“Despite your many good qualities, I was really hoping we wouldn’t be seeing each other again for a while,” Dolores said, putting what looked like a thread held with tweezers into a small plastic container.
“Likewise.”
Zach heard his name behind him and turned to see Jimmy stepping through the doorway to the basement room they were in, the one that had once been dark and now was flooded with bright LED light, criminalists working in various areas.
“Dolores,” Jimmy greeted, and she nodded up at him before focusing back on her work. He squatted next to Zach, taking in the victim in front of them. “Straight out of a horror movie,” he muttered. “Who found her?”
“A vagrant looking for a place to sleep. Says he smelled her the minute he walked in. He’s a Vietnam vet and he told the operator that once you’ve been around a dead body, you know the smell anywhere.”
“Can’t argue there.” Of course, Jimmy and Zach knew that better than anyone. Death had an odor unlike anything else. “Did the vagrant come down here to check it out or call the cops?”
“Called.”
“Good man.” Zach nodded. They all appreciated the fact that the homeless man hadn’t compromised the crime scene. Made their job a little easier anyway.
Zach looked over at Jimmy who was leaning around the body to get a better look at the shackles. “Josie good when you left her?”
Jimmy glanced at Zach, but Zach looked back to the body before he could try to read anything into his expression. “Yeah, she was fine. Horton and Vogel are both hanging out until you can get there.”
“Good.”
“Looks like the same exact MO from the previous crime scene photos I looked at,” Jimmy said. “What’s your take having personally been at both scenes?”
“Same guy,” Zach said. “I’d bet on it. This girl is also young like Aria Glazer.”
“Any way to tell how long she’s been here?” Jimmy asked Dolores.
“Long enough to starve to death.”
They were both quiet for a moment, letting that settle.
“And this is what Josie Stratton experienced too,” Jimmy murmured, voice tight. Zach glanced at him and noticed a small tic in his jaw.
“Similar,” Zach answered. “At one point he unchained one of her hands. That’s not the case with this victim, or Aria Glazer. At least not at the time he left them to die. And of course, there was the pregnancy. That’s different too.”
“Prophylactic residue on this one,” Dolores said, obviously listening to their conversation though she looked laser-focused on her work. “Signs of sexual assault.”
“The same as Aria Glazer.”
“This guy learned from his predecessor as far as the importance of protection.”
“Either that or he’s just smarter in general.”
They were both silent for a moment, looking at the extinguished life in front of them, the obviously young woman who’d had her future stolen by a demented monster.
There was a metal pan off to the side with some congealed sludge at the bottom and Zach gestured to it. “Something like that was taken into evidence at the first crime scene too,” he said. “And Josie was supplied with a similar makeshift toilet by Marshall Landish.”
Jimmy made a rough noise in the back of his throat. “Why bother with the small bit of dignity?” he muttered. Zach didn’t answer. He didn’t have one.
“The carving in the leg?” Zach asked after a minute. “Can we see it?”
Dolores lifted up the girl’s skirt, showing the top of her thigh where the words casus belli were carved. “Premortem?” Jimmy asked.
“Definitely,” Dolores answered. “It appears as if the wounds were just beginning to heal over at the time of death.”
Zach nodded, standing, Jimmy following suit. “I’m sure Cathlyn will expedite the exam on this one. I’ll give her a call and tell her to let us know as soon as she has anything.”
They said goodbye to Dolores who gave them a small wave, not lifting her head from her work, and walked up the wooden stairs. Outside the house, the night was cool and clear. Rainswept. It felt like an entirely different world than where they’d just been. He wondered if Josie had experienced that sensation too when she’d fled the warehouse room where she’d been held captive and emerged into that crisp winter day, but he pushed that particular thought away. He needed to focus on the girl they’d just found.