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Fifteen feet away on the rock they photographed hours ago was the pale body of a man. The LED made his skin unnaturally waxen, his figure thin with the shadows between his ribs visible. He was stripped naked, resting on his shins and elbows. His hands clasped together in front of his bowed head. The congealed sheen of what could only be blood was visible from where they crouched, just in front of and left of his head.
“We should have staked it out. The killer is keeping a consistent timeline now. We could have prevented this.” She cursed viciously. Another man didn’t have to die. She clenched her hands around the backpack straps, berating herself for losing the opportunity.
“It’s too late now.” Teddi found little comfort in Vera’s words but she knew she was right. Too little, way too late. “Let it go and take advantage of what we do have.”
Leaning forward she tried to examine the body from where they kneeled, her pants soaked through with the rain collected on the forest floor. She didn’t notice, didn’t care about being cold when a fourth body was fifteen feet away.
Vera was still beside her. She could just make out the pinch to her lips, how her brows were pulled low beneath her dark beanie as she took in the scene.
The bigger of the two men neared the body. “Who is it?” Sheriff Malis’ voice was easy to identify. Deep but quick. By the looks of his uniform, it was one of his deputies with him. His face was shrouded beneath a hat.
“Scott Reade.”
“Did Davie get a good look?”
“Not sure, sir. He was drunk as a skunk wandering around the woods as usual, but I think he was more rattled than anything. We might be able to convince him it was a drunken mistake. Maybe he saw an animal and was confused with all that bourbon pumping through him.”
Malis pulled his hat off, rubbing a hand over the hairless top of his head. His frustrated huff cut through the night. “Well if you'd kept him here, maybe that would be a possibility instead of you letting him run off. Goddammit.” He pushed his hat back down on his head forcefully. “Just get it photographed and get him out of here. I’ve gotta go find him before he informs the whole fucking town by sunrise.” The annoyance of his duties seemed to outweigh any concern he had for the dead man in front of him.
“Uh, sir?” The deputy froze, turning to his boss as he began to leave, his large form blocking all of the light over the victim.
“What, Gunson?”
Deputy Gunson began cracking his knuckles, the pops like bombs in the unsettled air. “Don’t you think we’ve got a problem here? This is the fourth one in a matter of weeks. Shouldn’t we be letting everyone know there’s a killer on the loose? Set up a curfew or something?”
Malis spoke slowly like he was speaking to an idiot. “No, Deputy Gunson, we aren’t going to tell anyone anything. I’ve already got two women who think their husbands had hunting accidents and I don’t need to run the risk of anyone else sharing shit that ain’t their business. We’re lucky that Scott’s wife died well before him or we’d have to make up more bullshit to feed her. No family, no questions. On top of that, these two bitches from out of town need to be dealt with before they become an even bigger problem.”
Deputy Gunson nodded. “I wouldn’t worry about them much longer, sir.” Teddi’s attention peaked at the confidence in his statement. “I’ll take care of the body as soon as I can.”
“Now, Gunson. Get him out of here before anyone else wanders in. And find Deputy Butler, that boy needs to be on a short leash.” With that, the Sheriff disappeared into the forest back towards the parking lot.
Vera and Teddi caught a small flash of his headlights before they disappeared entirely. Only Deputy Gunson was left in the glade.
“Butler’s the youngest deputy, right?” Vera whispered.
“Yeah, he’s been in the department nearly a year. He’s twenty-two. Straight off a two-year degree, he applied and got hired. Deputy Gunson is forty-three. Been on the force for fifteen years and was a taxidermist for his father’s business before that. His wife’s name is Monica, been married since they turned 18 and never had any kids.” Teddi didn’t ask why she asked when she knew Vera studied the files on the Sheriff's department and Sylen every second she could.
“Someone’s coming,” she whispered, just as the jangle of keys rang out, followed by heavy footfalls.
Dressed in the same pressed uniform and a baseball cap, a potbellied man met Deputy Gunson at the body. He looked too old to be the twenty-two-year-old Deputy Butler. Deputy Stocker then, since they were a department of four. A lot of deputies for a town suffering so little crime, she thought sarcastically.
“Fuck. I played pool with Scott two nights ago.” Deputy Stocker’s voice boomed.
Deputy Gunson nodded solemnly but said nothing. Maybe there was a heart inside one of their chests after all. He kicked at the base of the rock. “I’m not washing this off.” Scratch that sentimental thought. Blood had spilled over the sides. Teddi thought of how each pump of his heart had pushed more of the life-giving liquid out, wasted away as it poured over the ledge of an ancient stone for nothing.
“The newbie can do it.” Pulling a pack of smokes from his breast pocket, Deputy Stocker passed one to Deputy Gunson as he turned. “I left the camera in my rig and I need to radio Butler again.”
When the lighter flicked out, all that was left of them were the cherries of their cigarettes and their fading chatter as they went back toward the trailhead.
Teddi looked at the body and then back to where the men wandered off. The distance was hard to tell in the curtain of darkness behind the massive lights. If they already walked into the forest, they were at least a couple minutes away. Five, if they weren’t in a hurry to get down the trail and to their trucks. They seemed lazy about smoking, like they had all the time in the world to do it.
Both men would have to sprint to get back in time. Double-checking they were gone, she whispered quickly, slipping her gear off.
“Wait here.”
Vera didn’t get a word out before Teddi sprinted into the open field, thighs burning as she stayed low enough to meet the top of the high grass.
Panting puffs of cold white air, she dove for the far side of the rock, shadowed from the lights.
