A Dark Place _ The Hunt For The Van Gogh Killer Begins m - Mary Alford Page 0,9

Sylvia’s apartment or the Polaroid showing a bound Sylvia like the previous victims. Instead, the killer had chosen to contact Lizzy. But there had been no Starry Night photo. Unfortunately, she and Asher hadn’t been able to tell the director about the connection to Lizzy because of Holden’s unknown agenda. Olivia sure hoped it didn’t come back to haunt them both because if it did, they’d end up without a job or worse, in jail for treason.

Asher slowed the vehicle and turned into the parking lot of the white church with a steeple that took Olivia back in time to when she was a kid.

Growing up, she’d attended a little church like this one with her grandmother in a small town not too far from here. Back then, everything was perfect. She’d had an almost idyllic childhood. Then, she’d grown up and met Sawyer. They’d become engaged. She’d imagined getting married in her grandmother’s church one day. But that hadn’t happened. Sawyer had joined the marines and had been sent to Afghanistan. Two years later, he was dead.

Olivia pulled in several breaths. That was three years ago, and yet she still remembered getting the news as if it were days earlier. She glanced to the man who was Sawyer’s older brother. Asher had been her rock. She couldn’t imagine her life without him in it.

The amount of police vehicles parked in front of the church sanctuary stood in stark contrast to the simple building with stained glass windows and steeple shooting up into the cloudy skies.

Asher parked away from the activity and shifted her way. “Are you okay?” He always had a way of knowing when something was bothering her.

“I’m fine,” she said and slid out before he could ask another question.

She and Asher waited silently by their vehicle until Declan and Luke arrived.

The group headed up to the police activity. Asher showed his credentials to one of the officers standing guard near the police tape.

The officer studied the credentials for a long moment before nodding. “She’s inside at the altar. The pastor is in the annex next door. Do you want to speak to him first before you see the body?”

“Let’s see the victim first.” Olivia wanted to know what they were dealing with because she had a feeling the torment Van Gogh had put her through was going to be different than the previous victims.

The officer raised the tape to allow them to come up the steps. He opened the door and stood aside as they entered.

Olivia paused long enough to take in the scene before her. Police officers were stationed all around the inside of the church. Half a dozen gathered at the altar near where the woman’s body was draped across several steps.

Olivia turned to Luke. “What’s the ETA on our Evidence Response Team?”

Luke pulled out his phone. “I’ll check.” He stepped away.

Olivia and Asher started up the center aisle side by side.

“This one is different,” Olivia whispered because despite the fact that this wasn’t a church service and they were investigating a homicide, the sacredness seemed to warrant respectful quiet.

“Yeah, I have a feeling this guy is going to change everything. He seems to be on a mission to rewrite the history for the Van Gogh Killer completely.”

Olivia thought the same thing. “It’s like he’s shedding the trappings of everything that defined Van Gogh in the past. He’s forging his own path.”

Asher looked behind them. “Yeah, and we’re going to have a hard time convincing Holden this is the same killer when his main focus is on bringing down Strike Force no matter the cost.”

Olivia’s misgivings rose. “You think he’ll want to sweep this under the carpet?”

“Without a doubt. He’s trying to use what’s happening with the killer to force Lizzy and Will out of hiding. . . or somehow blame them for the crimes.”

Olivia shot him a look. “We can’t let that happen.” An uneasy feeling settled over her as they reached the front of the church.

The two detectives spotted them and came over. They’d been called out to investigate the homicide until they’d discovered something that made them suspicious they were dealing with the serial killer.

“Jeff Stanley,” one of the detectives introduced himself. “This is my partner, Tim Mahoney.”

Olivia shook both men’s hands. “How did you connect this to Van Gogh?”

Stanley pointed to something clutched in the victim’s hand. “Starry Night. His signature, right?”

Olivia saw the photo clutched tight. Another twist from the killer.

“As soon as I saw the photo, we stopped what