Page 11 of Cougar Point

He knelt to get a closer look at the body, careful not to touch it. The woman was half-submerged, the face fully underwater. There were yellowed bruises on the arms and back. Lucas took a closer look at the right arm that was outstretched. It looked as though the woman was trying to swim, even though he knew that was just the position it had come to rest in after it had been dumped off the bridge. One of the fingers seemed to be curled. Then he realized it wasn’t curled, it was missing.

“What is it?” Longbow asked, out of breath and looking relieved as he finally reached the water’s edge.

“Somebody cut one of her fingers off,” Lucas said. “And she’s been beaten.” He indicated the bruising on her back and arms. The bruises varied in color and in contrast. “Not just one incident, this happened over a longer period.”

“You think she killed herself?”

Lucas turned at the sound of Cooney’s voice. He had almost forgotten the kid was there.

“Say again?”

Cooney pointed up at the bridge.

“Maybe she was, you know…depressed.”

“Arnie,” Longbow said sharply, before Lucas could say anything. The kid snapped to attention. Longbow pointed up at the road. “Get up there and wait for the coroner.”

When Deputy Cooney had retreated back up the hill, Longbow turned back to him.

“I’m sorry, Mike. He didn’t mean anything by it.”

This time, Lucas didn’t even acknowledge the unasked-for sympathy.

“Thing about suicides,” Lucas said, his voice even. “They don’t ordinarily leave the house naked in February and walk five miles from the nearest town to kill themselves. Somebody beat her, tortured her and killed her. He was holding her for days.”

“Holding her?” Longbow repeated.

Lucas gestured at the outstretched arm. Longbow had focused on the missing finger, the way Lucas had at first too.

“Ligature marks around the wrists. Looks like cable ties, not cuffs. This is a kidnap and kill.”

The engine of the coroner’s van sounded above them and they heard doors open and close.

“I’m out of the loop, do we have any live missing persons cases?”

Longbow shook his head. Nothing.

“Which suggests she’s not local,” Lucas said. “First thing we need to do is work out who she is and where she’s from.”

“Could be difficult,” Longbow said. “No clothes, no ID. Probably a hooker. The perp could have picked her up in Tacoma, brought her out here for a good time, dumped her. Maybe there’s nobody to miss her, easy prey.”

Lucas shook his head. “I don’t think so. Look at the hair and nails.” He gestured at the body. “She took care of herself. Like I said, she’s not local, but somebody’s missing her.”

The coroner investigator appeared at the top of the hill; a tall, wide-built man in his forties who looked like he’d be more at home doing manual labor than the thankless task of retrieving bodies from wherever they fell and working out how they met their maker.

Longbow beckoned him down. He descended the hill with more grace than Longbow had mustered, despite being encumbered with a large bag full of equipment.

Longbow introduced Lucas, and the coroner shook his hand and identified himself as BoydSutherland. He gave the body a look over and snapped a few preliminary photos.

“Anybody touch the body?” he said without looking up from his work.

“It’s as it was when Deputy Cooney found it,” Longbow replied.

“Good.”

Sutherland yelled up to his partner to bring the litter down and then asked for Lucas’s help carefully pulling the body out of the river, handing him a pair of latex gloves. Lucas grimaced, thinking about how he had just polished his shoes this morning, but stepped into the freezing flow to help move the body. Boyd Sutherland directed him to get the feet while he reached under the dead woman’s arms to lift her from the water.

The body was surprisingly light. They moved it over to the bank, where Sutherland’s partner had laid out the litter.

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