Chapter 5
Five
“Something is always watching in the forest.” He indicated to the murder of crows sitting quietly in the trees above them. “The scent of blood will be bringing wildlife from all over. None of them want to challenge us just yet. Luckily, if a bear wanders past, Ben will notify us.”
She gripped her forensics kit tighter and stepped over a fallen log covered in moss. “It’s not the animals I’m worried about.”
“It would be unusual for anything to attack a group of people.” Jenna moved up alongside her. “They’re more likely to pick off the stragglers. It does stink really bad around here, so I’m expecting wildlife damage to the bodies.”
Being on a case in the middle of the forest without her dad was always strange.
Emily had handled crime scenes alone before but just having him there was comforting when there was a menace possibly close by.
Although, Raven’s knowledge of the mountain terrain and forest comforted her.
She moved her attention to Ben. The K-9 walked out in front of them, sniffing the air and looking in all directions.
The moment they reached the first victim, Ben barked and sat down.
Emily pushed down the wave of nausea that gripped her at the sight of horrific crimes.
She spent a good deal of her time visiting body farms, and seeing the decaying bodies was indeed distressing and interesting at the same time.
Being able to see stages of decomposition made it easier for her to determine the time of death in victims but that experience didn’t really prepare her for seeing a body with a head hacked off with an ax.
The first body they came across was male, lying face down in the forest. His death hadn’t been easy.
She followed the blood spatter spread over a number of trees, culminating in a massive congealed patch beside the corpse.
She moved closer, avoiding stepping in the surrounding crimson pool.
Small animals had trekked through the blood, leaving their footprints on fallen leaves in the underbrush.
The male victim had put up a fight. Deep lacerations crossed one arm and shoulder.
The Axman must have taken at least three or four swings at him prior to the decapitation.
Emily swallowed hard and straightened before turning to Raven. “Did you capture the scene?”
“Yes, with video and stills.” Raven indicated toward the blood spatter.
“I’ve taken close-up images of any blood that I spotted and I’ve made notes about the distance from the first blood spatter to the fallen body.
As you can see, the killer carried the head toward the vehicle.
We can walk that way back. The blood trail leads directly to the truck. The same for the female victim.”
Turning around and walking to a blood spot where the head must have fallen, Emily traced the blood trail back to a narrow animal track.
She walked back and forth and then nodded to herself before returning to where Jenna was staring at the body.
“This killer is very cool and calm. From the blood spatter and trail leading back to the vehicle, I would say he was walking slowly and swinging the head in one hand. It looks as if he had all the time in the world.”
“That’s chilling.” Jenna chewed on her bottom lip and stared at her.
“Do you want to view the next body and then collect both of them and take them back to the van? We can then drive back and collect the heads and get them to the morgue.” She looked at her.
“Will you be conducting the autopsies today?”
Glad she had the backup of her stepmother and forensics anthropologist, Dr. Norrell Wolfe, working in the same building, Emily nodded. “Yeah, I guess so. I haven’t heard from Dad, so Norrell will assist. Not that I believe for one second there is any other cause of death, but we’d better be sure.”
“You’ll be able to get the van closer to the bodies if you drive along the fire road another hundred yards or so.
” Raven indicated ahead with his chin. “There’s a wide trail coming in from that direction that leads to the fire road.
I’ll come with you and show you where to go.
” He frowned. “The female victim is over here.” He headed along a trail until he came to a clearing.
Heart pounding as the wind in the trees made shadows move all around her, Emily walked beside him, with Jenna and Webber close behind.
Tension wrapped around them so tightly she could almost touch it.
The female was young, maybe seventeen. Dressed in a jacket over a skirt and wearing pink and brown cowboy boots with fringes.
Her legs, as Raven had noticed previously, had scratches all over.
She must have run for her life. Turning slowly, Emily searched the undergrowth and surrounding trees for blood spatter.
One of the trees had a large amount of blood on one section of the trunk.
Smaller sprays covered the underbrush on each side.
“I figure he took her down with one swing of the ax.” She pointed.
“The blood you can see over the tree and surrounds is arterial spray. The spatter over there on the opposite trunks and undergrowth would have come from the ax as he swung it.” She moved a few paces away from the body and then pointed to a small patch of blood.
“The head landed there and you can see where he collected it and walked back along the trail to the vehicle. It’s in the same slow deliberate steps as he used before.
It would seem to me that this man believed he had all the time in the world to commit these crimes and no one would catch him.
There is absolutely no sense of him rushing, or this being a spontaneous act.
It’s as if he planned it out, lay in wait for the victims, and then committed the crime. ”
“Another organized serial killer.” Jenna stared at the prone body and shook her head slowly.
“I wish for once we didn’t have a murderer stalking Black Rock Falls at Halloween.
That’s one tradition I can do without.” She looked at Raven.
“Can you go and get the van and handle the body retrieval with Webber? I’ll walk back to the Ford with Em.
We’ll wait there for you once she’s completed her examination. ”
“Sure.” Raven nodded. “I’ll leave Ben with you.
He’ll do his own thing and guard you. He’ll bark if he hears anything and sit down if he wants you to stop.
” He turned to Ben and drew him closer. He touched Jenna and then Emily.
“Guard them. Good boy.” He patted him on the head and followed Webber back to the van.
