Don't Look (Pike, Wisconsin #1) - Alexandra Ivy Page 0,58

hesitated, then, squaring her shoulders, she forced her feet to carry her forward. “Actually, I prefer to leave it open.”

He frowned. “Okay.”

“Sorry, it’s just . . .”

“Yeah, it’s a strange time in Pike,” he agreed with a humorless smile. “And it just gets stranger.”

Lynne perched on the edge of a leather seat near the desk. She absently noticed the stacks of notebooks on his desk, along with two laptop computers. On the opposite wall there was a television with the early morning show flickering on the screen and below that was a series of framed photographs of Parker holding up a variety of large fish.

Parker might not be from this area, but he’d obviously developed the local obsession.

Reassured that the office looked exactly like she’d expected for a busy anchorman, she turned her attention to the man watching her with an unreadable expression. “Do you know what’s going on in the park?” she asked.

He leaned back in his chair, swiveling from side to side. “I have a few contacts in the sheriff ’s office. They called me at five o’clock to say a dead body had been found.”

It was hard to breathe, as if the air was solidifying in her lungs. “Do you know who it is?”

Parker hesitated, reaching to grab a notebook off the desk. He flipped it open. “Ms. Randall,” he read out loud.

“Madeline Randall?”

“Yes. She’s a . . .” He grimaced, glancing up from the notebook. “Excuse me. She was a retired teacher.”

“I had her in the third grade.” The fear that Parker was about to name one of her close friends faded, leaving Lynne oddly numb. She hadn’t known the older woman beyond the classroom. And if she was brutally honest, she’d hated Ms. Randall as a teacher. Even back then she’d been a bitter, resentful woman who’d been downright cruel to children. “Do you think it was the same lunatic that murdered Sherry and Randi?” she asked.

The anchorman tossed the notebook back on his desk. “By the time I got there the park had been barricaded and they weren’t very forthcoming with information. But there was a look on the deputies’ faces that tells me it’s the same killer.”

Lynne nodded. “It’s horrible news, but I’m not sure why you insisted I come to the station.”

“When I realized I wasn’t going to get any footage of the crime scene I returned to the station.”

Lynne hid her shudder, trying not to be disgusted. It was Parker’s duty to cover the news, whether it was the new STOP sign in front of the bank or a meeting of the 4-H Club or dead bodies.

“That’s when I remembered that we have a camera in the park.”

Her eyes widened in shock. A hidden camera in the park? That seemed . . . intrusive. Maybe even illegal. “Seriously?”

“We use it for live footage during the morning and evening weather reports.”

Oh. Lynne suddenly recalled the early dawn and sunset views that were shown during the broadcast. She’d never considered where the cameras might be located. Now she leaned forward, a surge of hope racing through her. “Are you saying the murder was caught on live television?”

He held up a slender hand. “The camera is in the park, but it’s pointed toward the town square. Still, I hoped we might have caught something that would reveal the identity of the killer.”

“Did you?”

“Unfortunately, no.” His jaw tightened with frustration. “A damned shame. It would have been my shot at the national networks.”

“Parker.” Her disgust was replaced with bone-deep shock. For a crazed second she wondered if he might actually be responsible for the deaths. What better way to ensure you were covering the hottest story in Wisconsin?

Then she squashed the nasty suspicion. Not even Parker was that ambitious. Was he?

“Plus we could have brought the monster to justice,” he continued in smooth tones.

She shook off her dislike for Parker. He had every right to further his career. It wasn’t like a small station in Pike, Wisconsin, was a dream job for any anchorman. “There was nothing that could help the authorities?”

“There was only one vehicle caught on camera.” He sat forward, grabbing a remote control off the desk. Pointing at the television on the wall, he changed from the live feed to the earlier video from the park camera. “See for yourself.”

She frowned. Did he hope she would recognize the vehicle and give him an inside track to the identity of the killer?

The image on the tape was a sharp contrast of light from