Page 15 of Their Wicked Games

Preparing herself, Jenna moved closer to the first of the three gurneys, set out in a line before the stainless steel refrigerated drawers in the wall. It pained her to see three teenagers with their lives ahead of them reduced to three shapeless lumps under white sheets. She folded her arms across her chest in an unconscious barrier against viewing an unscrupulous premeditated murder. This wasn’t the act of a mentally disturbed psychopath nor did she believe these murders were organized hits. No, her gut was screaming at her that the people who committed this unspeakable act of violence did it for fun. She swallowed hard as Wolfe pulled back the first sheet. The young girl was so pale and waxlike. Seeing her like this must have destroyed her parents. Tears welled and she tried desperately to force her humanity into a mask of professionalism. Apprehending these thrill killers was paramount. She swallowed hard. To win, this time she’d need to turn her deep-set sorrow into an unstoppable force to catch the people responsible.

“I completed a preliminary examination, first on scene and later on arrival. At that time, I recovered the pennies under each eye. They were placed post mortem and not one of them held any trace evidence. All are of different dates and unremarkable.” Wolfe went to an array of screens and displayed the crime scene images taken in the forest. “The time of death we can narrow down to between the time the group left home and when the warden found them. There’s little damage from critters, and blood loss on the two single-shot victims was minimal. This tells us that death occurred within seconds of the sharp force trauma, which we have established was inflicted by a crossbow. The wounds, as Rowley mentioned, are typical in type to those inflicted by a popular deer- or elk-hunting bolt. I used six different types for comparison in a pig carcass. Rowley assisted me yesterday after work by shooting bolts at the correct distance and angle, and an EVO-X CenterPunch premium carbon arrow, used to increase penetration power, gave a positive result, as far as we could estimate, considering the bolts were removed from the victims. The wounds and the surrounding tissue damage due to the velocity and kinetic energy were similar.”

Envisioning the horrific few minutes prior to their deaths, Jenna indicated to victim number one, Leo Kelly. “It was different for him, wasn’t it? Do you think he saw his attackers?”

“The line of sight for Kelly was minimal.” Kane hadn’t taken his eyes off the gurney. “We have to assume that he was moving along the trail. They wanted a kill shot, so aimed for the femoral artery.”

Jenna nodded. “Would the shooter have repositioned to take the second shot?”

“No.” Kane turned to look at her. “I figure that came from shooter number two. Kelly dragged himself to Zoe Ward, so he would have been in their line of sight.” He shook his head. “These kids knew nothing about survival or hunting. If someone is shooting at you, the first thing you do is take cover, right? Yet Kelly remained in the open.” He shrugged. “In my opinion, the first three shots were simultaneous and the marks from the arrowheads in the dirt would suggest the victims of the neck wounds fell facedown.”

“I concur with that conclusion.” Wolfe lifted a scalpel and made an incision on Kelly’s thigh and folded back the skin and muscle to display the femoral artery. “As you can see, the artery has been bisected. There was no need for the second shot. This alone is a fatal wound.” He took a swab and collected the debris inside the wound. “The soil inside the wound is consistent with the bolt being removed. I’ve collected sample swabs from the clothing of all the victims, and we’ll run DNA testing, if the shooters left a trace behind, we’ll find it.”

“Is the lividity the same in all the victims?” Carter folded his arms across his chest. “Or were they moved?”

“Livor mortis, the purple bruising from when the blood pools after death, is consistent to our theory.” He removed the sheets from the other two victims. “As you can see, they all have lividity on the chest and thighs.”

“Why do you think they shot across the neck in each case, rather than from behind?” Jo moved closer to the gurney and stared at the bodies.

“It’s a failsafe shot and highly skilled, to ensure puncturing the carotid artery.” Wolfe shook his head. “I understand that y’all figure that this is a thrill kill, but from my experience in the military, this sure looks like a hit team to me.” He waved a hand toward the gurneys. “It’s too darn clean. Thrill kills are usually messy, and these guys took the time to clean the crime scene like professionals. Maybe you should be looking a little deeper into what the parents of these kids do. You can’t risk neglecting the fact that the homicides could have been a warning.”

“We’ve dug into the backgrounds of these kids and found nothing of interest.” Carter blew out a long sigh. “I can see where you’re coming from, so I’ll get Kalo to dig deeper.”

As Wolfe moved from one victim to the other, dissecting and examining the sharp force trauma wounds and explaining each one in detail, Jenna found her mind wandering. Two possible reasons for the murders had her in a quandary. If it was a thrill kill, then the killers could be out murdering unsuspecting hikers again anytime soon, but if it was a warning from a hit squad, then this might be the last they see of them.

