Chapter 2 #2
“See these,” she said, her voice low but precise as she angled her flashlight toward the victim’s neck.
“The bruising runs horizontally. The pattern’s irregular.
Fingertips, not a ligature. These smaller red and purple spots are petechiae or tiny ruptures from pressure cutting off blood flow. Classic signs of manual strangulation.”
El imagined the scene. Big powerful hands around Kenna’s throat. She clenched her jaw.
Faye paused, tracing just above the collarbone where the skin had darkened. “Her attacker used significant force, likely both hands. Likely a male. She fought back, but…” Her gaze flicked to the faint crescents near the jawline. “He was stronger. She never had a chance.”
“This says she didn’t drown, right?”
“Not necessarily. Her attacker could’ve inflicted the damage, stopped short of killing her, then thrown her in the water alive.”
El’s imagination ran wild with that.
Faye lifted Kenna’s hand and pointed to the tips of her fingers.
“Skin is smooth and normal. No washerwoman’s affect or softer waterlogged fingers yet.
A clear sign she wasn’t in the water long.
Probably less than thirty minutes. Maybe an hour.
But the fact that we found her so soon could contradict death by drowning. ”
“I don’t understand.”
“Drowning victims often stay at the surface for a short time. Struggling, submerging, resurfacing. Once unconscious, they slip under. In freshwater, they typically sink after that, though it’s not always immediate.”
“And if she was put in the water postmortem?”
“That’s a different story. She’d sink at first. Floating wouldn’t happen until decomposition kicked in—bacteria producing gases that bloat the body and increase buoyancy.
In warm water, that can be a day or two.
At this temperature, you’re usually looking at a few days, maybe longer.
Depends on the water, her body composition, currents, even what she was wearing. ”
The scene played out in El’s mind, Kenna struggling, grasping. She couldn’t imagine how she’d tell Gabe. It would push him past the edge he was already teetering on.
“Of course,” Faye said. “This is all speculation. Air could’ve simply been trapped in her clothing, keeping her on the surface. Especially since she was found so soon. Not something we’ll ever know unless your witness noticed it.”
“He didn’t mention it, but he was in shock. I’ll ask him, but I doubt he would’ve noticed.”
“Then it’ll be up to my examination to reveal if she has water in her lungs.”
“What about the blood?”
Faye lifted Kenna’s shirt. “Just like I suspected. No open wounds. It’s probably not her blood unless there’s a wound elsewhere and the blood transferred here. My examination will answer that too.”
“She also crashed her van into the ravine tonight. I assume the large bruise on her forehead is from that.”
She bent to look at Kenna. “It’s clearly perimortem so you could be right. If so, there’ll be contusions from a seatbelt as well.”
“In past investigations, I learned water washes some DNA away—especially loose material like saliva or skin cells—but some can remain. So we should still test her shirt for DNA.”
“Yes, it gets trapped in the fabric fibers, particularly in porous materials like her cotton shirt, and we could find it.”
“So how soon can you do the autopsy and get me that shirt for DNA testing?”
“First thing in the morning. Around nine, unless something more pressing comes in. Not likely though. In our little county, a potential murder takes precedence over everything else.”
El gritted her teeth. “I’ll be there.”
Faye stood and spun to face her assistant. “Bag her hands, Theo, and let’s get her to the van.”
Theo slipped paper bags over each hand and sealed them with rubber bands. Then he unfurled a black body bag with a flourish.
“I’ll have her stuffed inside in no time,” he said loudly.
Gabe growled and jumped up, glaring at Theo. Thankfully, he was on the other side of the crime scene. If not, he’d be giving the assistant a piece of his mind, and El wouldn’t blame him.
She was tempted to go to him, but she couldn’t manage Gabe’s emotions through this entire investigation. Her job had to come first. Not only did she have a murder to solve. She had to find a missing four-year-old.
Two thirty a.m. Gabe paced the team’s conference room. Everyone on the team except Reece had changed clothes and was seated at the table, warming up from hours of searching for Lucy in the cold and damp. They hadn’t found her or any sign that anyone had recently entered the wooded area.
Hayden, their team internet expert, stared at his laptop screen, deep-diving into Kenna’s background.
Gabe hated violating his friend’s privacy, but they needed to know everything to find who killed her and where Lucy had disappeared to.
Maybe when El arrived to update them as she’d promised, she’d have a lead.
Until then, they waited. Not something Gabe was good at.
Reece tugged on her wet T-shirt and picked up a full pot of coffee from the table against the wall. Tall with thick blond hair, she walked with a model’s confidence, a remnant from her college days. Before joining the team, she’d been an ATF agent, though nothing in her appearance suggested it.
She stopped next to Gabe and held up the pot and a mug. “Coffee?”
Gabe wouldn’t be sleeping until they located Lucy. Every bit of caffeine would help. He grabbed the mug and held it out. “Thanks for looking out for us when you probably want to get out of those wet clothes.”
She waved her hand. “No worries. I’ll change once I make sure you all have coffee and a snack.”
