Chapter 2-1
1025 Words
Chapter 2
As it turned out, that cry in the night hadn’t been a puma. It had been one of the troopers, who’d wandered farther away from his partner than Jenn had instructed, in an attempt to discover more clues. Captain Sullivan of the sheriff’s office and Lieutenant Jesson of the state troopers were there. They both frowned as Jenn called for the meat wagon.
“He thought he knew where we might find Deputy Drake,” the man’s partner sobbed as they stared down at the body. “He was positive.” The trooper ran a sleeved forearm over his cheeks, drying his tears.
A deep gouge scored the trooper’s chest, his entire right leg was missing—he would have bled out even if they’d reached him in time to save him from whatever had attacked him—and while his eyes were screwed shut, the expression on his face was frozen in a rictus of sheer terror. An odd odor permeated the body.
“He might have been right.” Jenn rested what she hoped was a comforting hand on the trooper’s shoulder. None of the other bodies had been recovered so far. What did he see that terrified him so much? “His death won’t have been in vain,” she assured the man’s partner, pretending not to notice when he shrugged off her hand. She signaled to her forensic team. “Dean, go with Trooper Hughes’s body to Santa Fe. I want the results of his autopsy as soon as possible.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
She turned to the men and women who were no longer milling around. “We’d better call it a night. It’s getting dark, and we—”
“Agent Canaday, we don’t leave our people behind.” Deputy Weldon’s lips were set in a grim line.
“I understand, Deputy. However, we don’t want to take the chance of losing more people.”
“Request permission to remain behind.”
“Permission denied. Go home and get some rest. We’re heading out tomorrow at first light.”
He snarled something under his breath, but she heard.
“Because I have jurisdiction here, Weldon.”
“Captain?”
Sullivan shook his head, looking sick.
Weldon turned on his heel and stalked off. So did the captain and the lieutenant.
Jenn touched her earpiece and murmured Nicki’s name. Her friend answered on the second ring.
“You have to give me more time, Jenn. Greg and I have just come back from dinner, and I’ve only just received the other prints you found…”
“Kiss him good night. I need you to get to work right now. A state trooper is dead, and a deputy sheriff is missing.”
“Oh, shit.”
“Yeah. The one good thing is we were able to recover the trooper’s body. My forensic people will start the autopsy as soon as they get the body back to town.”
“Was there anything notable about it?”
“There was a deep laceration across the chest as well as having a leg torn off.”
“Any prints similar to the one Greg cast?”
“If there were, they were pretty much obliterated when everyone rushed to the site.”
“That’s too bad.”
“Tell me about it.”
“If you like, I’ll take a ride out and see if I can find anything.”
“Thanks, but if you don’t mind, right now I just want the prints you’ve got compared and hopefully identified. We have to know what animal did this.”
“In that case, I’ll get right on it. Give me a call if you need any other help.”
“Will do. ’Night, Nick.”
“’Night, Jenn.”
Once again, Jenn disconnected the call and gazed around. Because of the situation, she’d need to have more people than her five-member team out here. She called Director Hennessey, her supervisor, and explained the situation. “This has become an active crime scene—”
“The governor isn’t going to be happy,” he interrupted, his tone sour.
No s**t, Sherlock. “I’m aware of that, sir. I’ll speak to him myself.”
“I’ll speak to him. Since that’s become an active crime scene—”
Hadn’t she just said that?
“—I’ll send another team out in the morning to take over. I want you to deal with your own people. See I get that report ASAP.”
“Yes—”
“I believe we’re on the same page,” he interrupted once again. “Yes? Good.” He hung up.
Jenn sighed and touched the button of her Bluetooth earpiece, turning it off. It had been a long day. All the vehicles were gone except for her team’s. They stood around it, talking quietly, a couple of them smoking. She dug her fists into the small of her back and arched into it before she strode to their car.
“All right, let’s get back to town.”
They climbed in, and Flores pressed the start button. The engine turned over, and her agent switched on the headlights, put it in drive, and headed to town and their hotel.
“What do you think caused those wounds, boss?” Flores asked.
“I don’t know.”
“To tear off a gown man’s leg…” Descher sounded shaky.
“And we still haven’t found it.” Parker wasn’t too steady either.
“Wolves don’t do that,” Jenn said flatly. There were packs in Arizona and New Mexico, but…
“Then what did?”
She couldn’t answer that. The rest of the drive was made in silence.
Jenn’s stomach was tied up in knots by the day’s tensions, and she didn’t have much of an appetite, although some cheese sounded good and a glass of wine was definitely calling her name.
And because—in spite of what Director Hennessey had told her—she knew he could call her back out to the scene at any time, and he’d love it if she were hungover—she’d make a point of limiting her intake to a single glass.
* * * *
Once they arrived at their hotel, Jenn told them, “Have dinner.”
“Will you join us, boss?”
“No. Hennessey’s—” Up her ass. “—being an ass. I’ll have something in my room while I write up the report. Get as much rest as you can. Tomorrow’s going to be a bitch.”
“You can say that again.”
“Tomorrow’s—” As she hoped, that got a chuckle. “Good night.”
“’Night, boss.” They split up, her team heading for the restaurant while she rode the elevator up to the fifth floor.
A platter of cheeses and a half carafe of ruby red wine were waiting when Jenn let herself into her room, along with a note, and she smiled. Thank you, Professor Hallstadt. Nicki’s mom was the best.
Jenn slid off her shoulder holster, removed her earpiece, and plugged in her phone to charge. She popped a cube of cheese into her mouth and chewed thoughtfully as she poured a glass of wine. It complimented the cheese, and she enjoyed a few sips before she set down the glass. She really didn’t have much of an appetite. Instead, she stripped off her clothes and headed for the bathroom. She needed a shower to wash away the day’s stress.
The warmth of the pulsing water from the rainforest showerhead helped, and after she dried herself off, she slipped a sleepshirt over her head, turned the TV to a music channel, and powered up her laptop.
- Writer
