Killer Summer

by Kay Bigelow

  The doorbell rang, and then someone was holding the doorbell button down. They both jumped at the unexpected interruption. “Jardain, it’s Camryn. There’s an emergency. Open the door.”

  “Phuc, not now!” Dani yelled, exasperation dripping from her voice.

  Dani pulled on the shirt she’d removed a few minutes earlier and left the closet.

  Leah pulled on a pair of shorts and the shirt she’d removed, and followed Dani into the living room. Leah was disappointed beyond belief. This cannot be happening. Why are the gods conspiring against us having sex? What have I done to deserve this? Phuc. Damn. Drude. Phuc.

  Chapter Five

  Camryn, looking wild-eyed and totally discombobulated, was explaining something to Dani but didn’t seem to be making any sense. She was babbling something about the woods.

  Leah’s cop instincts kicked in immediately when she heard the words “dead” and “body.”

  “Dani, get Camryn a glass of tea and put lots of sugar in it. We don’t want her going into shock.”

  Dani turned and headed to the kitchen without asking any questions.

  “Camryn, come with me. I need to ask you some questions, and I need you to focus on what you saw and what you did.”

  Leah gave Camryn a few moments to calm down a bit. “This can’t be happening. Not here, not now,” Camryn said in a rush.

  “What can’t be happening?”

  “The body in the woods.”

  “What body in the woods?”

  “The dead woman’s body,” Camryn said, stumbling over the word “dead.”

  “Oh, phuc,” Dani exclaimed, returning with the tea.

  “Have you called the cops?” Leah asked.

  “The nearest cops are on Xing. Off planet. We have a small security team, but they’re primarily here to escort drunks back to their bungalows and to act as crowd control for some of the larger events,” Dani said.

  “Well, phuc. Okay. Here’s what we need to do. First, we need to preserve the scene. Where is the body?” Leah asked Camryn.

  “In the woods about halfway along the path to here.”

  “Near the path?” Leah asked, wondering if the body had been left there in the fifteen minutes since she and Dani had passed by the crime scene, or if neither of them had noticed a dead body next to the path.

  “No, in the woods.”

  “How was she found and who found her?”

  “One of the gardeners, Bree, was pruning some of the bushes that threatened to move onto the path. She heard some rustling in the bushes and went to investigate.”

  “Why?”

  “Why what?” Camryn asked, obviously not comprehending Leah’s question.

  “Why would she investigate an animal in the woods?”

  “Most of the planet’s fauna don’t come into the area surrounding the living quarters. So when we find one, we capture it and release it deeper into the woods near the mountain,” Camryn explained.

  Leah wanted to ask if the mountain was the one she could see from their bedroom, but knew it would be too easy for Camryn to go into a long explanation of the mountain rather than focus on the body.

  “What’s the name of the dead woman?”

  “I don’t know.”

  “You don’t recognize her?”

  “I didn’t look at the body. When Bree told me there was a body in the woods, I came straight here. Although I haven’t spoken to every woman here, I’ve seen most of our guests. If Bree is right in what she told me she saw, the dead body is younger than most of our guests—they are in their thirties or older. Our clientele… Oh, phuc, we’re completely booked for the next eight weeks. Or we were. Once word gets out a dead woman has been found in the woods, there will be an exodus. Maybe we should rename the planet Exodus,” Camryn said to Dani.

  “Is there anyone with the body now?”

  “Bree is nearby.”

  “You need to take me to the body. Let me get my computer and we can go.”

  “If we’re going into the woods, you might want to put shoes on and button your blouse,” Dani said.

  “Right, shoes.” Leah was suddenly aware she’d failed to finish dressing the minute she heard “dead body.”

  “I need shoes, too,” Dani said as she followed Leah back to the bedroom.

  “And button your shirt. I certainly don’t want you running around with an open shirt. Someone might entice you away,” Leah said as she ran a finger from the V below Dani’s throat to her navel.

  “Oh, my,” Dani said, whispering Leah’s words back to her.

  After they put on shoes and buttoned their shirts, Dani pulled Leah into her arms.

  “I’m so sorry. This is not how I envisioned our vacation going,” Dani said.

  “Don’t worry about it. I’m not letting you leave this planet until I’ve heard you say my name when you’re in the throes of passion. I want to taste you in the worse way. And I want to make you beg.”

  “Promise?”

  “Absolutely.”

  Dani kissed Leah. Before they knew it, they were breathing hard.

  They both stepped back.

  “That’s incredible. How do you do that to me?” Dani asked.

  “It’s the same magic you use to do that to me,” Leah said, smiling.

  Leah grabbed her work computer. She needed to find a canister of InstaSeal, the sealing spray cops used to avoid contaminating a crime scene. She dug around in the bag she carried with her at all times to see if maybe she’d dropped a can into the bag. At the bottom, under a small box of cleansing wipes, she found a short canister. She shook it, and thought it might still be three-quarters full. She wasn’t sure when she’d put it into the bag, but she was glad she had.

