Page 31 of Their Wicked Games

Rio touched the brim of his Stetson. “Yes, ma’am.”

TWENTY-EIGHT

The smell of death was the same for most people. The sweet rancid stench was one of the most recognizable on earth, but as Shane Wolfe ducked under the crime scene tape, he detected a variety of different odors. The smell of decaying flesh usually overlaid the more subtle aromas. He detected the smell of congealing blood, spilled intestines, fecal matter, and the sweat of fear. It was no surprise when he reached the body and viewed the extent of the injuries. He turned to his assistant Colt Webber and daughter Emily. “Set up the portable lights but keep to the perimeter of the alleyway.”

“I can’t see any signs of a struggle, Dad.” Emily moved her flashlight around the scene. “Do you think the killer was waiting for him?”

Glad that Emily was taking in the whole picture, he nodded. “It sure looks that way, but we’ll leave it up to Jenna’s team to decide how it went down.”

“Attending homicides, especially when they’re young people, makes me kinda sad.” Emily looked at him. “Do you feel like that?”

Wolfe met her gaze and she stared back, chin high and confident. He couldn’t be more proud of her. “Always. That’s why I became a medical examiner. If you lose your compassion, it’s time to walk away.”

From the light of the halogen beams, the full extent of the attack became evident. Cold encircled the pit of Wolfe’s stomach. The victim was a teenager, and his face held the fullness of a young boy on the brink of manhood. A shock of light brown hair fell over one eye and reddish stubble brushed the chin of a handsome face. His lips had drawn back during rigor, showing even white teeth. He shook his head. Even after attending so many crime scenes, he’d never become hardened to the sight of a homicide. He swallowed hard, more determined than ever to speak for the young man.

All around him, Jenna, Kane, and Rowley scanned the area for evidence. The scene was videoed and photographs taken for the record before Wolfe moved closer to the body to do his preliminary examination. After finding a wallet in the man’s back pocket, he handed it to Kane. “Miles Nolan, just turned seventeen.”

Wolfe took out his voice recorder for taking notes. Jenna and Kane moved closer to him, listening with interest. Jo and Carter stuck to the edge of the blood spatter. “Pennies under the eyes the same as the other victims and there’s a bruise on the left side of his temple and an imprint of a ring, maybe? I’ll look at it more closely back at the lab.” He flipped open the victim’s torn jacket and heard Jenna’s sharp intake of breath behind him as the full extent of the man’s injuries were revealed. “The victim received an incision approximately ten to twelve inches in length, midsection, to expose the bowel.” He paused his recorder and turned to look at Kane. “This looks more like field-dressing than a kill. I don’t figure the intention here was to kill him but to watch him bleed out. From the blood loss, the victim was alive for some time before death.” He pointed to the dirt on the man’s fingertips and then indicated to the bloody drag marks on the ground. “He tried to crawl away after he was injured.”

“Yeah, that sure looks like an experienced hunter’s work to me.” Rowley straightened and walked away, taking deep breaths.

“If you need a break, take it before you spew.” Kane gave Rowley a sympathetic look.

“I’m okay.” Rowley turned to look at Kane. “It’s the smell, is all. You would think that after changing diapers I’ll be used to anything by now.”

Wolfe needed Kane’s input. “Hunter or assassin?”

“Hunter. It has an almost delicate touch.” Kane crouched down beside him. “It looks unrushed to me. Anyone intending to kill outright would stab the knife under the sternum in an upward thrust. This looks more like he was intending to skin him.” He indicated to the head injury. “I figure he came up to him in the dark, stunned him first with a punch, and then used the knife. He’d have time to draw a knife before the victim knew what was happening.”

“Hunting knife?” Jenna leaned closer, examining the wound. “I agree with you, Dave. It looks almost surgical.”

Wolfe’s attention moved over the edges of the incision. “Hunting knife, most like. They would be sharp enough to do this type of injury. When I look at it under the microscope, I’ll be able to determine if it was a serrated edge or straight blade.” He lifted the shirt higher, displaying one deep sharp force injury to the heart. “From this, it looks as if he watched him suffer and then decided to finish him off. The trail of blood that Rio discovered would indicate he walked away slowly and took the time to clean his knife.”

