan pushed Sam Durette’s notes away. “I am. You’re with Shasta County as in Northern California?”
“I am. I’ve been handling a case of a seventeen-year-old runaway who vanished five months ago. Jillian Francis. Her basic description matches your Jane Doe.”
“Which parts of the description?”
“Five foot five, one-twenty-five, blonde hair, green eyes.”
“That lines up.”
“Hair might be dyed a hot pink in places.”
“No, don’t have that. But you said it’d been five months. Any distinguishing marks?” Evan held his breath.
“Two tattoos. A yin-yang on her neck and a daisy—”
“On her ankle.”
The line went silent for a long moment. “Shit. This isn’t how I wanted to find her.”
“What’s the story?”
“Fight with the parents. Took off. A witness claims they saw her get in an eighteen-wheeler at a rest stop. Said the pink hair caught their notice and that she seemed quite young.”
“And somehow she ended up in Oregon. Do you have dental records?”
“I sent them to your email two seconds ago. Along with photos of Jillian and her tattoos.”
Evan made a few clicks with his mouse and a moment later was studying a school photo of a blonde girl. “How old is this school photo?”
“A year ago. She was to start her senior year of high school this month.”
Evan tried to see the girl’s face in his memory of the Jane Doe. Maybe. “Gotta tell ya, she’d been dead about a week when we found her. Visually I can’t make an ID.”
“Understood. But the tattoos are clear?”
Evan opened the photos of the tattoos and immediately recognized the daisy, even though it had been distorted on the autopsy table. “I saw the daisy. It’s a match. I didn’t personally see the yin-yang because of her position during the autopsy, but I know it’s in the photos from the report. I assume you want a dental comparison before notifying the family?”
“I want it, but this family wants to be told if the tattoos match up. That’s proof enough for them. Frankly, for me too, but we’ll move forward with the dental. Do you know what happened?”
Evan hesitated to tell the detective that Jillian might have been a victim of a serial killer. He had no proof. Just two other nearly identical dead women several weeks apart. “Not sure. She was found in a remote part of the Cascade Range by a hiker. Nude. Strangled. Half in a creek.”
“Dammit.”
“Detective.” Evan paused. “There might be more to it. It’s a theory I’m pursuing, but at the moment that’s all it is: a theory. I hesitate to even share it with you.”
“Understood. Go ahead. You have my discretion.”
“Jillian is the third woman that’s been dumped in the county in the last six weeks. All nude. Strangled. Blonde and young. One was a runaway living on the streets of Portland. The other took off after a fight with her boyfriend. The dumping locations are spread out, but I can’t ignore the commonalities.”
“You don’t have a theory; you have a serial killer.” The detective let out a string of curses. “Where is he collecting these girls?”
“I don’t know yet.” Evan grimaced, knowing the other detective was right. He didn’t like to jump to conclusions, but after hearing Jillian’s age and how she’d disappeared, these killings pointed at a possible single killer.
“Have you contacted the FBI?”
“I’ll do it right after I finish talking to you. There is a definite pattern now. Even how the girls all had left their home base and possibly needed a place to stay.”
“I need to contact the parents. Do you have images of the tattoos I can show them?”
“Yes.” Evan tucked the phone between his cheek and shoulder to use his keyboard. “I’ll get them right over to you.”
“Appreciate it. It’s not going to be an easy evening in the Francis home.”
“It’s not. Good luck.”
The detective ended the call.
Evan leaned back in his chair. His victim was no longer the river woman; she was Jillian Francis.