Profile of Terror
Authors: Alexa Grace
Profile of Terror
By Alexa Grace
This e-book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.
Any resemblance to actual events or locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
Copyright 2014 by Alexa Grace
License Notes
This e-book is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This e-book may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.
Cover design by Christy Carlyle of Gilded Heart Design
ISBN-10: 0985593962
ISBN-13
:
978-0-9855939-6-4
This book is dedicated to my angel team of physicians, nurses, technicians, friends, family and readers who blessed me with their expertise, kindness, prayers and support during my cancer journey.
I extend a special thank you to Lt. Adrian Youngblood of the Seminole County Sheriff’s Office, who generously gave his time to answer my questions and review the book for law enforcement accuracy.
Thank you also to Nate Kitts, who helped me stay accurate in the facts of computer technology. Any mistakes here are entirely mine.
My gratitude goes to my editors and friends Vicki Braun and Ally Robertson.
My appreciation goes to my dear friend, Nancy Carlson, who approved the use of her name for the character Judge Carlson.
I am very grateful for the hard work of the
Profile of Terror
Beta Reader Team, which devoted personal time to review each page of this book: Nancy Carlson, Gail Goodenough, Barrie MacLaughlin, Sandra Galloway, Lisa Jackson, Tammy Richardson, Kimberly Stripling, Mona Kekstadt, Anna Coy, Debbie Dumke, Sylvia Smith, Mary Hesselgesser-Wright, Debbie Perry, Teresa Stirewalt, Cindy Rossetti and Catherine Scott.
Finally, I want to express my appreciation to my daughter, Melissa, my family, friends, readers and Street Team. Without their encouragement and support, this book would not have been possible.
Chapter One
At one in the morning, the dark sky was illuminated by a full moon as they drove on a country road, trees hanging overhead like skeletal arms, nearly touching their vehicle. Driving slowly, they made periodic stops, for only the perfect place would do.
Approaching a bridge over a deep ravine with a wide creek, the van stopped. Both got out and circled to the back of the white utility van, where they pulled out a young woman's body, already stiffening with rigor mortis. They carried her to the edge of the road, where they set down her corpse, gave it a push, and sent it rolling down the ravine until it landed on the rocky creek bed below. Hands on hips, they waited and watched the body at rest, as if they expected it to magically come to life and run away.
"I wonder how long it will take the cops to find this one." The driver chuckled as he followed his passenger to the back of the van.
"Good question. The one last winter wasn't found until the spring thaw." He flipped through a stack of magnetic business signs he'd collected in the back of the vehicle. Choosing one, he slapped it on the side of the van and climbed inside.
"So how many magnetic signs do we have now?"
"Fifteen or so. We've got signs for plumbing, locksmithing, house painting, and general repair businesses. Think we need more?"
"No." He shook his head. "You did a good job stealing those. Even if we have an eye witness tonight, they'll describe a business truck, complete with a name and phone number the cops will use to try to track down their suspects. Too bad it will be a dead end. Any time we can toy with the cops is a good time."
"Agreed," he said, as a slow, evil smile spread across his handsome face.
Devan Roth glanced at his twin brother, Evan, sitting in the passenger seat, and thought about how much Evan craved his praise. He'd used that need to his advantage their entire lives. It wasn't that Devan didn't love his twin. He did, but he loved manipulating him more. Although Evan had a higher intelligence level than Devan ever dreamed of reaching, Evan's adoration for his twin was his weak spot. And if there was anything that Devan could identify from a mile away, it was someone else's weakness. That's what made Devan the leader.
From early childhood, he could get Evan to do absolutely anything he wanted. Devan invented the "Double Dare" game when the twins were twelve; he double-dared Evan to jump off the second-story roof. Evan leaped, and broke both his legs. But he never told their parents that Devan had dared him to do it. His loyalty to his twin outweighed the pain he suffered that summer.
The Double Dare game continued. Early on, they stole and killed their neighbors' pets, and then moved on to peeping in windows in the neighborhood and videotaping the event so they could relive the thrill later. Now they were abducting and killing prostitutes, then disposing of their bodies in remote areas surrounding Indianapolis.
Devan complained, "I'm getting tired of prostitutes. As prey, they're too easy. Where's the challenge? I'm ready to step up the game a notch or two."
"What do you have in mind?"
Devan did a U-turn to head back to town. "I've been reading a series of articles about a serial killer they caught in Shawnee County."
"Are you talking about the guy who used the Internet to hook up with preteen girls so he could torture and murder them?" Evan asked.
"That's the one. Jim Ryder is his name."
"Why are you interested in him?"
"It's not him I'm interested in. It's the Shawnee County Sheriff Office."
"I'm not following."
"Ryder killed girls over a four to five-year period before they caught him."
"No kidding?"
"Here's the clincher. Ryder was a deputy for Shawnee County," Devan said with a grin. "I mean, you got to see the humor in it. For years, the serial killer the sheriff's team was searching for was one of their own. He was right there working with them the whole time."
"So you're thinking of moving the game to Shawnee County?"
"Definitely. It'd be fun to play with Sheriff Brody Chase and his band of idiots."
"Are we changing the rules of the game?" asked Evan.
"Yes. I was talking to this computer geek in my math class the other day. He taught me a way to locate people through their digital photos on social media sites like Twitter, Google+, YouTube, Facebook, and Foursquare. "
"I don't get it. What does that have to do with our game?"
"Evan, sometimes you can be so fucking dense," Devan barked. "We can look for victims on these social media sites and get their addresses from the embedded EXIF data. In other words, if they've used a cell phone or high-end digital camera with built-in GPS to take the photo they post, we can determine our victims' exact addresses and follow them until the right time to snatch them."
Evan nodded. "So if we aren't going for prostitutes, who are we looking for?"
"Our new game victims, or should we say targets, are beautiful, smart, and popular coeds from Shawnee County," Devan announced. "They'll be the kind of victims who get residents all riled up and focusing their wrath on the Shawnee County Sheriff Office."
"Right. It hasn't been that long since they had to deal with Jim Ryder's murders, and now we'll give them a brand-new nightmare. I like it. Game on," Evan said excitedly.
City lights sparkled ahead of them. "Pull up the hood of your sweatshirt. Make sure it covers most of your face."
"We better hurry if we don't want Mom and Dad to discover we're out after curfew again."