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She turned to look down the trail. The police crime scene tape was already in place, closing off the path. The coroner was already gowned up and examining the victim. May couldn't see her, beyond the knot of people.
And the elderly man wanted to talk. He was dressed in a pale blue shirt, holding the leashes of two friendly looking dogs that May guessed were Labrador crosses. Their tails thumped in greeting as May petted them.
"I found her on my daily walk,” the man said. “I usually take a different route, but for some reason my dogs wanted to go this way so I changed things up and took this trail. I know there's usually no people out here at this time. It's the most terrible thing I've ever seen. Did I hear correctly that this is the second murder of young women?"
"That's correct," May said. "Did you see or hear anything unusual on your walk?"
He shook his head. "Not a thing. The woods were as quiet as always. I got a massive fright when I saw her there. At first I thought maybe she'd collapsed for some reason, but when I came closer I realized without a doubt she was dead."
"Then what did you do?" May asked.
"Well, I got my phone straight out of my pocket and called 911. And then I stayed here. I thought if the killer was still around, I had my dogs with me."
"That was very brave of you. Thank you," May said, even though she thought these dogs would be more likely to lick a criminal to death than provide any other type of protection.
But May could see the killer had come and gone. She suspected this body had been here a while, and if not for the dog walker, might only have been discovered much later.
"I'll take your name and details, sir." Owen moved forward with his notepad, taking over this short interview as May walked closer to where the coroner was at work.
She bit her lip as she looked down at the body.
This young woman was also beautiful, May saw sadly. She had pale, perfect skin and long, glowing copper hair. She was dressed in a T-shirt, jeans, and sneakers, so she must have changed out of her prom outfit and been on a walk.
It looked to May, from the marks she could see on the neck, like exactly the same method of attack. The women were being strangled from behind. The killer must have chased this woman in the same way, and then killed her in the same way.
Her eyes widened as she saw petals scattered around the body. These were not rose petals. Staring around, she guessed they had been ripped from the banks of wildflowers surrounding the path, although by now they were a little shriveled and wilted.
Why the petals? And why from behind, she wondered. Was there a reason for this whole ritual? If so, what could it be?
"Same MO," Andy Baker confirmed grimly. "And the scene is very clean. Unfortunately we don't even have a footprint, in all these leaves and mulch. You’ll notice there are also flowers scattered at the scene?"
“Yes. What do you make of that?”
He shook his head. “It must mean something. To the killer, at least.”
“What about the time of death?" May asked.
"I would say, between two and four hours ago, based on the preliminary body temperature and evidence," Andy explained. "That might vary by an hour outside of that, but not much more."
May checked the time. That meant this woman had been killed somewhere between breakfast and lunch time. That would have been after the police had arrived at the post-prom party.
In terms of timeframes, that cleared both Dylan and Miles. Dylan was in the care of his parents. Miles had mostly spent that time at the police station.
So, undoubtedly, another killer was at work and they had to widen the search.
"Do we have an ID for the victim?"
"Yes, we do," the coroner said. "She had her driver's license and student card in her pocket, along with a few illegal drugs. A bag of marijuana, and a few 'uppers' - party drugs, and one or two pharmaceutical drugs. I don't know if they were for personal use or whether she was sharing, or selling, them. Her name is Sadie Croft. She lives outside Chestnut Hill, a couple of miles from here."
"I interviewed her as she was leaving the party," Sheriff Jack said. "She told me that she hadn't had an invite, that she didn't see herself as part of the 'in' crowd, but she'd come along nevertheless."
"Maybe to make some money selling pills?" May suggested.
"Could be," Sheriff Jack replied. "We'll need to find out who she spoke to and what her movements were. I’m going to go and break the news to her mother now. We’ve already established that, as it’s a serial, the murders are probably not related to the victims’ personal lives, but I will rule that out all the same, and ask her, if she’s able to answer."
“Thank you,” May said, feeling relieved that the task of facing another bereaved parent would not fall to her again.
"If I find any other evidence, I'll let you know," Andy said, before turning back to his work, his eyes serious over his mask.
