Unexpectedly, Carly experienced a moment of hesitation. She didn’t want to see the woman’s face, she didn’t want to know if it was someone from the community who had been tortured and killed—at least not yet, not until she’d had a moment to really brace herself for that option. And so her eyes went first to the woman’s feet then slowly traveled up her legs. Now that she knew what to look for, she could see more signs of bleeding through the light blue denim of the jeans. Tracing her gaze upward, the rose-colored sweater had been hiked up enough to reveal a thin strip of flesh at the woman’s waist, but it also looked like parts of the knit top were stuck to the victim’s skin—perhaps from dried blood—leaving the general shape of the garment skewed.
It was when her eyes caught on a thin gold chain around the victim’s neck that Carly’s hesitation turned swiftly into a sense of foreboding that settled surely on her shoulders. For reasons she didn’t understand, her instincts warred with her intellect for a moment and all she wanted was to be away. Far away.
“Carly?” Ian asked at her side.
Using him as a reprieve, she looked away from the scene and at her former boss. “Yes?”
“Do you recognize her? I don’t. Vivi?” he added.
Carly turned her attention to Vivi, who was shaking her head.
“No ID that we can find, either,” Daniel said having concluded his preliminary search of the jeans pockets.
Knowing she had to swallow the irrational fear that had gripped her, Carly took a deep breath. And looked down.
Years ago, when an infection had developed after she’d had her wisdom teeth extracted, a dentist had prescribed a painkiller and she would never forget the moment when it had kicked in. She’d been beyond grateful for the pain relief, but as the medication had washed through her body, she’d felt a disconcerting numbness spread from the top of her head down to her toes. She knew there were people who liked that feeling, but to Carly it had felt like the life, her life, was being drained from her own body, leaving nothing behind but a confused, emotionless empty shell. And that wasn’t something she’d ever wanted to experience again.
But now, looking down at the face of the woman who had mostly likely been killed, then dumped, not ten miles from where Carly lived and worked, she had that exact same feeling.
Seconds passed, or maybe it had been minutes, when she became dimly aware of Vivi’s voice saying her name—once, then a second time. Then she felt Ian’s hand on her shoulder. That touch, that solid, real touch, a touch that was meant for comfort, was just the reminder she needed. A reminder that there were special protocols she had to follow now—protocols that had nothing to do with processing the crime scene. No, the rules and procedures that came flooding back to her were ones that no one around her could know about.
She took a deep breath and pushed the fear crowding her brain back into the shadows.
“Yeah?” she answered, stepping away and looking at him.
“Do you know her?”
Carly glanced at the face again, then frowned. “No, she doesn’t look familiar to me,” she forced herself to answer. She didn’t spare a glance for Vivi, knowing the trained forensic psychologist would pick up more than anyone else.
She let her gaze linger on the woman long enough to appear as if she was giving what she saw before her some consideration. “Can you tell us anything else, Vivi?” she asked. And only when she was sure Vivi had turned her attention back to the body did Carly look at her friend.
“No—no more than what we already know, but I can add that her face seems to confirm my original impression that she is well into her forties.”
As Vivi spoke, movement to Carly’s left caught her attention and she looked up to find Drew and Ty still leaning against the fallen trunk. Ty’s eyes were on the body and she had little doubt that, as an ex-vice cop, he was probably asking himself all the questions cops ask—who, what, why, when, etc.
But not Drew. Drew wasn’t looking at the body. No, he was watching her—as if the dead body at her feet were of no consequence and his only interest was in her. She held his gaze, wondering if he’d seen her reaction to the woman’s face. Wondering if he thought that the sight of a body had been a shock to her relatively inexperienced eyes.
But his face held no judgment. No, as he stood there, still leaning against the trunk with his arms crossed, he looked to be calmly assessing her. When he continued to watch, she gave him a small, dismissive smile then simply turned and walked away. She felt his eyes following her, or perhaps it was her imagination, but as she moved away from the scene, she pushed his image from her mind.
Climbing up the hill, she tamped down her initial shock. Halfway to the top, she stopped to answer a crime scene tech’s question, then directed another tech to take some extra photos of an area by the side of the road that looked slightly more disturbed than the rest. Before she’d even set foot on the road, she’d slipped back into her role as deputy chief of police.
Up by the vehicles, she paused for a moment and watched the activity. It was easier to focus on the tasks at hand than face what she knew she would ultimately need to face. She forced back a wave of sadness; now was not the time or the place. She knew that if she let the sorrow even so much as crack open a door it would leave an opening for the fear, panic, and utter confusion Carly knew was hovering in the far reaches of her brain, clamoring to be heard.
“Hey, Carly,” Marcus said as he approached her, carrying a tire cast he’d presumably taken from one of the turn-out areas she’d sent him to scout. “I got one impression, but who knows if it will turn into anything useful. I hear the victim was cut up pretty badly, or it appears that way. One of the techs mentioned it to me on my way back. Any ID?”
She looked at Marcus, newly back on the job, almost back to his old self. She didn’t want him here. But then again, she didn’t want him anywhere else. He was the one person who would know exactly what it meant when she told him what she was about to tell him.
