by KJ Kalis
33
Right in the middle of Cash’s meeting, he got a call from Kevin Barnfield, the detective working the case from the local law enforcement side. “We’ve got a body. Can you meet me?”
Cash looked at his team and said, “Let’s roll. We’ve got something new to look at.”
Running out to the SUV, he jumped in the passenger side of the lead vehicle, his jaw clenched. Was it Lexi Cooper? Most of the agents had grabbed their windbreakers before the meeting, the threat of rain already arriving in Tifton. The timing couldn’t be worse. Tropical storms brought sheets of wind and water that made traveling and moving around impossible, not to mention the inevitable power outages and flooding. Listening to the wipers swipe back and forth on the windshield, Cash yelled, “The timing for this blasted storm couldn’t be worse!” The agent driving nodded.
Cash programmed the address into the SUV’s GPS and texted it to Janet Crenshaw in the vehicle behind them. Not that the second vehicle needed it. They were trained to follow bumper-to-bumper with lights blazing on their way to a scene. But at least she’d have it for the record.
By the time they got out to the address, the rain was coming down in a steady tempo, soaking everything in sight. Cash felt calmer, but only slightly, as he got out of the SUV, wondering where they were. Up ahead, he spotted a single Tifton Police Department cruiser and what he thought was Detective Kevin Barnfield’s car. Before walking over, Cash went to the back of the SUV and grabbed a long rain slicker and a baseball hat. Putting it on, he glanced around the area. It looked like an open field. There were no homes in sight and no other structures, even a barn or garage. The dense woods of southern Louisiana were off in the distance. It looked as though the field he was standing on was used for farming, or at least had been at some point, the native weeds having grown up and curling over the remnants of any former crops.
Zipping his raincoat, Cash pulled the hood up over his head and the bill of his baseball cap down low over his face. He trudged over to where Kevin Barnfield was waiting, standing in the open as if it was a beautiful day. It wasn’t. “Thanks for coming. Hope I didn’t interrupt anything, but I thought you should see this.”
Cash nodded and swallowed. Going to a crime scene was something he’d never gotten completely used to. He developed the habit of mentally bracing himself, putting up a filter in his mind so he didn’t absorb too many of the images he saw, but it was hard. It was hard to protect himself from what he saw. There were times he wondered if long after he retired, he’d still see the line of bodies, or in this case, bodies cut up into parts, while he was relaxing on some beach drinking a beer. It would be nice if he had a family with him, but at the rate he was going, he’d be alone. He shook the thought out of his head. Focus, Strickland, he reminded himself. “What you got?”
“A couple of kids riding some ATVs called us when they found this.” Kevin leaned over and pulled up the edge of a yellow tarp that had been sprawled on the ground. Cash knelt down, staring. From what he could tell, it was a skeleton, or at least part of it. He could make out what was part of the spine and rib cage in the mud. Cash stood up, tilting his head to the side, “Human? You think?” His breath caught in his throat. Was this the torso killer again?
Kevin cocked his head to the side, “I guess, but your forensics guy would probably have a better time with this than I would.”
Cash turned around, looking back at the SUVs, and waved the rest of the team over, yelling for Jeremy. Nearly swamped by the long slicker, Jeremy wandered over, tripping on a rock as he got near the skeleton, “Easy there,” Cash said, extending a hand to catch him. “Careful.”
Jeremy pulled off his glasses, frowning. “When it rains, I can’t see a darned thing.”
Cash stood watching Jeremy for a moment as he tugged the bottom hem of his T-shirt out from under his slicker, trying to wipe the raindrops off of his glasses. It was hard to be patient with Jeremy sometimes, Cash thought, staring at the ground, chewing the inside of his lip. The science guys were a different breed.
A moment later, Jeremy knelt down next to the skeleton. Cash waited, wondering what exactly Jeremy could see from the remains that were left behind. “Anything?”
