Chapter 44
FORTY-FOUR
Mystic
The hairs on the back of Cord’s neck stood on end as he studied the pattern of the bird feathers. “Dr. Brant, did you create that artwork?”
The older man grunted. “No, I’m a scientist, not an artist. That was done by a young guy in his thirties.
He calls it feather touch art. It’s actually more popular than you’d think, especially used by Native American folk artists.
They make feathers into earrings, necklaces, dreamcatchers, decorative clothing, pillows and I’ve even seen lamps.
” He chuckled. “You’d be surprised what different people use as a medium.
I once knew a guy who used bones in his art and another one who incorporated blood. ”
Cord chewed over the man’s statement. So maybe it wasn’t a lead. But it was odd to see the crow feathers in a pattern so similar to the one where Minnie was found. He’d get the artist’s name and check him out.
His phone buzzed. His coworker Milo. “Yeah,” Cord said as he answered.
“Hey, we may have found that witness you were talking about, the old man.”
“That’s good.”
“Not so sure about that, McClain. Sorry to tell you, but he’s dead.”
Cord silently cursed.
“You want to come and verify his identity?”
“I’ll be right there.”
He ended the call, asked Dr. Brant for the artist’s number then headed outside. As he got inside his truck, he pulled his phone and called Ellie to fill her in.
“Cord, I was about to call you,” Ellie said. “I looked over the case files for those other suicides and found a couple of interesting things. I think the cases are connected.”
Cord ran his hands through his hair. “Go on.”
“Well, there are feathers at all three scenes. All three girls had heavy amounts of alcohol or drugs in their systems and prior addictions. Then I studied the suicide notes. Some of the wording is almost identical.” Her shaky breath rattled out.
“Each girl was apologizing for leaving their child and said they thought the child would be better off without them.”
“As if they were written by the same person?”
“Exactly.”
“That is suspicious.”
“And perhaps a motive for the killer. Also, there’s a boulder at Midnight Ridge with the initials of each girl carved on it. They were carved by the same person.”
“What you’re saying is that the other girls didn’t commit suicide either, that they were all murdered.”
“It looks that way. But we’ll keep digging.
I plan to question their families and look for a connection between the teens.
They didn’t attend the same school, but they could have met in a support group for teen mothers, either online or at a community center or church.
Or even at an AA meeting. Hazel said Minnie attended one regularly. ”
“Sounds like a place to start,” Cord said. “I talked to the ornithologist in town at his office and saw artwork made of feathers. Black crow feathers in the same pattern as the ones where Minnie died. It’s a long shot but I plan to question the artist.”
“Nice work. Even if he’s not the killer, he might know someone who’s obsessed with crows.”
“Right. There’s something else. Milo just called. They may have found Roman, the old man who called in Minnie’s death.”
“Great. Maybe he remembered something.”
Cord sighed. “If he did, we’ll never know. He’s dead.”