Chapter Fifteen
Cane’s stomach exploded when he heard Steve’s final remarks. A dead body, blood everywhere, and possibly a child involved. Would this shit never end?
He remembered the wonderful relief he’d experienced just yesterday morning on his way here from the city, and it made his teeth clench over what now appeared to be a joke.
With each mile away from his heartache, a feeling of relief bordering on happiness had settled in his gut.
To be heading to a place where he might have a chance to heal had drawn him like a magnet.
Then out of nowhere, to be sabotaged by the flooding river making fun of his dreams, had seemed like an unamusing turnaround…. a proverbial kick in the ass. When it swept up his car, he let go of the wheel and sat back. Good! Finally, his prayers would come true. He’d be released from his pain.
Possible death stared him in the face, and he welcomed it. Actually laughed at the danger. Until he saw two frantic kids hanging on to their floating house a few seconds away from possible drowning. That’s when all choice had disappeared.
In seconds, he took in the situation and jumped into the river and events afterward brought him to this moment. While Raven and the others hurried to ready themselves for the day ahead, instinctively, he did too.
Back in Palmer’s boat, fighting the river with Raven while Steve followed behind in his smaller boat, he couldn’t stop questioning not only his own sanity but another’s. The sudden feeling of being overwhelmed with responsibilities hit him hard.
Lord, you’re asking too much from a broken man. I saved those kids. Then I saved Raven. Didn’t I? Maybe you can quit expecting more from me. I don’t know how much I can handle.
“Cane, we’re here. Steve says that’s the car.” Raven stopped the motor and stood next to him. “He’s tied us to the tree limb so we can approach from land.”
“Yeah, good. Thanks. I’ll go in by myself if you want. No need for both of us to deal with the gory sight.”
“Nonsense. Two can secure the scene faster and gather evidence. I placed a call into headquarters, but the coroner won’t be able to make it here for some time… too busy right now because of the flood. Guess we’re on our own.”
“Thanks, could use the help.” Cane turned to Steve. “You okay carrying on with your own boat from here?”
“Sure am. I want to get to my brother-in-law’s place where I dropped Aggie off earlier.
We’re planning on picking up his sons so they can go help in the search and rescue the town’s organizing.
My old bones have about had it for now but nothing wrong with this boat.
They don’t have one of their own, so I promised them they could use this old gal. ”
“I’m sure the folks will be grateful for all the help they can get.
” Cane waved as Steve turned his vessel away and headed back out on open water.
Glad to see that the wild rain had lessened and the winds had died down, he supposed the small motorboat would make better time.
Both he and Raven watched to make sure Steve safely maneuvered past a big tree limb before gathering their own gear and climbing on to land.
Minutes later, clambering over the bank and approaching the sedan where it sat lopsided, half in and half out of the water, he hesitated.
“I know that tree has stopped the car but I’m thinking we should still anchor the vehicle to the one behind, so it won’t get carried away in case the winds pick up again. What do you think?”
“I agree. Once we’re finished with the investigation, I’ll get the rope from the boat.”
Cane put on his plastic gloves, same as Raven, and both took care in opening the vehicle’s front door.
Sure enough, there was the victim, just as Steve had described.
The clean-shaven man appeared to be young and from his position, it was hard to tell if he’d been the driver or not.
One foot looked to be angled under the steering wheel, but the other seemed to be more on the passenger side.
His head rested on the edge of the driver’s seat, thrown back as if the thrust of the bullet had sent it there.
As Steve had noticed and commented on, blood looked to be more in the back seat than in the front. Which came as a surprise since the head wound appeared clean, as if the bullet hadn’t exited but instead lodged in the skull or had been stopped by the soft tissue.
“Do you see what I do?” Raven appeared to be examining their corpse as closely as himself.
“If you mean the bullet is still lodged in his head, then yes. By his coloring, and stage of rigor mortis, I’d say he’s been dead no more than twenty-four hours, possibly a little longer.”
“Agreed. Appears as if he faced his killer at the passenger side window.”
“Yes. But I’m curious.”
“Why there’s so much blood in the back?”
“Exactly.” Cane had turned his focus on the rear seat, only to find the scene very disturbing. “There’s the teddy bear.”
“Yeah, looks to me like a baby or toddler toy.”
“No sign of a child’s car seat.”
Raven leaned in. “I see some marks against the front headrest where one might have been rubbing against it. And there’re scrapes on the material here. Could be from the same thing.”
“Which tells us only that a smaller person has been in this car at one time or another.”
“Maybe, but why would one leave their teddy? Look, there’s footmarks on the material of the seat backs, kind of like a struggle took place.”
Cane shone his light there so he could see more clearly.
“You’re right.” He sighed, his voice raw.
“Christ, if only this car could talk.” He flashed the light carefully around the floor, under the seats, hoping to find either a weapon or other evidence.
Meanwhile, Raven opened the glove compartment and pulled out scads of papers.
She held them up and read out loud, “Owner seems to be one Val Forest, thirty-three years old. Bought the car a year ago.”
Cane gestured with his hand, and she passed him the documents. “Well, it’s safe to say it isn’t him. He might be in his mid thirties, but more than likely older.”
“I’m thinking Val is a woman’s name.”
“Maybe. Could be either.”
Raven nodded. “Agreed. See the tattoos on his arms, there’s one with a name.” She shone her light closer and made out the letters. “Lily. It says Lilly. That could help us identify him.”
“Yeah, that and his vest full of insignias and colors. I don’t want to mess with the scene, but I might be able to reach his pocket without disturbing anything.” Cane leaned inside and rifled through the victim’s pants to come up with a wallet. “Jeffrey Martin. Forty years old. Lives in Houston.”
“Good. We can start by contacting the city police and see what they come up with, maybe check if he’s involved in any gang affiliations there.”
