Page 4 of Whisper Through the Pines

As Jenna passed Raven’s vehicle, she noticed two women sitting in the back seat averting their eyes. She rounded the front of the truck and stared at a metallic blue Ford F-150 a short distance away parked under the trees. Jenna stood for a moment, taking in the sun-bleached paint and the dusty tires. She’d seen many pickups like this in the high school parking lot. Only this one had two heads placed deliberately on the roof, facing forward like grotesque ornaments. Beside her, Rio swore under his breath and she wanted to turn to look at him, but she couldn’t drag her eyes away from the morbid scene. A patch of sunlight streaked through the trees highlighting the roof of the truck, making everything too clear and too real.

“It’s the legend of the Axman.” Rio stepped forward. “Where are their bodies?”

Jenna gathered herself and straightened. “This isn’t a prank, although it’s been staged to look like one. Look at the way the killer has placed the heads. It’s intentional and ritualistic.”

“Yeah. Seems like we have another batshit-crazy person haunting the forest at Halloween.” Rio shook his head. “Heck, we told the same story in LA, and trust me, I saw some oddball things happen there, but nothing comes close to this.”

She’d attended many horrific crime scenes in her life, but nothing really prepared her for teenagers cut down just before their lives had even begun. A noise came from the forest and her hand went to her weapon. Beside her, Rio had already pulled his and stood in a shooting stance with his arms outstretched in front of him. Jenna held her pistol out in front of her as Raven stepped out of the trees. She blew out a long breath and holstered her weapon. “Maybe call out next time.”

“The bodies are over here.” Raven indicated over one shoulder with his thumb. “They’re not together. I’ve marked everything with tape and recorded the crime scenes. I’ve searched the entire area and can’t find any tracks or anything to say anyone else was here. The underbrush is so thick and covered with pine needles that footprints just don’t show.” He looked around her. “Is that Emily?”

Nodding, Jenna turned and waved at Emily. “Yeah, she’s over there with Webber. We’ll need to call in a tow truck once the bodies have been removed. No doubt Wolfe will be back very soon and will want to examine that F-150 from top to bottom. When you organize that, make sure you tell Millers’ Garage that men collecting it must wear examination gloves and the truck is to be taken to Wolfe’s garage at the morgue right away.”

“Do you want me to walk you through the crime scene first, Jenna?” Raven waited for Emily and Webber to arrive. “I don’t believe that the victims were murdered in or close to the truck. The amount of blood at each scene indicates they were murdered and their bodies left where they dropped, on scene. From the blood trails, the heads were taken to the truck and placed on top. From the marks I can see on the female’s legs, I would say she was running for her life through the forest.”

“I’m sure I’ll find more evidence during an autopsy.” Emily moved to Raven’s side and smiled at him. They’d been dating for a time. “But it is good to have another doctor along.”

“Can we go and see the victims now?” Rio pulled on examination gloves and glared at Raven. “Those women in the truck, have they been interviewed? Did you take statements?”

“They were shaken when they arrived at my cabin.” Raven straightened to his full six-five and eyeballed him. “My first priority was to make sure they were safe and to check the scene to ascertain it wasn’t a prank. They’ve left their horses at my place. I’ll need to take them back there once we’re done here. I can take their statements then—unless you’d like to do it now? I need to give Jenna a rundown of the crime scenes.”

Jenna looked from one to the other. Rio had been interested in Emily at one time and she’d moved on, but it was obvious that Rio still had feelings for her. He saw Raven as a rival. Up to now it hadn’t affected their jobs, but then Kane had always been around and she doubted they would dare to argue in front of him. It made her mad they didn’t offer her the same respect. She led Rio away from the others and lowered her voice. “Rio, as my chief deputy, it’s your responsibility to step in when I’m busy. Those women are petrified, so I want you to handle the statements and get them out of here. Raven has already processed the scene and I’ll go with him and the forensics team to view it.” She raised both eyebrows waiting for an argument, but he said nothing. “Then I’d appreciate it if you’d transport the women back to Raven’s cabin and make sure they get home okay.”

“Yes, ma’am.” Rio eyeballed Raven and then turned on his heel and headed toward Raven’s truck.

Although his superior, Rio had no cause to chastise Raven in front of Emily and Webber. They were supposed to be a team. She glanced at Emily, who rolled her eyes and shook her head. She turned back to Raven. “Lead the way.”

Five

The hair on the back of Emily Wolfe’s neck prickled as she scanned the forest. She trusted Raven’s K-9, Ben, to pick up the scent of anyone lurking close by, but the dense shadows within the piercing beams of sunlight could conceal anyone. A cool wind brushed her cheeks, bringing with it the smell of death, and she shivered. The creepy feeling that someone was watching them as they made their way through the forest had intensified with every step. She moved closer to Raven and touched his arm. “Can you feel someone watching us?”

“Something is always watching in the forest.” He indicated to the murder of crows sitting quietly in the trees above them. “The scent of blood will be bringing wildlife from all over. None of them want to challenge us just yet. Luckily, if a bear wanders past, Ben will notify us.”

She gripped her forensics kit tighter and stepped over a fallen log covered in moss. “It’s not the animals I’m worried about.”