“Carly?”
She turned her gaze back to the primary scene. From where she stood, she could see the tops of heads—Vivi’s, Daniel’s, and Ian’s—along with those of a few techs moving around the hillside. A brisk autumn breeze touched her face and lifted her hair; the sun now hung high in the sky.
It was a beautiful day to find a body.
“It’s Marguerite,” she said.
Chapter Two
Carly understood the moment of stunned silence that followed her quiet announcement. At first, Marcus gaped at her, but when she didn’t retract her statement he opened his mouth to say something, only nothing came out. Then he just turned and looked away, his mouth closing and tightening, his eyes shutting briefly. Finally, he crossed his arms over his chest and dropped his gaze to the ground.
She watched him struggle with the same series of feelings that had hit her when she’d first seen Marguerite’s face—shock, denial, sorrow. She knew panic would come next. But then the memory of the code, the rules that had been drilled into them so many years ago, would claim a space in the chaos of his mind—demanding order, demanding obedience.
His body jerked once, then one more time. His fingers gripped his biceps and still she stayed silent, letting him find his composure. When he looked back up, his body appeared more relaxed. However, his jaw was clenched so tightly that she wondered if his teeth would crack.
“This is bad,” he said after another stretch of silence.
“Master of the obvious, Marcus.”
“Don’t be flip about this,” he snapped.
She took a deep breath and let it out. “I know it is.”
“You didn’t identify her?”
She shook her head and looked out toward the valley. “Of course not.”
“And she has no ID?”
“Not that Daniel or Vivi could find right away.”
“So, as of now, no one knows who she is.”
They were both silent for several moments.
“We need a plan,�
�� Marcus said, his voice softening.
“I know,” she agreed quietly as she turned back to him.
“We don’t know what it means,” Marcus said. “That she was killed here, I mean.”
Carly gave a half-hearted shrug. “She wasn’t killed here, she was brought here. But you’re right, we don’t know what it means. I think we’re pretty safe in assuming that whatever it means isn’t good, though.”
“Do you want to leave?”
There it was. The question she hadn’t allowed herself to ask. The question her mind had turned away from, even though her instincts had been subtly whispering the answer all morning. Yes. Run.
And, coward that she was, she did want to run. She wanted to run away so fast and so far that no one would ever catch her. But what she was running from, or part of it anyway, would follow her no matter where she went. Her own fear, her own guilt, were not going to be left behind.
Taking a deep breath and bracing her shoulders, she shook her head. “It won’t solve anything and we need to take care of Marguerite first.”
“Marguerite would want us to take care of ourselves,” Marcus countered, not untruthfully.
“She would, but you can’t deny we at least owe it to her to make sure she is identified and that Lorraine, as her closest relative, is notified. At the very least, we owe both Lorraine and Marguerite that.”
She was right and Marcus knew it, although he only managed a tiny, almost imperceptible nod to show his agreement.
“Why don’t I accompany the body to the lab?” she asked. “The first thing Vivi will do is run the fingerprints. Once Marguerite is identified, I have no doubt the right people will take over, and then we can be sure Lorraine will find out.”
Marcus turned away from her. There were so many things they needed to talk about, so many things they needed to consider. But after what Marguerite had done for them, she deserved to be taken care of first. She deserved their help in making sure she did not stay a Jane Doe. Everything else could wait.
“Why don’t I go?” Marcus asked.
Carly’s knee-jerk reaction was to say no. Selfishly, she wanted to be the one there. She wanted to be the one that made sure Marguerite received the respect and attention she deserved. But other than that, other than her own control issues, she had no rational argument for going herself. And several for not.
Reluctantly, she agreed.
“Are you sure?” he asked.
She’d been closer to Marguerite than Marcus had and he knew just what it meant for her to send him in her place. But she answered, this time with more surety. “Yes, it makes more sense given your relationships at the lab—you’ve spent more time there recently, you know more people. And, given my position,” she added on a sigh, “it makes more sense for me to go back to the station and start the paperwork. Ian will have to sign off on all of it, but I may as well get it started.”
Marcus started to say something but cut himself off when Vivi and Daniel appeared, pulling a gurney behind them. With two techs and Ian handling the other end, the team had managed to get it up onto the road. Carly and Marcus watched the procession in silence, but when the body bag came into sight, she turned away. Marcus’s gaze stayed fixed on the group as they loaded Marguerite into the ME van. He inhaled sharply when the van doors slammed shut—the only display of emotion he appeared to be allowing himself.
Carly cleared her throat. “We need to . . .” She let her voice trail off and gestured with her head to the others.
“Yeah, I know,” Marcus answered. “Let’s go do this.”
Turning back to the van, she walked toward the team with Marcus a few steps behind her. “All set?” she asked, cringing internally at the lack of emotion in her voice.
“I have what I need,” Vivi answered. “Of course, there will be a lot to do at the lab once we get her there, but I’m done here.”
“And your team?” Carly asked Eric Waterson.
Eric, one of the techs who had helped bring the gurney up, led the evidence collection team. Tall and unnaturally skinny, the fact that he was so thin his face all but looked like a skull was an irony that did not escape her each time they worked together.