“He wanted to watch him die, the same as with Alicia Palmer.” Jo folded her arms across her chest, leaning into the hedge. “Apart from the coins, he is starting to show an individual pattern. I would say, from what we see here and from the Alicia Palmer murder, this is the same killer. If you look at the murders of the teenagers in the forest, one of them was struck in the leg first. If I created a profile on the killer in this case, I would say he was the one who killed Leo Kelly. The others were clean death shots. The murderer of the other three enjoys seeing people suffer. He has psychopathic tendencies. He must be the leader, and the others are followers.” She sighed. “When I get back to the office, I’ll sift through the crime scenes again and see if one of our suspects stands out.”

“I’ve walked up and down the alleyway from one end to the other.” Carter walked casually up to the body and stared at the forlorn figure on the floor. “My boots made a distinctive noise in the gravel, and yet when Webber came in before, he didn’t seem to make a sound. This kid is wearing sneakers. He could move through this alleyway almost silently, but I noticed, following back from where he’s lying, slight indents in the gravel, as if he ran a few steps and then turned around here.” He pointed to the ground where there was a slight disturbance in the gravel. “I figured he did this to see who was following him. No one was hiding in the bushes. The killer just walked straight up to him and punched him in the head.”

“I couldn’t help noticing he’s not carrying a phone and a kid of this age would be.” Jenna crouched down and pointed a flashlight under the bushes and then turned to look at the other side of the alleyway. He is not carrying a flashlight either and you can see how dark this place is now. It would have been pitch black last night.” She turned to look at Wolfe. “If this played out like you figured, the killer was carrying a light, probably the one on his phone. It makes sense if the victim was walking alone up a dark alleyway and heard footsteps behind him. A kid of his age might have been frightened and picked up his speed. He’s seventeen, maybe he was second-guessing himself about being afraid and turned to see who was following him. The light would have blinded him. He would never have seen the blow coming.”

Impressed, Wolfe nodded. “I agree the killer had a flashlight, he wouldn’t have been able to see much in the dark, and as he obviously likes to watch his victims die, it makes perfect sense.” He looked at Jenna. “I’ve seen enough. I’ll get him back to the morgue. From the photo ID he lived on Stanton.” He handed Jenna the evidence bag containing the wallet. “Call me when you’ve spoken to the next of kin to confirm a viewing at one. I won’t be conducting his autopsy until tomorrow. I’ll reschedule Alicia Palmer’s for three this afternoon. Will that give you enough time?”

“Yeah, sure.” Jenna took the wallet out of the bag, extracted the driver’s license, and turned to Kane. “374 Stanton.” She shook her head. “I bet they don’t even know he’s missing.” She turned to her team.

“We’ll head back to the office.” Carter removed his gloves and turned to Jenna. “Jo will need to contact the state pen and wrangle an interview with Jimmy Two Cents.”

Wolfe looked from one to the other. “Make sure you make it after the autopsy tomorrow. I can move it to nine to give you more time?”

“I can work with that.” Jo nodded.

“Okay, let’s get at it.” Jenna headed out of the alleyway. She stopped to speak to Rowley. “You’d better get a ride back to the office with Jo and Carter. Rio has given the witness a ride home.”

Moving his attention to Emily, Wolfe indicated with his chin to the departing team. “I’m sure glad you decided to become an ME. The investigation side Jenna has to deal with looks like organized chaos.”

TWENTY-NINE

Jenna’s stomach went into freefall as Kane pulled to the curb outside a neat redbrick home. She turned over the wallet belonging to Miles Nolan in her hand and stared out of the window, trying to find the words she’d need to deal with distraught parents. Five homicides over a few days had pushed her resources to the limit. Her mind was overflowing with information, but right now she couldn’t put anything together to make a case. Had she lost her edge? Pushing her mind back to the horrible task at hand, she turned to Kane. “It never gets any easier, does it? I know this is my job, but it sure helps when Wolfe talks to the next of kin. He has a way with people, a deep compassion, and it shows that he cares. I seem to freeze up and I know dealing with notifications of death should be professional. Sometimes I just want to hug the people. Is that such a bad thing?”

“Yes and no.” Kane took her hand and squeezed gently. “It depends on how the recipients of the news regard law enforcement. You know the ‘kill the messenger’ syndrome. Sometimes the relatives need someone to blame, whereas Wolfe is a doctor. They understand he is trying to discover the truth of what happened.” He gave her a long look. “Do you want me to take this one?” He sighed. “I figure it’s going to be a shock. As it’s spring break, they probably believe their son is still in bed or they’d have called the office to report him missing by now.”

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