Her Shallow Grave (Detectives Kane and Alton)

Giving her question some thought, Kane stirred the eggs and flipped the bacon. “I think he kills all year round and collects the bodies to display in winter. It’s by choice he keeps them frozen for so long, and not as a ploy to confuse us. This guy could be so arrogant he believes he can’t be caught.” He loaded up the plates.

“Or the people he chooses are drifters?” Jenna took a strip of bacon from a plate and stared into space. “No one will report them missing but those types usually hole up somewhere warm in winter.” She took the plate of toast and slid it on the table.

Kane carried the meals to the table and sat down. “That would make sense. You must remember if this isn’t the killer’s first dance, he might have a different slant on his victims. If he’s planning on making another sculpture, I figure he’s collecting what he needs to construct his next work.”

“Hmm.” Jenna buttered her toast and stared at her plate. “I think you’re right. We should call Jo in on this case. I’d like to find out if she’s seen anything like this before. I want to skip our workout today and leave after we have eaten, if that’s okay?”

Kane poured coffee and examined her face as he added cream and sugar. Her cheeks had their normal pink glow again. He nodded. “Sure, we have had enough exercise lately. How’s the headache?”

“Better, thanks.” She glanced lovingly at his coffee cup and sighed. “I’ll forgo the coffee this morning. I’ll finish my drink. I’ll be more aware of getting dehydrated from now on. It’s something I didn’t think about in the cold weather.”

Kane chuckled. “Then I’ll remind you and we’ll keep a couple of bottles of Gatorade in the truck.”

“How did I know you’d say that?” Jenna rolled her eyes and attacked her breakfast but Kane noticed the smile threatening at the corner of her lips.

As Kane had predicted it was close to nine by the time he turned into Main and headed to the office. They joined the line of vehicles crawling along behind the snowplow. Tempers were fraying and some of the drivers blasted their horns if another vehicle dared to cut in. Kane flicked on his wig-wag lights to keep order and just as well. As they got close to the local park two women dragging kids behind them threw themselves out onto the road, screaming in terror. When they spotted him and came slipping and stumbling toward them, he stopped in the middle of the road and turned to Jenna. “What’s happened now?”

“Looks like we’re going to find out. Pull over.” Jenna zipped up her jacket with “Sheriff” across front and back and got out, beckoning to the women. “What is it? What’s happened?”

As the women gestured madly behind them, Kane parked close to the mound of snow at the side of the road and climbed out. Of course, the people inside their cars had stopped to ga

wk and he waved at them to move on. Once the traffic was flowing again, he went to Jenna’s side. The two women were talking so fast, he had trouble understanding them. The kids looked stunned or in shock. Unease crept over him. “What’s going on?”

“There’s a snowman in the park. They seem to believe it has a human head.” Jenna gave him an incredulous look and then her face turned expressionless as she turned back to the women. “Okay, we’ll deal with it, it’s probably a store dummy. Take the kids to Aunt Betty’s. We have a reserved table in the back, get some hot chocolate, put it on my tab. Please wait there until I can get to you. It’s very important I speak with you again.”

The women nodded in unison and Kane waved them toward him. “Come with me.” He walked out onto the road to halt the traffic and they dashed across and hurried along the sidewalk to Aunt Betty’s Café. He collected his crime scene bag from the back of his truck, patted Duke on the head, and then picked his way through the snowdrift to Jenna. “It’s the missing heads and torsos, isn’t it?”

“Well, one of them at least.” Jenna glanced up at him, a frown creasing her brow. “I hope he’s left a clue this time. We need to catch this sick SOB.”

Twelve

Jenna stared at the picturesque park surrounded by trees covered in snow. The pathways remained clear due to the copious amounts of salt the council had laid the previous day. The scene appeared so tranquil, she wondered if she’d wake up before the nightmare started to play out. Surely, only a dream could be so terrifying. Women dismembered and displayed in public places was beyond horrific and it pushed her flight or fight response off the chart. As she made out the snowman standing alongside the tree line, she clamped her jaw tight. She had to be professional and shut out the scene before her but as they got closer, the sight burned itself into her mind. This one she wouldn’t forget.

