AllFreeNovel
Share Us
She went to the bathroom and splashed cold water on her face. She was tense and felt like she hadn’t slept, even though she’d been asleep for nearly four hours.
Her hair was just long enough to put into a ponytail. She brushed water through it and tied it in back. Pulled jeans on over her panties, put on a sports bra, black T-shirt, holstered her gun, and slipped on her comfortable low-heeled boots. Stuck her knife into a slot on the inside of her left boot. It had taken her a few months to get used to walking with the knife there. Now, without it, she felt practically naked. She’d tried an ankle gun, but it was really uncomfortable, and anyone who knew where to look would spot it.
She also had a knife in her pocket, but if she were ever in a situation where she was disarmed and searched, the pocket would be the first place they’d look.
She grabbed her blazer and walked out. Matt handed her a to-go cup of coffee. “It’s the waitress at the Fish & Brew.”
Something shifted in Kara’s mindset. Cal... Jamie... Then Matt said, “Rena Brown.”
“She was working last night. She served us, was still there when I left at nine.”
“She clocked out at ten thirty. She parks in a small lot behind the Fish & Brew, on the other side of the alley. It’s on a slope. No parking in the lot after two a.m., and a patrol found it at three this morning. As soon as they knew they had a body, they called the sheriff, who called me. I asked him not to touch anything, and Jim is getting his forensic kit.”
Jim walked in with a large black bag and a backpack over his shoulder. “I could really use the RV about now.”
The Mobile Response Team was supposed to have a forensic RV with all the bells and whistles. It was ready to deploy, but this case had been sudden and getting the RV from Virginia to Washington State was problematic and expensive. They would have had to have flown it. Kara didn’t think she’d ever see the famed RV in action.
“The sheriff called in the medical examiner from the mainland, but ET is two hours minimum. Because it’s a crime scene, I told him not to take the body to the morgue here but wait for the ME to transport it to their facilities.”
“Good. I hope nobody touched anything, but I’m not holding my breath.”
“The sheriff said he secured the scene,” Matt said.
Jim grunted.
Matt drove the short distance to the Fish & Brew. They arrived at the same time as Pete Dunlap. “What happened? Detective Quinn, what’s going on?”
Matt stopped Pete from approaching the crime scene. “How did you hear?”
“The bakery down the street—the owner comes in at four thirty in the morning. Said there were police cars and an ambulance here. What happened?”
“We’re trying to find out. Stay back.”
“There’s a body in the—Oh my God, that’s Rena’s car. Is it Rena? Is she okay? What the fuck happened!”
Matt looked like he wanted to block him, but Kara knew there was no reason not to give Pete some of the information. “Pete,” she said calmly, “we just got here. The sheriff called us in. We don’t know what’s what yet, but Rena was positively identified, and she’s deceased. We don’t know any more than that, okay? Now, I promise we’ll tell you what we can when we can, but for now, let us work.”
“She was murdered. Otherwise, you wouldn’t be here.”
She couldn’t argue with the truth. “Why don’t you go into your restaurant and brew some coffee? You need it, I need it, the deputies would appreciate it.”
“Oh. Of course, yeah, I’ll do that.”
He turned and strode across the alley into the rear entrance of the Fish & Brew.
Matt caught Kara’s eye and nodded. He was about to say something to her, but Sheriff John Rasmussen approached. “Glad you’re here. It’s awful.”
Jim said, “Everyone away, I need to process the scene. Did anyone touch the body?”
John shook his head. “A rookie found her. Puked in the bushes. Blood everywhere. When he called it in originally, he said a woman was sleeping in her car, might be intoxicated, he was going to approach. Then he shined the light in and saw that she was dead. Swears he didn’t touch her or the door.”
Jim said, “I need a couple big lights if you can get them. Keep people twenty feet away from the vehicle. And I need one guy who can hold his stomach to help me process the scene.”
Jim led the way; Matt and Kara walked behind him. Jim shined his light into the vehicle.
Rena was in the driver’s seat. She had been killed where she sat. Her head tipped to the left, and blood covered her neck and chest. At first glance, a novice might think she’d been stabbed to death, but the cut in her neck was so deep it was clear she’d had her throat slit while sitting behind the wheel.
“Get back,” Jim said. Matt and Kara each took two steps away and let Jim work. He was methodical and focused. He recorded everything he saw, took pictures, and mumbled to himself.