“Well, I’m no medical examiner, but obviously, this is part of what looks to be a human skeleton.” Without touching anything, Jeremy pointed, “See these grooves on the edge of the bone?” Cash knelt next to him, trying not to end up flat on his face in the mud. “Those don’t look natural to me,” Jeremy said to Cash through fogged-up glasses. “I’d suggest we get a tent put up over this thing and call the County Medical Examiner.
That’s all Cash needed to know. Within a minute, the team had erected a portable tent they carried with them in the SUVs. Though the rain wasn’t letting up, at least it prevented the spot where the bones had been found to become a mudhole.
Kevin Barnfield came into the tent and motioned to Cash, “Dr. Wiley’s on his way. There’s some flooding already on some of the side roads. He said to give them a couple of extra minutes.”
Cash nodded, stuffing his hands in his pockets, gripping them into tight fists. He didn’t want his team to see how frustrated he was, but nothing about this case was moving quickly enough. He knew they were on the clock with Lexi Cooper. Whether this skeleton they found in the field would contribute to their case or distract them, Cash didn’t know. He stood back for a second, watching Jeremy take initial pictures of what was left of the body from what seemed to be a million different angles. Cash knew Jeremy wouldn’t make the mistake of touching the body until the medical examiner arrived. Bodies were county jurisdiction, not the FBI’s, but there was no harm in taking pictures as long as it didn’t disturb the scene.
There was a lull in the action while they waited for the medical examiner to arrive. Cash kept checking his phone, hoping for an update, but none came. All he could do was wait.
Stepping under the tent, Janet Crenshaw pulled the hood down off of her head. “Man, that’s a lot of rain. Seems like it started out of nowhere.”
“You’ve lived in Louisiana long enough to know how these storms show up,” Cash said. Glancing at her, he asked, “Any news on the ME?”
She nodded, “I was just sitting with Detective Barnfield in his car. He’s just a couple of minutes out.”
“That’s good news.”
There was silence for a minute. Cash felt Janet looking at him, “What is it?”
She narrowed her eyes a little bit, “You okay? You don’t seem like yourself.”
“I’m okay. Just trying to get the job done.” Cash walked away, pretending to look at the skeleton, moving to the other side of the tent, and kneeling down. After a minute or so, he glanced up at Janet, who was still staring at him. He could tell by the look on her face that she knew he didn’t want to talk about what was eating at him. Lexi Cooper. It was bad enough to have a trail of bodies unaccounted for, but a missing child left a pit in his stomach he’d been unable to get rid of for the last few days. Before he had a chance to think much more about it, an older man trudged up to the tent and ducked under the edge with Detective Barnfield and a young man in tow, “Cash, you remember Dr. Wiley, the Clement County Medical Examiner?” Kevin said.
Cash looked at Dr. Wiley. He was a big man, broad-shouldered with gray hair. The bulk of his body was covered with the slicker, not unlike the ones that Cash and his team wore. Thick glasses sat on top of his nose. “Doc,” Cash said with a nod. They’d seen each other every six months for the last couple of years, every time a body was found. It wasn’t the kind of friendship Cash wanted.
Dr. Wiley nodded, taking his glasses off and wiping the lenses. “Gettin’ a bit of rain, huh?” he said. Dr. Wiley gave a little nod toward the bones on the ground, “What did you manage to get yourself into this time, Kevin?”
Kevin cleared his throat, “Sir, a couple of ATV riders found these remains about an hour ago. Thought you should probably take a look at them.”
“You’d be rig
ht about that,” Dr. Wiley said, bending over the skeleton, his hands on his knees.
Silence dropped over the people in the tent as they waited for the verdict from Dr. Wiley. Questions ran through Cash’s mind. Was it human? A part of an animal? His gut told him that the bones left behind were human, but all of it had to be confirmed through the local medical examiner. This wasn’t a decision he had the authority to make on his own. And if they were human, what did that mean? Were the other bones just dragged off by wild animals? How long had the skeleton been out in the field? Cash tried to calm himself knowing that within a couple of minutes, he’d at least get some cursory information from Dr. Wiley if Cash could only be patient.