“I hate to see you shivering.” Sitting at the main table, Jude French stroked his neatly trimmed beard. “But we appreciate our team mom looking out for us.”
“Betty Crocker at your service.” Reece wrinkled her nose at him and poured steaming coffee into his mug.
Former sheriff Abby Day stood and stepped beside Gabe. She was petite, curvy, and had short hair. “You doing okay?”
“If this is a stranger abduction, you guys all know the first three hours are everything,” Gabe said, as they were in business to locate missing people and things. “After that, the odds start working against us, and it looks like we’re already beyond that time.”
Gabe got the words out, but barely. What could he say after his best friend had died and her daughter disappeared?
If he put words to his feelings he might completely fall apart.
Something he wouldn’t do in front of his team.
Shoot, something he wouldn’t do in front of anyone if he could help it.
He had to remain a professional and in control.
Abby rested her hand on his arm. He stiffened.
“We’re praying for you,” she said. “For them.”
He nodded, but he didn’t know how much help he would get from prayer. He believed in God. Sure, he did. Had all his life. But had he lived his life for God? Not most of it. How could he have, growing up in a dysfunctional family like his?
“Gabe?” Abby asked. “You thinking about Kenna?”
No way he’d answer that. Would be the catalyst to that breakdown. To the real man beneath the baggage. Only one person had ever seen that guy. Kenna.
But just because he wouldn’t let Abby in didn’t mean he wanted to hurt her feelings. He took a gulp of coffee and squeezed her hand. “Don’t worry about me. I’ll be okay.”
She frowned. “You might want to run away from how this is affecting you, but you can’t. So, remember we’re all praying for you, and we’re here if you want to talk.”
He nodded, but right now he wanted to take action. He strode to the whiteboard to grab a red marker. “No more waiting for El to get here. We can’t afford to delay. We’ll get started on a plan of action.”
“You’ve got too much of a personal investment here to take lead.” Team leader Nolan Orr stood and tried to take the marker from Gabe’s hand.
Gabe jerked it behind his back. “No way I’m backing down. No matter what you or anyone says.”
Nolan cocked his head. “Even if it stands in the way of finding Lucy or Kenna’s killer?”
Gabe locked eyes with Nolan. “Trust me. I can do this. I won’t stand in the way.”
Nolan watched Gabe carefully, as if hoping to make him squirm. But Gabe rarely did, and he certainly wouldn’t now.
“You know I mean it,” Gabe said. “You won’t sway my opinion, so why waste time trying?”
Nolan hissed out a long breath. “Because I know it’s the right thing to do.” He looked around the group as if asking for assistance.
“Why don’t I be your copilot on this?” Jude said. “You can run things by me before acting.”
Gabe had to admit Jude’s idea was a good one, even if the two of them had little in common.
Jude was raised in a wealthy family until they’d disowned him.
He chose to be an FBI agent when they wanted him to follow in their footsteps into a lucrative career.
The one thing they did share—both were rejected by family.
At times that shared experience helped them understand each other.
Besides, it didn’t mean Gabe had to follow Jude’s suggestions, but at least he wouldn’t let his emotions make him do something he’d regret. “Works for me.”
Surprise crossed Jude’s face, and he held out a fist to Gabe. “We’ll be the dynamic duo. No one can stop us.”
Gabe bumped Jude’s fist.
Nolan’s frown disappeared, but tension remained in his shoulders. “Let’s also agree that if any of us see you hindering the investigation, we’ll tell you about it, and you’ll back down.”
“I’d be glad to have you call me on things, but I won’t back down unless you convince me it’s better for Kenna or Lucy.”
Nolan gave a solemn nod and took his seat.
Consensus reached, Gabe let his shoulders relax. “Let’s start with making a list of registered sex offenders in the area and getting out to question them.”
“I’ll make the list,” Hayden said. “Then depending on the number of suspects we find, we can split them up so we can question them as fast as possible.”
Gabe appreciated their computer expert stepping forward without being asked. “That’s a great start.”
Nolan nodded. “We have to assume El is doing or has done the same thing, and we don’t want to step on her department’s toes.”
“I’m done playing nice, but I won’t back down if I think we have an issue with one of them,” Jude said.
“I wouldn’t expect you to, but we could dialogue with El or Mina before you go full pursuit of the guy.”
“I can coordinate with them,” Gabe said.
“But if in doubt, we’ll err on the side of taking action.
This investigation is different for us. We’ve never searched for a young child and certainly not one whose mother had been murdered.
So we don’t wait. Not with a child. Every minute matters to find her alive.
In only a few hours, we may be looking at something very different. ”
The room went quiet and somber. Too somber. The kind of emotions that stopped action.
Gabe was setting the tone. He pulled his shoulders back. “Just keep me updated. We also have to assume that El made an immediate call to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.”
A car horn blared outside.
Gabe jumped and hated that something so simple had startled him. But how could it not? This was El’s signal letting them know she’d arrived and needed someone to let her in.
Soon he’d have fresh information on two of the most important people in his life. One was already dead, and El could be coming to tell them the other one had died too.