“Approximate will be fine.” Kane turned as Jenna moved into the clearing.
“Stone is still locked up.” Jenna walked to Wolfe’s side. “I asked the warden to send a guard to make sure. He didn’t have to; he has him on CCTV. At this moment in time, would you believe Stone is in the prison library? He likes to read.”
“The model prisoner, huh?” Kane shook his head. “We need to look into his time in jail more closely because something isn’t right.”
“Yeah.” Jenna stood hands on hips. “I have the same feeling.”
As soon as Webber and Rio had finished documenting the scene, Wolfe turned to Jenna. “You know the drill. We’ll process the scene together. Mark a
ny body parts, footprints, and blood spatter you find. I’ll do a preliminary examination of the victims. I want to take their core body temperature asap, then we’ll pack them up and get them to the lab.”
“Okay.” Jenna beckoned Rio and Rowley. “Do a grid search of the area, these people must have had backpacks or personal items. Hunt around until you find them.” She turned to Wolfe. “I want to be with you when you examine the bodies.”
“Yeah, so do I.” Kane looked at Wolfe. “Do you mind?”
“Nope.” Wolfe picked up his bag and stepped with care toward the body of the male and crouched beside him. “He’s still in rigor and from the extent, I’d estimate death occurred longer than twelve hours ago, less than twenty-four.” He lifted the man’s shirt and used a probe directly into the liver. “The body temperature will tell me more. It’s important I take the temperature first. The body cools to the surrounding temperature between twelve and twenty hours. I’ll need to consider the overnight conditions and I’ll be able to give you an answer when I get back to the lab. We have formulas to determine a more accurate TOD than the estimate I could make now.” He looked at Kane. “We’ll need to pry him from the tree to transport him, but if you could do a crossbow bolt trajectory analysis on him, I’ll go and take the body temperature of his companion.”
“Sure.” Kane dropped his backpack to the ground and bent to retrieve his equipment.
Noticing Jenna staring at the congealed puddles of blood and body parts surrounding the woman, Wolfe moved closer. “It seems this killer had some insight to Stone’s torturing techniques.” He indicated to the blood. “The amount of blood tells us that her killer kept her alive until she bled to death.”
“Yeah.” Jenna looked at the woman’s face. “That has to be Patti Howard. I recognize her from her driver’s license. Her face is untouched, so we do have an anomaly. Stone chose every victim. To him they were me. He hated me and took it out on innocent women, but this isn’t revenge or a crime of passion. This man enjoyed his work.”
Thirty-Three
Overcoming the fight or flight response when confronted with a brutal murder scene was something Jenna had fought to control. Now, after so many brutal killings, she would have thought her mind would have gotten used to seeing carnage, but no. Right now she wanted to hightail it back to the Beast and hide under Duke’s blanket. She turned to look at the dog, sitting patiently at the edge of the crime scene, his head on his paws and his eyes following Kane’s every move. Her attention went to her deputies. Rowley and Rio were walking shoulder to shoulder back and forth across the clearing, collecting anything of interest and placing markers. Blackhawk arrived carrying the backpacks and she went to him. “Did you document where these were found?”
“Yeah, I’ll forward the images to you and Wolfe.” He handed her the backpacks. “This man knows the forest and moves like a spirit, he left only a whisper of a touch as he passed. There was no blood trail leading from the scene, and the killer left through the trees, dropping the backpacks before taking an obscure path from the crime scene. I’ve recorded and marked the path he took but it melts into the forest.” He glanced at the blood-soaked ground and back at her. “He killed and then took the time to clean up.” He pointed to a disturbed patch of grass. “He stood here, removed his clothes, and washed. The ground is still damp.” He turned slowly and stared into the forest. “He’d have planned this well and stowed his change of clothes close by. The ground where I found the backpacks is disturbed. He dressed there, took his soiled clothes, and left.”
Jenna nodded. “Thanks.”
The IDs inside verified that the victims were indeed Emmett and Patti Howard out of Sleepy Creek. She waved to get Kane’s attention. “The phones are missing but whoever did this didn’t steal anything from them apart from their lives. What is the motive for killing them?”
“It looks like a thrill kill.” Kane waved a hand toward the two victims. “Wolfe found a back injury, a stab wound. He disabled the man, just like Stone’s MO. From the male victim’s position, the killer likely made him watch while he tortured the female and then he used him for target practice. This time he left the bolts in situ and only used a crossbow.” He gave Jenna a long look. “Stone used a rifle and crossbow. It’s very close to Stone’s murder spree, but there are differences. This is different from the Adams crime scene. What are the odds on two people deciding to murder a couple with a crossbow in the same week?”
“Astronomical.” Jenna’s attention slid to the staring eyes of the victims. “This has to be Adams, there’s no other explanation.”
“Aw, come on, Jenna.” Kane’s eyebrows rose. “In this county, trust me, anything is possible. We’ve had more than one killer in town before. How do we know there aren’t two killers? It’s possible. Anything is possible.”
Unconvinced, Jenna shook her head. “This has Stone’s MO all over it; he’s getting his message out somehow. I’m calling Jo. I want her input on this killer. I’m finding it hard to believe this is the work of more than one man.”
Jenna pulled out her phone and picked her way back to the trail and headed downwind. Glad of the respite the cool mountain air offered, she leaned against a tall pine nestled in a clump of snowberry bushes and made the call. She had to wait a few moments for Jo to pick up. “Hi, Jo, do you have time for a chat?”
“I sure do. It’s been quiet here for days. Have you caught the person who invaded your home?”
“Yeah… well maybe.” Jenna explained and gave details of both crime scenes. “So, we have three victims and one missing person.”
“Do you mind if Carter listens in?”
Jenna could hear a chair scraping and Carter’s voice in the background. “Sure. How are you, Ty?”
“Bored, so what’s happening in Black Rock Falls?”
She brought him up to speed. “I’m on scene and the DA has charged a suspect. There are subtle differences to the James Stone murders. I figure someone leaked crime scene information and this is a copycat. If not, he’s somehow communicating with an accomplice on the outside.”
“From what you’re telling me, we’re dealing with an organized killer.” Jo cleared her throat. “Of course, I can’t make a conclusion until I’ve analyzed the crime scenes for comparison. You say this scene is messy and the female is posed. This would indicate an organized killer. From the images I’ve seen of the Stone murders and the planning behind each kill, Stone was an organized killer as well.”
Intrigued, Jenna straightened and headed back to the crime scene. The suffocating smell of the bodies greeted her and seeped through the mentholated salve spread under her nose. “So what characteristics are we looking for in a man who kills this way?”