Page 5 of A Song for the Dead

FIVE

Kane pushed the door wide open using the flat of his hand and scanned the room. It was a reasonably neat apartment. A purse had been dropped onto the kitchen counter, and shoes kicked off just inside the door. The living room was comfortable, with cushions and a colorful throw on the sofa. Figurines of ballerinas lined the mantel above an electric fire resembling burning logs. A TV sat in one corner. He pulled his weapon and, as usual, he went into the room high and Jenna went low, clearing each space as they moved along the hallway. The bedroom door was shut, and after Jenna gave him a nod, he backed against the wall and turned the knob. Inside, the bed linen was missing and a streak of blood ran from the bathroom door, across the carpet, and to the bed. It was silent all around and Kane turned to Jenna. “We’ll go back along the hallway and clear the bathroom from the other side. It’s got two entrances.”

“Okay. Close this door.” Jenna’s face was grim. “I don’t want anyone sneaking out behind us.”

Kane led the way along the hallway. “It feels empty to me. I figure they’re long gone.” He stopped at the bathroom door and gaped at the wall of blood spatter across the mirror. “No one is walking out alive after that.”

“Arterial spatter.” Jenna moved beside him. “Murdered here and then dragged through the adjoining door to the bedroom.” She turned and backtracked down the hallway and, holstering her weapon, opened the bedroom door and peered at the bed. “The killer wrapped her in blankets. The pillowcases are gone too.”

Surveying the scene, Kane bent to the pool of blood on the bathroom floor. “This isn’t fresh, and by the smell, it’s at least a few days old.” He followed the long smear across the tile and onto the bedroom carpet. “Dragged by her feet in here, and then rolled into the blankets. He had the blankets on the floor before he moved her.” He flicked open the closet and peered inside. “Hmm. How did he get her out of the building without anyone seeing him?”

“There’s a fire exit at the end of the hallway. We’ll search for blood spatter. He might have left a trail.” Jenna stared around the room. “He must have parked out back. So, he planned to kill her and take her body with him. How did he get in?”

Walking back to the patio doors, Kane slid open the screen door and then the glass slider. “These doors aren’t locked.”

“Oh, that’s too easy.” Jenna’s eyes widened. “What about a blood trail?”

Kane took out his flashlight and ran it over the carpet. “Nothing evident. What gets me is there are no footprints and it’s a bloodbath in there.” He glanced at Jenna. “I’m assuming this killer is a man, taller than the victim. When a throat is cut, it isn’t easy. It takes strength and skill. The victim is fighting, throwing their head around, and their heart is pumping quick-time. This makes the arterial spray violent, and although it usually sprays in one direction, it would be difficult to avoid some degree of splash back and stepping in the pool of blood. Possible, but difficult.” He waved the flashlight back and forth. “Wolfe will spray the area with luminol and pick up any spatter. I can’t see anything on a brown carpet.” He looked at her. “The thing is, people don’t bleed once they’re dead, so if he wrapped her once she’d stopped bleeding, it would have avoided seepage from her clothes.” He held up one finger and went back into the bathroom. “Come and look at this, Jenna.”

“What have you found?” Jenna met Kane in the hallway as he stepped from the bathroom, and she followed him back into the living room.

He indicated behind him. “Clothes in the laundry basket. She took a shower but that’s not all.”

“What are you seeing?” Jenna stared at him.

Placing himself in the role as the victim, Kane went to the front door. “The timeline. I can map out what happened by the evidence. Freya comes home from work, kicks off her shoes, dumps her purse on the counter, and heads for the bedroom.” He led the way along the passageway. “There’s a winter coat in the closet, so she removed her coat and decided to take a shower.” He stepped around the pool of blood and went into the bathroom. “We’ll bag these clothes and ask Clara if she can recall what Freya was wearing the last time she saw her.” He indicated the towels. “The towels are bunched up on the rail, like she planned to pick them up later or straighten them to dry.”

“So she came out of the shower, went to the mirror, and someone attacked her from behind?” Jenna frowned. “She’d have seen him coming.”

