Seven
The smell of death crawled up Carter’s nostrils as he stared at the blue-tinged arm, its fingers pointing as if accusing them of murder. He placed a hand on Rhett’s shoulder. “Don’t go any closer. This is a crime scene and we don’t want to destroy evidence. Come back and wait in the chopper. I’ll call Wolfe.” He made the call. “He’s on his way. Which direction did the tire tracks come from?”
“I… er… I’m sorry, seeing that just shook me up a bit. That will be my first dead body. I am assuming if I plan to keep on living in Black Rock Falls I’ll need to get used to seeing them. I hear a serial killer left bodies in displays over Halloween.” Rhett gave his head a shake and then pointed in the direction of the ranch house. “The tire tracks came from that way and looped back. It looks like the tracks were made by heavy machinery. I know they bring out machinery to dig holes when cattle or horses die—but there haven’t been any cattle in this paddock for a time and I can’t see any cowpats anywhere. Not even old dried-out ones.”
Sweeping his gaze across the landscape, Carter took in the location. The fencing was recent, maybe erected in the past year. There would be no need to send out fence-mending crews in this area. “The work schedules and where everyone is located during the day are up on that noticeboard in Bowman’s office. The thing is, a killer wouldn’t be stupid enough to bury a body near where anyone is working, would they?”
“Not likely.” Rhett pinched the end of his nose. “The smell is making my stomach churn.”
Carter walked to the chopper and pulled out his forensics kit. He went through it until he found face masks and a jar of mentholated salve. He handed the jar to Rhett. “Put some of this under your nose and wear the face mask. It won’t remove all the smell, but it will help some.” He dropped into the pilot’s seat and strapped in. “When you’re ready, we’ll take the bird up and see where those tire tracks lead us. We can watch out for signs that someone was around. I’ll send Kane a message to let him know what we’ve discovered. We’ll need to go back and collect them. I’ve given Wolfe the coordinates. He’ll probably be along soon. He was out at the Larkins’ piggery assisting Norrell with the removal of the soil from the pigpens.” He glanced at Rhett. “You’ve met Dr. Johnny Raven, the K-9 deputy?”
“Yeah, big guy with a dog wearing a badge.” Rhett smiled. “Wolfe likes him, which is just as well as he’s dating his eldest, Emily. What does Raven have to do with a pigpen?”
Chuckling, Carter nodded. “Yeah, that’s him. Last month during routine questioning, Bill Larkin and his wife attempted to murder Raven and feed him to their pigs. They’ve been arrested for assaulting a law enforcement officer and are currently in County awaiting trial. It took forever to convince the judge to issue a search warrant to Wolfe and Norrell, to remove the soil from the bottom of the pigpen and have it analyzed. They’re hunting for bone and tooth fragments that might be human.”
“You—what?” Rhett’s mouth hung open. “What have I gotten myself into?” He handed back the salve and face mask. “I won’t need these if we’re leaving now. You know I figured this county was as pretty as a picture when I googled it. Julie told me that it was known locally as Serial Killer Central, but I thought, hey, nothing can be that bad.” He climbed into the chopper. “She wasn’t joking, was she?”
Carter stowed away the forensics kit and climbed into the pilot’s seat. He turned to rub Zorro’s ears and then strapped himself into the seat. “Nope, unfortunately, this county and the others around it, with the mountains and dense forests spreading for miles and miles, are a perfect environment for criminals. There are thousands of places to murder people, dump bodies, and live off the grid without anyone even knowing they exist. We deal only with the killers who leave a body where we can find it. Over six hundred thousand people go missing every year. I figure we’re seeing only the tip of the iceberg. When you take into account the size of this county, per acre, we have only a very small percentage of murders in comparison to some of the other states. In some cities they have more murders in one weekend than we have in an entire year.”
“Including my parents.” Rhett strapped in and then stared straight ahead. “I can’t stop thinking about how smart my pa would have been, to build this business. I’ve been going through some of the ledgers and reading his day-to-day running notes. He wasn’t a fool, that’s for darn sure, which makes me wonder why he didn’t go and tell someone about his suspicions, if someone was out to get him.”
Lifting the chopper into the air, Carter swung back toward the ranch house and followed the tire tracks in the long grass. It didn’t surprise him when the tracks led back to the covered area holding a line of Lawson’s Ridge trucks and machinery. The vehicle had made a round trip, so the body had been taken to the parking area. From there, tire tracks led all over. He landed in the empty paddock reserved for his chopper and turned to Rhett. “I figure the hands take the vehicles as needed. They likely all have the keys in the ignition and no one has to sign them in or out. That’s the usual practice on big spreads like this, so our chances of finding out who was driving what over the last few days is going to be difficult.”
