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“Sorry you had to make such a discovery,” Ella said. “Then you called the police I assume?”
Charlotte nodded at the plain-clothes officer beside her. “He was already here.”
Cromwell put his hand his hands on his hips, the classic power pose. “Miss Milton here ran straight past my little barn out there. Trespassing. I followed her up here to give her a lesson in the law. At the top, I found her screaming. That’s when we discovered the body.”
Ella thought it suspiciously convenient that a police officer would stumble on a random dead body. How often did that happen? The last time she’d heard of it was twelve years ago in the Long Island Serial Killer case. What if it was him? A bored police officer adding some excitement to his life? She guessed he didn’t see much action in this town. She cast her doubt to one side for the time being.
“Cromwell, you’re the chief around here?” asked Ripley.
“I serve Hicksberg and the two towns either side, yes. Don’t get much need for police ‘round here. Sometimes I’m called in to help at Maryland State. That keeps me busy.”
“You said you own a barn?” asked Ella. She knew her unsub had a private space he could use to fulfill his dismemberment fantasies. Then again, it looked like everyone in this town had more than enough private space.
“Right in the middle of that lush pasture down there,” Cromwell said. “I breed cows.”
Ella made a note to check the barn out later. If Cromwell butchered the cows too, she’d have a lot more questions for the man.
“The coroners took the body already?” asked Ripley
“Yup. We might not have a Walmart ‘round here but we’ve got a morgue.”
Naturally, Ella thought. Probably a lot of retirees calling this place home.
“Any ideas on who might have done this? Any gut feelings? I assume even a town like this isn’t without its deviants,” said Ella.
Cromwell lit a cigarette and turned to watch the forensic officers dance around the patches of dry blood on the grass. “No clue. This ain’t the work of no local. This is some monster from the depths. Some demon. What’d he use to do this? A flagstone cutter? A chainsaw? Ain’t no one round here got the upper body strength to even do that. This is the work of some outsider.”
“Any ID on the victim?” Ripley said.
“Not yet. I didn’t recognize her, anyway.”
“Anyone in these houses see anything?”
“Nope. Chances are he dumped the body in the early hours of the morning,” said Cromwell.
Ella turned to the lady in the back of the car. “Charlotte is it?” she asked.
Charlotte stood up and wrapped her arms around herself. Ella took off her jacket and draped it over the girl’s shoulders.
“Thanks,” Charlotte said. Her face was swollen with the aftermath of distress. inflamed eyes, pursed lips. “Could we talk over there?” the girl whispered.
Both Ella and Mia heard the request. Ella nodded to Ripley, as if to say keep Cromwell busy while I hear her out. They stepped a few feet away from the vehicle into the middle of the barren road.
“Are you doing okay? You must be really shaken up.”
Charlotte leaned closer. “Listen, the people here are insane. That cop might not think so, but someone who lives in this town killed that poor girl.”
“How do you mean, insane? You live here too, right?”
“Yeah, I moved here from Baltimore. I’ve lived on Coalville Street for a few months now, but I still keep getting funny looks. People haven’t accepted me or my husband since we arrived. Anything that isn’t old and traditional is a cause for concern for these people.”
Ella believed it. But that was just how some people were, and in most cases, it was fine. Problems only arose when people forced their beliefs on others.
“Do you know who might have done this? Anyone you’ve seen around that roused your suspicions?”
Charlotte scratched her head. “Maybe, but I don’t really know their names. I don’t know anyone around here. The odd person glances at me and gives me a disapproving head shake, but that’s as far as it goes.”
Ella struggled to land a solid theory on this. There were equal chances it could have been an outsider or a local. There was no way of knowing just yet. Nothing pointed in one direction or the other. She gave one of her cards to Charlotte.
