Cubby swore softly.
“Someone put a bullet right between her eyes. I don’t understand why anyone would do something like that to her?”
“That’s what we’re going to find out, Tank, but right now I need you to calm down and do your job for me. Can you do that?”
His deputy nodded after gulping down several deep breaths to steady himself. Tank then motioned for the young couple to head down the path and when they were gone, Cubby looked at Katie.
“Who is it?”
He saw the fear in her face.
“Jilly Lee.”
Katie pressed her lips together.
Jilly had been close with the McBrides, especially in the last few years since Branna had started giving her cooking lessons.
“If you want to wait here, I understand, Katie.” Cubby clenched his hand to keep from reaching for her. It was best to keep their distance now that he’d set the boundaries back in place between them. “Especially considering what you’re dealing with at the moment.”
“I’m a cop, that’s what I do, and I need to do this for Jilly.”
Cubby nodded, feeling like a bastard for not comforting her. Turning away, he headed off the track to find the girl who had bagged up his groceries and been part of his community. The girl with the bright spiky hair who’d hurt no one and was loved by many.
They found Jilly under some leaves, her pink hair standing out against the greenery. Her face was still for the first time in her life, the usual cheeky smile missing.
“Oh, Jilly.” Katie dropped to her knees, and Cubby took the opposite side. “Who did this to you?”
“Put these gloves on before you touch her, Katie.”
They both pulled on the gloves and then laid a hand on the girl, resting it there for a few seconds in silence while they came to grips with her death.
“We need to bag anything that looks like evidence.” Cubby spoke first. “But first you have a cry if you want, and then we’ll begin.” He gave in to temptation and placed a hand on Katie’s lowered head.
“I’ve seen bodies, but seeing Jilly with that hole in her forehead, her life snuffed out—”
“She was a friend, princess, your reaction is natural, especially considering Jessie’s death.”
“But why Jilly, Cubby? She never hurt anyone.”
“I know it, and we’re going to find that out, Katie.”
She nodded. Lifting a hand, she touched Jilly’s cheek and then rested it briefly on the stiff pink spikes on the girl’s head.
“Okay, I-I’m ready now.”
“My guess is she was strangled first and then shot.” Cubby pointed to Jilly’s neck and the finger marks and bruising. “The state of her body would put her dead at least twelve hours.”
“If the bullet killed her, then there should be more blood around, Cubby, don’t you think?” Katie said.
He looked around Jilly’s head and realized she was right.
“The ground around her is not disturbed either, which could mean she was murdered somewhere else and dropped here, because those marks around her neck tell me there was a struggle before she was shot.”
“Her nails look broken and there’s blood under them, Cubby.”
“I hope she got a few in and marked whoever did this to her, because this is a small town, and it would help identify her murderer. You start taking pictures, Katie, and I’ll make notes while I look around.”
“Okay.”
