“Good point.” Huck lifted his head, looking around. “Dr. Ortega?” he called out.
One of the two swinging metal doors opened, and a man in his early sixties emerged with a file folder in one hand. He wore a white lab coat over jeans, a green shirt, and striped, blue tie. His black hair was liberally sprinkled with gray, and his goatee had given up the fight and turned completely gray. “Who are you?”
“This is FBI Special Agent Laurel Snow, and I’m Huck Rivers from Fish and Wildlife,” Huck said. “The office should’ve called ahead.”
“I’m Dr. Ortega.” The doctor was about five foot ten with brown eyes and a swimmer’s body. He didn’t offer to shake hands. “I’m understaffed and dealing with seven overdoses from a new drug on the streets of Seattle. You must have some pull to get your case thrown to the front of the line.” His frown was dark.
“Tortured, mutilated, and strangled young women should go to the front of the line,” Laurel said, a snap in her voice.
Ortega straightened. “Fine. Come on in.”
The chemical smell of antiseptic burned Laurel’s nostrils, but she followed him into a stark conference room with too-bright white walls. The doctor took a seat and opened his folder while Laurel and Huck sat.
“This is just a preliminary report. So far, we have the body parts of eleven different women,” Dr. Ortega said, reaching for glasses from his pocket and perching them on his nose. “I called everyone in, and we worked throughout the night. Identifications are just now coming in.”
Huck’s phone buzzed and he glanced down. “The weather has let up enough that the state techs are heading back up the mountain. The state is coordinating with the FBI and taking the lead on the search and recovery efforts.”
Laurel nodded. It made sense that the locals would take the lead since they were familiar with the territory. “Could you determine cause of death, Dr. Ortega?”
“Yes. For three of the bodies, I determined cause of death to be strangulation,” Dr. Ortega said. “My assistant is making copies of all the prelim autopsies for you both. The bodies range in approximate age from nineteen to thirtyish so far. All Caucasian, blond from what we could tell, with unhealed fractures throughout the bodies.”
Laurel blew out air. “The freshest corpse?”
“Death was approximately one week ago. Woman, aged twenty, named Gretel Sharter, a runaway out of Missouri four years ago,” Dr. Ortega said, sliding a missing person’s report across the table. “We sent her prints in and just received this about five minutes ago.”
“What was she doing in Genesis Valley?” Huck murmured, looking at the smiling young blonde.
Ortega shrugged, his gaze somber. “That’s your job. I can tell you that her prints were matched quickly because she was picked up in Seattle for prostitution last year. Other than that, my information is limited to the state of the body.”
Laurel looked away from the picture. “What injuries did you observe?”
Ortega slipped off his glasses, folded them, and tucked them neatly back in his pocket. “There were three bodies still intact enough to run kits. They were positive for sexual assault, and ligation marks were found on the wrists and ankles. Bruises dated back to most likely a week.”
Laurel pushed the paper back to Ortega’s file folder. “Based on the three bodies you could study, what was the approximate timeframe between kills?”
Ortega shook his head. “Based only on the three freshest corpses, and keep in mind there could be more, I’d say about a month.” He scratched his chin. “I’ve sent prints and DNA to the FBI and the techs are running them now. Well, the prints. The DNA may take a little while, as you know.”
“Did you get DNA from the rape kits?” Laurel asked.
“No. We did find spermicide as well as traces of condoms,” Ortega said. “We swabbed the bodies and sent samples to the FBI, as instructed by my boss. The FBI is already pulling rank.”
“We do have the best labs.” Laurel didn’t care about rank. She had to find this guy. A desperate need to hunt him down flamed through her. “The bodies were all naked and left in the elements for at least a week. DNA is a long shot.”
“It is,” Ortega agreed. “We scraped teeth and beneath fingernails as well. Hopefully we’ll see results.”
It was doubtful. This guy seemed meticulous. She turned to Huck. “How difficult would it be for one person to take a body up the trail and dump it over the side?”
Huck’s eyes had darkened the more they talked and were now the color of burned tree bark. “It’d be easy in a UTV or Side by Side. You could zip the body into a large pack, put it in the back seat or even strap it to the bed. It’d look like food or camping gear. Then you ride up the trail, wait until you’re alone, unzip the bag and throw the body.”
She tapped her lip. “The killer wouldn’t need to be incredibly strong in that case.” She turned to the ME. “Were there any fibers found on the bodies?”
“Yes. Rough and wool, like from a blanket. A common winter blanket. We’ve sent the fibers to the FBI lab,” Ortega said.
Well, it wasn’t a big clue, but at least it was something. “Thank you,” Laurel said.
Ortega closed his file folder. “I’ll make your copies for you. We might as well get organized before more bodies come in.” He quietly stood and left the room.
Huck’s phone buzzed and he looked down to read the screen. “They found another one.”
