“Oh, God,” Wilma said.“What has gotten into the world?”
Faith didn’t have an answer to that question, so she didn’t offer one.
***
It was just after eight o'clock when the three agents arrived at the Dallas Doghouse.A small crowd of staff members was standing behind a police cordon that roped off the rear of the property.Faith noted that this part of the shelter wasn't visible from the police station.At least Dallas PD wasn'tcompletelyincompetent.
Take it easy, Faith.Don’t take your frustration out on them.
She quelled her irritation when she approached a man in plainclothes—probably Detective Buckley—flanked by two uniforms.A third uniform chatted with a gaggle of crime scene investigators.That officer stepped in front of the scene to block Turk’s entry, but Buckley glanced up at the two human agents and waved for the uniform to let Turk pass.He backed off and tipped his hat to Turk, who dipped his head in acknowledgment as he sniffed around, staying a polite distance from the CSIs.
Buckley was questioning an older man in a security uniform.The gray-haired, heavyset security officer leaned against a trash can with his hands on his knees, his head hanging.No doubt he blamed himself for the death of whoever was obscured by the CSIs.
Buckley patted the old man on the shoulder and approached Faith.“Special Agent Bold?”
“That’s me.”Faith hooked a thumb at Jessica.“This is Special Agent Jessica Torres.Do you mind if she talks to your suspect?”
"Not a suspect, but sure," Buckley replied."That's Carl, the night guard.Matthew usually sends him home about seven-thirty.When the other employees started showing up, and Matthew hadn't arrived, Carl got worried.Called his cell phone, didn't get an answer.I guess one of the other staff members had found a phone.They traced it here."
“Matthew is the victim?”Faith guessed.
“Yeah.Matthew Brooks, forty.Worked here for eight years.Always showed up early so he could clean up the outdoor rehabilitation area before the dogs came out to use it.This is what Carl told me.”
Faith nodded at Jessica.“Go talk to him.See if you can get some background info on Matthew.See if he had any interactions with Trevor Walsh.”
“Oh yeah, speaking of that,” Buckley said.“We have officers there now.We’re detaining him on suspicion of drug possession because we caught him with a weed pipe, but we can only hold him for an hour, so if you want to talk to him, you might want to wrap it up quickly here.Unless we find enough pot to justify an intent to distribute charge, he’s just gonna get a citation and let loose.”
“We’ll be quick,” Faith replied.
She stepped onto the grass toward the cluster of CSIs.Turk had finished checking the scene out and was trotting along the high fence surrounding the outdoor rehabilitation area.Faith kept an ear out for any barking that might alert her to a clue.
In the meantime, she wanted to see the body.“Excuse me,” she said to the CSIs.“Mind if I take a quick look?”
They shared a grim look with each other, then stepped away.Faith’s stomach twisted.“Holy shit.”
She no longer wanted to see the body.She was rarely squeamish, but the charred tongue, burnt eyes, and the spiderweb of burns across Matthew’s face, hands, and neck twisted her stomach.He lay in a pool of thick, congealing blood that he appeared to have vomited up either just before or during death.
“What the hell could do something like that?”she asked.
“A sufficiently powerful electric current could,” the lead CSI replied.“Probably between one and two amps at thirty to fifty thousand volts.Not hard to get out of a modified taser.”She turned to one of her fellows and said, “This is why tasers need to be illegal to civilians.”
Faith saw the crispy holes in Matthew’s neck where the probes had struck him.“So, the shock killed him.”
“Technically speaking, and for the record, we have to wait until the coroner confirms, but his cause of death was a violent rupture of the cardiac muscle.The electric shock caused that rupture, though, along with a host of other problems that would have killed him if it hadn’t burst his heart.”
“Jesus,” Faith said.She turned to Buckley.“This is bad, and clearly someone had it in for Matthew, but this isn’t the same MO as our previous crime.”
“That’s what Hansen told me.Until I told him about this.”
He lifted a baggie containing a scrap of paper.On that paper, scrawled in heavy ink handwriting, was the word MURDERER.
Faith’s jaw tightened.She looked back at the lead CSI, carefully avoiding the sight of Matthew’s ruined body below.“Any sign of the killer in the area?Footprints, tire tracks, fabric?”
“No footprints or tire tracks,” the CSI replied.The dirt’s hardpacked here where it isn’t grass, and… Well, therearetire tracks, but hundreds of vehicles pass through every day.It’s impossible to tell which one might belong to our killer.As for other clues, we got some partial fingerprints off of Matthew’s neck, probably from when the killer removed the taser probes, but I’m not sure if there’s enough to come back.”
Faith nodded.“Got it.What about security footage?”
Buckley glanced over Faith’s shoulder.“Maybe your partner got that answer from Carl.”
