Page 45 of Whispers Left Behind

“I saw you got your ass whipped last weekend in Fantasy Football,” Sam called out before shutting the driver’s side door. His voice still carried through the closed window as Kinsley managed to unfasten her seatbelt. “Bet you were wishing you had joined Vice’s league. Did you hear about…”

Kinsley slowly opened her door and stepped out while Sam and Wally were busy discussing football players who could potentially give them the most points this weekend. She forced herself to lift a hand in greeting before quickly making her way over to one of the officers who had been approaching through some thick grass. She didn’t recall the vegetation being so dense last year.

Earl had been mistaken about needing boots. Under normal circumstances, his advice would have been warranted, but the ground was almost frozen after the last few nights of the temperature dipping below freezing.

“Detective, you’ll want to be careful,” the officer called out as he all but held up a hand to stop her progress. “As a matter of fact, I don’t think you’ll be needed at all today.”

“What do you mean?” Kinsley asked as she continued to step forward anyway. “It’s my understanding that the fisherman found a body.”

Kinsley was close enough to read the man’s nametag. Officer Drewett had to be new to patrol. She couldn’t recall meeting him before. Plus, he seemed more concerned with turning her back than showing her the victim. She did her best to tamp down any sliver of hope that they weren’t dealing with a homicide. Had someone attempted to go swimming in the lake? Had his or her death been a drowning accident?

“Follow close behind me,” Officer Drewett replied as he turned around and retraced his steps. It was the first time she noticed the long stick in his hand. “Are you Aspen?”

“I am,” Kinsley replied as she ignored a cold gust of wind coming off the surface of the water. She was chilled to the bone for very different reasons, and not one of them had to do with the bleak sky overhead. “I won’t be taking lead on this case, though. Detective Haugen is right behind me. What is with the stick?”

“Prairie rattlesnakes. I’m Toby Drewett, by the way.”

“You aren’t from around here, are you?” Kinsley was doing her best to keep the conversation flowing so Drewett didn’t notice that she was barely keeping it together. “Prairie rattlesnakes are in hibernation right now.”

“You’re the fourth person to tell me that today.”

Officer Drewett finally came to a stop and stepped to the side. Kinsley’s gaze landed on a male subject, and her relief was so immense that she ended up kneeling close to the ground.

The body was dry, dressed, and displayed no sign of decomposition.

“Notice the man’s ankle? Officer Faullant wouldn’t allow me to check the body, but I’m confident you’ll find a snake bite underneath that pant leg.”

Kinsley held out her hand for the stick, which Drewett promptly relinquished before positioning himself a couple of feet away from the tall brownish-green grass. There were at least twenty feet of flat area around the edge of the lake, mostly from the wildlife traipsing through to quench their thirst. She couldn’t bring herself to glance at the water.

“The fisherman who called it in was coming out here to cast some line. He was recently laid off, but he didn’t want his wife knowing until he had another job lined up,” Officer Drewett explained as he continued to keep a close eye for any movement in the grass. “We’ll probably let him off with a warning after allhe’s been through this morning. After finding a dead body, I’m going to assume the guy will stick to fishing in legal waters.”

Kinsley could only hope that was the case. She didn’t immediately use the stick to lift the victim’s pant leg. Instead, she relied on her training and took time to observe the scene in front of her. Such a feat was easier to accomplish now that her entire life wasn’t unraveling at the seams.

The victim had dressed warmly for his excursion, as if he had been expecting to be outside for a long period of time. A pair of binoculars was resting against his shoulder. The black strap around his neck had prevented the equipment from sliding completely to the cold ground. The way the victim’s mouth was open with his swollen tongue partially visible suggested Officer Drewett might very well have made an accurate assumption about the man’s death.

“Did anyone walk the perimeter?”

Kinsley used the stick to carefully shift the pant leg high enough over the hiking boot to get a good visual of the man’s shin. The discoloration around two puncture marks was glaringly obvious.

“No, ma’am. Officer Faullant didn’t want—”

“…the scene contaminated,” Kinsley finished wryly as she wrangled in her irritation with Faullant. There was a difference between making excuses not to do one’s job and performing one’s duties properly. Grateful that Alex wasn’t on site to witness what she was about to do next, she reached into the pocket of her jacket and pulled out a tissue. Using the stick to shift the victim’s body slightly, she managed to pull out his wallet. She then searched the other pockets, locating a small notebook. “Here. Take the wallet.”

Had the senior officer been a little more observant like Drewett, only the medical examiner would have been called out to the site. The longer she remained near the water, the strongerthe urge overwhelmed her to scream in anguish. Calvin Gantz was in the murky depths of the lake, and she swore she could still hear his evil laughter traveling across the surface.

“Good call, officer.” Kinsley handed off the stick before forcing herself to stand. Her muscles were a bit stiff and somewhat sore. She used the tissue to open the notebook. Once her mind was able to comprehend what was written inside, she wadded up the tissue and stuffed it back into her pocket. “You can take this, too. The vic was birdwatching, and he probably wasn’t looking at the ground when traipsing through those woods over there. Prairie snakes should be in hibernation this time of year, but the victim obviously managed to get close to a den of some sort.”

Kinsley noted the small smile on Drewett’s face at making the right assumption, but his satisfaction was about to be short-lived. With homicide not needed anymore, notifying next of kin would fall onto his shoulders.

“What have we got, Kin?”

“No foul play involved with this one,” Kinsley shared with Wally as he came to a stop beside her. “He’s all yours. Sam and I are going to drive back to the station.”

“We are?”

“We are,” Kinsley said as she turned around. She couldn’t face the water a second longer. The crushing relief she experienced over the lake not needing to be dredged was something she had never experienced before, and it was all she could do to keep her knees from folding underneath her. She caught Wally staring intently at her. “No caffeine yet. Unlike my receiver and tight end last weekend, who were both amped up. I’m feeling it this season, Wally.”

“Hasn’t anyone told you it isn’t wise to poke a sleeping bear?” Sam muttered as he began to retrace his steps. “Come on, Aspen. We’ll drive through somewhere and pick you up a gallon of caramel creamer. I don’t know how you can drink that stuff.”

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