  When they returned to the living room, Camryn was standing near the front door. Leah wondered if she’d crept down the hallway to eavesdrop on their conversation. Now I’m just being paranoid. The woman is totally flustered by the dead body in the woods. Why would she sneak down the hallway to listen to our conversation? I’m not sure, but something’s off about her reaction. What did she say? “This can’t be happening. Not here, not now.” What, exactly, did she mean by that? Why not now?

  Once they were on the path to the main house, Leah said, “Camryn, please stay on the path and make sure none of your people or guests go anywhere off the path in that area. We need to preserve as much of the crime scene as possible.”

  Camryn hurried up the path. Then she began trotting, and, finally, she was in a full-tilt sprint.

  “Do you know what Camryn meant when she said, ‘This can’t be happening. Not here, not now’? What’s going on that she’d be as upset as she is that an accident happened now? Or is that how she reacts to any unplanned incident?”

  “I’m not sure. She’s usually quite levelheaded. Like she said, we’re booked solid for the next two months. She could be upset at the consequences of having an accidental death here in paradise.”

  “I’m sure that’s it,” Leah said even though she wasn’t sure of anything right at that moment. I doubt there will be long-term consequences, human nature being what it is and a lot of people being fascinated by and drawn toward murder rather than repulsed by it. They may find their bookings for the next few months will increase.

  “What are we going to be doing?” Dani asked.

  “I’m going to collect as much evidence as I can. Do you have a doctor on staff?”

  “Yes. She’s a general practitioner. Her name is Reagan Dominier. She’s been on staff for four years.”

  “Good. Please ask her to join us at the crime scene as soon as possible and tell her to bring her medical kit and a stretcher. Ask her to please not do or say anything that will alert the guests there’s been an accident.”

  Dani pulled out her phone and dialed a number from memory. Why does Dani know the number of the doctor by heart? Never mind. The doctor’s probably good-looking and smart.

  Leah drew her mind from why Dani knew the doctor’s numb
er to the murder at hand. Leah was already wishing Cots was with her on this one. With only a GP and herself, there was really very little they could accomplish. She’d have to call the police in whose jurisdiction they were and invite them to help, or at the very least let them tell her what they wanted done here. Cox can make that call. It will give him something to do, and make him feel at least a little needed.

  “Reagan will meet us at the crime scene.”

  Leah nodded. “Do you have a contact at the police department who has jurisdiction over Wild?”

  “As far as I know, there isn’t one. No one from any police department has ever contacted us. Including the department on Xing, which, I think, may be the nearest police force to us.”

  “Great.”

  “What’s the matter?”

  “We need to find out who this woman is. We need to determine how she died. And we need to figure out if this was just an accident or if it was murder. We need to do all that with no resources except the doctor and me, and that seems like a longshot. We can’t do it alone.”

  “Wait a second. What makes you think it’s anything but an accident?”

  “What’s in those woods that could cause someone to injure themselves so severely they’d die where they were standing? If it wasn’t an accident, why would the killer move the body into the woods? Why would someone leave the body in these woods when from what I saw this morning there are acres or miles of woods nearer the big house and beyond. Why not take the body up on the mountain? Predators would find it before any one of your staff would. If the doctor and I determine it was no accident, then we really will need help.”

  “Do you have a suggestion?”

  “I need Peony and Cots here to accomplish anything and to keep this as contained as possible. Without them, we might as well find out where the nearest police station is and drop the victim off there.”

  “Cots can’t come on the planet.”

  “Really? You’re going to deny him access to the planet?”

  “I have to, Leah. I’ve no choice.”

  “You own the damned planet. You have a choice.”

  “I really don’t.”

  “Don’t what? Don’t own the planet or have a choice?”

  “Have a choice. One of the biggest selling points of this planet is that it’s a women-only space. If Cots comes here, word will spread like lightning into the communities of women on every planet in this part of the galaxy from which we draw our guests that we’re no longer a women-only resort.”

  “Surely, those women would understand that solving a murder was more important than the presence of one man.”

  “Perhaps, but we can’t run the risk of losing guests over that issue.”

  “All right, while the doctor and I inspect the body, you need to figure out where the nearest police station is and order transportation to take Jane Doe to them. I’ll let you explain how one of your guests may have been murdered on your planet.”

  “Please don’t be mad at me, Leah.”

  “I’m not mad at you, I’m frustrated by your intransience about Cots.”

  Leah could see a knot of people standing on the path ahead of them. She noticed that someone had hung some sort of pink ribbon across a ten-foot swath of the woods, and she saw they’d also taken it into the woods. She couldn’t help herself, the pink ribbon was too amusing. She held her computer up and clicked a photo of it. Cots and Peony would get a kick out of it, too.

  Three years ago, I never let myself be amused at anything found at a crime scene. Three years ago, I’d never see pink crime scene tape. Only on Wild.

  Chapter Six

  Two women broke away from the group and came toward them. One of them was Camryn and the other, presumably, was Dr. Dominier. As Leah and Dani approached the two women, Leah watched for any clues of the relationship among the three women.

  Dani introduced Leah to Reagan Dominier. Reagan had short blond hair, blue eyes, and a ready smile. Her compact body looked fit, and Leah pegged her as a runner, probably of long-distance races because there didn’t appear to be an ounce of fat on her thin frame. She had a ghost of a scar on the right side of her left knee.

