Chapter 9

As I’d been performing my tasks, Brice had been busy covering another area required of our work—documentation. In his notes, he would write the time of our arrival at the scene, the condition of the body and where it lay, the appearance of the surrounding area. He would also document the positioning of the sun, the direction and speed of the wind, as well those present at the scene.

With a slight movement of my head, I glanced up from where I’d continued to kneel next to my bag and watched the medical examiner make his way over to Brice. As he drew up next to him, I observed their interaction, my eyes following Brice’s movements as he did what I’d seen him do hundreds of times before with other cases. He closed the small notebook he’d been writing his notes in, and slid it into his shirt pocket. I’d seen him perform this action time and again when someone would come to stop by him. He never failed to repeat the ritual. At one point, curiosity had gotten the best of me and I’d asked him what the purpose was for the action. He’d shrugged, stating, “My notes are no one’s business but my own until they’re on file.”

Now, with the notepad in place, Brice watched as Jon motioned his head toward the body. Though the medical Jon grunted with the movement, he never actually said anything, and with a small shake of his head, Brice looked away from Jon and toward the victim. “Been here a few days,” he murmured.

Jon nodded. “At least,” he confirmed, breaking his silence. Somberly, reaching in his bag, he pulled out a pair of latex gloves. “I think it’s time we see what she has to tell us about what happened. Next, he stepped over to the victim and began a cursory exam. As he worked, he spoke out his findings. “Somewhere between the age of eighteen and twenty-five, I’d say. In any case, I’ll be able to pinpoint her age closer once I do the autopsy.” Subsequently, bending a little closer to the body, he used his fingers to manipulate the torn and bloody slashes. “Maggots have already eaten at her flesh, but in this heat, it wouldn’t have taken long for them to develop.”

Shortly, he stood and pulling off his gloves, he turned to face Brice. “I’d say the cause of death is blood loss. I’ll let you know as soon as I have a definite cause though.”

Brice nodded. “Thanks, Jon. Give us a few minutes to wrap this part up and you can take her.”

Fifteen minutes later, we watched as they zipped the last eight inches of the zipper on the body bag. With the task finally completed, the bag, and body enclosed within its vinyl walls, were carried out of the trees.

As we watched the departing figures, it seemed the surrounding woods almost sighed with relief at delegating its responsibility to someone else at last, and with a glance in Brice’s direction, I wondered if he’d sensed the same thing. However, seeing no sign he had, I shook my head at the fanciful flight of my imagination.

“All right, let’s get at it,” Brice murmured from beside me.

The next several hours passed with us flagging where the body had lain, continuing to gather evidence, what little there was of it, and marking every piece’s positioning. More pictures would come later for further analysis. There was one thing that benefited us though, with the large volume of blood the victim had lost, there was no problem securing samples.

When we’d finished, I glanced around and grimaced. I hated cases like this one. Cold storage was full of files with crimes just like it. Cases, which had remained unsolved over the years because either the murderers were never identified—or there just hadn’t been enough evidence to convict them. Under normal circumstances this case would have fallen within the jurisdiction of the local police, however, as this was the second murder in less than a seventy-two-hour period—and the fact both victims bore particular similarities—it placed the case with us as it was becoming more and more obvious we had a serial killer.

With a look in Brice’s direction, I noted his slumped shoulders—their positioning revealed his thoughts were running parallel to my own; there was so little for us to go on.

“I think I’ll look a little further out,” I murmured.

As I waded through the thick brush a few minutes later, a heavyweight settled on me. I’d already figured out this wasn’t the killer who had involved me in his scenes, this was someone else, which meant we had a second murderer.

Sometime later, after having pushed, lifted and dug through flora, I was about ready to declare there was nothing left to find out here, when Brice’s shout had my head jerking up. Quickly turning, I ran toward the last place I’d seen him, but when I reached it, he wasn’t there. Turning in a circle, I called out, “Brice, where are you?” I called out. At his return response, I began moving in the direction his voice had been coming from, pausing every so often and calling out again, using his voice to guide me.

The deeper into the trees I went, the more annoyed I became with each low-hanging branch that smacked me in the face. Minutes later, after having swiped, stomped and kicked my way through, I found Brice squatted down on the ground, peering at something in front of him.

As he glanced over his shoulder at me, he asked, “Got your camera on you?”

With a silent, sarcastic laugh at my stupidity, I shook my head. “No, my dumbass left it in my bag.”

Still balancing on the balls of his feet, he tossed another glance in my direction. “Would you mind going back and getting it?”

Though I had just made my way through the thick layer of trees to reach him, I didn’t have a clue what way to go to return to the pickup. With a sigh and fidgeting a little as I knew Brice was going to be irritated, I shrugged. “Um… got any idea which way to the pickup?”

Brice’s head jerked up and whipped in my direction. “What? You can’t be serious!”

I glared at him, my lips pursing before I snapped, “Shut up and tell me what way I need to go, will ya?”

He raised an eyebrow and just shook his head slightly.. “We’re east of where the body was.”

I rolled my eyes at his words. “Oh jeez, thanks, Brice. That helps!”

Irritation clear on his face, he stood. “Fuckin’ good deal you’re not out here alone. Never mind—I’ll go get the damn thing myself.”

I crossed my arms and glared at him. “By all means, go for it.”

With another look in my direction, he shook his head again, as grinding his teeth he turned and without another word, disappeared into the dense growth of the trees.