Page 36 of Inside Silence
While Hugo continues to try and calm the woman, I put in a few more calls. I have an ambulance on the way for Wanda, and I have Brenda dispatching a couple of deputies to assist us. First priority is looking for Ben, and I am silently praying we’ll find him alive somewhere.
My eye is drawn to Dozer Combs’s place next door, but his vehicle is not parked out front and I don’t see any movement.
“Wanda,” I draw her attention. “Have you seen Dozer?”
She blinks a few times and glances over at Dozer’s single wide. Then she looks at me, shaking her head.
“Okay, you stay here with Hugo, I’m just going to check if he’s home.”
As I walk over, I’m silently praying whatever fate found Ben Rogers hasn’t befallen Dozer as well. There’s no answer when I knock on the door, and nothing looks out of order when I peek into the mobile home’s windows. It’s entirely possible he simply isn’t home—which I hope is the case—but I do want to speak with him as soon as possible. He may have seen or heard something.
There are a few other houses to canvass in the neighborhood, but those places are farther up the road. Still, it’s possible one of the neighbors noticed something, and as soon as I get some backup here, I’ll send someone to start knocking on doors.
Auden pulls up just as I return from Dozer’s place, an ambulance turns onto the driveway right behind him. I leave Hugo to handle Wanda and the EMTs, and motion for Auden to follow me.
“Fuck,” he curses when I show him the garage.
We stay in the door opening, making sure not to disrupt the scene.
“No drag marks or blood trail I can see,” I fill him in. “Just that pool of blood and the hammer.”
“It’s too clean, it almost looks staged,” Auden observes.
He’s right. I noticed that too, and it’s part of the reason I don’t really believe this could’ve been an accident. If some kind of mishap caused him to bleed this profusely, he would’ve left a trail for sure.
“I don’t think he left this garage under his own steam,” I share. “The only way out would’ve been through the house, or out the garage doors.”
“Could’ve been under the cover of night,” Auden suggests, pointing at a stack of folded tarps on a shelf of the storage unit along the wall. “Maybe wrapped in one of those tarps.”
“Even though Ben wasn’t a particularly big man, you’d have to be pretty damn strong to be able to carry that kind of dead weight very far,” I contemplate out loud. “If Ben is actually our victim,” I add. “We don’t technically know who the victim is yet.”
And unless we find a body, the only way to get an identification would be through blood testing in the lab.
“Very true. So, whoever the victim is, they’ve likely been moved to a vehicle,” he suggests. “Someone was attacked, maybe surprised from behind, or it could have been someone the victim knew. Hit them with that hammer to disable them and took them to a different location.”
“That would be my guess, and we need to send out a patrol car to check for security cameras in the neighborhood that may have picked up anything. But first we still should search the immediate surrounding area. In case our theory is way off base.”
“One thing though, Savvy; I think we’re looking for a body.”
I was already resigned to that very possible outcome. Whatever happened took place many hours ago, judging by the mostly dried blood stain on the concrete floor. There is also a lot of it, so even if the victim survived the initial attack, I don’t think they would’ve lasted long with that amount of blood loss.
By the time we get back outside, Wanda is being loaded into the back of the ambulance.
“What’s happening?”
Hugo turns at my approach.
“She’s shocky and tachycardic. They want to take her in for observation.”
“Okay.”
It’s probably better for her not to be around when the crime techs arrive and we start searching the neighborhood.
“Want me to go with her?” Hugo wants to know.
“No. I need you here. Call Dana, tell her Wanda is on her way and fill her in on what’s going on. She can probably find someone to sit with Wanda, but make it clear she should not be left alone at any time.”
Soon after the ambulance leaves, two of my deputies arrive and I quickly get them up to speed. Then I split the men up into two groups to get this ground search underway, I pair Hugo up with KC and Auden with Warren Burns, who is a former detective for the Seattle PD.
