“Agent Jane Cannon.” Jane nodded to him.
“Detective Ray Ryan.” Ray shook the man’s hand. “This makes four.”
“Damn.” Marcone rubbed the back of his head. “I’m glad we’re turning this over to you guys. We’ve got enough on our plate.”
“I hear that.” Ray sighed. “I was hoping maybe our guy would get bored. Apparently not.”
Officer Delco cringed when one of the techs mentioned blood spatter. “Nothing’s been moved. We’ve kept the scene for you, Agent Cannon. Detective Marcone? I’m going to head out. I’m due for court early this afternoon.”
“Thanks for containing the scene. Good job, Officer Delco.”
Delco nodded and left.
Jane blinked at what she saw at the table. “Is that…?”
“Yeah. Body parts, it’s what’s for dinner,” Marcone said with disgust. “I don’t know what you guys are investigating, but I don’t envy you.”
“Well, the severed limbs are a new one.” Ray shook his head. “I’m guessing the family was killed Monday.”
Detective Marcone motioned to the lead forensics tech, who overhead Ray as he neared and answered, “Yes. They’ve all beendead for close to forty-eight hours. The limbs belong to the man we found sitting in the kitchen by himself.”
“Did you happen to ID him?”
“Yes. His wallet was in his pants pocket.”
“Let me guess,” Jane said. “Louis Miller.”
“That’s the guy.”
She and Ray moved into the kitchen to see Louis Miller sitting at the kitchen table by himself, an expression of horror on his face. Blood had seeped into the cushion and floor under him, his arms missing at the shoulders, his legs cut off at the knees.
On the plate in front of him, set prettily beside a napkin folded into a triangle, upon which a fork and spoon had been placed, lay a familiar looking notebook.
“Is it okay to look at it?” she asked the ME.
“Yes. We’ve already photographed everything. We’re still processing, obviously. But the notebook is good.”
She opened it to see it mostly intact, a few pages missing. Jane handed it to Ray. “This is the notebook I found at the Strands’ house. It’s missing a few pages.”
“And now it’s back. This is definitely our guy.”
“Yes.” She studied Louis, curious that he’d been taken and killed but kept away from the family. “The killer wanted him for information. He had to use Louis’s sister and her family for leverage. So why leave the notebook behind?”
“He wants you to know it’s him.” Ray handed back the book and crouched to study Louis’s torso. “Brutal. That had to hurt. See all the small incisions? Under the eyes, behind the ears? Tiny stinging cuts.”
“The killer had fun with him. But he didn’t kill Louis’sotherfamily. The senator and his wife are just fine.”
“None of them were related by blood. Maybe the killer doesn’t consider them family.”
“Maybe.” Jane left Ray to enter the dining room again. The children didn’t have any wounds except the ones meant to kill. “Quick deaths for the children. Positioned neatly with their parents. Thefather went fast, knife to the jugular. The mother a little bit slower, probably to toy with Louis. But the killer didn’t linger here. The family served its purpose.”
She noted the dog bowl on the floor by the children’s small feet.
The sense of loss crept over her until it felt suffocating.
So she did what she did best and tucked it all away, emotionless, so she could better hunt this predator and stop him from hurting anyone else.
Jane focused on what she could see, on the minute details that would tell a more complete story.
