The Pawn

Clara Strong is a Special FBI Field Agent from Durant Oklahoma, and she has just saved teenager Emily from a sadistic man who has already taken one life. During the investigation she breaks protocols and is summoned to Assistant Director Miller’s office, where she finds herself suspended.

Drinking at Frank’s bar, who is her best friend, she becomes intoxicated and is attacked by two men as she walks back to her apartment.
As Frank nurses Clara she gets a call from the director to return back to the office immediately. Fighting the alcohol in her system she is sent to Butler, a small town in Alabama to assist Sheriff Harris and his team in a complex murder. Also joining her is Special Agent in Charge Adam Perez from the Behavioural Analysis Unit in Quantico.

Reluctant to return to Butler, her place of birth and where her personal problems began, she has no choice, she is treading on thin ice with her career. She also knows she has to be abstinent from alcohol, period.

After a long drive, Perez and Strong reach the courthouse, which the sheriff’s office is affiliated to, and it is undergoing painting work. They meet Sheriff Harris and are taken to the first crime scene.
Evan Thomas 39, married to Charlotte, twin daughters Ellie and Harper, owns ‘Alabama South Avenue Bar & Grill,’ was found hanging from a tree in a forest near his home. Hunting traps gripping into his shinbones, eyes removed from their sockets, Perez and Strong know they have their work cut out. Receiving the information on the initial report from coroner/medical examiner Dr Patrick Cameron, a bulbous man in his 50’s, they know the killer has just begun.

Feeling euphoric about last night’s kill, the perpetrator thinks about his next move of his game as he sits in his favourite room, hidden in his basement. He listens to God who is instructing him at every turn and guiding him to eternal life. At each crime scene he will leave a numbered counter, a note and an arrow made from natural materials to help the federal agents with their investigations. He will also roll his handcrafted dice, numbered 1-4 to see who the next lucky opponent will be to meet their fate. Evan Thomas’s counter was a red 4, and his next kill would be northwesterly from his body. One opponent already struck from the board, leaving 3 to go.