The idea made her nauseous, but she needed a public statement rejecting the suggestion she was a killer. If that meant she had to been labeled as a victim then so be it. She could hate something and live with it. She did it every damn day.

Chapter Eighteen

Eban had signed a sworn statement as to the fact he’d accompanied Darby at all times after she left the police department yesterday except for those few minutes when he’d walked around the cabin. He knew she hadn’t headed into town for a quick stabbing session while he was out as he’d had the car keys in his possession.

So, she hadn’t had time.

Not that she’d have had the inclination.

Zero motive. Zero means. Zero reasons for the cops to be looking at her.

And while it was terrible another person had been murdered, he was glad he was able to unequivocally clear Darby’s name for that crime at least.

He’d spent most of the time Darby was being interviewed entering information from both murders into ViCAP, the FBI’s Violent Criminal Apprehension Program, to see if there were any similar incidences being reported across the country.

This killer showed a level of sophistication that suggested he was experienced. Handling two people at once? Drugging one, if not both? And the boldness of the attack at the church where anyone could have walked in—assuming it was the same person.

A 911 call had captured the killer’s voice but only a few muffled words. The cops planned to keep that information under wraps although they had allowed him to forward it to a good friend who was one of the leading communication and voice recognition experts in the Bureau, if not the world. Ironically, Eban hadn’t heard back from the guy yet.

Whoever this killer was they had enough experience to keep a cool head when most people would be freaking out. It suggested Martin and Adele weren’t his first kills and Eban wanted to know exactly what Fairbanks might be dealing with.

After he’d finished with ViCAP, Eban had gone to smooth things over with Police Chief Jacobs in regard to his less than transparent approach to the case yesterday.

Chief Jacobs hadn’t been hard to talk around. The promise of federal assistance with these murders had helped. Experts were already looking for any intersections between the lives of Martin Carstairs and Adele Surrey.

Currently, Eban was sitting in his rental vehicle outside Fairbanks PD, watching the hotshot lawyer make his pitch to the press. Eban had to hand it to the guy, he knew how to handle the media, the cops, and the university administration. Darby had been fully cleared in terms of her grad student status and the Institute had put out a statement fully in support of her, complaining about police action and misinformation yesterday.

Eban knew they were covering their ass. They’d requested Darby keep a low profile for the time being, out of respect for Martin and his family. Eban figured it was better for her too. He couldn’t keep her safe at the university. He wasn’t sure how he was going to protect her long term. Bottomline, they needed to solve this thing and apprehend the culprit so she could get on with her life.