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“Show us the crime scene,” Simonsaid, obviously thinking the same thing.
Detective Arquet nodded, andstarted to lead the way through the trees, towards a small clearing where therewere a couple of picnic tables. As they approached, Amber could hear the soundof the crime scene investigators working, and her nose picked up the faint butunmistakable scent of death.
She tried to steel herself for whatshe was about to see, but even so, it was horrifying in a way that made Ambersimply stop and stare for several seconds, her mind refusing to take it all in.
A woman’s body lay atop one of thepicnic tables. A sword, an actual sword, pinned her to that table like abutterfly. A couple of knives stuck from her flesh at angles, and there weremore wounds suggesting that she’d been attacked with other weapons.
It would have looked like the workof a completely different killer were it not for the astrological symbolspainted on the table in a multitude of different colors. Those marked it as theserial killer’s grisly work, but this was far more violent than anything he’ddone before.
The coroner, Dr. Selwyn, wasstanding there over the body, supervising as a couple of techs tried to removeit from the table.
“It’s no good,” she said, lookingover to Amber and Simon. “We’ll have to take the whole table. At least cause ofdeath should be relatively easy to establish.”
“Would she have been drugged likethe other victims?” Amber asked, hoping that Rosalind had been, that shewouldn’t have felt the terrible pain of these injuries as they killed her.
“I can’t say for sure yet,” Dr.Selwyn replied. “But we have drag marks leading up to the table consistent withher being brought here from somewhere else.”
Simon looked thoughtful. “Thekiller would have had to know that she ran here regularly, and would probablyhave had to watch her to know her route. There’s a chance that the local PDmight pick up evidence of someone watching her.”
Detective Arquet had already saidthat officers were canvasing anyone local for exactly that, but Amber wasn’tsure that they could rely on it. They needed something else.
“Is there anything else you cantell us?” she asked Dr. Selwyn.
“I won’t be able to tell you muchuntil I get her back to the morgue,” the coroner said. “One thing might interestyou, though.”
She pointed to Rosalind Elm’sforearm, where there was a tattoo of a ram’s head. The symbol of Aries. It hadbeen slashed through with a knife blade, as if to try to erase it.
“So, she was probably interested inastrology, the way the other victims were?” Amber guessed.
Dr. Selwyn shrugged. “Her interestsaren’t really my department, but I doubt someone would get a tattoo of anastrological symbol without it being important to them.”
“It looks as though the killerdidn’t like her tattoo.”
“The feelings of the killer are definitelynot my department,” Dr. Selwyn replied. “If I find anything else, I’ll letyou know.”
Amber nodded, grateful to be ableto turn away from the sight of the body there. There was something verydisturbing about a dead woman being just a couple of paces away.
“There doesn’t seem to be amessage,” Simon said.
No, and Amber didn’t know if thatwas a good thing or not.
“Last time, the killer sent itstraight to the Keystone PD,” she said. “Maybe he’ll do the same again. But wecan’t sit around waiting for him to send us something.”
“So, where do you want to start?”Simon asked.
“I thought we might look intoRosalind’s tattoo. It seems to have been significant enough to the killer forhim to want to slash it.”
“That’s a little thin,” Simon said.
“At this stage, I think we need tolook at everything,” Amber said. “Katrina and Alice had star sign pendants.Rosalind had a star sign tattoo. Maybe this is someone lashing out at peoplewho display their commitment to astrology too openly?”
“And if so, who would know aboutthe tattoo?” Simon said.
“So we can start with the tattooparlor and work from there,” Amber replied. She turned to head back to the car.Then, on the ground, Amber spotted something glinting in the morning sunlight.Something metal. She bent down and stared.
“What have you found?” Simon asked.
“It looks like a set of dog tags,”Amber said. “Look.”