Dr. Wiley stood up, glancing at Cash, “Well, I’d like to look at this back at the office, but my initial assessment is these are human remains.” He pointed towards the hip joints of the skeleton, “See those striations there? If I had to guess, I’d say those are cut marks. I’ll need to take a look at them under the microscope to be sure, but that’s what I’m thinking for the moment.” Dr. Wiley turned his bulk towards Cash, “I’m thinking we’ve just found another addition to the torso killer’s resume, Agent Strickland,” he said.
“I’m sorry to hear that,” Cash said, shifting his weight from one leg to the other, “Any idea if this skeleton is earlier than any of the other bodies? Any way to know how long it’s been out here in the field?” Cash had a feeling the medical examiner would avoid telling him anything until he had time to do a more thorough examination back at the office, but Cash did know him a bit from his other trips to Tifton. Sometimes, Dr. Wiley would at least give him a trickle of conjecture on what he saw.
The big man tilted his head to the side, “You probably know what I’m gonna say about that, don’t you?”
Cash nodded, “Yes, sir. You’d like to look at it back in the office. But if you had to offer a guess?”
“That I will not be held to?”
Cash nodded.
“Based on the color of the skeleton, I’d guess this one has been out in the elements for a while — probably several years at the least.” Dr. Wiley raised his eyebrows, “You could be looking at one of the original bodies, which would explain why everything else has been found in Little Bayou Pond. The killer may have changed his drop location when this one wasn’t found.”
The idea the bones in front of him could be some of the very first from the killer sunk in as Cash thought about what Dr. Wiley said. Dr. Wiley gave a quick nod to his assistant, who pulled a camera out of his equipment bag and started taking another set of pictures. Jeremy stood politely off to the side, watching the medical examiner work. Kneeling down again, Dr. Wiley looked at Cash, “Any of your team bother to look for the rest of this body out here in this field?”
“No, sir. We were waiting to talk to you.”
“Well, it’s time for your team to start getting their boots muddy. Go have a look, will you? If there were appendages attached to this one and they were left behind, they wouldn’t be too far off. Animals don’t drag them that far. I’ll be here packaging this up. Let me know if you find anything else.”
As much as Cash didn’t want to muck around in a muddy, rain-soaked field, it was better than standing and staring at Dr. Wiley and his assistant while they poked and prodded at the skeleton. “Okay, let’s do what Dr. Wiley asked. Fan out in all directions,” he said to his agents. “Let’s see if there are any other remains we haven’t seen yet.”
Cash stepped out into the rain, pulling his hood up over his head. He started walking slowly away from the tent, Janet off to his right and Dan McClelland off to his left. All the agents had the same hunched-over posture, staring at the ground for any evidence of bones left behind.
From underneath the hood of his coat, Cash could hear the patter of raindrops hitting his shoulders, back and head. Though the weather was terrible, at least the FBI’s investment in good quality rain gear made it tolerable. Cash took a couple of steps forward staring at the ground, his boots squishing in the mud. He shook his head a little bit, not taking his gaze off the ground. If the rain kept up like it was, the entirety of Tifton would be nothing more than a mud hole within the next couple of days. The only saving grace was the heat, Cash realized. The minute the sun came back out, at least it would dry up pretty quickly.
Cash looked up for a moment turning around to see where his team was. He and Janet and Dan were working on one side of the tent. The other agents had fanned out taking the other three sides. A few of the agents had walked into the distance and had turned around already. Cash lifted his hands, his palms open, silently asking them if they’d found anything. Everyone’s head shook no. A pit formed in his stomach. Could what Dr. Wiley said be true? Could they have stumbled upon one of the earliest bodies of the torso killer? If so, why did the torso killer change locations for his drops? Was it that he was frustrated that no one found the bodies? Cash stared at the ground again, chewing his lip. The case was like Pandora’s box, he thought. Every time he felt like they were getting a handle on it, something else came up, another question they couldn’t answer….