  “Who has seen the body?” Leah asked.

  “Me and Bree, the gardener who found her,” Camryn said.

  Camryn had said she didn’t look at the body, but now she’s saying she saw the body. Which is it, and why is she lying?

  “And you didn’t recognize her?”

  “Not at all.”

  “Is it possible she’s not a guest?”

  “It’s possible, but not probable.”

  “If it’s probable she’s not a guest, then what is she doing on Wild and how did she get here?”

  “I don’t know the answers to your questions, but I certainly don’t recognize her.”

  Leah didn’t like the answers and added the questions to her mental list of things she would need to find out sooner rather than later after the dead woman was identified.

  “Let’s hope she has some identification on her, then,” Leah said. “Doctor, will you accompany me to the body, please?”

  “Of course.”

  Dani started to follow Leah and Reagan.

  “Dani, you and Camryn need to stay out here on the path.”

  “Leah, it’s my planet and I need to know what’s happening.”

  “And I will tell you when I know something. In the meantime, the fewer people trampling across the crime scene the better. We want whatever evidence is out there preserved so it will be easier to find out what happened to this woman.”

  “All right,” Dani said, obviously not happy at being kept away.

  She is certainly her father’s daughter. He, too, thought he should be a part of his daughter Sarah’s murder investigation right up to the time when I told him “no.”

  “Dani, no one can leave the planet. Everyone on the planet for the last few days are suspects. We need to talk to each one of them to establish their alibis.”

  “Unless I’m mistaken, I have no authority to hold people on the planet against their will.”

  “Are you telling me if we figure out this woman was murdered and I find out who the killer is, we can’t hold her until she can be delivered to the police?”

  “Knowing we have the killer and trying to figure out who the killer is are two different things.”

  “Wow. You have a strange way of looking at murder. I can’t figure out who the killer is without talking to all the suspects. But I won’t be able to talk to all the suspects because you won’t cancel any flights leaving Wild because…because why?”

  “I don’t have the authority to hold people against their will.”

  “Un-phucking-believable. All the more reason for me to collect whatever evidence there is in the woods and then walk away from this mess. You’ll be in charge, Dani, after I’m done in the woods,” Leah said, heading toward the pink ribbon border and barely able to keep her temper in check. She knew her mini-rant may have been uncalled for. I’m frustrated by Dani’s take on a murder investigation, but taking it out on Dani is childish.

  Leah ducked under the pink crime ribbon. Reagan trailed behind her. Leah noted Reagan knew enough about crime scenes to walk in Leah’s footsteps until forensics had secured the scene. Since there was no forensics team, there wasn’t a need for preserving the scene in such a way. I wonder where she got her experience of crime scene protocol. They followed the ribbon to the body. It was about a quarter of a mile from the path behind them.

  “Doctor, let me photograph the body and the surrounding area before you examine her. And we both need to seal up before approaching her.”

  “You just happen to have a can of InstaSeal with you?”

  “Yeah, I found it in the bottom of one of my bags. You don’t carry such things in that little black bag of yours, Doctor?”

  “Please call me Reagan. Considering where we are and what we’re doing, I think ‘doctor’ is a little too formal.”

&nbs
p; “Understood,” Leah said, smiling.

  Leah sprayed her hands up to her elbows with the InstaSeal. Normally, she would be shrouded in purple phyolene coveralls, booties, gloves, and a mask. But since none of that was available to her, she had to be content with sealing her hands. She handed the can to Reagan.

  “Have you heard of the new technology that will mean we won’t have to wear the coveralls, booties, and all that stuff?” Reagan asked as she sealed up her hands.

  “Yeah, but I haven’t seen it in person. I wonder if it’s as good as it sounds.”

  “I hope so.”

  Leah walked over to the body. “Oh, shit.”

  “What?” Reagan asked.

  “This is no woman. It’s a girl. Maybe between ten and twelve, I’d say. What the phuc?”

  Leah began taking photographs of the body, which was nude and lying on her stomach. She was thin—too thin. She noted bruises, fresh and faded, all over the girl’s body. There were several wounds in various stages of healing interspersed between the bruises.

  When she was done, she stepped away from the body to give Reagan access. Reagan knelt next to the victim and studied the body. She looked up at Leah. “What the phuc?” she echoed before turning back to the body. “We can turn her over now. Can you assist?”

  Leah tucked her computer into her waistband at the small of her back and moved to kneel beside the body across from Reagan. They gently turned the body onto her back.

  “Phuc,” Leah and Reagan said in unison. “What the phuc happened to this girl?” Reagan asked. “Leah, I agree with your assessment of her age. I don’t think she’s older than twelve.”

  “Who would do this to a child?”

  “Can I take over?”

  “Not yet, let me take photographs first.” Leah began taking photos, paying close attention to the victim’s face, which had been damaged so severely there was no way she could be identified by her face alone. It looked like someone had taken a meat tenderizer to her face. The front of the victim’s body was as bruised as the back, but there were no visible scars.

  “She’s all yours,” Leah said, stepping back from the body.

  “What do you want me to look for?” Reagan asked.