Chapter 11
ELEVEN
Amanda and Trent discussed contacting more relatives of the Archer family and decided against it until they knew what they were dealing with out in Haymarket.
“Do you think this is going to turn out to be Paul Archer?” Trent looked over at her from the driver’s seat.
“It’s possible.” She faced out the window.
“Hey, are you all right over there? You’re awfully quiet.”
She hadn’t told him about the connection between Paul Archer and her daughter.
It just hadn’t seemed necessary. But now, feeling Trent’s eyes on the back of her head, she had the urge to open up to him.
She turned and met his gaze. “There’s something I haven’t told you yet.
Paul Archer was supposed to be Zoe’s teacher this year.
When I asked her how school was going—this was before we knew the Archers were missing—she told me that Mr. Archer hadn’t shown up. She was worried about him.”
“Shit. Given all that kid’s been through, it makes sense her mind would leap to something horrible happening. She’s seen far too much for her age.”
Alongside Amanda, Trent was involved with investigating the murders of Zoe’s parents, so he had a front-row seat to knowing what she’d witnessed. He’d seen how traumatized she had been in the immediate aftermath. “That she has. More than anyone should ever have to deal with.”
“Well, whatever we find out here, you’ve got this. So does she. She’s quite resilient.”
“She hasn’t had much choice, though, has she?” Rage heated Amanda’s insides. The unfairness that such a young child would be subjected to so much devastating loss was maddening.
“Suppose she hasn’t. You know I’m here for you, right? And for Zoe? Whatever you need, at any time, got it?” He looked over at her again, making sure to meet her eyes.
“I know you are. Thank you.” So few words, but it was all she could bring herself to say.
They got the point across even if they only scraped the surface.
Just hearing his sincere offering had cooled her temper.
Somehow Trent had a way of making even some of the worst moments feel lighter, like she had less of a burden to carry.
About forty-five minutes after leaving Central, Trent pulled up to the side of the road, next to a cornfield. He parked behind a police cruiser, and the Crime Scene van. Officer Jensen greeted them when they got out of the car.
“The scene’s an absolute mess.” Jensen shuddered.
The cornstalks were high, and there wasn’t much to see from here, but vultures circled overhead.
“Do we have an ID on the vic?” Trent asked.
“Not yet, and we won’t until the medical examiner gets here. Crime Scene arrived about ten minutes ago.”
“What’s it looking like?” Trent asked. “Was it a gunshot or…?”
Jensen set his lips into a firm line. “It’s hard to say. The birds have made a real mess of him.”
Amanda glanced up again, but then looked down, noticing that a rough patch led from the road into the field.
As she followed it with her gaze, the tops of CSIs Blair’s and Donnelly’s heads periodically popped up over some stalks about twenty feet in.
“Who found the body?” She didn’t want to dwell on what damage the birds did to the remains.
“Rhett Manning, the farmer who owns this land. He walked out here to see what had the vultures swirling. He expected to find a dead animal, but…”
“Got the shock of his life instead,” Trent finished off.
Jensen nodded. “The guy’s a right mess. I feel bad for him. He’s in his seventies and doesn’t need to be dealing with this shit.”
“And where is he now?” Amanda asked.
“In the farmhouse with his wife, Shelley. But I wouldn’t go thinking he had anything to do with this. As I said he’s pretty shaken up and the guy strikes me as salt of the earth, ya know.”
Amanda wished it were easy to dismiss people from suspicion based on looks and first impressions alone.
She learned early in her career everyone put on shows to varying degrees.
Those who committed the most grievous of crimes often appeared least suspect.
Just like Phillip Daily? They’d soon find out.
“I told Mr. Manning and his wife to expect that detectives would want to speak with them,” Jensen added.
Amanda nodded. “And we will. First, I’d like to get a look at the scene.”
“Of course, follow that path.” He pointed to an area where the cornstalks were flattened.
“Was it like that when you arrived?” she asked.
“It was. Manning walked through the field from his house.”
She nodded and turned to leave.
“Just don’t say I didn’t warn you about the mess,” Jensen called out behind them.
Trent reached out and put a hand on her shoulder when she stopped at the mouth of the narrow path.
That simple touch, full of reassurance, lifted her spirits.
She could, and she would, see this investigation through, even if it was Paul Archer’s body at the other end.
“This path is likely where the killer came through with the body.”
“I’d say that’s a fair assumption, but I don’t see any track marks that something was rolled through here.”
“Me either, but he, or she, could have dragged the body out here in something.”
“Like in a tarp.”
Don’t remind me… Not that the high-profile murder investigation they had last month was far from her mind anyhow.
It was a case that involved a killer who liked to wrap their victims in a tarp.
Something like that sticks with a person.
“Sure. Or carried them. I don’t see blood or other forensic evidence strewn along the way.
I’d say we’re looking at someone who is strong enough to lug dead weight. ”
“Or two people sharing the burden?” Trent countered. “We know from the mall video there were at least two people working together to pull this off.”
“But if this is Paul and those people were out here, where are Brooke and Valerie?” It was a valid question, but she couldn’t let her mind reflect on it for too long.
They had to be alive, safe somewhere. “Though we could be getting ahead of ourselves. This might not even be Paul Archer.” Not that I believe that…
She came to a small opening where all the cornstalks in the area had been flattened and found the CSIs.
“Hello there,” CSI Isabelle Donnelly greeted them.
“You guys must have picked the short straw,” CSI Emma Blair kicked out.
