“Some of the people who live in the camp saw a large truck pull into this parking lot early this morning, a little after four a.m.,” Trey said, looking down at some notes he’d scribbled on a small pad. “They described the guy who got out of the vehicle as frigging huge. Well over six feet, easy. He was wearing some kind of long coat with a hood, so even if it hadn’t been dark and raining, no one would be able to describe him.”
She sighed. “Well, that all matches the details of the crime scene, from the tire tracks at the edge of the lot to the boot print and the crushed grass. It’s not much to go on, but this is the first time anyone has caught sight of the killer. Even if it only confirms the gender and build of the suspect, that’s still more than we had before.”
“If that was all there was, I’d definitely take it,” Trey replied as she leaned in and took detailed shots of the thigh end of the leg. “But in this case, one of the witnesses over in the camp gave us something else. Something big.”
Samantha stopped what she was doing to raise a brow questioningly. “How big?”
“The big guy got out the passenger side of the truck,” Trey said, nodding when her eyes widened. “Yeah, there was someone else driving. The person didn’t get out to help, and between the darkness and the rain, the witnesses couldn’t see much, but they said the silhouette they could make out was definitely a man.”
Samantha considered the implications of that. As far as she knew, serial killers were a solitary lot, regardless of what some of the people on the task force thought. The fact that this one had a partner must be significant. It also called into question another previous assumption. Namely, the idea that the big man who’d been leaving the deep boot prints behind was the killer might be wrong. Maybe he was simply the muscle of the operation. Maybe the man who stayed in the vehicle was the killer. Considering the combination of precise and inexact cuts she’d found on the bodies, it looked like the people who’d been pushing the theory about two killers might be right.
“I don’t suppose anyone got a look at the vehicle’s license plate?” she asked.
While it was interesting to know there were now two suspects in the Butcher case, it didn’t necessarily help them very much.
Trey shook his head. “The truck was here for less than five minutes and no one in the camp even considered coming out of their tents to take a closer look. Not that I blame them. Hell, none of them even bothered to look at what they dumped until this morning.”
From the corner of her eye, Samantha saw Trey move a little further along the crime scene tape, staying outside it, but obviously trying to get a better view of remains. She even saw him lean in a little and take a sniff, though she had no idea what the hell that was about.
“Do you think these parts are from the previous bodies we already recovered?” Trey asked curiously. “Or does this mean there are even more victims out there that we don’t know about?”
She grimaced. “I won’t know until I get a closer look at everything, start blood typing, cross matching, and running DNA profiles. But man, I hope these aren’t completely new victims. If they are, this killer is even more bloodthirsty than we thought.”
Trey watched while she finished the last of the photos, then mapped out where all the parts were positioned, taking pages of notes on each. He let her work without interruption, even though he probably had hundreds of questions. Samantha discovered she liked his company. It was the most pleasant time she’d ever had at a crime scene.
There is something wrong with you, a little voice whispered in the back of her head. Very, very wrong with you.
She was at a crime scene, standing over a gruesome collection of amputated body parts, thinking about how much fun she was having. Like she was on a date.
Samantha was halfway through bagging up the partial arm, noting the circular-shaped scar on the center of the inner part of the forearm, when Trey spoke.
“I know this is probably a weird time to ask,” he said softly, obviously concerned about being overheard by the other cops nearby, “but I thought you might want to get together tonight.”
She smiled. “Sure. I’ll text you later and let you know when I’m wrapping up at the institute.”
He returned her smile. “Sounds good.”
Trey went back to watching as she continued picking up the various remains. Samantha tried to focus on what she was doing, but saying she was a little distracted would be an understatement. Especially when she was so keenly aware of his gaze on her.
“Are those burn scars on the leg?” he suddenly asked, almost making her jump.
Samantha looked over to see him leaning across the tape, pointing toward the leg she’d been in the process of picking up. She’d noticed the built-up scar tissue along the top and inside of the thigh area earlier, but looking at it again, she realized it was even worse than she’d first thought, the burns wrapping all the way around to the back of the leg and down past the knee. She could see the crosshatch markings indicative of extensive skin graft work and pressure dressings. Whoever this poor guy had been, he’d lived a life filled with pain.
“Yeah,” she finally answered. “Pretty bad burn scars, too.”
Trey looked thoughtful at that but didn’t comment, and Samantha found herself wondering what kind of experience he had with burns. Had he seen them often during his time as a medic in the army?
She was putting the remains of the leg into an evidence bag when she caught sight of Trey leaning forward, his nostrils flaring as if he was trying to catch a stray scent. She wasn’t sure why it struck her that way, but she couldn’t help thinking the movement was almost predatory.
“What’s that smell?” he asked, sniffing the air. “It smells like a cleanser or disinfectant, but it’s kind of flowery, too. Like perfume. There’s a bit of a burnt electrical odor to it as well, but it’s really light.”
Samantha didn’t have a clue what Trey was talking about, but she leaned closer to the leg and took a good sniff anyway, surprised when she actually picked up a scent that seemed out of place on a chunk of human remains. And while she couldn’t say she smelled anything that even hinted at burnt electricity, she was sure she smelled flowers…and something sharper. But it was really faint. She could barely smell it even with her nose almost touching the skin. She had no idea how Trey had been able to pick up the odor from ten feet away.
“I think it’s some kind of antiseptic body wash,” she said slowly.
“Antiseptic body wash?” Trey repeated, looking as baffled as she felt. “You mean like the stuff they give patients to use before they go in for surgery?”
She nodded, kind of surprised he knew that, even with his medic background. “It’s definitely used for that. But I’ve known doctors, nurses, and other people in the medical field who use it to wash up after work.”