Page 34 of Counter Attack

Alexis took out her phone. “Do you mind if I record your comments?”

Jared questioned him with his eyes.

“Good idea.” Nathan took out his own phone.

The lanky officer pointed toward the house. “Mary Beth Meyers, Robert and Jean Meyers’s daughter, found the deceased in the kitchen. The woman’s—”

“What was Mary Beth doing here?” Nathan asked.

The sergeant glanced toward the teen, then pinched his right forefinger and thumb together and brought them to hispursed lips. “She tried to get rid of the reefer when I pulled in, but she couldn’t hide the skunky smell.”

Nathan’s stomach turned. Smoking pot? Not Mary Beth. He glanced toward the girl who stood with her arms wrapped around her waist, looking everywhere but at him. “What else have you found out?”

“I called Tom Weaver, and the woman’s name is Gina Norman. She paid cash for the first and last month’s rent two weeks ago, but she hadn’t moved in yet. According to Mary Beth, the kids around here had been using the house as a regular meeting place. She didn’t know someone was moving in. It looks like this Norman woman was cleaning up, getting the house ready.”

“So Mary Beth goes in and discovers the body.” Alexis’s question was more like a statement.

Jared nodded. “She called 911. I was the first to arrive, and I ascertained the victim was deceased. Then I got out of there before I disturbed any more of the crime scene.”

Nathan nodded approval. “Did you recognize her?”

“Never seen her before.”

“What can you tell me about the victim?” Nathan asked.

His sergeant took out a top-bound spiral notebook and flipped it open. “The deceased, Gina Norman, is Caucasian with dark reddish-brown hair in a ponytail.” He glanced briefly at Alexis. “Kinda looks like the chief deputy—slender build, maybe five-seven, same color hair. Appears to be in her mid-twenties.”

He checked his notebook again. “She was faceup when I found her. Gunshot wound to the right side of the chest, and she was holding a White pawn.” He looked up. “Appears the Queen’s Gambit Killer has moved to Pearl Springs.”

Or, like Alexis had mentioned, a copycat. “Has the medical examiner been notified?”

“Yes, and Doc Williams notified the Forensic Center in Hamilton County to be expecting a body.”

“Good.” The Russell County medical examiner was a great family practitioner who knew his limits. Any time Richard Williams had to make a determination in what was obviously a murder case, the doctor passed the case on to the Southeast Tennessee Regional Forensic Center in Hamilton County.

“There’s also a note pinned to her shirt.”

“What?” He and Alexis turned to Jared. “And you’re just now telling us?” Nathan said. “What does it say? Never mind, I’ll see for myself.”

He started for the porch and stopped. He didn’t want to go in like Bigfoot and destroy evidence. What was wrong with him? The note could wait until the crime scene techs checked for footprints.

He’d almost committed a rookie mistake. It wasn’t like he hadn’t worked murder cases before, but they were usually what he’d call in-county—both the perpetrator and victim were from Pearl Springs and Russell County and were acquainted with each other. Often it was a drunken brawl that got out of hand.

He clenched his jaw. This was entirely different—a serial killer may have come into his town and randomly murdered an innocent victim. Nathan turned to Alexis. “Shouldn’t your crime scene techs be here by now?”

“They’re on the way.”

She’d no sooner spoken than her techs arrived. Nathan recognized the red-haired Dylan Wells right off, but it took him a minute to place the female with purple streaks in her blond hair. Her name came to him just as he was about to ask. Taylor Owens. Both were good at their job.

Alexis conferred with them, and before they began processing the porch, they checked Jared’s shoe prints, then theteenager’s. She rejoined Nathan when they began with the front porch. After a few minutes, Taylor shook her head.

“No prints,” she said. “We’ll check the entryway and kitchen and then you can go in.”

Twenty minutes later, a white van with a Russell County Medical Examiner logo on the side rolled to a stop behind Nathan’s truck. Dr. Richard Williams climbed out of the vehicle and grabbed a satchel from the passenger’s seat before joining them. Assuming Alexis didn’t know the ME, Nathan started to introduce them.

“We’ve met. He visited Gramps last week,” Alexis said as a text chimed on her phone. “Good to see you again, Doc. Sorry it’s under these conditions.”

“How’s Carson?” Williams asked.

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