Putting those thoughts and fears out of her mind, she followed Luke down the iron stairs to the alley…or rather road that was paved with mismatched cobblestones that would have turned her ankle had she been wearing her boots or heels. Thank goodness she’d put on her sneakers this morning.
Luke had been right. There were a lot of stores and such around here. This must be one of Savannah’s more touristy areas.
Just as there was definitely a spooky feel in the air along with the musk of moss and damp rocks. “How old is this place?”
Luke shrugged. “Over two hundred years.”
It felt it.
Even in the hot Georgia sun, she had chills on her arms.
As they neared the end of the cobbled road that dead ended at another hotel, she saw where the police had cordoned off the entire area and blocked traffic from coming up or down a ramp to River Walk. It wasn’t until they reached a blue dumpster that she saw the body lying behind it in a strange…
She didn’t even know what to call it. It wasn’t an alley or really anything. Just an out of place rectangle cinder block area that had two open wrought-iron gates to block it.
At first glance, she’d think it’d been built to protect the dumpster, but the dumpster was outside the small cinder block section, and the gates didn’t appear to have a lock.
The body lay in the middle of the rectangle, almost completely obscured by the dumpster. Which was a good thing given the fact that the student was in even worse shape than the last one. Blood coated the cobblestones under the kid and ran down the walkway.
Luke pulled out a pair of latex gloves from his coat pocket.
Bernadette met them while the ME photographed the body.
“Who found the victim?” Luke asked Bernadette.
“Couple of workers about an hour ago. Looks like the same MO. Press is circling like sharks. Serial killers near college campuses make for a bad day for all agencies.”
“Yes, they do.” He turned toward Sorcha. “You see anything?”
“Only something from the drug-induced nightmares of Tim Burton. Gah, this is awful. That poor…” She couldn’t tell if the student was male or female. “Kid.”
Bernadette blocked Sorcha from the crime scene. “If you have to barf, run that way.” She pointed toward the hotel in the opposite direction. “If we taint evidence, the local LEOs will never let us near another crime scene.”
“I’m not going to barf.” She hoped.
Bernadette gave her a pointed stare. “Cap told me what you did at the cemetery.”
Of course, she did. Damn it, Elana. Why?
“I’m fine. Cross my heart.” She made a small X over her breast.
“What is that?” Luke asked.
At first, she thought he was referring to her gesture. Until she realized he was staring at the cinder block wall.
“Blood splatter,” Bernadette said.
“No,” he breathed. “I don’t think so.”
And then Sorcha saw it, too. It was some kind of pattern on the wall. The blood dripped down from what appeared to be a star of some sort.
What was it, indeed…
Moving closer, she scowled at the dried blood. “Is that a snowflake?”
Luke squinted. “Maybe. The blood’s run so much that it’s hard to see what it was originally.”
Bernadette moved to stand between them. “Could just be an optical illusion. What do they call it when people see patterns in abstract drawings?”
