As they hurried along with Meredith, Riley realized that they were headed straight to Quanticos airstrip.
We really are in a hurry, Riley thought. It was unusual not to have at least a brief meeting to bring them up to speed on a new case.
Striding along beside Meredith, Bill asked, Whats this all about, Chief?
Meredith said, Right now theres a decapitated dead body on a train track near Barnwell, Illinois. Its a line out of Chicago. A woman was bound to the tracks and run over by a freight train, just a few hours ago. Its the second such killing in four days and there are apparently striking similarities. It looks like were dealing with a serial.
Meredith began to walk a little faster, and the three agents scurried to keep up.
Riley asked, Who called for the FBI?
Meredith said, I got the call from Jude Cullen, the Chicago area Deputy Chief of Railroad Police. He says he wants profilers there right away. I told him to leave the body where it was until my agents got a look at it.
Meredith grunted a little.
Thats a pretty tall order. Three more freight trains are scheduled along that track today, and a passenger train as well. Right now, theyre all on hold, and its already getting to be a mess. You need to get out there ASAP and get a look at the crime scene so the body can be moved and the trains can start running again. And then
Meredith grunted again.
Well, youve got a killer to stop. And Im pretty sure we all agree on one thing he will kill again. Aside from that, you now know as much about the case as I do. Cullen will have to fill you in on anything else.
The group stepped out onto the tarmac of the airstrip where the small jet was waiting, its engines already rumbling.
Over the sound, Meredith called out, Youll be met at OHare by some railroad cops. Theyll drive you straight to the crime scene.
Meredith turned around and headed back into the building, and Riley and her colleagues mounted the steps and boarded the plane. The hastiness of their departure almost made Riley dizzy. She couldnt remember Meredith ever rushing them out like that.
But it was hardly any surprise, considering that railroad traffic was stalled. Riley couldnt imagine that enormous difficulties that might be causing right now.
Once the plane was airborne, the three agents opened their computers and got online to look for what little information they might find at this point.
Riley quickly saw that news of the most recent killing was already spreading, although the current victims name wasnt yet available. But she saw that the previous victims name was Fern Bruder, a twenty-five-year-old woman whose decapitated body had been found on a train track near Allardt, Indiana.
Riley couldnt find much else online about the murders. If the railroad police had any suspects or knew of any motive, that information hadnt leaked to the public yet which was a good thing as far as Riley was concerned.
Still, it was frustrating not to be able to learn more right now.
With so little to think about regarding the case, Riley found herself mulling over what had happened so far today. She still felt a pang about losing Liam although she also realized
Losing isnt exactly the right word.
No, she and her family had done their very best for the boy. And now things had turned out for the best, and Liam was in the care of people who would love him and take good care of him.
Even so, Riley wondered
Why does it feel like a loss?
Riley also had mixed feelings about buying April a gun and taking her to the shooting range. Aprils show of maturity had certainly made Riley proud, and so had her budding marksmanship. Riley was also deeply touched that her daughter wanted to follow in her footsteps.
And yet Riley couldnt help but remind herself
Im on my way to view a decapitated body.
Her whole career was one long string of horrors. Was this really a life she wanted for April?
Its not up to me, Riley reminded herself. Its up to her.
Riley also felt strange about that awkward phone conversation shed had with Jenn a little while ago. So much had been left unspoken, and Riley had no idea what might be going on right now between Jenn and Aunt Cora. And of course, now was no time to talk it out not with Bill sitting right here with them.
Riley couldnt help but wonder
Was Jenn right? Should she turn in her badge?
Was Riley doing the young agent any favors by encouraging her to stay with the FBI?
And was Jenn in the right frame of mind to take on a new case right now?
Riley looked over at Jenn, who was sitting in her seat staring raptly at her computer.
Jenn certainly seemed fully focused at the moment more so than Riley was, anyway.
Rileys thoughts were interrupted by the sound of Bills voice.
Tied to railroad tracks. It almost sounds like
Riley saw that Bill was also looking at his computer screen.
He paused, but Jenn finished his thought.
Like one of those old-time silent movies, huh? Yeah, I was thinking the same thing.
Bill shook his head.
I sure dont mean to make light of it but I keep thinking of some mustachioed villain in a top hat tying a young damsel to the train tracks until some dashing hero comes along to rescue her. Isnt that what always happened in silent movies?
Jenn pointed at her computer screen.
She said, Actually, not really. Ive been doing some research on that. Its a trope, all right, a cliché. And everybody seems to think theyve seen it at one time or another, like some sort of urban legend. But it never seemed to show up in actual silent movies, at least not seriously.
Jenn turned her computer screen around so that Bill and Riley could see it.
She said, The first fictional example of a villain tying someone to railroad tracks seems to have appeared long before movies even existed, in an 1867 play called Under the Gaslight. Only get this! the villain tied a man to the tracks, and the leading lady had to rescue him. The same sort of thing happened in a short story and a few other plays around that time.
Riley could see that Jenn was quite caught up in what shed found.
Jenn continued, As far as old-time movies are concerned, there were maybe two silent comedies in which this exact thing happened a screaming, helpless damsel got tied to the tracks by a dastardly villain and got rescued by a handsome hero. But they were played for laughs, just like in Saturday morning cartoons.
Bills eyes widened with interest.
Parodies of something that was never real to begin with, he said.
Exactly, Jenn said.
Bill shook his head.
He said, But steam locomotives were a part of everyday life back in those days the first few decades of the twentieth century, I mean. Werent there any silent movies portraying someone in danger of getting run over by a train?
Sure, Jenn said. Sometimes a character would get pushed or fall onto tracks and maybe get knocked unconscious when a train was coming. But thats not the same scenario, is it? Besides, just like in that old play, the movie character in danger was usually a man who had to get rescued by the heroine!
Rileys interest was thoroughly piqued now. She knew that Jenn wasnt wasting her time looking into this sort of thing. They needed to know about anything that could be driving a killer. Part of that could be understanding all the cultural precedents of whatever scenarios they happened to be dealing with even those that might be fictional.