“You did the right thing.” Relieved, Jenna glanced at Kane and he went to speak to Wolfe. She turned back to Watson. “Did you see anyone hanging around or driving by this morning?”
“Nope, not a soul.” Watson ran both hands down his face. “It was a shock seeing a young girl like that.”
Jenna understood the feeling. “Will you be okay?”
“I guess.” Watson swallowed and his Adam’s apple bobbed up and down. He was sheet-white. “Is she the missing girl that’s been all over the news?”
“I have no idea at this time.” Jenna ha
d to keep him from informing the press. “I must insist you tell no one about this until we establish who it is and notify next of kin. The press will be all over it and it would be a terrible shock to the family if they hear about it on the news. Plus, crucial evidence could be destroyed if they come here and stamp all over the crime scene. Do you understand, Mr. Watson?”
“Sure.” Watson’s gaze drifted over to Wolfe’s van. “I’ll call in sick and go home. I’m done here for now.”
“That would be for the best.” Jenna walked him to his truck. “We have your details and will contact you if we need any more information.” She handed him her card. “Call me if you think of anything else.”
“I will, thank you.” Watson climbed into his truck and drove away.
Jenna walked back to the Beast and climbed inside. “He spotted the body from up the pole and went to look.”
“I was hoping we’d find Laurie Turner alive but after discovering someone disabled her truck, I wasn’t optimistic.” Kane drove to Wolfe’s van and parked in a patch of long dry grass.
As she picked her way with care around Wolfe’s van, she caught the smell of decay. She pulled out a couple of facemasks and handed Kane one. “From the smell, she’s been dead since Saturday night.”
“What have we got?” Kane stood beside her on the perimeter of the scene as Wolfe processed the body.
“Female approximately the same height, age, and hair color as Laurie Turner but her face is too damaged to make a visual ID.” Wolfe peered at them over his facemask. “I’ll let Rio finish capturing the scene and then Webber will take the stills before I examine the body but I know the killer inflicted the stab wounds post-mortem by the lack of blood loss. She wasn’t killed here. The livor mortis, the bluish-purple discoloration under the skin of the legs and buttocks due to gravitation of blood after death, indicates she was in a sitting position for hours before being moved.”
A solid weight settled in Jenna’s stomach at the sight of the body. The girl had welts around her neck and multiple stab wounds over her face and chest. It didn’t take too much insight to see the rage behind the attack. Multiple stab wounds and to the face was very personal. Whoever did this, hated this girl. She turned to look for Kane, and found him checking all around the scene, walking back and forth. As he came back to her phone in hand, she went to his side. “Find something?”
“Yeah.” Kane indicated behind him. “Someone sure went to the trouble of covering up any tracks, they swept the area.”
A prickle went down Jenna’s spine. “Show me.”
“Someone dragged those dead bushes over there and pulled them over their tracks. The bushes are heavy, which means they’re strong, so I’d say male with muscle bulk.” He snapped on a clean pair of surgical gloves. “I tried pulling them together and it wasn’t easy.”
“Hmm. Interesting.” Rio came to her side. “I’ve captured the scene. I’ve used a grid filter on the images so it’s easier to identify evidence when we leave the scene.” He frowned. “That woman wasn’t murdered here. Her body is clean, no defensive wounds that I can see, no blood. It’s a dumping ground but there are scuff marks beside the body, something the unsub missed. It looks as if they kneeled beside the body to inflict the wounds. Small puncture wounds, like an icepick or similar.”
“Unsub?” Jenna looked at him. “I heard Jo using that term, what does it mean?”
“Unknown subject.” Rio regarded her with a surprised expression. “You’ve worked cases with the FBI. It’s a term they commonly use now, I guess to soften the word ‘killer’ because, in truth that’s who it usually refers to. It’s common with law enforcement.”
Impressed, Jenna regarded her new deputy with interest. Have I been out of touch, that long? “Okay. Go on.”
“So, if the girl wasn’t killed here, there’s a primary crime scene out there somewhere.” Rio glanced at Kane. “I noticed you checking the ground. It looks like the killer covered their tracks.”
“Yeah, sure does.” Kane regarded him closely. “What else did you get from the attack?”
“Hate.” Rio’s mouth turned down. “They wanted to make sure the victim was dead, which makes me believe the unsub is known to the victim.”
“I figure that fact is well established by Mrs. York’s description of Laurie getting into the Chrysler.” Kane shook his head slowly. “From her account, Laurie appeared scared and was pleased to see the person in the vehicle.”
The too familiar feeling of dread crept over Jenna, she hugged her chest and stared at the body. “This person is living among us. We must find the Chrysler sedan. Starting with the CCTV footage from town to see if it went by and when. From the high school to here they would’ve driven through town.”
“Maybe.” Kane rubbed his chin. “If he’s local he’d know where the CCTV cameras are situated and take the backstreets. He seems a mite too careful to risk being caught on film.”
Eleven
Wolfe examined the area around the victim. Even without blood loss, such a violent attack produced bodily fluids spatter and he kept everyone at a distance until he’d taken samples. The tin doorway to the shaft yielded a clear result, and he made sure Webber took shots of the pattern. From what he could see it was a frenzied attack with attention made to the face and eyes of the victim. It happened post-mortem, and might have been an afterthought to cover evidence or the killer had an underlying mental problem. He would discuss his findings with Kane and even call in Jo Wells, the FBI behavioral analyst, to look at the victim.