When they arrived at the Ford truck, they met the two staring heads face on.
A black cloud of crows rose into the air when Jenna shouted at them.
Some just stared at them, indignant that they’d disturbed their meal.
The sight made Emily’s stomach flip-flop.
She always had great empathy for the victims she cared for, but these two poor souls had become ghoulish in the time they’d been away.
She dragged bags from her kit. “I’ll climb onto the hood and bag the heads before there’s nothing left. ”
“Okay, don’t slip now.” Jenna moved to her side. “Pass them down to me.”
Emily climbed slowly onto the hood of the truck.
Blood spattered the front window, running down in red lines, and then veered off to one side across the hood’s blue paintwork.
She stepped carefully and shook open a large bag before taking a careful grip of the male’s hair and dropping it into the bag.
She sealed the bag and handed it down to Jenna and then repeated the action with the female.
She set her mind on thinking about her dad.
How he would deal with this terrible situation.
She tried to inhale some deep breaths through her nose to calm her racing heart.
Admitting to being terrified in the forest with a serial killer on the loose would make her appear unprofessional and her dad had instilled professionalism in her the moment she decided to become a medical examiner.
She could hear his voice in her mind as if he were standing next to her.
You’ll come across murder or accident scenes that make you want to run in the opposite direction.
Mutilated bodies will trigger the flight response, but remember it’s not the dead that can hurt you and only you can stand up for them and tell their story.
Only you, Em. If you can’t do that, walk away now and choose another career.
Don’t follow me along a path where you can’t possibly succeed.
She climbed carefully from the hood and stood for a few moments gathering her equilibrium before walking back to the blood trail from the bodies.
She turned and followed it back, noticing the long deep scratches on one side of the truck.
She looked at Jenna. “This is where we need Dave. He is so good at estimating people’s heights.
” She walked back and forth and then around the back of the truck, going all around the front and back to Jenna.
“We’ll need to wait for Raven and Webber to get back.
I don’t believe that the killer climbed onto the truck to display the heads.
I figure he was tall enough to place them on top of the cab. ”
“That’s a stretch of the imagination.” Jenna frowned. “Dave is six-five and he stands on the doorsill to polish the top of the Beast. This is an older F-150, but he’d need to be a giant to reach up there with a head. They’re heavier than I imagined.”
Emily moved closer to the doorsill and bent to examine it more closely before checking the opposite side.
“There’s blood spatter on both sills, either side.
Some of the blood has a very slight mark on it, possibly a boot print.
This is my dad’s field. He has so many gadgets to find prints.
Once he gets home, we can investigate this further. ”
“That makes more sense.” Jenna held up her hand when her phone buzzed.
She took the call and then stared into space.
“Unfortunately, they’re not missing any longer.
Send me the details and I’ll go and speak to the parents once I’m done here.
No, don’t say anything. Yes, they can wait there if they want.
Take them to the conference room and make them comfortable.
It’s a really bad scene, and they won’t be able to view the bodies. ”
Emily moved closer and she touched Jenna’s arm. “Ask Rowley to get DNA swabs from the mothers. I can get them processed in a couple of hours.”
She waited for Jenna to relay the information. The white van appeared, moving toward them along the track. “Okay, we’ll get these loaded and see if Raven or Webber can place something from the ground to the roof. It will give you some idea of the size of this killer.”
After going through the motions, she decided a man would need to be over six feet to lift a heavy head onto the top of the cab while standing on the sill.
She’d just removed her gloves and mask as the tow truck arrived from Millers’ Garage.
Seeing George Miller behind the wheel was a bonus.
He understood the meaning of preserving evidence and climbed out of the truck and nodded to her.
“We’ll winch it onto the trailer and slide it off at the morgue’s garage.” George rubbed his chin. “Don’t worry, no one will lay a finger on it.”
Emily smiled. “Thanks. We’ll be there when you arrive.” She turned to Jenna. “I’ll look at the victims late this afternoon, if you don’t mind staying back tonight? I’ll need to run many samples before I start. We’ll need to confirm identity.”
“That’s okay. I’ll call my boys. They understand when I need to work, and they have Raya to cook them dinner.” Jenna walked slowly toward Raven. “I’ll get a ride back to town with Em. Are you coming to the autopsy?”
“Yeah, and if you don’t need me, I’ll assist Em with the preliminary examinations to move things along.
” Raven removed his gloves and added them to the plastic bag containing garbage.
“I’ll just need to go back to the ranch and feed my animals.
” He gave them both a long look. “It’s been a very long and stressful morning and it will be a long afternoon.
We all need a break. Once Em has run the DNA tests and you’ve spoken to the parents, can I persuade you both to join me at Aunt Betty’s Café for a late lunch?
” He looked hopefully from one to the other.
“We’ll work better with some nourishment. ”
Emily smiled ruefully. “I guess that would be better than listening to your stomach complaining all afternoon.”
“Okay, call me when you’re through and I’ll meet you there.
” Jenna rubbed both hands down her jeans.
“I’ll need a cup of coffee and Aunt Betty’s will be a nice distraction after this morning.
” She glanced around her. “This killer is so brutal. I don’t believe we’ve seen the last of him.
I have an awful feeling he’s just getting started. ”