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Could it be that you were simply in the wrong place at the wrong time? Fiona mused, biting her lip in frustration. If only she could find the missing piece that would connect these seemingly unrelated deaths.The sterile lab seemed to hum around her, amplifying her thoughts as she tried to piece together the puzzle before her. She absentmindedly spun a pen between her fingers.
Shaking her head, she turned her attention to the notes on Harry's disappearance. He'd been reported missing two weeks ago by his concerned brother, who hadn't heard from him since he went on a solo hike in the very same woods where his lifeless body was discovered.
"Two weeks," Fiona murmured, her brow furrowing. Was it possible that the killer had been lying in wait, watching the forest for unsuspecting victims? Or were Nadine and Harry simply unfortunate enough to cross paths with a murderer?
The air was heavy with the scent of death and formaldehyde, but Fiona had long grown accustomed to it. She took a deep breath, trying to center herself before beginning her examination. Fiona's eyes narrowed with determination as she snapped on latex gloves, the sound echoing through the quiet room. She fastened a mask over her nose and mouth – a necessary precaution, though it did little to filter out the pervasive smell.
With a gentle touch, she pulled back the sheet covering Harry's body, revealing his lifeless form beneath. Despite the seriousness of the situation, Fiona couldn't help but feel a pang of empathy for the man who had once lived and breathed, now reduced to a cold, decomposed corpse.
"God, you poor thing," she muttered, her brow furrowing as she took in the extent of the decomposition. Insects crawled and squirmed across the decaying flesh, eager to feast on the remnants of life. Fiona's entomology background told her that these critters would be crucial in determining the timeline of Harry's death, but at the same time, she couldn't help but feel disturbed by their presence. Something about all of this felt off.
As she began to examine the body more closely, her mind churned with questions. The buzzing of flies intensified as Fiona leaned over Harry's body, her eyes narrowing as she observed the various insects crawling across his decomposing form. Maggots writhed within the more exposed wounds, and beetles scurried about, competing for space on the corpse. Drawing upon her expertise in entomology, Fiona attempted to estimate how long Harry had been dead based on the insects present and their life cycles.
"Blowflies... carrion beetles... this doesn't make any sense," she muttered under her breath, her brow furrowing. According to her calculations, Harry's body seemed to have been lying here for weeks, if not longer. But that was impossible – he had only been reported missing two weeks ago.
Could I be wrong? she wondered. She couldn't shake the gnawing feeling that something was off. Turning back to her notes, Fiona flipped through the pages until she found the statement from the shop owner across from Harry’s store. The man claimed to have seen Harry leaving his shop just two weeks prior, looking very much alive.
Fiona stood over Harry's body, her gloved hands gripping the edges of the cold metal table. Her thoughts churned with the peculiar details of the case, each unanswered question creating a knot in her stomach that only tightened as she continued her examination. She knew there was a reason for the discrepancy between Harry's apparent time of death and his actual disappearance, and she wouldn't rest until she found it. Leaning closer, she carefully inspected the back of Harry's head, where mottled skin and dried blood hinted at the cause of death.
"Blunt force trauma," she concluded, her voice hushed in the quiet examination room. "Just like Nadine."
Fiona went over to Nadine’s body and removed the sheet. Nadine had been found last week, before Harry, but was estimated to have been missing for just over two weeks. The autopsy had already been completed before and all the corpse fauna removed, but Fiona could see the way her flesh had been eaten before she was put into a freezer for further examination.
Fiona bit her lip. If there was no DNA connecting the two bodies, then she wanted to see the crime scenes too. She’d already been at Harry’s—but she needed to see Nadine’s.
CHAPTER SIX
The late-afternoon sun filtered through the dense canopy of trees, casting a crooked light on Fiona and Jake as they made their way through the forest. Sticks crunched beneath their feet while insects buzzed around them, creating a chorus of nature's own music. Fiona took in a deep breath, inhaling the earthy scent of damp soil and decaying leaves.
This was the same forest where Harry Green had been found dead earlier that day, but they were searching for the spot where Nadine Howe's body had been discovered just a week ago. The two locations weren't far apart, which only served to make the situation feel more eerie and unsettling.
Fiona couldn't help but notice how quiet Jake had become since they'd left the crime scene. He was usually more talkative and sharing wild theories, but now he seemed almost subdued, lost in thought. She felt a twinge of concern once again, and not for the first time that day. It had seemed that at one moment, things with Jake had felt like a fairy tale, and suddenly they were crashing down. Fiona couldn’t explain her sudden anxiety and insecurity.
"Hey, are you sure you’re okay?" she finally asked, unable to ignore his unusual silence any longer. "You've been really quiet."
Jake looked up from the ground, his eyes meeting hers as he offered her a reassuring smile. "Yeah, I'm fine, Red," he said, not entirely convincingly. "Just been thinking about the case, that’s all.”
Fiona wasn't sure she believed him, but she didn't want to press further. She needed to trust Jake. She nodded and continued walking, occasionally glancing down at her phone to check their progress on the GPS.
As they pressed forward, Fiona tried to push her worries about Jake to the back of her mind. But something inside her refused to let go, nagging at her like an itch she couldn't quite reach. She knew that if there was something truly wrong with him, he would tell her… right?
Fiona shook off the lingering unease and refocused on the task at hand. She glanced down at her phone, the GPS indicating they were getting close to the spot where Nadine's body had been discovered. "According to this, we're almost there," she said, pointing to the screen.
"Good," Jake replied, his tone more serious than before. "The sooner we figure out what happened to them, the better."
As they continued through the woods, the sun dipped lower in the sky, casting long shadows that stretched across the forest floor like grasping fingers. Fiona felt a chill that had nothing to do with the temperature as they approached their destination.
Suddenly, the sound of rushing water reached their ears, and they emerged from the trees to find a small stream carving its way through the landscape. On the other side, yellow caution tape fluttered in the breeze, marking the crime scene where Nadine's body had been found. The sight sent a shiver down Fiona's spine.
"Looks like this is it," she murmured, stepping carefully over the rocks to cross the stream. Jake followed closely behind her, eyes scanning the area for any clues that might have been missed by the initial investigation.
"Strange," Fiona mused as she studied the ground around the taped-off area. "It's hard to believe that something so terrible happened here. It's such a peaceful spot."
"Except for the fact that someone was murdered," Jake reminded her, his voice quiet and somber.
"Right." Fiona sighed, feeling a wave of sadness wash over her. "I just wish we could figure out why. What could have driven someone to do this? Could it really have been a crime of passion?”
"Maybe we'll find something here that will shed some light on that." Jake crouched down near the edge of the stream, peering intently at the ground. "We need to be thorough – who knows what might have been overlooked?"
