“What?” Patsy asked as I sat up straight.
“While I was speaking to the officers at the scene, a woman came running over to report finding a second body.”
“Really?”
Candy nodded. “Yes, apparently another man who looks very much like the first one, was found inside his tent about a hundred yards from the first. He was beaten and strangled just like the man by the latrines.”
“Ya got a look at the body I take it?” Patsy asked.
“It took convincing the police sergeant who’s now on the scene, but yes, he let me pop my head into the tent for a minute after I informed him the FBI was there as part of an investigation related to a serial killer case.”
“And he looks like the bloke we saw this mornin’?” Patsy asked.
“Very much so. He was the same height and build and also beaten and strangled with a ligature. The victim’s tent had been ransacked according to his neighbor who’s familiar with what he keeps in there.”
“The killer was lookin’ for somethin’,” Patsy said.
Candy nodded. “The LAPD thinks so, but they have no idea what.”
“Did the ME determine time of death for either man, Captain Sorensen?” Snow asked.
Candy looked over at him. “That’s what took me so long. I waited for her to get liver temps from both victims. Each man was killed sometime early this morning, probably shortly before dawn, but within an hour or so of each other.”
“And you said they look a lot like each other?” Dr. Reeves asked.
Candy nodded. “Well, it’s hard to be certain due to the severity of the beating each man endured, but I’d say so.”
I looked at Patsy. “Maybe one of themwasthe thief you caught snooping around the tent last night,” I said.
Patsy shook his head. “Don’t think so. He wouldn’t’ve had time to come back if he was killed before dawn. That’s about the time someone came to our tent.”
I furrowed my brow, then shook my head. I wasn’t a detective or an FBI agent, so my mind didn’t normally stray to the dark places in a criminal’s mind. The closest I came to being an investigator was watching old reruns of Murder She Wrote. Still… “Well, something’s been bugging me. What if the guy who stole from us was followed by the serial killer?”
Patsy looked at me. “So, yer sayin’ that the guy we caught might’ve also stolen from the serial killer?”
“It’s possible, right?” I asked. “If the serial killer was stalking the thief, he might have seen him at our tent and thought he lived there.”
“But what kind of thing would the serial killer have to steal?” Rex asked. “Somethin’ important enough to beat a couple of guys to death?”
I sat up straighter. “If a lot of people had stuff stolen from our thief, don’t you think they would have talked about it around the camp?”
“Yes, they probably would. It’d be a big deal in a camp filled with people who have almost nothing,” Snow said. “Someone who possesses very little would feel very out of sorts to lose something precious to them, and an old family Bible, especially.”
Patsy nodded. “I agree. When we were at the bonfire last night, we met two guys who could talk the hind legs off a donkey. They mentioned somethin’ about lots of homeless folks goin’ about mutterin’ things.” He looked sharply at me. “Do you remember them sayin’ there was one particular guy constantly doin’ a moan and carryin’ on about ‘Rapunzel, so pretty,’ to whoever would listen?”
I felt my eyes go wide. “Oh, my God!Rapunzel.Long, blonde hair.”
“Shite!” Patsy’s eyelids shuttered as the realization swept over him.
“Do you think he could be the killer?”
He only stared at me as his eyelids flicked open.
“People would have compared notes, and it was probably well known inside the camp who was stealing things,” I said.“But from what they said, the guy was crazy, muttering all the time.”
“I remember hearing those men mention it while you were talking to them,” Candy said.
Patsy dragged his gaze from me and looked at Candy and the others. “He might have been the thief, right?”
