Page 38 of So Deadly
Up close, paint and drywall dust covered the Rottweiler’s snout and front flanks.Faith looked as closely as she could over the animal control officers’ shoulders for blood and saw none.
“He didn’t get the guy, if that’s what you’re looking for,” one of the animal control officers said, loading the tranquilized pup into the cage.“He’s got blood on his paws, but none in his mouth.The blood in his paws is gonna match the victim.”He checked himself, realizing it wasn’t his place to say that.“Well, probably.Anyway, you guys will look at that.We’ve got to get this guy back to the kennel before he wakes up.Damn near tore my arm off.If I hadn’t been wearing the bite jacket…”
Turk whined softly as he closed the cage.The animal control officer gave him a sad smile.“We’ll take good care of him, buddy.Don’t worry.”
Turk dipped his head, but his eyes remained downcast.Faith wondered if he was remembering the time his own handler had been killed by a serial murderer.He couldn’t protect Jack Preston from the Donkey Killer.He understood what this dog would be going through when he woke up.
Faith sighed heavily and headed for the house.Turk trotted next to her, head held low.When they entered the garage, he perked up and started sniffing.
“We need to know where they went, boy,” Faith said.“We need to know how they got in and how they got out.”
Turk dipped his head again, then trotted ahead to see if he could track the killer’s movements.Faith stepped through the remains of the garage door into the house.
The blood was everywhere.Splatter marked the floor and the walls of the small hallway leading from the garage, staining the whitewash like a Jackson Pollock painting.Through the hallway, Faith could see Jessica talking to Jenkins on either side of a larger pool of blood.
She joined them and noted, “Bit more of a struggle this time than the previous victims.”
“Looks that way,” Jenkins agreed.“Crawford’s a big guy.Goes about two-thirty, maybe six-four or -five.The killer might have had trouble reaching something vital.He’s ex-Army too, so he might have fought back where the others just tried to run.”
“Have CSI check the blood,” Jessica said, “just in case any of it comes back to the killer.”
“Yeah, will do.”
“You said the victim’s name is Crawford?”Faith asked.
“Yeah, Robert Crawford.Ex-Army.Got kicked out for aggravated assault on an officer.No criminal record, but we have one complaint from earlier today, actually.”
Faith raised an eyebrow.“Today?”
“Yeah, he got into an altercation with a security guard at a farmer’s market.Apparently, he threatened to assault the kid or have his dog assault him or both.I’m not sure of the details, but before you ask, I can tell you it’s not the guard.He was still at the farmer’s market when we got there, and I left straight from there when we got the call about the murder.”
“The killer might have been at the farmer’s market,” Faith pointed out.“I want witnesses interviewed.We need descriptions of everyone possible.”
“Everyone?That could be like a thousand people.”
“So, everyone possible.Focus on anyone behaving suspiciously and everyone who interacted with the victim.Anyone who left soon after he left.”
Faith was amped up, and it was making her snappish.They were only a few minutes behind this attempted murder, and the killer was sloppy this time.If they were quick about analyzing this attack, they might catch up to the killer before they had time to go to ground.
“Faith.”
Faith turned to Jessica, who pointed at the ground.Faith’s eyes fell on footprints leading through the living room toward the back door.One set, a men’s size fourteen, obviously belonged to Crawford.Only a few of those prints could be seen, and they were smudged and stretched, suggesting Crawford had only managed to stumble a bit once he reached the living room before collapsing from his wounds.
It was the other two that interested Faith.One set of paws from a large dog—obviously the Rottweiler animal control had sedated, and a pair of small, slender footprints.
Verysmall footprints.Short, slender, and narrow.They could belong to a small man, but Faith guessed not.They fit a women’s size six shoe or maybe even smaller.
Faith glanced at Jessica and saw her lips pressed into a thin line.She also realized the killer was likely a woman.
“Looks like the killer was interrupted,” Faith said.“The Rotty broke the door and came after her.She fled…” Faith followed the prints and saw them leading to an open back door.“That way.The dog chased her…” she followed a few more steps.“To the back porch, remained until he was sure she was leaving, then returned to Crawford.Jenkins, who called this in?”
“Neighbors.Dog was barking.”
Faith nodded.“Yeah, that’s what happened.”
“Looks like we got lucky on this one,” Jessica said.“The killer was prevented from finishing the murder and might have left more evidence behind for us.”
“Let’s hope so,” Faith said, stepping out the back door and following the killer’s escaping footprints.
