That sounded like it was in the middle of a quiet farming community, and she was unsure what could have happened. Perhaps it was an accidental death, she thought hopefully, as Jack continued.
“I'll send you the coordinates. It was discovered about an hour ago, but there's a strong similarity to a murder committed two days ago, which I noticed when I reviewed the stats yesterday. May, I don't want to say it's a serial, but I need you to get there as soon as you can to check it out." Jack sounded worried. "I'm all the way over in the far west of the county, but I'll also get there as soon as I can."
"I'm on my way right now." May felt her stomach churn at the thought that they might be dealing with a serial killer.
She needed to find out what was happening, why Jack suspected this, and how a woman had been murdered in the middle of some of the county's most tranquil farmland.
Knowing that every second counted, she climbed into her car and sped off, heading for the scene.
CHAPTER THREE
May headed out of town to where the coordinates were taking her, wondering how this victim’s body had ended up on the edge of a cornfield. How had this murder occurred? Where was the common thread that Sheriff Jack had picked up?
She hadn’t had the chance to review the county's recent crimes yesterday. She had been helping the local police in Sunnybrook chase down a robber who’d held up a convenience store at gunpoint before fleeing out of the county. That takedown had meant May and Owen had spent the entire day out of Tamarack County.
As she got closer to the scene, she realized this was one of the larger organic farms in the area. It was called Silver Birch Farm and it was owned by a woman named Belle Reynolds.
May had passed by this field many times, but she'd never had any reason to stop.
Now, she recognized the tall, slender Belle who was standing at the edge of the field, next to a small group of people and a couple of parked cars.
Quickly, she pulled over and hurried to join them. Immediately, she saw the crime scene was well marked off by the local police, and she could see a shadow tent had been erected over the body, to allow the coroner to do his work while shielded from the intense morning sun.
"Deputy Moore," Belle turned to her, looking stressed. "This is a catastrophe. One of my workers noticed on his way in this morning that the corn was disturbed. He looked closer and saw her, lying here. I didn’t want to look too close, but from a glance, I think I know this woman. I’ve seen her in town. She’s definitely a local."
"I'm so sorry this has happened," May said. "I hope we can find out who was responsible, as soon as possible."
"I hope so too. This is just so tragic. What could have happened?"
"I'm going to speak to the coroner now and see if we can get more information," May said.
She hurried closer, greeting the local police, who were standing by the scene.
"Deputy Moore, we've photographed the scene," the closest officer explained. "We tried not to disturb anything. It looks to us as if she must actually have run through the field. We noticed no footprints on this side of the corn. The plowed edges of the field were undisturbed, so we figure that the victim might have run from the opposite side, or perhaps from an entry point elsewhere along this road, to get away from the killer. There are some crushed stems farther back that made us think she came that way. I don't know if there'll be any visible footprints, though. The ground’s very hard."
"That's good work. I agree, it's likely that she must have come from the opposite side, based on what you’ve seen so far." May made sure to remain calm as she spoke, even though she was feeling traumatized. What had happened and who had chased this woman? An angry motorist? A jealous boyfriend?
May stepped forward to where the coroner, Andy Baker, was at work.
"Morning, May," he greeted her.
"Morning, Andy."
Taking a deep breath, she looked down, ready to take her first look at the victim.
The woman lay on the ground: her limbs outflung, her brown hair cascading around her. The only sign of the murder was a surprisingly small wound in her chest that looked to be accurately placed and must have pierced directly into her heart.May guessed her to be in her mid-thirties and felt a terrible sadness that her life had been cut short. What had happened to her? How had she died in this remote location, on the border of a calm and peaceful field?
There were so many questions to be answered, and May knew it was up to her to find these answers, and as soon as she could.
"She has ID on her," Andy explained. "Her name is Jenna Brand, and she lives close by to here, in Woodsville."
He pointed diagonally across the field. May nodded, knowing that the tiny village of Woodsville was probably a couple of miles away.
So, if Jenna had gone for a walk, and if someone had then approached her or pursued her, she could have run through the cornfield and ended up here.
A dark shape in the cornfield caught May's eye and she looked hurriedly up, sensing movement, feeling a chill that perhaps someone was in there, watching them.
But she saw the movement was nothing more than the ragged shape of a scarecrow, leaning and twisting in the field as the wind tugged at its dark clothes.