“Oh, my Lord.” Rhett stared into the distance and his Adam’s apple bobbed as he swallowed hard. He turned his attention back to Carter. “I’ve inherited a cattle business with a resident serial killer.”
Eight
Josh Greenwood might have been a hell-raiser in his time, but Jenna found him soft-spoken and almost eager to answer their questions. Greenwood had given them a tour of the massive stables, which covered three large buildings. The day-to-day running of the stables interested Jenna and the smell was comforting. The scent of horses, leather, and manure made her relax. She always enjoyed working beside Kane in their own stables. It was never a chore. Here, the horses not used for work spent their time in a corral during the day and were brought in at night, then groomed and fed. As Kane’s knowledge of horses outweighed her own, he took the lead in the questions. It interested her to see the way he managed to maneuver the conversation around to what happened to Rhett’s parents.
“Nasty accident.” Greenwood stroked the stubble on his chin and leaned against one of the posts in the middle of the stable. “Act of God they say.” He stared at his boots for a time. “Chris Lawson was a really good man, and his wife always made me feel welcome. When I first came here, I was practically destitute. I had a young pregnant wife, no money, and all I knew about was horses. He gave us a place to live, and I worked alongside the head wrangler. He was an old man, but he worked right up until the day he died. It was only a couple of days after Chris and his wife perished in that fire. I’ve always figured that it was the shock of them dying like that that did him in.”
“How long was it before people noticed they were missing?” Kane absently rubbed the nose of a bay gelding.
“I remember that day very well.” Greenwood straightened and his mouth turned down at the corners as if the memory was painful. “I saddled their mounts. They had been away for a few hours when a storm rolled in. I’d warned them before they left that it was on the way and they said they would shelter in the fishing cabin if it got too bad. Seems to me that’s what they did. We reckon it must have been hit by lightning. Both their horses came back to the stables and we went out searching for them. By the time we arrived most of the cabin was razed to the ground, with only the front part and one corner remaining. It was a grisly sight.”
Needing more information, Jenna looked at him. “Did anyone call the sheriff?”
“Not that I recall.” Greenwood looked at them and his eyes narrowed. “We waited until it cooled down. No one could get into that place until the following morning. Everything was red hot. The roof had caved in, but Chris and his wife were up against the front door. It was plain to see. It’s not something I would forget.”
“So who removed the bodies?” Kane turned away from the horse and looked at him with one eyebrow raised. “Could there have been any chance that they were still alive when you found them?”
“Nope.” Greenwood stared into space as if remembering the horror of the day. “I’ll never forget the smell. They were just charcoal. If I recall, someone opened the front door, we loaded them onto a flatbed, and took them to the family cemetery on the hill over yonder. We didn’t have coffins, but we wrapped what was left of them in blankets and buried them. I recall Ed Bowman saying a few words over the graves.”
The story was different than Bowman’s. He’d told them they’d called the paramedics, who removed the bodies. She glanced at Kane and he gave her an imperceptible nod. He’d picked it up too.
“Who opened the door?” Kane looked at him. “If it was unlocked, why didn’t the Lawsons run out?”
“Oh, yeah, that’s right.” Greenwood looked at his feet. “The door handle was red hot, and someone went through the back where the wall had collapsed.” He cleared his throat. “I wasn’t really with them. I’m sorry—I’m just telling the story Bowman told me.”
“So the Lawsons aren’t buried on the ranch.” Kane stared at him.
“Oh, yeah, they are, in the fenced-off area up on the hill in the east paddock.” Greenwood’s cheeks glowed red. “I don’t recall who he said pulled them out of the fire. Ask him, he’ll remember.”
“Then what happened? Who took charge of the ranch?” Kane folded his arms across his chest and stood feet apart.
“Wade Cutter worked alongside Chris and he knew how things ran around here.” Greenwood removed his cowboy hat and ran a hand through his thick graying hair. “You’d be better talking to Bowman about this. I was just a newcomer, so I didn’t get involved with the hierarchy around here. I would have assumed that someone told the sheriff what had happened. I know Cutter and Bowman went to speak to Chris’s lawyer. People started showing up with clipboards and doing inventories of everything on the property. From then on, the lawyers ran the place from afar. They appointed Cutter to be the rancher.”
Jenna turned as Kane’s phone buzzed and raised an eyebrow.
