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Kane strolled to her side, his face grim. “Do you have any suspects?”
She turned her attention to him. “Two. The kids who found the victim saw two local rodeo cowboys they recognized as Lucky Briggs and Storm Crawley coming out the forest. I want to speak to them the moment we’ve secured the crime scene.” She glanced at Wolfe. “I wish you had your license already. Relying on a mortician to act as M.E. is not in our best interest. I’ll give you the keys to my car; follow the mortician back to the funeral home and get me an autopsy completed ASAP. I explained who you are when I called him.” She pulled out her car keys and handed them to Wolfe.
“Yes, ma’am.” Wolfe pushed the keys into his pants pocket.
She glanced at Kane. “We’ll interview the cowboys first, and when we get back to the office, I’ll go through the high school yearbooks and see if I can come up with the name of our victim. I doubt anyone has missed her yet; from what I could see, the body appears pretty fresh.” She frowned. “I’m sure Wolfe will be able to give me an interim report.”
“Do you know if anyone has disturbed the scene?” Kane dropped the crime scene bag he was holding onto the ground.
“The two boys, their mother, and me as far as I know.” She chewed on her bottom lip. “Do you have everything you need with you?”
“I never leave home without my kit, and as luck would have it, Wolfe had his box of tricks in his vehicle and we picked it up on the way.” Kane gave her a concerned look. “Do you want us to go ahead and secure the scene and do a sweep of the area for clues?”
“No.” Jenna swallowed the lump in her throat. During her career, she had seen things she would never forget, and this was one of them. “I’m finished here. Walters can wait for the M.E., and we’ll cover the area quicker and get some dignity for the victim if we work together.”
“Okay.” Kane bent, unzipped the bag, and pulled out bright blue coveralls, booties, and gloves. He handed them around then added face masks.
Jenna grabbed the coveralls. “Suit up and we’ll get this done. Make sure you have full access to your weapons.”
“Sure thing.” Wolfe dressed and turned his attention to her. “Ah, do you want to lead the way, ma’am?”
Jenna lifted her chin. “Yeah.” She glanced at Wolfe, who was waiting as if he wanted to ask her a question. “Is there a problem?”
“Would it be possible to have a chat later, ma’am? It might make our working relationship a bit easier.” Wolfe shrugged into his suit and raised a blond eyebrow. “The three of us when you have time, ma’am.”
A wave of apprehension stopped Jenna in her tracks. She shot a look at Kane but he shrugged. “Right now, we have a mutilated girl requiring our attention. Get your minds back on the job. I’ll discuss this with you later.”
Her pockets crammed with evidence bags and spare gloves, Jenna led the way down the path to the clearing. She heard weapons slide from holsters and the familiar click as rounds loaded into the chambers. The eeriness of the forest lessened a little with two competent deputies watching her back, but the moment she stepped into the clearing, an inner feeling of dread clutched her stomach.
Throughout her career, she had not been able to view victims of horrific crimes as objects. She never forgot one of them. Her way to deal with carnage came by way of finding justice for the victims. Somehow, in all the horror, she became a different person, as if disconnected from her true self. She had no choice but to put aside her humanity for a short space of time and search for clues to find the animals who committed atrocities.
Six
Kane had not missed the color drain from Sheriff Alton’s face when Wolfe had tried to speak to her, and he felt like a jerk after promising not to pry into her background. He scanned the forest, noting the way the birds objected to their presence. If someone was close by watching them, they were remaining motionless. He doubted the killer would risk staying behind to observe their reaction to discovering the body, but he had read about psychopaths who liked to display their kills for shock value. Some often joined the crowd of onlookers to enjoy the reaction.
No inquisitive crowd had gathered. Not one word of their discovery had slipped out to the public, and the parents of this poor girl would not suffer the distress of hearing the details of their daughter’s murder splashed all over the news. Old Mr. Weems was prone to letting the odd detail slip. As the local mortician, he probably had little in his life to gossip about, and the discovery of a body would make him a celebrity if only for a short time.
The smell of death wafted through the trees, and Kane holstered his weapon and pushed on a face mask. He followed Alton into the clearing and Wolfe moved to his side, cursing under his breath.
“Jesus, she looks about the same age as my daughter Emily.” Wolfe gave him a look of disgust, slipped his sidearm back into the holster, then snapped on a face mask. “You told me Black Rock Falls was a nice quiet place to live.”
“I thought we’d had our share of crazies for a while.” Kane raised both eyebrows. “We had four murders in town six months ago.”
“Wonderful.”
Examining the layout of the murder scene, Kane winced at the sight of crows pecking at the corpse. He heard Alton’s intake of breath at the graphic sight and touched her arm. “Orders, ma’am?”
“Wolfe, go and examine the body. I’d like an interim report.” Alton frowned then picked up a small pebble and threw it at the birds. It landed with a crack on the rock. The crows screeched into the air, swirling the dead girl’s hair around her face. “We’ll leave Deputy Wolfe to do his job and concentrate on finding where the murder took place and work back from there.”
Kane noticed a shudder vibrate through her and blocked her line of view to the body. He glanced around the immediate area. “Where are her clothes?”
“Look at the scene, Kane.” Alton rubbed her temples then straightened as if gathering herself. She met his gaze head-on with a cool, composed stare. “From the small amount of blood spatter on the rock, I would imagine the killer washed the body or killed her close to the river. Grab a handful of flags and mark any evidence you find. Head toward the river from the left of the rock and I’ll take the right; we’ll circle around and move in.” She glanced at Wolfe. “Do you need any help?”
“No, ma’am.” Wolfe surveyed the area and moved closer to the body. “I agree from the lack of blood, the murder happened elsewhere. The victim has defensive wounds on her hands and legs consistent with fighting off a knife attack. She fought for her life, and from the downward angle of the lacerations, we are looking for a man at least five ten. Look for signs of a struggle in the area; if you find any blood spatter, I’d like to see it before it deteriorates.”
“Roger that.” Alton looked at Kane and tipped her dark head toward the riverbank. “Move out.”
“Wait!” Wolfe turned slowly to look at them then pointed to the ground on the opposite side of the flat rock. His mouth turned down and he shook his head. “Drag marks there and it looks like he dropped her. I can see something glistening in the leaves, maybe a gold chain. I would advise you to cover this area first, ma?