Cane brought out his phone and took photos of everything, as did Raven.
When he’d finished, he saw the dispirited look she didn’t try to hide. “You okay, Raven?”
“Yeah. I’m fine. It’s just such a lonely and horrible way to die.”
“Only consolation might be, he died instantly.” He saw her nod before asking, “You up to checking out the area… see if there’s any trace evidence nearby, or with any luck, the gun used in the shooting.”
“Sure. I doubt if there’s a chance of us disturbing the scene since the storm would have already compromised anything useful.”
“Exactly what I thought.” Cane glanced around and then shrugged. “Hell, maybe we’ll get lucky. There had to be others in the car with Jefferey Martin. No way of knowing if he’s one of the good guys or the opposite. We need to figure out whether they escaped or were picked up by the river.”
“I know. Might as well get to it.” She waited for Cane to take the lead.
He moved carefully away from the car and began to climb up the embankment. Using his cell’s flashlight, he shone it everywhere before he stepped forward on the saturated path.
Knowing he could miss something, he appreciated that Raven stayed behind him. He stopped when she spoke, “Cane, I think they went this way.”
He turned back to where she pointed. “See. The broken tree limb here… as if someone fell against it.” She pointed out the area she meant, and he saw what her sharp eyes had caught.
Indicating for her to go first, he turned to come up behind her.
They kept moving until seconds later, she reached down to find a cheap, stretchy bracelet made from colored beads, the kind many of the younger generation wore.
“Don’t know why this is here in this isolated place.
We don’t even know if it has anything to do with our crime scene. ”
“That’s true.”
“But I’ve seen folks in town wearing these a lot. And since this is a remote, deserted stretch of forest, it’s a possibility there’s a connection.”
“Let’s hang onto it.”
“Yes.” Raven took out one of the Ziploc bags she’d stuffed into her pocket and slipped it inside. She glanced around to get her bearings. “Don’t know of any settlements nearby, other than maybe some fishing huts.”
“Any in close proximity?”
“Sure, there’s an old one a few miles up the dirt road which is now flooded.”
“Right. Figured there had to be some way the car got this far.”
“If I remember correctly, this whole area is like a lowland, marshy valley where the river runs through on the right. It’s not the kind of ground that’s any good for farming or even a home since it’s often underwater when the banks overflow.
Can’t remember anyone actually building any kind of structures other than the fishing camps for those on vacation.
There’s good hiking higher up, and the mountains aren’t that far if you’re into climbing. ”
“So, you’re saying it’s isolated other than tourists or locals who like to be out in the wilderness. Kind of the perfect place to hide if you want to stay under the radar or away from the law.”
“Yep, guess you could say that.”
Cane swiveled around and saw that they’d pretty much come as far as they could.
Their small island of swamp land would give out soon, and only water surrounded them after that.
The only direction they could go was back.
Disappointed, he said as much, and she agreed.
“Yeah, we’ll have to carry on with the boat.
Whoever was out here last night before it flooded must have made it further, hopefully to one of the cabins on higher ground. ”
“You’re thinking they crashed before the water rose.”
“More than likely. As you said, Jeffrey has been dead say twenty-four to thirty-six hours. That puts us smack dab in the hours before this flood zone was hit.”
Cane accepted her knowledge because it made sense. “You’re right. Okay. Let’s go secure the crime scene and head out in the boat. See what we can find.”
“In the meantime, I’ll try messaging Steve and see if he knows of any place likely to be used for squatters around here.”
“Good, I’ll send a message to an old pal in the Houston Sheriff’s department and see if he can give us any information about Jeffrey Martin… his criminal history, or if he was married or had any family.”
Both got busy sending texts on their phones before heading back the way they came. Once there, Raven returned to the boat to fetch a heavy cord. “Here. How do you want to do this?”
“Since only the wheels seem to be submerged, lets feed the rope through the back windows and over the roof, tie it to the tree, and make it as tight as possible.”
A while later, both drenched in sweat, they were satisfied with their work. “Okay. This sucker ain’t going anywhere unless the roots let loose, and I doubt that’ll happen. If those winds last night and the force of the flood didn’t move it, I figure it’s pretty safe.”
Raven smiled at his way of wording what she herself thought. She pulled out her phone and said, “Steve hasn’t gotten back to me. That’s strange considering how often he had his face in his screen earlier.”
“Maybe just call him.”
“My thoughts exactly.” She dialed Steve’s number and let it ring a number of times. Shrugging… her worry obvious, she said, “He’s not answering. Hope he made it home okay. It wasn’t that far by land, but it’s a ways out on the water.”
“Okay, but didn’t you say the storm knocked the power out?”
“Sure, but Steve and Aggie bought a huge generator last year. Besides, he charged his cellphone back at the schoolhouse, remember?”
“Right. I remember thinking he was pretty up to date with progress for an old-timer like him.”
Raven laughed affectionately. “You should have seen him brag to me and Nana about how people had to stay up with the latest technology or get left behind. Then, in secret, he begged me to teach him how to use the blasted thang. Gotta say… that old man wasn’t easy to teach, kept questioning why one had to have all the damn apps and made me delete most of them.
And he couldn’t figure out how to retrieve his phone messages.
But his stubbornness kept him trying. Eventually, he figured it out. Which is why I’m worried.”
“Don’t. There’s any number of reasons he’s not picking up. Could be something simple like he’s sleeping and turned his phone off.”
“You’re right. Although I’d question him doing that, it is possible. He was exhausted, and Aggie can be downright naggy when it comes to his health. Plus, she hates that stupid toy – her words.”
Cane chuckled. “Makes two of us. Are you ready to go back to town or do you want to look around more?”
“Truthfully… I want to head over to their place before leaving the vicinity.”