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“It’s different for women, Decker.”
Jamison drove while Decker punched the directions into his phone navigation. Then he settled back and watched the road zip by. It was six o’clock in the evening and they were headed right into a gathering storm. Nasty black cumulus clouds reared up ahead of them like a towering serpent about to do some serious business over this patch of the upper Midwest.
“Irene Cramer,” said Decker softly as they drove along.
Jamison nodded and her features turned grim. “Found dead in the middle of nowhere by a guy tracking a wolf.”
“Most notably she was apparently autopsied,” added Decker.
“That’s a first, at least for me. How about you?”
“I’ve seen cut-up bodies, but not like the photos I saw. The crime scene was pretty clean except for the guy’s vomit.”
“Serial murderer? Is that why we got the call? Bogart didn’t really say.”
Ross Bogart was the head of their small task force. He was the one who had ordered the pair to North Dakota after the briefest of briefings.
“Maybe.”
“Did Ross sound strange when he talked to you?” asked Jamison. “He did to me.”
Decker nodded. “He couldn’t tell us something that he wanted to tell us.”
“How do you know that?”
“He’s a straight shooter who has to answer to political types.”
“I don’t like mysteries at both ends of a case,” groused Jamison.
“I don’t think this is necessarily a serial murderer.”
“Why not?”
“I could find nothing to match it in the databases. I checked before we flew out.”
“Could be a new player.”
“New players aren’t usually this sophisticated.”
“He might be trying to make a name for himself,” pointed out Jamison.
“They’re all trying to make a name for themselves,” replied Decker.
“But they don’t call the Bureau in for a local murder.”
“I think we need to look at thevictimand not the killer for that reason.”
“You believe Irene Cramer was important to the Feds for some reason?”
“And it may also explain Bogart’s reticence.”
“Regardless, we’re clearly looking at a killer with forensic skills.”
“That could apply to quite a few people, including people on our side of the field.”
“An ME gone bad, maybe?” suggested Jamison.
Decker looked uncertain. “You can probably find a YouTube video of someone cutting up a mannequin. But the report said the cuts were professionally done.”