Amanda’s gaze fixed on the remains. The man was dressed in a T-shirt and shorts, but as Officer Jensen had warned them, it was a messy scene.
Nature had lent a macabre hand to the devastation.
The carrion birds, with their hooked beaks, had torn through his shirt and gorged on his torso.
Flesh, organs, and intestines had been fished out and were lying next to the body.
The man’s left eye had been plucked out by the birds, and the right one was wide open, facing toward the sky.
A milky haze covered it, suggesting he had been dead for some time.
The skin that remained was ash gray, but even his bare legs had been gnawed on.
But despite the mutilation, Amanda was sure of one thing and laid a hand over her stomach. This was what remained of Paul Archer.
“You all right there? I know it’s quite the sight and hard to stomach.” CSI Emma Blair stepped up to Amanda’s side. “If you’re going to vomit, though, do it away from the body.”
“I’ll be all right.” But the way her stomach lurched belied her claim. Just focus on the facts… “It’s him.”
“It’s him?” Emma narrowed her eyes. “Him who?”
Trent filled in the CSIs, including that they had video of Valerie’s and Brooke’s abductions.
“You actually watched it happen?” Isabelle said.
“Uh-huh. We can only assume the husband”—Trent pointed at the body—“was taken by the same people from another location.” He turned to Amanda and added, “I guess we can sufficiently rule out his involvement.”
All Amanda could do was nod.
Trent continued. “I hate to say it, but if he’s here, then maybe…”
She didn’t want to think about Brooke’s and Valerie’s bodies being in this field too. It seemed Trent didn’t want to put it into words either. But they couldn’t just ignore the possibility because it was ugly. “We should call in the K-9 unit, just to be sure.”
Trent nodded and got on the phone.
Isabelle straightened up after taking another close-up shot of the victim. “For what it’s worth, I don’t think there are any more bodies out here.” She pointed overhead at the birds.
Her implication was straightforward enough to understand. If there were more remains, there would be more vultures, and the ones overhead wouldn’t be circling, they’d be feeding. Again, Amanda’s stomach roiled. Just thinking about people being snacks for wildlife was enough to do the job.
“Well, don’t get me started on…” Emma pointed up at the circling vultures. “Just their hovering gives me the creeps. I feel like they’re eyeing me as their next meal.”
“Don’t be crazy, I’ve got more meat on my bones.” Isabelle laughed, but her amusement died when her colleague and Amanda didn’t share her sense of humor. Besides, the investigator only had an inch and twenty pounds on Emma.
“At least someone can ignore them.” Emma bent over next to a flattened stalk and placed a marker with 1 on it, took a picture, and picked something up with gloved hands.
From where Amanda was standing, she couldn’t make out what it was, just that it was blue.
“A piece of fabric.” Emma held it up for them to see before slipping it into an evidence bag.
“Not from our vic since he isn’t wearing anything this color, but it could have been torn from our killer’s clothing. ”
The killer could have snagged their clothing out here, though she didn’t see anything that could have done that. “Possibly from an altercation that took place here.”
“Not necessarily.” Trent put his phone away, having overheard her, to respond. “Paul could have ripped it from his assailant elsewhere, pocketed the fabric, only to have the birds pull it out.”
“And by some miracle, they didn’t make breakfast out of it.
” Amanda looked around, taking a few deep breaths.
“Let’s just hope something comes from it.
” While it didn’t seem that significant a find on the surface, it was possible they’d run into a suspect with a torn piece of clothing. She turned to Trent. “K-9 on the way?”
“Yep.”
“Well, you might have to put a lot of faith in this small piece of cloth. We’re not finding much, are we, Isabelle?”
“No, we are not.”
The update wasn’t shocking. Evidence could have flown off. “I’m wondering if we should get our hands on the birds. They could have eaten something that could help the case.”
“I thought the same and made a call to the Virginia Department of Wildlife Resources. They’ll be coming out,” Blair said, “but they won’t be touching the birds. They informed me that vultures are a protected species.”
“Okay,” Amanda said slowly. “What will they be doing then? Tracking them to their nests to see what they might have taken back?”
Blair shook her head. “Nothing like that. I guess vultures don’t take anything back to their nests, not even prey. They regurgitate food for their young during breeding season, which I’ve been advised is long over now. The babies hatch in April and leave the nest between May and June.”
“Someone is up on their vultures,” Trent teased.
Blair shot him a look. “I’m only telling you what I’ve learned today.”
“All right, then, what will they be doing?” Amanda was still unclear how their involvement would be helpful.
“Apparently, vultures scatter bones within a radius. The people from Wildlife Resources will be able to identify secondary scatter areas nearby, and based on this and the birds’ feeding habits, they’ll be able to suggest how long a body has been exposed.”
“Consider me schooled,” Amanda said.
“Hey, if you’re not learning something every day, you might as well be dead,” Isabelle put in.
Amanda could agree with that. She just wished the subject wasn’t based in the macabre.
“How long before someone from Wildlife Resources shows up?” Trent asked.
“I was told it should be within a few hours.” Blair glanced at Amanda.
“Not as bad as I thought.” Amanda had in mind it might be far longer than that.
But at least they weren’t at a standstill waiting to hear from them.
They already had a lead to follow. Phillip Daily.
She’d call Malone to have him send out an officer to bring him in for questioning.
But before they left Haymarket, she and Trent needed to speak with the owners of the farm.
“All right, well, we’ll leave you to it.
” She turned to leave, wishing it were just as easy to turn her back on all of this.
But given what she’d just seen, she’d never forget, and she would use that as motivation to get justice for Paul Archer.