Page 11 of Royal
Chapter 4
Gray
Waking up to a call that a body had been found near the lake was an interesting start to the morning. The call had pulled me out of a dead sleep, and I’d rushed around to get ready. I wasn’t sure when I’d gone to bed, but I felt like I hadn’t gotten any rest.
The time in bed had been a tease. Nothing more.
Running on two hours of sleep—if that—I scrubbed water over my face before changing into my usual button-up shirt and slacks. I ran my fingers through my short hair to fix it. Then, I kicked my ass into gear, got into my car, and drove to the location.
The sun peeked over the mountain, chasing away the shadows. As I drove toward the lake, I rolled down my window and let the cool air wake me up. The morning was a little on the chilly side, even though it was spring.
I hated the cold. Winter was such a dreary time of year, and I was never sad to see it go. Spring wasn’t much better. My allergies flared to life with the explosion of pollen, and I got headaches from the changes in air pressure as cold and warm air collided. I also hated the storms.
Yeah, I was a grumpy bastard who hated everything, I supposed.
Arriving at the lake, I spotted several police cruisers, an ambulance, and unmarked cars. As I was getting out of the car, Ruby pulled in beside me. We normally drove together on cases but had driven separately since I’d gone straight to the scene.
“Morning,” I greeted, sliding off my sunglasses.
She looked pretty put together for it being earlier than our normal shift. Her blond hair fanned around her head in little pointed wisps, and her suit hugged her curves. Short and deadly was a good description for her. I’d once seen her throw a full-grown man to the ground and cuff him.
“Morning,” she said, offering a tight smile. “Heard this one’s a doozy. Probably a good thing I didn’t eat breakfast.”
Ruby hadn’t seen many dead bodies. She’d been promoted to detective about a year before, and there hadn’t been many murders in Addersfield. With the exception of the Trevon Mills case.
In bigger towns, the detective branch had certain divisions like homicide, organized crime, sexual assault, et cetera. But since Addersfield wasn’tthatbig, my squad kind of did it all. Our force only consisted of five detectives total.
We approached the group of people standing near the bank.
“Detective Riley,” Officer Henry Bell greeted me.
He’d been on the police force for about fifteen years and was one of the men who’d given me crap when I first joined straight out of the academy. It’d taken a while to earn his respect, but once I had, he’d been nothing but supportive. He’d been the one to encourage me to be a detective. I owed him a lot.
“Where’s the body?” I asked, after shaking his hand.
“Over there.” Henry motioned with his head to the left. “Be warned. It’s not a pretty sight.”
That was an understatement.
Ruby and I walked over to where an officer was taking photos of the scene. He was careful not to step too close to the body, so we kept a slight distance, too, at first.
“Jesus,” Ruby said, lifting her hand to her mouth.
I’d seen a few dead bodies during my years of investigating, and while they’d all been hard to see, this was the worst.
The woman had been placed at the water’s edge. She was naked and had cuts all over her body. They didn’t look deep, so she must’ve been tortured before being killed, if I’d had to guess. A deep gash cut across her abdomen, and I assumed that’d been the blow that killed her. But the cause of death couldn’t be certain until her body was thoroughly examined in the lab.
“What kind of monster would do this?” Ruby asked.
I shook my head, at a loss for words.
Once the officer taking photos had stepped aside, I crouched beside the victim.
Her arms were crossed over her chest, and a white flower was nestled under them. Her fingernails were clean, but her hands were bloody. Didn’t add up. The sonofabitch must’ve cleaned them before dumping her body.
I examined her closer, looking for anything else that didn’t add up. Her hair seemed too perfect, as if it’d been brushed and carefully placed to fall down her shoulders. There wasn’t any blood or marks on her face. In fact, her makeup looked fresh.
“Shit, I know her,” I said, after studying her a moment longer. “Not personally. It looks like Beth Monroe from Channel 4 News.”