34
Before Emily had a chance to catch her breath wrestling with the realization that Cash Strickland had her entire life at his fingertips, her phone rang again. Mike. “Emily, something’s come up.”
“What is it?” The words came out more impatiently than they should have. Mike was just trying to help. Don’t shoot the messenger, she told herself.
“That FBI agent, he’s getting texts about some sort of body they found in a field.”
Emily’s heart stopped for a second. “Is it Lexi?”
“I don’t know. The only information I have is a text he sent back to the Baton Rouge office.”
“Read it to me.”
“Body found in field. Only bones. Will send more information as soon as I get it.”
Emily raised her eyebrows and paced next to the bed in her room. What exactly did that mean? If it was only bones, could the torso killer have stripped the flesh off of that poor little girl in the last day or two? A shiver ran through Emily’s body. The idea of mutilating someone after they were dead was not something she wanted to think about. “Any idea where this field is?”
“No. I can keep watching Cash’s texts, but there’s nothing in here about that.”
“Okay,” Emily said, holding the phone to her ear using her shoulder as she rummaged through her bag. “Ping his phone and let me know if you hear anything.”
“Where’re you headed?”
“Bradley’s.”
* * *
Emily shrugged on her raincoat and put a pair of dry socks on her feet before sliding her feet back into her boots. She grabbed her baseball cap from the end of the bed and headed downstairs, getting into the Jeep. She wasn’t worried about seeing any of the FBI agents now — they were all likely at the scene, looking for evidence. Or, at least, that’s where they should be.
Emily ran to the Jeep as fast as she could. The rain was coming down in sheets, the gray clouds thick and low in the sky. The wind had picked up and nearly blew the hat off of her head as she jumped in the Jeep. Slamming the door, she started it up, setting her phone off to the side.
The drive to Bradley’s was a little slower than before, water running off the side of the roads and filling the drainage ditches almost full. “If this rain keeps up, we’re going to be dealing with a flood,” Emily murmured to herself. She reached for the knob that controlled the fan system on the Jeep, adjusting it so it pumped out every last bit of air at the windshield to keep it from fogging. The dark clouds had made it hard enough to see. With the end of the day coming up, it was only going to get worse.
Pulling into Bradley’s driveway, she noticed the lights in the garage were off. Without thinking, she ran to the front door and pounded on it with her fist, “Bradley!” Emily yelled, trying to get underneath the overhang enough that she was out of the rain. “Are you in there?”
A short w
oman cracked the door open, her stubby fingers gripping the edge of the door. It had to be Carla, Bradley’s wife. “Who are you?”
“Emily.”
“Hold on. I’ll get him.”
A second later, the door pulled the whole way open, “What’s all the hubbub about?” Bradley appeared at the door, squinting.
“A body. A body’s been found,” Emily said, trying to catch her breath.
The surprised look on Bradley’s face melted into one of seriousness, “Meet me in the garage. I’ll be out in just a minute. The side door’s unlocked.”
Emily didn’t wait or take the time to chat with Carla. Running from the porch, Emily darted across the driveway, and nearly pushed the side door off its hinges, stepping in and out of the rain. She found the switch for one of the banks of lights in the garage and stood, shaking the water off her slicker when Bradley walked in, his cane wet from the downpour, “A body’s been found?”
Emily nodded, “My tech was able to intercept some information from the FBI.”
Bradley raised his eyebrows above the thick frames of his glasses, “What do you mean by that?”
Emily closed her eyes for a second and shook her head, “Don’t ask. You don’t want to know. Anyway, they just found the body out in a field. Who do you know that can get us information on this?”
“Well, I do have one in,” Bradley said, a grin spreading on his face.
Bradley’s smile confused Emily, “What are you smiling about? Who do you know?”
