Page 31 of Not This Time

Ethan shrugged, and in a tone suggesting he'd done so many times before, he rattled off, "Multiple lacerations on the torso... ligature marks on the wrists and ankles..." he murmured, his voice barely audible as he continued his assessment. "Signs of blunt force trauma to the head, possibly pre-mortem..."

Rachel shot him a glance. Ethan just shrugged back at her. "I was homicide for a decade before this posting."

"Right. I forgot."

He winked.

The sheriff, though, took in the information, nodding knowingly as if he wanted them both to know that he'd already gleaned the information for himself.

Rachel knelt down next to the lifeless body, her keen eyes scanning the scene with practiced precision. She reached out a tentative hand and rested it on the victim's cold, clammy skin. The chill sent a shiver through her, but she held her composure as she observed her surroundings. The poor soul was bound to the tree root, her once vibrant clothing now tattered and stained by the unforgiving elements.

"Her body is cool to the touch," Rachel murmured, glancing up at Ethan who stood nearby. "She hasn't been here long... Otherwise, she would've been found. But she wasn't recently killed."

"Yeah," Ethan said. "Makes sense. Killed somewhere else, then dumped here? The rigor mortis is just starting to set in, and there's no sign of bloating or discoloration that would indicate advanced decomposition."

"Any idea how she was killed?" Rachel asked.

"Nah. I have some experience with this shit, but gonna have to wait on the coroner for that one. Too early to determine an exact cause of death."

Rachel stood up, frowning, ignoring Jeb's watchful gaze. She said, "Might need to check the woods, then. If the body was dumped here, but killed elsewhere, someone had a vehicle to drop her off. No roads around. Save that one."

She waved towards where the truck was idling a few hundred feet away.

"Maybe they came down that road."

"And not get spotted by the lookouts on the porch?" she waved towards the man and woman she'd spotted before.

"Hmm. Fair." Ethan frowned.

Rachel figured they'd have to interview the onlookers soon enough, but if the killer was trying to keep a low profile, he would've approached from the woods.

Which meant, he might have left some trace behind.

"Let's check for tire treads," suggested Ethan, his voice barely above a whisper. "If the body was dumped recently, there might be signs of the vehicle that brought her here."

Rachel nodded, her eyes scanning the ground with practiced precision. She knew that even the most careful criminals made mistakes, and it was up to her and Ethan to find those missteps and use them to their advantage.

The two of them moved away from the corpse, backs to Jeb and his son, marching towards the thick woods behind the barn.

The forest was dense, with tall trees blocking out most of the moonlight and casting long shadows across the ground. They moved cautiously, their eyes scanning the ground for any signs of disturbance.

After a few minutes of searching, Rachel spotted a patch of dirt that had been mussed. She knelt down and examined the ground closely.

"Look at this," Rachel said, pointing to a small patch of crushed leaves. "It looks like someone was standing here for a while."

Ethan crouched down beside her, his eyes narrowing as he examined the area. "Yeah, you're right. And there's a trail leading away from here."

They followed the trail, moving deeper into the woods. The further they went, the more signs of disturbance they found. Broken twigs, footprints in the mud, and disturbed patches of dirt all pointed to someone moving through the area.

Finally, they stumbled upon a small clearing.

"Over here," Rachel called out, spotting a set of faint tire impressions in the soft earth near the edge of the clearing. "Looks like we might have a lead after all."

Ethan hurried over, pulling out his phone to take photos of the tracks as Rachel crouched down for a closer look. "These are fresh," she mused, her fingers tracing the grooves in the dirt. "The killer couldn't have been gone long when we arrived."

"Good thing we got here when we did," Ethan replied, snapping another photo from a different angle.

As they continued to document the tire treads, Rachel's mind raced with possibilities. What kind of vehicle had left these marks? Who was driving it? And most importantly, why had they chosen this location to dispose of the body?

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