Page 86 of Deadly Secrets
Chapter Fifteen
Jamison was dead. Brooke couldn’t wrap her head around it.
Blue lights flashed against the brick of the church, the mission entrance swarming with law enforcement. Bright yellow crime scene tape and several police officers kept the gathering crowd back.
The kid had been so young, so full of life. He’d told Brooke he attended community college part-time working on a social psychology degree. He paid his tuition by making pizzas at a mom-and-pop joint a few blocks down from the place where he lived with his mother. The mission had once helped when they’d been homeless and she was a member of the church. They both worked at the mission every chance they got.
Now Jamison was in a body bag.
It’s my fault.
“The killer knew he talked to me the other day,” she murmured. Roman had told her to stay in his car with the doors locked, but she’d refused. Now her legs went weak as she saw two paramedics wheeling the gurney with Jamison’s body on it toward a waiting ambulance. “This is my fault.”
Roman had hold of her elbow. “I have to look at the body. Why don’t you head over and talk to Polly.”
Polly stood with tablet in hand speaking to Pastor Rogers just inside the mission doors that were propped open. It was all surreal, reminding her of that first night with Roman at the abandoned church.
“I’m going with you.” She needed to see the body too. To say she was sorry to Jamison. To see the sigil Roman had told her he was marked with.
“It would be better to keep you out of sight as much as possible.”
Her gaze darted around, taking in the gathering crowd. “You think he’s here?”
“This breaks The Rev’s normal MO. I don’t know what he’s doing or thinking at this point. We’ve obviously put enough pressure on him to flush him out, which is goodandbad.”
Good in that he might make a mistake and they could finally catch him. Bad because a promising young man had fallen victim to him.
Roman started to lead her to Polly, but Brooke jerked her arm out of his grip. “I need to see Jamison.”
A tight sigh chuffed from Roman’s lips. “Fine. Stick close.”
“The bastard won’t try anything with all these people around.” She scanned the area again, hoping she might see him, whoever he was. But how would she know him even if she did? Frustration burned in her veins. “Plus, you’ll kill anyone who so much as looks at me wrong.”
“Damn straight.” Roman latched onto her elbow again. This time, he led her toward the ambulance.
She let him, wishing she didn’t like the way he took charge. Wishing she didn’t like the feel of his hand on her arm, his rock-solid body nearly cradling her against the flow of the others in the opposite direction.
Polly caught up with them at the ambulance as Roman flashed his badge at the coroner. The short, balding man led them inside the ambulance where they took seats around the gurney.
“Body was positioned lying down in front of the mission doors,” the coroner said. “Laid out like he was sleeping. Throat shows signs of strangulation, and there are markings carved into the forehead and chest, but there was almost no blood on him or the ground.”
“Which means he wasn’t killed here,” Roman said. “Or the markings were carved into the skin postmortem.”
“Correct. Based on core temperature, I estimate time of death to be two hours ago. From the condition of the body, I’d bet the markings were done postmortem, but I’ll know more once I get the body on my table.”
The body. Brooke’s stomach turned over, anger flashing through her.He was a living, breathing young man a few hours ago.
“The killer wouldn’t risk marking him in front of the mission doors,” Roman continued, all business. “He killed the kid somewhere else, marked him, and brought the body here to make a point.”
Polly eyed the length of the body bag. “Jamison was no small guy. For someone to get the jump on him and choke him to death, they must have been even bigger or well-trained in self-defense.”
“Or it was someone Jamison knew and trusted,” Brooke added. “It would be easy for them to get the jump on him.”
Roman’s sharp gaze landed on her. “Pastor Luke. He found out Jamison talked to us and he came back to shut him up.”
“Quite possible. But even though Jamison knew him, he also knew Luke could be the serial killer we were looking for. The kid was smart. I don’t think he’d let Luke get the jump on him.”
“Unless he really did surprise him,” Polly said. “If our attacker is former military or law enforcement, he might have come at him from behind and overpowered him.”