“We have a few more pictures we want to take and some mapping of the area left to do, but we should be finished in about four hours or so,” he said.
She nodded her response and looked to Ian as she laid out her plan. “Marcus can accompany Vivi and Daniel to the lab and then help Eric’s team with the evidence once they get there. I’ll head back to the station and get started on the paperwork. Ian will you be in the office today?” When he responded in the affirmative she continued. “Good, then I’ll e-mail my reports to you and you can sign off.”
“And who should I send my reports to?” Vivi asked.
“Both Carly and me,” Ian answered.
With marching orders confirmed for everyone, Eric rejoined his team and Marcus handed over the keys of the SUV to Carly. Within minutes, Vivi, Daniel, Marcus, and Ian were turning their respective vehicles around and driving back down Churchkill Road. After they had disappeared around a bend, she walked to the edge of the hill.
“Need a hand with anything, Eric?” she called down.
He answered that he had everything well in hand and she began to turn away when movement farther down the hill caught her eye. Ty and Drew were standing where she’d left them. She wondered what they were still doing there, what they could be thinking, then she realized she didn’t really care, not now. She did however, want to see them safely gone from the scene.
Making her way down, she heard the murmured tones of their voices, but they stopped speaking as she approached. “I have a car if you’d both like a ride back to Kit’s,” she offered. She’d already told them they were free to leave and she felt as though saying it again would sound, well, rude.
“We’ll walk,” Drew answered.
“No ID?” Ty asked.
Wanting to put a name to a face was human nature. Sometimes it was to humanize the body, sometimes it was to help draw a line between them and us. For Ty, Carly suspected it was the former even though he lived several hundred miles away and would be unlikely to know anyone in the area.
She shook her head. “Not yet. They’ll run fingerprints at the lab and take it from there.”
“Any idea how she died?” Another question from Ty.
A twinge of exasperation must have flashed across her face and Ty looked suitably chagrined.
“It’s an ongoing investigation,” she said. “As a former cop, I’m sure I don’t have to tell you what that means.”
He smiled and pushed himself off the trunk. “You don’t, but I had to try. Curiosity and all.”
“Half the reason we become cops in the first place,” she conceded. “Well, I’m sorry we met under these circumstances, but I hope the rest of your stay is more enjoyable. And thank you for your help today.”
Ty smiled warmly. “Such as it was. I hope you get your guy, as they say.”
“Me too,” she said. More than he knew.
Turning to Drew, who hadn’t moved from his spot, and hadn’t stopped watching her either, Ty asked, “Ready?”
Drew’s eyes left her for the first time and landed on his companion. Carly felt her heart trip a little panicked beat when Drew seemed to consider the question. But after a moment of silence lasting a breath or two too long, he stepped away from the tree. “Good luck,” he said with a general nod toward the scene behind her.
“Thank you,” she answered. “Have a safe trip home and we’ll reach out to you if we have any additional questions.”
Ty gave her a small encouraging smile and started back down the trail toward Kit’s house. Drew lingered, then turned to join his friend. As she watched him leave, she acknowledged that something about him called on her curiosity. She didn’t understand why that was and wasn’t sure she wanted to. But looking away from where he’d disappeared down the trail and back over to the techs still crawling ov
er the hillside, Carly knew that, for good or for bad, she had no time to figure it out.
Marguerite needed her.
• • •
“How’d it go this morning?” Vic Ballard asked as he leaned against the open door to Carly’s office. She looked up at her boss, the chief of police, as she hit the send button that would provide Ian with all the necessary paperwork. They’d keep it for their files too, but for the most part, from here on out, it would be a county case. Legally, anyway.
“As well as can be expected.” She’d called Vic and given him the basic details as she’d left the scene but he’d been on his way back from some conference or another and his phone had kept cutting out.
“With you and Marcus out there, who covered the other shift?”
“Carl and Teddy came on,” Carly answered, naming two of their part-time officers. More and more they’d been relying on part-time help. Not long ago, the force had been her, Marcus, Wyatt, Ian, Vic, and four part-timers. But then Ian had left, followed by Wyatt, who’d joined the FBI. And Vic, never a very attentive boss in the first place, had seemed to take it into his head that he needed to attend every police conference on the eastern seaboard. In the past fourteen months, he’d been away from the office more than in it.
And then there was Marcus. Just over a year ago, Marcus had been nearly killed in an explosion while on duty. He’d only been cleared to return to full-time duty three months earlier. For many reasons, she was glad to have him back, but even with him, the force was down to two—her and Marcus. If she counted Vic, they could passably claim a force of two and a half full time officers, which was still half their previous size.
“And now?” he asked.
“They’ll stay on until the end of shift. And with both Marcus and me on all day, I was going to put Lucy and Jake on the night shift again. They were both on last night too,” she answered, naming the other two part-time officers.
“Good, that will give you the night off,” Vic said. Despite his general hands-off approach to just about everything work related and frequent absences from the office, at least she could be grateful he supported her decisions. “You weren’t on last night were you?”
An Inarticulate Sea Page 3