Page 12 of Dark Angel
“Copy that.” Ryder gave her a mock salute.
“You figure this will happen again?” Nate’s face drained of color as he looked at Beth. “Here in Rainbow?”
Mind reeling over her unusual response to Nate, Beth tried to avoid staring at him.Why him? What makes him different from everyone else?“It depends how wide his comfort zone is right now.” She pulled out a notebook and made a few senseless notes. “If this is the Pied Piper, he could be living right next door or working right beside you and you’d never know.”
Stopping at the edge of the clearing to take in the entire scene, Beth swept her gaze from one side to the other checking the perimeter of the forest for any disturbance. She noted the four separate pathways. Most all of them were simple animal trails. The body of the girl appeared so very small, laid out under one of the surrounding trees. She turned to Ryder. “Has anyone disturbed this area at all?”
“Not that I’m aware.” Ryder tipped back his Stetson and let out a long sigh. “It doesn’t feel right, leaving that young girl exposed. She should be covered. Seeing the ants crawling all over her makes me sick to my stomach.”
Seeing his face drain of color, Beth pulled her face into an expression of concern. “I’m afraid we must leave her in situ until the medical examiner arrives. He will bring a team with him with the latest forensic equipment. If we are planning to catch this guy, we need all the help we can get, and trust me, Wolfe is the best. I’ll call him.” She pulled out her phone as Ryder’s buzzed.
“No need to call him. Dr. Shane Wolfe is in the air.” Ryder closed his phone and moved to her side. “Due to the similarity of the Deep Springs case, and the spate of murdered and missing girls, he was notified by the Snakeskin Gully FBI field office. He requested coordinates. He wants to take a look at the body and the scene.”
Incredulous, Beth stared at Styles. “Isn’t this our patch?”
“It’s a big state. We can work together if needs be.” He smiled at her. “It’s called cooperation. A little goes a long way.”
Agitated, Beth pushed both hands through her hair and turned to look at Styles. “I’ve worked on serial killer cases. In fact, you could say it was my specialty. What I don’t like is having people looking over my shoulder all the time. I know about the team in Snakeskin Gully. They have an incredible reputation, especially since they’ve been working in Black Rock Falls, but I don’t think we should call for assistance until we have analyzed the crime scene ourselves. As nobody has discovered zip about this murderer, I can’t see a reason for calling them in on this case.”
“Jo Wells is one of the top behavioral analysts in the country or maybe even the world.” Styles pushed his hands in his back pockets and stared at her. “Surely, if she is available, you would welcome her input?”
That’s all I need. I can just imagine having a meaningful conversation with the psychopath whisperer.Beth blew out a long sigh. “First up, we analyze the scene ourselves.” She scanned the clearing. “The body was moved. From the way the grass is lying flat in the center of the clearing, and from the shape, I would say a blanket was spread out there. That area needs to be preserved for the forensic team. The killer could have left trace evidence all over that patch.” She walked slowly toward the body and stared down at the forlorn figure. “See the pressure marks on the side of her cheeks? There’s your reason for not hearing the girls’ screaming. That is a large handprint, and by those lines, he was wearing leather gloves. That is a typical mark a glove makes on the skin using extreme pressure.”
“Do you figure he removed her clothes after or during the attack?” Styles crouched down to examine the body. “I’ve seen rape victims before and there are usually burn marks on the skin from where the clothes were ripped from the body. I don’t see that here.”
Knowing how predators groomed children, Beth shook her head. “It may be hard for you to comprehend the way a psychopath’s mind works, but I figure somehow he convinced her to remove her clothes herself.” She shrugged. “What people don’t understand is that these people can appear to be special. They have a charisma that can lure people to their deaths.”
“I have read a bit about them myself.” Styles rubbed his chin and stared at the girl as if trying to see her in a different light. “So, you’re saying that these kids don’t see this man as a threat—they see him as a friend?”
It was almost like watching the cogs fall into place and the wheels in Styles’ brain start to turn. “So, we should be looking for someone who works with children? A teacher, a preacher, the guy in the ice cream van, people like that? The kids know them but maybe their parents don’t?”
Surprised by his fast acceptance of her theory, Beth nodded. “Yeah, that’s exactly who I mean.”
Keeping her distance from the corpse, she walked around examining what she could see without touching or contaminating the scene. “There’s no blood. Not here or on the flattened grass. The injuries to the body were inflicted post-mortem.”
“Why is she posed like that?” Ryder stared at her with a tragic expression. “We should cover her.” He cleared his throat. “Why does someone do this to a kid?”
Having lived her life juggling both sides of the coin, Beth understood the thought process that led to the murders. The one thing that eluded her was what he’d done with the second victim. She turned to Ryder, surprised a sheriff would find the crime scene so distressing. She stepped a little to one side to block his view of the victim. “The killer needs to make excuses for what he’s done. It’s never their fault; it’s always the victim’s fault. A psychopath never believes he is to blame. I would say the flowers in her hair were placed there before the attack.” She sighed. “He probably took photographs of her to show her innocence and then posed her after the attack as his excuse. In his twisted mind, he believes that she lured him to do this, so he posed her like that to show everyone what she’s really like.”
“So why does he keep on killing?” Nate Mace came to her side. “Hasn’t he proved his point?”
Trying to drive her dark side back into the recesses of her mind, Beth stared at the ground. This monster needed to be taken down and fast. He’d left clues, subtle but enough, and she’d hunt him down, but it would take time, especially as her team seemed to be growing by the minute. “He keeps killing because he can. No one has caught him and his list of kills is undetermined. He believes he is invincible and has convinced himself that every little girl who befriends him is a temptress. This is his proof.” She waved a hand toward the body. “He figures, he’s right about them because they all come to him, don’t they? They must all follow his instructions. He’s not abducting them from the streets. He’s luring them with a promise or a treat.”
“They go like lambs to the slaughter.” Styles rubbed the back of his neck, his eyes fixed on the corpse. “We gotta stop this guy.”
TWELVE
When Sheriff Ryder went to meet the medical examiner, Styles left the doctor and the forest warden to guard the body. He turned to Beth. “We need to search the trails. I want to know where he parked his ride.”
“What direction is the fire road?” Beth stared into the forest. “That would be the most logical place.”
Styles led the way along the narrow trail leading to the fire road that ran parallel to the crime scene. It was difficult to determine if the crushed vegetation and the layer of disturbed pine needles had been caused by man or beast. They took their time, moving slowly and scanning left and right, but found nothing apart from another small clearing fifty yards or so from the crime scene. The second small clearing had an abundance of wildflowers, and the variety matched the garland found on the victim’s head. Styles stopped walking and turned in a slow circle. “I figure this is where he picked the flowers.” He indicated to a slight indentation on the edge of the clearing. “What do you make of the flattened grass here?”
“It’s small. Perhaps an animal slept here overnight?” Beth stared at the ground for a minute and then dropped to her knees. “Take a look at this.” She handed him a pair of examination gloves. “You’ll need these.”
Pulling on the gloves, Styles crouched and peered into the grass. A line of ants, carrying what appeared to be cookie crumbs above the heads, marched in a procession into the undergrowth. With care he brushed the grass back and forth. On the level of the soil, he discovered a few cookie crumbs and gathered them up with care before dropping them into a small evidence bag. “Now we know what he did with the other kid. Somehow, he convinced her to come with him to this clearing. He gave her some cookies as a treat and no doubt told her to wait for him. What happened next is anyone’s guess.”
“Let me think on it.” Beth paced up and down the small clearing, hands on hips and staring into the distance.