Kane shook his head. “Not if the mirror was steamed over.” He walked into the living room. “Look here.” He went to the sliding patio door. “It’s unlocked, right? This is his point of entry. It’s ground level, with concrete all around so no footprints. If he’d parked his vehicle outside in the alleyway, he could have entered and exited from this door. I’ll examine the lock, but these are a breeze to open. He could easily have sneaked up here, unlocked the door, and waited in the alleyway for her to come home. From out there, he’d have seen the bathroom light go on, even heard the shower. Then all he had to do was wait for her to get into the shower before going inside. He murdered her when she stepped from the shower. I’ve watched you. You shower, dry, and then go to the mirror. I’m guessing most women do. Once she turned her back on him, he was on her.”

“Just a minute.” Jenna went to the kitchen counter and peered inside Freya’s purse. “No phone.” She went back into the bedroom and opened drawers and peered under the bed. “She was looking for work and would have a phone.” She stared at Kane. “Oh, my goodness. We’ll be able to trace her and her killer if he’s taken her phone.”

Kane rubbed his chin. “Even after seeing all this blood, we can’t assume she’s dead. We can’t track her phone unless we can prove it. We’ll need a warrant. I’ll get the paperwork over to the judge when we get back to the office.”

“Okay, get Wolfe and his team out here to do a forensic sweep.” She indicated toward the door. “I’ll ask Clara about what Freya was wearing. If it’s the same as the clothes we found, it will give us a closer time of death.” She headed for the door. “I’ll ask her for Freya’s phone number as well. I’ll call and see if the killer picks up.”

Shaking his head, Kanepulled out his phone and called Wolfe. “Morning.”

“Don’t tell me. I’ve already figured out why you’ve called.”Wolfe cleared his throat.“It’s Halloween and y’all have discovered a homicide.”

SIX

Standing in the middle of Freya’s apartment, Wolfe turned a full circle. He’d examined the crime scene and prepared for a luminol examination for blood spatter. Luminol being a known carcinogenic, he preferred to mask up in hazard gear and get everyone to step outside before coating the carpet. He’d darkened the room and set up his camera, ready to document the images. As Jenna shut the door behind her, he got to work and sprayed the chemical. The killer had taken every precaution, but a few drops of blood had formed a trail from the bedroom to the sliding glass door, just as Kane had suggested to him on arrival. The blood spatter fluoresced nicely, and he aimed his camera and recorded the scene. He moved around the apartment checking other places and found a smudge on the doorframe, not a fingerprint but likely a very small trace of blood from a glove. Content he had covered every angle, he opened the door and stepped outside. He dragged off his face mask and handed the camera to Colt Webber, his assistant and badge-holding deputy. “That camera needs to be cleaned before handling it without gloves.” He turned to Kane. “You were correct. He left by the sliding glass door. I found a blood spatter trail from the bedroom and a small imprint of, I think, a glove on the doorframe.”

“That’s good.” Jenna nodded slowly. “We searched around outside and found a few tiny dark drops on the edge of the alleyway but nothing significant.”

Wolfe looked at her. “I’ll need swabs. It likely proves the theory that the body was carried to a vehicle in the alleyway.” He removed his gloves. “Webber, go and grab samples of the blood spatter in the alleyway.”

As Webber hurried away, camera in one gloved hand, Wolfe turned to Jenna and Kane. “You recall the package Norrell discovered in the grave out at Bear Peak?”

“Yeah, was it anything interesting?” Jenna removed her gloves and rolled them into a ball.

Holding out a bag for her, he shrugged. “Maybe.” He waited for Kane to add mask and gloves to the garbage bag. “It’s a phone. I’ve checked it out and it looks undamaged. I have it sitting on a charger. It seems very strange to me that someone would be buried with a phone wrapped in plastic. As if the killer made sure it would survive. It is only seven years old, so we now have a date of burial at least.” He noticed Jenna’s color drain from her face and frowned at her. “You feeling okay there, Jenna?”

“Yeah, it’s just that Freya’s phone is missing too.” She rubbed her temples and looked at him. “I called and got voicemail. Is this a strange coincidence or am I missing something here?”

“We need to track her phone. I’ll head to the courthouse the moment we get back to the office to see if I can twist the judge’s arm to obtain a warrant.” Kane took the bag from Wolfe and tossed it down the garbage shoot. “The problem is, without a body, we can only assume she’s dead. That being the case, it will be difficult to get the warrant. Blood in a bathroom isn’t probable cause. There’s no proof she left the house, dead or alive.”

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