Mystery Winner: HERON PARK

Name: Christine King-Raggio

Query:

Detective Cassandra Logan has lived in Long Island, New York her whole life. Homicides were far and few between in Babylon Village, but in the last year two women have gone missing. They went to walk their dogs and never came home.

FBI Profiler Rick Sanders came to New York to see if the missing women were related to an open case in Virginia. In that case the women weren't found either, but their dogs were; ripped to shreds by what the ME called a very large animal. Before Rick can speak with the detectives about any similarities, the carcass of a small dog is found along with a woman's running sneaker covered in blood. The wounds on the dead dog look exactly like the ones inflicted in Rick's Virginia case. This time though, a woman's body is found. She's skinned, gutted and be-headed like a prized stag.

Their killer has accomplices. A pack of highly trained dogs. He uses them to distract, abduct and torture his victims. With each body, his pack advances in their training and his boredom grows. He needs new ways to amuse himself and turns his sights on the people sworn to find him.

Cassie and Rick fight to pull a step ahead of their killer, but the body count continues to climb. How do you catch a predator that's intent on making you their next prey? A chameleon that doesn't want to be found? It all seems impossible. Time is running out and now Cassie must fight for not only her own life, but for the lives of the people she loves the most.

Chapter 1

He remembered every scream. Each woman's whimper and shriek. A symphony of voices begging him to spare their miserable lives. He hunted them when they felt the most safe and secure, then stripped them of their freedom when they least expected it.

Goosebumps rose on his arms, a cold shiver slid up his back. Torture was such a thrill.

The time had come. He needed another, to relieve the growing emptiness. This one would be different than the others. He wanted an audience; for the entire world to know there was hunter among them.

He'd planned it all out. The desolate area, the weather, the time of day. Women unaware of their surroundings were chosen. Women who were selfish and so consumed by their own lives that nobody else mattered.

He had a list of ten women he'd followed at the park. They came often. They walked, or jogged with their pets, ear pods in, music so loud he could hear it. Some stared into space. If they didn't have dogs to warn them of his presence, he'd be able to trail a foot behind and they'd never think to look back.

He took a deep breath and pulled the hood of his hunting jacket lower over his face. His muscles twitched with anticipation and he lengthened his stride. He brushed branches from his path and moved behind the cover of the trees. Now he waited. She'd come to him.