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"It is beautiful, in a bleak sort of way," Will said.
"Hi, I'm Sheriff Carter," the towering figure of the sheriff said, shaking Valerie’s hand. It was a strong grip, and he had a steely look in his eyes that told Valerie he meant business. A black mustache sat on his top lip, and he reminded Valerie of the old Texas Rangers she had watched on television growing up. The man also had a slight twang to his accent, and although Valerie couldn’t quite place it, she was sure he wasn’t originally from the area.
"Pleasure to meet you," Valerie said. "I'm Agent Law, this is Agent Carlson and Doctor Will Cooper."
"Doctor?" the sheriff asked sounding surprised.
"He's an expert in cases like these," Valerie explained. "Our unit specializes in serial killers."
"And catching them," Charlie added.
"That's good to hear," Sheriff Carter said. "I gotta tell you, we could use all the expertise we can get."
“Let me ask you, Sheriff,” Valerie said. “Do you believe these three murders are the result of a lone killer?”
The sheriff ran his fingers through his mustache. He then sighed, looked at the ground momentarily as if in deep thought, and then stared directly into Valerie’s eyes. “An evil has come to Kerry County, Agent Law. And I believe he's killed three of us already, and they'll be more up ahead."
Valerie nodded. She was glad to know that the sheriff was on her side.
“Let’s do our best to stop that from happening.”
Charlie looked up over to the crest of a hill and pointed to a tree near the barn and police tape. "Is that where they found her?"
"Yes, Agent Carlson," the sheriff said.
“Call me Charlie.”
The sheriff smiled for the first time, and Valerie thought that he was quite handsome in the bleak cold.
"Follow me," Sheriff Carter said.
They walked in relative silence together as they headed up an incline towards an old beat-up tractor. Valerie recognized it immediately as the place where the third victim had been tied up.
The body had already been removed from inside.
Valerie ran her fingers across a strand of police tape. It’s yellow hue and stark words fluttered in an icy breeze which hugged the side of the hill.
“Forensics been and gone then?” she asked the sheriff.
“Yes, Ma’am,” the sheriff answered. “They dusted for prints but didn’t find any, and nothing we could take DNA from, either.”
Valerie reached up to the old tractor and pulled herself up onto its step.
She looked through the Perspex of the cab. Dried blood had poured out over the seat and floor where the body had once sat.
She looked at the steering wheel, where the photographs of the crime scene had revealed that the victim had had her wrists tied to it. Tied with what Charlie had identified as a sheet bend knot.
Valerie stepped down from the cab with a sigh. “I don’t think there is much here to give us a lead.”
Another icy blast of cold air fingered its way through the dead tree nearby and rustled in the surrounding bushes. Valerie felt a bleakness to the place. It was as if the murder had stained the very fabric of this once peaceful farmstead. Even some of the tree’s branches were broken, like the place was decaying from the inside out.
“Should we contact the coroner who has carried out the autopsy?” Will asked.
Sheriff Carter let out a sigh of his own. He shook his head. “I’m really sorry about this, but the autopsy hasn’t been completed yet.”
“Why?” Charlie asked incredulously.
“Things tend to move a lot slower around here,” Sheriff Carter answered. “But I can hopefully have something for you by the end of today.”
