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“I will,” Mitch said, but he had no intention of doing so.
Another alert chimed on his phone. He read the text message.
ETA: two minutes.
“Bethenny, the team is about to arrive. Enjoy the rest of your vacation. I’m serious about the paperwork,” he said, hanging up before she could respond.
Mitch exhaled a long breath, tucked his phone into his pocket, and turned back toward the woods where the bodies were. For a moment, the magnitude of the task ahead of him threatened to choke him.
But he shook his head, shaking the doubts from his mind. He was the sheriff and he could handle this.
Forensics.
Notify families.
Find the killer.
Three steps. That was it.
The loud purr of engines pulled him from his thoughts as six vans arrived together. It was the entire squad, and he hoped they hadn’t eaten lunch within the last few hours.
He’d instructed them to bring stretchers, mobile scaffolding, and knives, in addition to their forensics kits.
If they couldn’t place the scaffolding safely, they were going to have to climb the trees to cut the ropes. Obviously, the killer had been good at climbing trees.
That thought made him pause. More than one person must’ve been involved in this unless they had some kind of pulley system.
He shuddered, looking back at the woods.
CHAPTER2
MITCH
Mitch tied Gus’s lead around the base of a tree. “Down,” he commanded. “Good boy.” He rubbed the dog’s head as Gus lay at the base of the tree.
Mitch moved toward the vans and assembled his team. They stood around him in a circle, and Mitch took a calming breath.
“There are seven bodies, at various stages of decomposition. They’re suspended in the trees. We need to preserve the crime scene as much as possible. Let’s start with the ground: look for tread marks, blood splatter, torn clothing, or anything that may have been dropped. I want everything photographed before we move the bodies.” He looked over his team, making sure everyone was still with him.
“Once the ground is covered, we’ll need to see if we can set up the mobile scaffolding,” Mitch continued. “Due to the overgrowth on the ground, I think it’s probably unlikely, but it would be ideal if we can. If we can’t, we’ll be climbing the trees to cut the ropes and gently lower them down. We’ll number them from one to seven, with one being the body closest to the front of the opening. I’ll call in coroners from the surrounding towns to give us a hand. The faster we can identify these people, the faster we can begin this investigation. The corpses have undergone various stages of decomposition, with one looking like it was hung in the last few months. This is almost certainly a serial killing, and the faster we find them, the less chance they have of hurting someone else.”
His team looked between him and the woods, pensive. Mitch didn’t blame them—this was not the kind of work they did every day.
“Any questions?” Mitch asked.
“Do any of them look familiar?” Emma asked, somewhat hesitant. Mitch knew what she was asking: were any of them local Redwater residents—friends of theirs.
Mitch shook his head. “Not to me. I don’t think they’re from Redwater for two reasons. First, there’s too many—if seven people went missing, we’d know about it. Second, and probably the reason you asked: they don’t look familiar, at least the ones who aren’t severely decomposed.”
Emma visibly swallowed, giving a tense nod.
Mitch turned to lead the way and then stopped, feeling the need to warn them. “You’ve never seen anything like this, and I hope you never see it again. It’s... evil.” He shook his head. There was nothing else he could say to prepare them. There was no way to prepare for this.
“Stay,” Mitch said, looking at Gus as he stepped forward.
Gus’s head stayed on the ground. It seemed even he didn’t want to be there.
Two of Mitch’s colleagues walked on either side of him. “How do you think they were killed?” one asked.
