CHAPTER SEVEN
The LAPD Central Community Police Station sat on Sixth Street in downtown Los Angeles.
It was a modern building that looked more like an office complex than a traditional precinct.
Miles followed Vic and Sarah Kim through the entrance, grateful for the air conditioning after the walk from their rental car.
The late afternoon heat had been oppressive, the kind that made breathing feel like work.
A uniformed officer directed them to the second floor, where Detective Luis Morales waited near a conference room.
He was in his mid-forties with salt-and-pepper hair and the weathered look of someone who had seen too many crime scenes.
His handshake was firm when he greeted them.
He had the sort of demeanor that was neither soft nor hardened, and Miles decided he liked the man right away.
"Agents," Morales said, nodding to all three of them individually. "Thanks for getting here so quickly. My partner is already inside setting up the case materials."
“That’s fantastic,” Vic said. “We appreciate the cooperation, Detective."
Morales led them into a conference room where another detective stood arranging folders on the table. She was younger than Morales, maybe early thirties, her dark hair cut in a short pixie-cut.
"This is Detective Brittany Richards," Morales said. "She caught the first case."
Richards looked up and gave them a brief smile that faded quickly. "Welcome to Los Angeles. I wish it were under better circumstances."
They settled around the table and Richards opened the first folder, revealing crime scene photos.
Miles leaned forward to study them, careful not to touch anything until Richards indicated they could.
He had to look away at first as he’d not been expecting anything quite this gruesome.
It was easily the worst condition he’d ever seen a dead body in.
"This is Amanda Parker, age thirty-two," Richards said.
"She was a professional skydiver and instructor at SkyHigh Adventures, a jumping facility about forty miles outside the city. She was found just this morning out in the Mojave Desert, about a mile or so off the highway. She was discovered by an early-morning hiker.”
Vic pulled out her phone to take notes. "She fell from a significant height, right?"
"Significant is putting it mildly. The medical examiner estimates she fell from at least two thousand feet based on the trajectory analysis and the distance from any possible launch point," Morales said.
Miles studied the photos more carefully. Parker's body had been severely damaged by the fall, her limbs twisted at unnatural angles. The desert sand around her showed the force of impact.
Miles pointed to a portion of what looked like a silver tarp just to the edge of one of the photos, though he was quite sure he knew what it really was. “Weather balloons, right?”
"Weather balloons," Morales confirmed. "When we found her body, there were dozens of deflated balloons still attached to a harness system.
Long strings tangled around her arms and legs.
The whole setup was designed to lift her into the air and carry her on the wind until the balloons eventually deflated or burst."
Morales pulled out additional crime scene photos showing the white latex remnants scattered around Parker's body in the desert sand. Miles could see the strings clearly, some still knotted to the harness that had been strapped around Parker's torso.
"Someone drugged or incapacitated her as far as I can guess.
And then they secured her in this harness, and released her with enough balloons to carry her thousands of feet up," Morales continued.
"The prevailing winds carried her northeast from wherever she was launched. When the balloons lost lift, she fell."
Vic leaned forward to study the photos more closely. "How many balloons are we talking about?"
"The forensics team counted remnants from at least thirty-five to forty balloons," Morales said. "All standard latex weather balloons, the kind you can buy online. Nothing exotic or specialized."
The simplicity of it sent a little chill through Miles. The method was both simple and horrifying. There had been no need for aircraft or elaborate equipment. Just balloons, helium, and patience.
“And there’s something else, too…” Morales said.
She pulled out another photo and even though Miles had been expecting something like this, it still sent a flare of panic and a wavering sort of anger through him.
The picture showed a single sheet of cardstock paper that had been taped to one of the balloons in heavy layers of packing tape.
It was covered in a bit of writing, typed out. Miles leaned in closer and read it.
These people are thieves of atmosphere. While those who struggle to breathe below gasp for what little oxygen remains, these parasites ascend higher and higher, gorging themselves on air that was never meant for them.
They have made careers of theft, spending hours each day where oxygen grows thin, consuming what belongs to those whose lungs fight for every breath.
The Elementalist showed us the truth: altitude is a privilege, not a right.
Those who climb highest must fall furthest. Let them experience true ascension, carried by helium to heights even they have never known.
Let them understand what it means to steal breath from the worthy.
Let them return to earth as they should have remained: grounded, humble, and still.
“Well, I think this has Kane's influence written all over it,” Miles said.
