It was Samhain, although ironically, it was the one day of the year where the veil between life and death was at its thinnest. Olivia had imagined herself rising with the fiery rays of dawn and lighting the balefires, not standing in the cold, damp woods wrapped in a police issue blanket surveying a murder scene.
Yellow and black crime scene tape flapped in the breeze around a white tent that had been erected over the grisly remains to hide them from view. Not that it mattered much now; she’d never be able to erase that image from her memory.
Olivia shuddered as she fought down another wave of nausea, trying desperately to ignore the stench of what she now knew was human decomposition. It clung unpleasantly to her making her feel like her skin was crawling. She was desperate to go home and shower but couldn’t until the cops allowed her to leave the scene. It felt as if they were keeping her there on purpose even though she’d already given her statement along with Jake and Louise.
The image of what she’d seen was seared into her mind and no matter what she did she couldn’t stop thinking about it, she’d never seen anything like it before. It was like a puddle of human goo. If it hadn’t been for the tatters of clothing and the remnants of fingers and hair, she wouldn’t have even known it was human.
Swallowing hard against the bile rising in her throat, she really regretted the alcohol from the night before. It churned unpleasantly in her belly. The sudden flood of saliva in her mouth had her swallowing again as she tried not to vomit. Turning her back deliberately on the white tent and the hive of uniforms bustling around it she tried to stay upwind of the rotting stench.
The wind suddenly rippled through the sparse branches above her, drawing her attention. The tiny hairs on her arms rose, the air charged. She could hear a low, persistent buzz in her ears as she tasted something strange and metallic on her tongue. She glanced around the scene, a frown marring her brow. Someone had used magic there, very recently.
“Hell of a way to sober up.” Louisa appeared next to her.
“No kidding,” Olivia murmured. “You thinking what I’m thinking?”
Louisa gave a nod. “They’re being pretty tight-lipped, but it’s obvious they think it’s Adam.”
“Shit.” Olivia released a breath. “What could even do something like that? The guy looked like roadkill.”
“A wild animal, maybe?” Louisa frowned. “I mean, judging from the state of him.”
“A wild animal?” Olivia repeated, unconvinced. “A wild animal wandered into town, dragged him from his car and miles out here before what? Running him over with a road roller?”
“I don’t even want to think about the alternative.” Louisa shook her head. “Once they’ve finished up with the crime scene, his remains will be taken to Doc Hughes for the autopsy. I’ll see what I can find out from there.”
“I don’t think there’s much left of him to autopsy,” Olivia observed grimly. “I can’t believe that this whole time he was only a hundred yards from my house.”
“It was probably just an animal attack.” Louisa tried to sound confident. “Let’s wait until the autopsy comes back. Until then, stay out of the woods, and if we need to, we’ll call in animal control.”
“I suppose.” Olivia watched an older cop break away and approach them both with a guarded expression.
“Ladies.” He gave the barest tip of his hat.
“Chief Walcott,” Louisa replied.
“Dr. Linden, I believe Jake would like to speak with you.” His cool gaze swept past Louisa and latched onto Olivia.
“It’s fine,” Olivia assured her, seeing the concern in her friend’s eyes.
Louisa threw a distrustful glare at the Chief before walking away,
“Miss West, I presume?” the Chief said once they were alone.
He was an imposing figure. Broad-shouldered but slim, he stood over six feet tall, and his austere face bore deep creases. His eyes were dark, and beneath the wide brim of his hat, the hair at his temples was peppered with gray.
“I believe you discovered the body?”
“More like tripped over it in the dark.”
“Miss West, what were you doing in the woods so late at night?”
“Louisa and Jake were over,” she replied. “We had a few drinks and were reminiscing. We decided to head out into the woods to see if the den we made when we were kids was still there.”
“In the dark?” he said slowly. “In the rain?”
“Technically, it wasn’t raining at the time.” She shrugged. “And like I said, we’d been drinking.”
“But it was your idea to venture into the woods?”
