Page 7 of Forensics of a Fable

“Thum will tell us more, but my guess is sometime yesterday or last night,” Bel answered. “Lividity is set.” She pointed to the man’s exposed skin pressed against the ground, the purple color visible as the sun rose. “He hasn’t been moved.”

“My god!” Lina’s voice exclaimed behind them, and the detectives turned around to face the medical examiner. “A bear did this?”

“That’s what it looks like,” Bel said. “We’re hoping an autopsy will confirm that.”

“I’ll be able to tell when we gather the evidence, yes.” Lina pushed her way toward the body. “Rigor mortis is still present. He hasn’t been dead longer than a day.”

“You need anything from us?” Bel asked.

“Nope, I’m good for now. I’ll yell if I need you.”

Bel and Olivia stepped outside the police tape to let her work and walked to where the two male runners waited.

“I’m Detective Isobel Emerson, and this is Detective Olivia Gold. Mind if we ask you some questions?”

“Of course not,” the taller man said. “I’m Gary Nash and this is my brother Riley.”

“Nice to meet you.” Bel nodded. “How did you find the body?”

“We’re training for a race,” Gary answered. “We normally run these trails before work and noticed the body from the path.”

“Did you happen to see the animal who did this? Was anyone else here?”

“No and no,” Gary said. “Sorry, we can’t be of more help. We were running, saw blood, and called you.”

“Okay, well, thank you for your time.” Bel shook the brothers’ hands. “The deputies took your statements, so if we need anything, we’ll be in touch. You’re free to go.”

The detectives stepped away from the men. “I should call Griffin and give him an up…” Bel trailed off, staring at the trees behind the corpse.

“What’s wrong?” Gold asked, following her line of sight.

“If the body is here.” She pointed for her partner’s benefit. “And the struggle happened here. Then why is blood on those leaves?”

Bel moved to the stained greenery and noticed that more leaves leading into the forest wore crimson. She turned around to study the distance between the drops and the body. It was too far from the altercation for cast off, yet blood littered the area, and while nature made the drip patterns harder to decipher, they appeared gravitational. They hadn’t been spread by a fight. They had fallen off something. Out of habit, Bel looked up, but the forest ceiling was undisturbed.

“I want this photographed and sampled,” Bel instructed a nearby tech after calling him over

“Could it have been the bear fleeing?” Gold asked, studying the evidence as the tech worked. “Blood would have coated his claws and teeth after the attack.”

“That’s possible.” Bel followed the bloody trail further away from the path. “But bears are large, and if the animal fled this way, why isn’t this underbrush disturbed? Why aren’t there broken branches?”

Olivia started to answer, but Bel didn’t hear her. A small cabin stood before her, its dilapidated wood blending in with the forest. It looked like no one had been there for decades, its facade crumbling beneath time’s cruelty. The bloody trail stopped a few yards from the porch, so Bel turned to leave when an oddity caught her attention. The entire structure was covered in dust and debris, except for a thin line scraped along the front porch. The door had been opened recently, and Bel felt that familiar prick of dread.

She withdrew her sidearm and stepped for the cabin, listening for any signs of life or danger, but when only silence greeted her, she pulled the door open. Dust floated in lazy patterns through the morning air. Sunlight streamed in throughthe shattered windows, and leaves blanketed the floor. But Bel didn’t register any of that. She didn’t see the rotting walls or encroaching weeds, nor did she notice the broken floorboards or the scattering spiders. All she saw was the woman seated at a table staring blankly ahead, her unseeing eyes warning Bel a new nightmare had come to Bajka.

“Gold, get everyone here now!”Bel shouted as she stepped out into the open, the ringing phone pressed to her ear. Olivia took in her alarmed expression and bolted, racing for the techs and deputies they’d left behind.

“Emerson?” Griffin answered her call on the third ring.

“Sheriff, we have a second body,” Bel said, that all too familiar fear wrapping her in its icy embrace.

“Another hiker?” he asked incredulously. “We need to get wildlife up there before this bear kills someone else.”

“No, not a hiker,” she said, feeling his dread through the cell reception. “Sir, I think there’s been a murder.”

Thirty minutes later, the dilapidated cottage had transformed into a swarming hive of bodies. Griffin had arrived,bringing reinforcements with him, and as the detectives slipped into their protective gear, Bel tried not to let panic claim her. This couldn’t be happening. Not again.

“Do you think this is connected to the bear attack?” Olivia asked as Bel led the way inside the cabin.

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