“It would be unusual for anything to attack a group of people.” Jenna moved up alongside her. “They’re more likely to pick off the stragglers. It does stink really bad around here, so I’m expecting wildlife damage to the bodies.”

Being on a case in the middle of the forest without her dad was always strange. Emily had handled crime scenes alone before but just having him there was comforting when there was a menace possibly close by. Although, Raven’s knowledge of the mountain terrain and forest comforted her. She moved her attention to Ben. The K-9 walked out in front of them, sniffing the air and looking in all directions. The moment they reached the first victim, Ben barked and sat down. Emily pushed down the wave of nausea that gripped her at the sight of horrific crimes. She spent a good deal of her time visiting body farms, and seeing the decaying bodies was indeed distressing and interesting at the same time. Being able to see stages of decomposition made it easier for her to determine the time of death in victims but that experience didn’t really prepare her for seeing a body with a head hacked off with an ax.

The first body they came across was male, lying face down in the forest. His death hadn’t been easy. She followed the blood spatter spread over a number of trees, culminating in a massive congealed patch beside the corpse. She moved closer, avoiding stepping in the surrounding crimson pool. Small animals had trekked through the blood, leaving their footprints on fallen leaves in the underbrush. The male victim had put up a fight. Deep lacerations crossed one arm and shoulder. The Axman must have taken at least three or four swings at him prior to the decapitation. Emily swallowed hard and straightened before turning to Raven. “Did you capture the scene?”

“Yes, with video and stills.” Raven indicated toward the blood spatter. “I’ve taken close-up images of any blood that I spotted and I’ve made notes about the distance from the first blood spatter to the fallen body. As you can see, the killer carried the head toward the vehicle. We can walk that way back. The blood trail leads directly to the truck. The same for the female victim.”

Turning around and walking to a blood spot where the head must have fallen, Emily traced the blood trail back to a narrow animal track. She walked back and forth and then nodded to herself before returning to where Jenna was staring at the body. “This killer is very cool and calm. From the blood spatter and trail leading back to the vehicle, I would say he was walking slowly and swinging the head in one hand. It looks as if he had all the time in the world.”

“That’s chilling.” Jenna chewed on her bottom lip and stared at her. “Do you want to view the next body and then collect both of them and take them back to the van? We can then drive back and collect the heads and get them to the morgue.” She looked at her. “Will you be conducting the autopsies today?”

Glad she had the backup of her stepmother and forensics anthropologist, Dr. Norrell Wolfe, working in the same building, Emily nodded. “Yeah, I guess so. I haven’t heard from Dad, so Norrell will assist. Not that I believe for one second there is any other cause of death, but we’d better be sure.”

“You’ll be able to get the van closer to the bodies if you drive along the fire road another hundred yards or so.” Raven indicated ahead with his chin. “There’s a wide trail coming in from that direction that leads to the fire road. I’ll come with you and show you where to go.” He frowned. “The female victim is over here.” He headed along a trail until he came to a clearing.

Heart pounding as the wind in the trees made shadows move all around her, Emily walked beside him, with Jenna and Webber close behind. Tension wrapped around them so tightly she could almost touch it. The female was young, maybe seventeen. Dressed in a jacket over a skirt and wearing pink and brown cowboy boots with fringes. Her legs, as Raven had noticed previously, had scratches all over. She must have run for her life. Turning slowly, Emily searched the undergrowth and surrounding trees for blood spatter. One of the trees had a large amount of blood on one section of the trunk. Smaller sprays covered the underbrush on each side. “I figure he took her down with one swing of the ax.” She pointed. “The blood you can see over the tree and surrounds is arterial spray. The spatter over there on the opposite trunks and undergrowth would have come from the ax as he swung it.” She moved a few paces away from the body and then pointed to a small patch of blood. “The head landed there and you can see where he collected it and walked back along the trail to the vehicle. It’s in the same slow deliberate steps as he used before. It would seem to me that this man believed he had all the time in the world to commit these crimes and no one would catch him. There is absolutely no sense of him rushing, or this being a spontaneous act. It’s as if he planned it out, lay in wait for the victims, and then committed the crime.”

“Another organized serial killer.” Jenna stared at the prone body and shook her head slowly. “I wish for once we didn’t have a murderer stalking Black Rock Falls at Halloween. That’s one tradition I can do without.” She looked at Raven. “Can you go and get the van and handle the body retrieval with Webber? I’ll walk back to the Ford with Em. We’ll wait there for you once she’s completed her examination.”

“Sure.” Raven nodded. “I’ll leave Ben with you. He’ll do his own thing and guard you. He’ll bark if he hears anything and sit down if he wants you to stop.” He turned to Ben and drew him closer. He touched Jenna and then Emily. “Guard them. Good boy.” He patted him on the head and followed Webber back to the van.

When they arrived at the Ford truck, they met the two staring heads face on. A black cloud of crows rose into the air when Jenna shouted at them. Some just stared at them, indignant that they’d disturbed their meal. The sight made Emily’s stomach flip-flop. She always had great empathy for the victims she cared for, but these two poor souls had become ghoulish in the time they’d been away. She dragged bags from her kit. “I’ll climb onto the hood and bag the heads before there’s nothing left.”