After Wolfe concluded the autopsies, she thanked him, walked outside, and went to the alcove to remove the scrubs.

“You were quiet in there.” Kane tossed his gloves and mask into the trash and followed her to Wolfe’s office to collect the dogs. “What’s on your mind?”

Jenna waited for Jo and Carter to join them, and they stood in the corridor in a huddle. “If this is a hit, why the reference to Jimmy Two Cents? Usually anyone involved in a hit likes to keep themselves anonymous, so why leave the pennies? It’s an obvious connection to a known criminal. If he is involved, why did it take so long to take revenge on the parents of these kids?”

“Maybe Kalo will be able to discover a connection.” Carter tossed a toothpick into his mouth. “Although it might seem like a long time to get revenge, but being in jail, he’d only be able to strike when the opportunity presented itself. I’ll look into his case and see if I can hunt down any angles. Maybe one of the parents gave evidence against him and this was his only chance.”

Relived the team was steadfastly behind her as usual, Jenna smiled. “Thanks.”

“Then again, if it is a copycat thrill kill, then we need to discover more about Jimmy Two Cents.” Kane leaned casually against the wall. “I know the general outline of his case but not what motivated him to kill. I’ll need to discover what details were released about him to the media and if he has any type of cult following.”

“I can find out everything you need to know about him.” Jo’s face was animated. “I only need an excuse to get an interview with him and we could go straight to the source. It worked well in the past. Also, if I contact the prison, I’ll be able to get the details of his activities and if he’s been corresponding with anyone in particular. We know we’re dealing with a cunning intelligence. If I interview him, I’ll have some idea if he has the capability of manipulating people to do his will.” She shrugged. “Although it’s very unusual to have three serial killers working together, but we are learning new things about this type of psychosis every day.”

“More like a leader and two followers.” Kane rubbed his chin. “I figure it gets to a point with these dominant murderers that the people they convince to kill become afraid of them. They keep on going because they’re in fear of their life. We’ve seen this situation before and if you include cults, then it’s the perfect scenario. There’s always one dominant leader who seemly can convince masses of people to do their bidding, even to the extent of taking their own lives. I’ve come to the conclusion that nothing is impossible. We have to look at every angle.”

Listening with interest, Jenna nodded. “First, we go and talk to the suspects and then we’ll have some idea if we’re heading in the right direction. If none of them are involved, they might be able to point us toward others they compete against. Right now, we’re only surmising that they all live in or around town. Knowing what we do about comfort zones, this group of people could be killing all over. When I get back to the office this afternoon, I’ll put out a request to be notified for similar cases and see if we get any callbacks from local counties.” She waved them all toward the door. “Let’s get at it. We have people to interview.”

SIXTEEN

As she walked deep into the forest, his voice ran through her mind, sending shivers of excitement through her. He was a friend but had never looked at her like that before. It was as if she’d been dreaming. His soft sultry voice played like an earwig with each step along the darkening trail.

Little Bear, huh? The name suits you. I could fall into your big brown eyes. Let’s meet up in the forest at two. It will be our little secret. Just you and me. We don’t need anyone else’s company. Meet me on the trail opposite Pine and I’ll show you a rock pool I found. It’s my secret place and I only tell my special friends about it. You’ll come, won’t you? I’ll be waiting.

He was a flirt and could have any woman he chose, but why the sudden interest in her? She’d finished for the day and he’d dropped by her table at Aunt Betty’s Café to chat. She’d listened to his invitation with skepticism and declined to respond. He had to be joshing and she met his amused expression with a sigh. “Don’t you have anything to do this afternoon?”

“Nope.” He stretched out his long legs and grinned. “I’m all yours. Aw, come on, Bear. You know you want to. I see the way you look at me.”

Her face grew hot and she looked away. She cleared her throat. “Okay, I’ll meet you, but if this is some sick joke—”

“I’m not joking.” He ran the tip of one finger down her cheek. “I’m deadly serious. See you at two.”

Idiotic came to mind as she stumbled over a tree root. Had he played her for a fool? Deep down inside, she had to know one way or the other. The forest had an eerie silence, missing the usual sounds of wildlife. The deeper she moved along the trail, the darker it became. High above, dense foliage obscured the brilliant blue sky, and with each step the temperature dropped raising goosebumps on her arms. Ahead she heard a rustling and heart thumping stopped midstride to scan the forest in all directions. Wildlife was in abundance at this time of year, and the fact silence surrounded her was a warning that a predator was close by. The next second, he stepped out of the trees with a wide grin stretched across his face.

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