Scene of the Crime Deadman's Bluff - By Carla Cassidy Page 0,23

cup of coffee at his elbow and the files of the two murders in front of him. Sleep had been difficult and he’d finally decided to forget even trying to get up.

There were so many things about these cases that bothered him, starting with his number-one witness. Although no other memories had returned to Tamara for the rest of the day, he’d been pleased by the little bit of progress they’d made during lunch.

They’d finally returned home at dinnertime after having walked most of Main Street several times. By the time they’d gotten back here and eaten dinner Tamara had pled exhaustion and a headache and had gone to her room.

Seth had almost been grateful that she’d removed herself from his presence. He’d been far too aware of her all day, smelling her scent, watching the play of emotions that crossed her beautiful features. He’d fought a simmering desire for her all day long and had felt like he drew his first real deep breath when she went to her room.

He had to stop looking at her as an attractive female and instead stay focused on her as a potential victim and the best opportunity they had to catch a killer.

He took a sip of his coffee and studied the file containing everything about Rebecca Cook’s murder. There was no question that Sheriff Atkins and his team had had their work cut out for them investigating the young woman’s death. Most of the teenagers and young adults in town had been at the party at the dunes.

There were reams of pages of interviews contained in the file and Seth flipped through each one, unsurprised to find that the three young men who had been on the dunes the day Tamara had been uncovered had also been party attendees.

As he moved on to the file with notes and interviews and the official reports on Vicki Smith, two things caught his attention. The first was that Sam Clemmons, the young man who had been like a frozen statue at the scene with Tamara, had also been present when the other two women had been found at the dunes. What were the odds of him being there when three bodies were uncovered? He knew the sheriff had interrogated the boys after Tamara had been found, but he hadn’t seen the interview transcripts yet.

Vicki Smith had been a pretty, thirty-year-old brunette who had worked as a waitress at the Golden Daffodil and at the time of her death had been dating the owner of the restaurant, Henry Todd. Todd had been questioned but despite his intimate relationship with the victim the authorities had been unable to tie him to Vicki’s murder or find any kind of a connection between Todd and Rebecca.

The only thing all three victims had in common was dark hair. The first two victims had been natives of Amber Lake and so far it appeared that Tamara had simply been passing through.

What had happened to her between the hours when she’d had dinner in the café and the next day when she’d been found in the sand dunes? What horrors was her amnesia attempting to protect her from remembering?

Linda had spoken to him for a little while the night before about post-traumatic stress and all that it could entail for Tamara.

She’d even suggested it might be healthy for Tamara to meet with the professional the doctor had recommended to discuss her amnesia and whatever else she might be experiencing due to her trauma. Seth intended to ask Tamara this morning if she needed to see a counselor or somebody else, even though so far she’d declined.

In the meantime, he intended to pick apart each and every report and interview from the two murders and make a list of people he intended to reinterview personally.

There were only two official entrances to Deadman’s Dunes that provided a small parking area for the off-riders to park. On the day that Seth had arrived and gone to the dunes, he’d parked at the main entrance on the north side. The other way in was on the west side of the sand.

Rebecca’s body had been found almost directly in the center of the dunes, where the area was a flat run for riders to test their speed before hitting the hilly mounds again.

Vicki’s body had been found close to the west entrance and Tamara’s on the east side of the dunes. It didn’t matter what any of it meant to Seth. What he needed to find