Mindful of the area being a crime scene, she turned a full circle, looking for any other point of entry to the park. She surmised by the truck in the parking lot close by that the two women and their kids had entered from that direction. Thick snow covered the swings, slides, and carousel and she wondered why parents would bring kids here after a blizzard. She discovered why as she walked along the footpath. The kids had made snow angels just inside the gate and small footprints led away and came back in a loop. The young and innocent had seen the body, turned around, and hightailed it back to their mothers. One of the children had fallen in their haste but the other had kept on running. The idea of the children seeing a murder victim sickened her. The killer had sunk to a new low by leaving a corpse in a playground. She turned to look at Kane. He was scanning the scene with his cellphone, making a video of the area before they disturbed the snow. It was good to work with him; he had a professionally calming influence, and with him at her side she could face just about anything.

The moment Kane stopped filming she made her way from the pathway through the thick snow-covered playground to the snowman. She mentally steeled herself and almost laughed at her reaction to death. After so many murders in her county, she’d have thought she’d be blasé but unlike other cops she’d worked with, the victims in her cases had taken up permanent residence in her memory. As she moved closer to the corpse, she could hear Kane following, walking in her steps. She wondered how long the snowman had stood here undiscovered. There was no stench of death. Only the scent of pine trees, woodsmoke, and an alpine winter filled the air. The disturbing sight before her stopped her in her tracks.

Unsettled, she took a few deep breaths before moving closer. What loomed up before her out of the snowscape gave creepy a new meaning. The corpse was well-covered with snow but even the white dusting couldn’t dampen the horror. Blue sightless eyes glistened with ice crystals and an open mouth smiled at her in a terrible blue lipped grin. The frozen hair poking out from under a red woolen cap, resembled a bunch of twigs. The killer had covered the body from the neck down with snow. No sign of injury was evident. Without saying a word to Kane, she called Wolfe. “We have located one of the bodies. We’re on scene. We’ll need a screen, it’s in the kids’ playground.”

“Okay. I’m on my way.” Wolfe disconnected.

Jenna turned to Kane. “Get all the shots we need and make a close-up video. I’ll call Rowley and Walters to come down and secure the area. Is there any CCTV surveillance in this part of town?” She glanced around. “The one outside the bank might have picked up something, a vehicle perhaps?”

“I doubt it.” Kane stared in the direction of the camera. “As far as I’m aware, that one is focused on the front door of the bank. We don’t have anything near the park. If you remember, there was an outcry when Mayor Petersham suggested one for the park. Townsfolk didn’t want people checking out their kids.”

“Yeah, I do recall that.” Jenna kicked at a clump of snow. “It wouldn’t hurt to get Rowley to examine the footage we have from last night. He might spot a vehicle on Main near the park. We need something to go on, some small lead.” She shivered. “It’s so darn cold, I hope Wolfe gets here soon. We need to speak to the women who found the body. They won’t wait around all day.”

“We’d speed things up if we do a recon of the area.” Kane moved around the body in a wide arc. “The killer could have dumped the other victim close by.”

“Okay. You do that, I’ll go and speak to the women.” Jenna stared at the wide-eyed frozen stare of the corpse and imagined the terror the poor girl had suffered before her death. She had to catch this killer and the sooner the better. “I think I’ll consult Jo when we get back to the office, I’ll send the case files to her and see if she’s seen anything like this before.”

“Good idea. The more eyes on this case the better.” Kane kept on working. “They’ll probably be glad to hear from you. The blizzard will have them holed up in Snakeskin Gully twirling their thumbs.”

Jenna called Rowley, as she walked toward Aunt Betty’s. She asked him to round up old Deputy Walters to drop by for a couple of hours. They had calls on the hotline about people using chainsaws and he could check them out for her and call in if he found anything suspicious. A few people had stopped to stare at what Kane was doing and Jenna waved them away. “Nothing to see here, folks, move on now.”

As the people dispersed, she made her way with care over the slippery blacktop to Aunt Betty’s Café. She found the women at her table with the two children. Both little girls appeared white-faced and terrified. Jenna hated lying and preferred to tell the truth but this time she had to bend it a little to prevent the deathly images haunting the children for years. She forced her cold lips into a smile and sat down at the table. She looked at the kids. “It was a prank as we suspected, something left over from Halloween I gather. Nothing for you to worry about.” She looked at the women and pulled out her notebook. “I’ll need a statement from you. Can I have your names and details?” She scribbled the words “It’s not a prank,” and handed her book to one of the women. “If you could write them down for me please.”

“I’m Libby Marshal and this is my sister Eliza Barratt.” She took the book and her eyes widened. “Oh, I see.” She held the notebook out for her sister. “You write down our details and I’ll answer the questions.”