Page 8 of Race to Save Her

It took Katie almost a half hour before she arrived at the scene. It was actually farther than she had anticipated and likely strategically located in an area where it would have been difficult for anyone to witness anything—a vehicle parked, someone dropping something off, or a suspicious person. There were no security cameras nearby. It seemed to be well thought out, suggesting that whoever was doing this was organized.

Katie pulled to the side of the road and parked. She saw there were two patrol cruisers, one unmarked sedan, and a fire investigator’s vehicle. She got out of the car, and decided to shed her jacket, leaving her in a short-sleeved blouse and her usual pantsuit. She heard the unmistakable barking of a German shepherd, and remembered the Pine Valley Fire Department arson investigator, Luke Ames, and his K9, Blitz, from a murder-arson case.

She wondered why he might have been called. Questions flooded her mind. Was there any indication of a fire, or bomb-making paraphernalia?

She stood a moment next to her police sedan surveying the area, taking a slow three-hundred-sixty-degree vantage. It instantly hit her how much she wished McGaven were investigating with her. They had developed a routine whenever they entered a new crime scene—and it really worked well for them.

Pausing for a few seconds and shutting her eyes, Katie listened. It was quiet, no birds chirping, no sounds of cars in the distance. It was a perfect location to leave a body—or body parts.

“Detective Scott,” said a deep voice.

Katie snapped open her eyes and saw Luke Ames standing in the middle of the street, staring at her with his hands on his hips—apparently annoyed for some reason.

“Taking a moment?” he said.

Katie noted some sarcasm to his voice.

“Is there something bomb- or explosive-related?” she asked.

“No. Why would there be?”

“Well, you’re at my crime scene.” Katie didn’t have time to banter back and forth. She wanted to get to work.

“It’s your crime scene?” He took two steps closer to her, almost like a swagger, and then fixed his stance, his body facing her.

Katie kept her cool, remembering the investigator’s loud alpha-male style from the last time they’d met. “I’m the police detective and you’re the arson investigator.”

“Thanks for clarifying that.”

Katie remained calm. “Why are you here?”

“I’m the one who found it.” He smiled slightly.

“What brought you here?” she said.

“Sometimes I take a longer run up this way. The fire training facility is close by—about a mile or so.”

Katie glanced at his vehicle with the K9 decal. She could see the outline of his dog inside.

He chuckled. “After I called it in, I jogged back to get my vehicle.”

Katie began walking toward the taped-off area. “Thank you. Did you give your statement to a deputy?” she said, not looking at him.

“Of course.”

Katie heard him, but didn’t respond. She was keen to meet up with Deputy Anderson.

“Detective, we took the investigator’s statement,” said the deputy. “Then we cordoned off the area as best we could.”

Katie liked dark-haired Officer Chris Anderson and the fact he was quiet as he watched and learned. She recalled McGaven had been his training officer.

Katie looked at him now. “What do you mean, the best you could?”

“It will be easier if I show you.”

The first thing she saw was an overgrown area with vines covering an old, dilapidated fence that had been once painted white. The surrounding environment was dense with several large pine trees and climbing foliage. There was dead undergrowth where the new vines had begun filling in like a blanket.

Katie stopped and looked past the hidden fencing. The land was slightly hilly, resembling a meadow, and the weak growth was less than a foot tall, giving the impression it had been mowed down less than a month before. She jotted notes in her small field notebook, which was what McGaven would normally do when they were encountering a new scene.