"Do you think the location where she was found might be significant?” Kim asked.
"You know, I’ve asked myself the very same thing,” Morales said. “The Mojave is huge and mostly empty. Finding her body at all was luck.”
"So the killer didn't care if she was found or not," Vic said.
"There’s no way to be certain about that just yet."
“The body was discovered in the Santa Monica Mountains about an hour before the first victim…
but the ME believes Parker died first…at least a day ago.
The damage from the fall was so severe that we haven't been able to make a positive identification yet.
No wallet, no phone, no identifying documents.
We're running dental records and DNA, but that takes time. "
"Can you tell us anything at all about the victim?" Vic asked.
"We're pretty sure it's a male, probably in his late twenties or early thirties, based on what the ME could determine," Morales said. "He was wearing the same type of harness system, similar balloon remnants, and cards with the same handwriting as the ones found with Parker."
Miles felt the familiar weight of another case settling over him.
Two victims in the Los Angeles area, both killed in the same unusual manner.
Both found in isolated locations outside of the city.
Both lifted thousands of feet by weather balloons and allowed to fall when the balloons failed.
But he doubted the balloons had simply failed.
He wondered if there had been some sort of sophisticated way the killer had remotely popped the balloons.
“Well, if we’re going to get properly started,” Kim said, "I should head to the LA field office and set up our remote operations there. I can start digging into Parker's background and see if there's any connection between her and the second victim."
Miles nodded. "Good idea. Parker's connection to altitude is obvious given her profession, but we need to understand why the killer selected her specifically. And we need to identify the second victim as quickly as possible. Maybe we can just look into occupations that involved great heights and see if anyone simply hasn’t come into work?”
“It’s a good idea,” Morales said as she pulled a large map of the immediate Los Angeles area out from beneath the photos and case files.
“But this is LA…and that’s still going to be a big number of people even with such a niche to narrow down by.
However, we have been trying to figure out where these victims are being launched from.
Parker was found seventeen miles northeast of here, in Mojave.
The second victim was discovered in the Santa Monica Mountains, about thirty miles away, to northwest. The locations are completely different, separated by nearly forty miles. "
"The wind would carry them in different directions depending on where they were released and when," Vic said. "The killer would need some understanding of weather patterns to predict general landing zones."
Miles studied the map, noting the two discovery sites marked with red circles. "These sites are both remote and unpopulated. Places where the bodies might not be found for days or weeks if conditions were different," he pointed out.
"But they were found relatively quickly," Morales said.
"Parker, within about thirty-six hours, give or take, and the second victim just three, thanks to the call from the witness who saw the body fall.
And we have to assume that maybe that was part of the killer's plan as well...
to have them outside of the city, but close enough where they would be found. "
"To send a message," Miles said. "The manifesto makes that clear. This isn't someone trying to hide their work. They want people to know what they're doing and why."
Morales nodded. "That's our read, too. And based on what you and your team have learned about Kane's disciples, this person believes they're doing righteous work."
Miles thought about the disciples they had caught before.
Each one had possessed specialized knowledge related to their chosen method of murder.
This killer would be no different. They would understand meteorology, atmospheric conditions, and how to predict where their victims would land based on wind patterns and release points.
"I think to start off, we need to compile a list of everyone associated with SkyHigh Adventures," Miles said. "Instructors, pilots, mechanics, anyone who had regular contact with Parker. And we need to look at people with access to weather balloons and meteorological data."
"I can start pulling those records," Morales said. "It might take a few hours to get everything together."
“And I can help,” Kim said from her place by the door, clearly ready to head out and get started.
"In the meantime, we should visit Parker’s family,” Vic said. “See if there's anything they might know that could help.”
“Sounds like we’ve got a plan,” Morales said. “All three of you, just let me know if there’s anything else I can do. As for now, Agent Kim...let me get you situated for a ride and assistance over to the field office.”
They headed out of the office space together, and Miles felt the investigation shifting into familiar territory.
Another city, another disciple, another pattern to decode.
But this method was different from anything they had encountered before.
The scale and planning required to lift someone thousands of feet with weather balloons suggested patience and technical knowledge that made this killer particularly dangerous.
And the wrecked state of the bodies meant less chance of the killer leaving clues…
not that any of the disciples had so far.
Miles hated to think such a thing so early into the case, but this was already starting to feel like it might be the most difficult Elementalist case yet.