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“Jimmy? It’s Slade Rafferty.”
“Slade, good to hear your voice. Please tell me you’re headed here. Your friend went and got himself murdered.”
“You’re sure it’s murder?”
“Yeah. Ain’t no way this is an accident or suicide.”
“You’re sure? I only ask because…”
“Slade, there’s no doubt. It’s pretty gruesome. When I called your office, they told us to try and protect the body—throw something over him so it was covered but didn’t touch it.”
“He’s up by the falls?”
“Yeah, whoever did it staked him out and then cut him open like some satanic sacrifice. If the press gets hold of this…”
“You think you can put a news blackout on it?”
“I think so. Nobody’s going to want the whackos we’ll get if the news leaks out. But they’re sending you, right? Because I asked for you specifically. I told them you had a place up here, but I didn’t say nothing about Daniel and you being friends.”
“No worries. I told them—full disclosure. I also told them I knew the local cops and it would probably be easier if I was the one assigned to the case. I’m headed out with the forensics team. We’re coming by chopper. We’ll try to land as close to the falls as possible.”
“You should be able to get pretty close. He’s on the east side on the bare rock. I’ve got guys up there and they’ll make sure it’s secure until you get there.”
“Can you get Doc Wallace to try and meet us? I’d like to finish all we need to do before we move him, and then I’d like to get him moved down to the morgue. Doesn’t Doc keep some kind of morgue there in Angel’s Rise?”
“Yep. He has a couple of drawers in his office, and he’s able to do the preliminary postmortem.”
“Good. That will be helpful. Chopper’s here. I need to get my guys and my go bag. We’ll see you when we get there. Can you arrange some rooms for us? It’ll take my guys a couple of days, at least, to clear my house as a crime scene.”
“I’ll let them know. When you’re about forty-five minutes out, radio in, and I’ll meet you there.”
“That’s nice, Jimmy, but don’t feel like you have to. I can do what I need to do and come down and fill you in. We’re going to need to take some of your space.”
“No worries. My people are already getting you set up in our conference room. We’ll have everything I think you’ll need, and if we don’t, we’ll get it for you.”
“Great. I knew I could count on you.”
Slade ended the call, grabbed his go bag, and headed for the roof. He was just walking out when the chopper landed, the large rotors only adding to the force of the wind.
“I always think I’m going to get blown off the roof,” said Kenny.
“Yeah,” said Randy. “It feels like walking into a gale force wind. Sorry about your friend, Slade.”
Kenny and Randy were two of the members of the Major Crime Unit’s forensic team. They were considered to be two of the best in the entire Northeast and Slade was glad to have them on board.
“Thanks. Daniel wasn’t a close friend, but he was a troubled soul and I’d known him a long time.”
“Think we’ll have any territorial issues with the locals?” asked Kenny.
“None at all. I know the chief up there pretty well and he’s grateful we’re headed his way. He’s already getting us a place in his office where we can set up. The logistics should be pretty good. Angel’s Rise is a nice little town, and the people are friendly. But Jimmy—that’s the sheriff—described the scene as looking like a ritual sacrifice of some kind. I think his men can keep their mouths shut, but it’ll unsettle the town.”
Kenny and Randy nodded and followed him onto the helicopter. As soon as they were strapped in, the chopper lifted off. Given they were in a helicopter, the ride was relatively short, fairly smooth, and extremely quiet. The pilot had the coordinates, and as the chief had expected, there was a perfect landing place close to the body. As requested, they radioed in when they were less than an hour out.
“Set down as far away as you can,” said Slade to the pilot over the comm system. “I know this terrain. It’s pretty rugged. Kenny? You and Randy examine the rock between us and the victim first. I want to know how they got up here, and if we can rule out a chopper, that would be helpful. Norm, do me a favor and after you lift off, see if you can find any other places they might have landed.”
“Will do,” said Norm.
Slade had spent time in the military, and he had been around a lot of chopper pilots—owed his life to more than one—but Norm was the best of the lot. Slade was pretty sure the guy could land on the head of a pin if you asked him to. He landed so they would get out on the side furthest away from the tarp covering the body. That way Slade could make a large circle around and leave as much of the rock undisturbed as possible.
