Chapter 14 To Lure Us In

"The killer's gotta be a pro, someone who's done this before," Harper said, deep in thought. "He probably knows police procedures inside out, and how to throw us off."

I nodded, the weight of her words settling heavily. It all made too much sense, and that terrified me.

"So why dump the body here?" Isabella asked. "Isn't he worried about getting caught?"

"Maybe he's got another plan," I suggested. "Could be he's just stashing the body here for now, waiting for the right moment to move it."

"Or..." Harper paused, giving me a look. "Or he put the body here on purpose to draw us in."

A shiver ran down my spine at Harper's words. They made me uneasy.

"Draw us in?" I echoed, my mind racing. "Why would he do that? Does he know we'd come here?"

"No idea," Harper shrugged. "Just a theory."

Right then, we heard footsteps at the cave entrance. Michael showed up with a bunch of cops.

"What happened?" Michael's face turned serious when he saw the body. I stood up and said, "We found a body in the cave. Looks like a victim from 'The Tragedy of the Red Rose' livestream."

"The Tragedy of the Red Rose?" Michael frowned. "You sure?"

"Pretty sure," I pointed to the red dress and the red rose in her hand. "Matches the livestream."

Michael didn't say anything, just walked over to the body for a closer look.

"Seal off the scene and start the investigation!" he ordered. "Forensics, trace evidence, everything! I want to know who did this and why the body's here!"

The cops got to work right away. The forensic team started examining the body, while the trace evidence team combed through every inch of the place, looking for clues.

I went over to Michael and whispered, "Michael, I think there's more to this."

"What do you mean?" Michael asked.

"I think the killer put the body here to lure us in," I said. "And when I was chasing someone earlier, he..."

Before I could finish, a cop ran over, looking freaked out.

"Michael! We found another body deeper in the cave!"

A cold dread settled over me. Another one? This wasn’t just a single murder. It was a graveyard.

We followed the cop deeper into the cave. It was narrower and darker, with a nasty smell of decay.

The second body, a guy, was lying face down, his clothes all torn up, and covered in wounds.

"Looks like this one's been dead for over a week," said Ella Garcia, the forensic expert, as she examined the body. "Multiple blunt force injuries, with a fatal blow to the head."

"A week?" I crouched down, checking out the scene. The ground was damp, with a small pool of body fluids under the corpse, and scattered stones and dirt around. "The body’s been moved."

"Moved?" Michael came over. "James, what did you find?"

"Check this out." I pointed to the ground. "The way these stones and dirt are scattered looks off, like they've been messed with. Plus, the ground under the body is lower than the rest, which means the body was moved here from somewhere else."

"So, the killer hid the body somewhere else first, then brought it here?" Isabella asked.

I nodded. "That's what it looks like. I think the killer moved the body just before we got to Mount Serenity."

"Why?" Harper asked.

I pointed to the cave entrance. "When we came in, nothing seemed off. If the body had been here a while, the smell would’ve been stronger. Plus, the branches at the entrance weren't disturbed, so no one’s been in or out recently."

"That makes sense," Harper said, thinking it over. "But if the killer wanted to lure us in, why hide the body so well? We almost missed it."

"Maybe he wanted to throw us off, make us think there was only one body so we'd drop our guard," I suggested.

"I don't think so," Isabella chimed in. "If the killer wanted to lure us in, he would've put the body somewhere obvious, not hidden deep in the cave. I think he's trying to cover something up."

"Cover what?" I asked.

"I don't know," Isabella admitted. "But I think there's a link between these two bodies."

"A link?" Michael scoffed. "You're overthinking it! Two bodies in the same cave could just be a coincidence!"

"A coincidence?" I shot back. "Michael, don't you think it's too much of a coincidence? A victim from 'The Tragedy of the Red Rose' and a long-missing guy, both in this remote cave? It's too weird!"

"Are you questioning my judgment?" Michael's face darkened. "Listen, James, investigations are based on evidence, not your so-called 'intuition'!"

"I'm not going on intuition; I'm piecing together the clues," I argued. "Michael, you can't just dismiss my judgment because I'm young!"

"Enough!" Michael snapped. "Our priority is to ID these victims and find the killer! Not waste time arguing!"

Arguing with Michael was getting us nowhere.

I needed more evidence to back up my theory.

"Isabella, Harper," I turned to them. "Let's split up and search every inch of this place for more clues."

"Got it," they both agreed.

We split up and started combing through the cave. I held a flashlight, carefully scanning the ground, walls, and every crack in the ceiling.

Suddenly, my flashlight caught something on a rock in the ceiling. There were strange symbols carved into it, like some kind of writing I'd never seen before.

I climbed up to get a closer look. I took out my phone, snapped some pictures of the symbols, and kept searching.