Stranded

Arlington?”
    “Of course.” The same arsonist had torched her friend Maggie O’Dell’s house before he turned himself in.
    “We found a body in the alley next to one of the warehouses.”
    Racine pulled open a door to the walkway and held it for Gwen to go through. It was a polite gesture that threw Gwen off coming from Racine. The detective was anything but polite. She’d built a reputation on being tough as nails, one she reinforced by wearing trousers and leather jackets and keeping her short hair spiked just enough to give her an edgy look. Yet the knit T-shirt beneath the bomber jacket couldn’t hide full breasts and the trousers only accentuated her long slender legs.
    “The body,” Racine continued, “was Gloria Dobson. We’repretty sure she and her traveling partner were murdered at a rest area in Virginia, just off the interstate.”
    “I remember Tully and Maggie talking about it.”
    But Gwen was careful not to mention just how much she knew about the case. It still unnerved her to remember how upset Tully had been when describing the crime scene he and Maggie had stumbled upon at that rest area.
    R. J. Tully was a veteran FBI agent. He was one of the most centered and even-tempered men Gwen knew. He had seen and witnessed some gruesome murders, so this scene had to be horrendous to leave him shaken. And now he and Maggie were somewhere in the Midwest searching for the killer who had ripped apart that strong, healthy young man and left Gloria Dobson’s bashed-in body in a District alley.
    Being a part of the task force, Gwen would learn more of the details, whether she wanted to or not. That was probably Racine’s thought since she continued to fill Gwen in as they made their way through the training facility and finally down to the Behavioral Science Unit. Gwen had worked on only one case with Detective Julia Racine and the detective had not been so forthcoming at the time. Actually “worked” was probably not the correct term. Racine would insist Gwen had obstructed evidence and gotten in the way.
    Bottom line, the two women were acquaintances by accident and circumstance, not by choice—and by their mutual friend, Maggie O’Dell. Gwen knew it was more for Maggie’s benefit than hers that Racine was even polite to her.
    Three men waited for Gwen and Racine in the Behavioral Science Unit’s conference room. Assistant Director Raymond Kunze waved them to take seats across the table. Kunze was a linebacker of a man, barrel-chested with a thick neck that looked strangledin his cheery yellow tie. Combined with a mauve sports jacket the colors almost looked clownish. Though there was nothing clownish about the assistant director.
    Everyone else in the room appeared to know one another.
    “I’ve asked Dr. Gwen Patterson to join our task force,” Kunze explained. “As a trained forensic psychologist and a sort of outsider—” He stopped himself and turned to Gwen, quickly adding, “No offense intended.”
    “None taken,” she answered.
    Why was everyone being so damned polite? Like she was something old and fragile? She’d had her yearly physical yesterday. She was being overly sensitive. But she also trusted her instincts and she wished she had never agreed to this.
    “I’m counting on Dr. Patterson to offer some fresh insights,” AD Kunze told his group.
    Gwen smiled, thinking that wasn’t entirely true. While Kunze had, indeed, asked Gwen to be a part of this task force, it wasn’t his idea. A high-ranking senator had strong-armed Kunze to include her. It was a high-profile case. The Highway Serial Killings Initiative happened to be a program that Senator Delanor-Ramos had pushed through Congress. Everything in the District was about politics these days. Gwen joining this task force may have been sold as an outsider’s “fresh insights” but she knew it was really about covering the senator’s professional ass. She’d be the easy scapegoat if the project didn’t produce results quickly.
    “Dr. Patterson has worked with the FBI on several cases,” Kunze was explaining to his team. “So she already has a working relationship.”
    As Kunze continued his introduction, Gwen couldn’t help wondering if her familiarity might be as much a hindrance as a benefit. After all, her significant other and her best friend were assignedto this task force. Gwen hated the fact that AD Kunze may have agreed so enthusiastically to her presence to use her against Tully and Maggie. The