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“Are you ready for this?” Harris asked

.

“No,” Cassie said. “But let’s go.”

“Her name is Sage Washington. Black female. Twenty-six. Throat slit and heart removed. She was found about an hour ago by some park goers who were foraging and came across her body. I got here about half an hour ago.”

“You sound rushed.”

Harris looked around. “We’re trying to keep the media away. That’s why we’ve set the perimeter back so far. We don’t want anyone to know how the women were killed in case we can use it against any suspects.”

“Makes sense.” Cassie felt a knot form in her stomach. “And what are you expecting of me here?”

Harris took a moment to answer. They stepped off the path and made their way deeper into the woods. It wasn’t hard to figure out where they had to go. There was a circle of cops standing amidst the trees, and inside that, a circle of yellow caution tape. As they passed by, every one of the cops nodded in acknowledgement to Harris. No one wanted her job that morning. Or most mornings, Cassie imagined.

“Detective Klein said fresh crime scenes can leave a bigger imprint for you to pick up.” Harris formed the words like she was repeating what David told her without knowing what he meant. “I don’t like to bring civilians to a crime scene like this but you’re not the typical civilian.”

“I’m choosing to take that as a compliment.”

Harris halted outside the crime scene tape and looked back at Cassie. “I know you already saw Elizabeth’s body, but it’s always worse outside of a medical facility. If you think you’re going to get sick—”

“I’ll walk away,” Cassie said. “I know the drill.”

Harris nodded her head once and lifted the tape so both of them could pass under it. Cassie could see the body up ahead, but she searched the woods around the area first.

Nothing seemed out of the ordinary. Like Hannah’s dumping site, this one seemed to have been chosen arbitrarily. It didn’t look anything like the other one. The trees weren’t the same, nothing had been erected as a warning or a tribute and, all things considered, nothing seemed out of place.

Cassie could see the body out of the corner of her eye and her stomach turned. She wasn’t prone to queasiness these days, given all she had already seen, but there was something terrible and unnatural about being able to peer inside someone’s rib cage. She could’ve gone her entire life without experiencing that.

But as Harris led her closer to the body, Cassie felt drawn to it, and when they were close enough to see the entire picture, she couldn’t look away.

Sage’s face was pale and lifeless. Her eyes were still open, staring unceasingly at the sky above. Her throat had been sliced in the same way Elizabeth’s had, at least according to Cassie’s untrained eyes. The front of her navy dress was covered in blood, but not as much as Cassie would’ve expected. If the killer was collecting the blood as it drained, though, that made sense.

What Cassie couldn’t get past was the woman’s open chest. It was a bloody mess, far worse than what she had seen with Elizabeth. The rib cage had been cut and spread open in the same way, but blood and leaves blown around by the wind made it look more congested.

“How long do you think she’s been here?” Cassie asked.

“A couple hours. We know he kills in the middle of the night and leaves the body to be found the next morning. It’s, what, almost eleven? I’d say between eight and ten hours.”

“Do we know anything about her yet?” Cassie asked. “Anything significant?”

“We’re still running a background check. Trying to find her family or next of kin.” Harris blew out a breath. “God, I hate this part.”

“It’s not your fault.” Cassie wondered if she was trying to convince Harris or herself of that truth. “There’s not enough evidence to find the killer yet. There’s nothing you could’ve done to stop this.”

“Yeah, well…” Harris broke off and shook her head.

Cassie could feel the punch coming. “You can say what you need to.”

“It’s nothing. I’m just frustrated. And I never thought I’d be the type of cop to put stock in a psychic.”

“Especially one that’s not getting results?”

“I didn’t say that.”

“You didn’t have to. It’s not like I’m not aware I’ve been less than helpful.”

Harris didn’t respond and Cassie returned her gaze to the body. It was better than standing in whatever angry silence was emanating off the detective.

Source: www.allfreenovel.com
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