Page 28 of Playing With Temptation

Anna glanced around and finished with, “One thing I’ve learned is where there’s a will there’s a way and that goes double for the monsters who perpetrate these types of acts of violence. Fortunately, they always leave something behind, and the human body doesn’t lie. The examiner will know if she was alive when she went into the water. But if I had to call it, on appearance alone I’d say she was already dead. The deep tissue trauma around her throat indicates the hyoid bone is fractured and there’s enough damage to crush the thyroid cartilage and the carotid sheath.”

I’d been a cop for a long time. A detective for eight of those years. I’d seen victims who had been strangled. I’d interviewed them, I’d studied the pictures of the injuries taken at the hospital and postmortem. There was a difference between being strangled and being strangled to death. And the marks around the throat of our victim didn’t say death, it screamed it.

Which obviously meant I agreed with Anna—our victim was dead before she was dumped into the pond. Further, I agreed we needed to wait on the ME’s official cause of death before locking onto a theory that led us down the wrong path only to have to backtrack, wasting valuable time.

I glanced at Ethan. “You have anything else?” When he shook his head, I went back to the coroner. “Thanks, Anna, we’ll let you get on your way.”

Ethan extended his gratitude.

Anna called her assistants over, and only when we knew she had help loading the deceased did we move away.

“She’s in a rush,” I noted.

“I heard her telling Reynolds she was already at the Morton’s when she got the call. Apparently, it’s been a busy couple of days. She’s processing five deaths. Three fatal car wrecks, one overdose, and a cancer patient.”

The county was so small, not only did we not have a medical examiner, but we also didn’t have a morgue. All deaths that did not require an autopsy were sent to Morton’s Funeral Home for Anna to examine and sign off on before they were released to the family. Which, incidentally, was less than three miles from the park.

Ethan kept walking toward the homeowner, giving me a rundown. “Joel Adams. He and his wife live in one of the houses on Timberlane Court.” I glanced at the tree line that delineated the back of the properties that backed up to the park. “Dog found the body, and he called 911.”

Christ. Nothing like going out for an early morning walk with your dog and stumbling upon something no one wants to see.

“Mr. Adams,” Officer Reynolds started as we approached. “This is Detective Lenox and Detective Turner.”

I took in his appearance while Ethan greeted the man. “Thanks for waiting for us.”

Tall. Built. Well into his thirties or early forties. Sneakers, no socks. Athletic shorts. Well-worn tee that proclaimed he was a fan of the Atlanta Falcons. Hair messy like he’d just rolled out of bed. No visible scratches on his arms, neck, or face.

“Yeah, no problem,” Joel responded with a small shake of his head. “Like I was telling Officer Reynolds. I didn’t see anyone.”

“Are you okay to answer some questions here? Or would you be more comfortable if we followed you back to your house?” I glanced down at the golden retriever, patiently sitting at its owner’s side. “Your dog’s well behaved.”

“My wife has epilepsy. Linus is her service dog,” he explained. “He won’t leave my side unless he has the all clear.” To punctuate his statement, Adams removed his hand from the dog’s collar. Linus looked up at his owner but otherwise didn’t move even with all the activity around the park. “And we’re fine to talk here. My wife… hopefully she’s still asleep. I’d rather not disturb her.”

“If you don’t mind, walk us through your morning,” Ethan requested.

“Sure. I got up at five and got dressed. Set the coffee to brew. Let Linus out, and we took off for our morning run.”

“Do you run with Linus every morning?” I asked.

“Yes.”

“Did you see anyone around the pond, in the park, car in the parking lot?”

“No. Though it was still pretty dark out. But if Linus heard or saw someone he would’ve alerted.”

I looked back at the dog and figured that was the truth.

“Can you explain what Linus did to lead you to the deceased,” Ethan inquired carefully.

Joel’s hand went to the top of the dog’s head, giving him an affectionate scratch behind the ear.

“He’s trained and there’s no one out when we take our morning runs.”

I waited for him to say more. When he didn’t, it dawned on me, he was worried about the dog not being on a leash.

“We’re not gonna jam you up because he wasn’t on a leash,” I told him.

Joel nodded and continued. “I let him roam while I run. He normally stays by me but this morning he took off for the pond. I didn’t think anything of it because he’s done that before. But when I finished my first lap, he was still at the edge, crouched down, so I went over to see what he found.” The man stopped and took a deep breath. His exhale was accompanied with a shake of his head. “He was licking her face.”