Page 5 of Whisper Through the Pines

“Okay, don’t slip now.” Jenna moved to her side. “Pass them down to me.”

Emily climbed slowly onto the hood of the truck. Blood spattered the front window, running down in red lines, and then veered off to one side across the hood’s blue paintwork. She stepped carefully and shook open a large bag before taking a careful grip of the male’s hair and dropping it into the bag. She sealed the bag and handed it down to Jenna and then repeated the action with the female. She set her mind on thinking about her dad. How he would deal with this terrible situation. She tried to inhale some deep breaths through her nose to calm her racing heart. Admitting to being terrified in the forest with a serial killer on the loose would make her appear unprofessional and her dad had instilled professionalism in her the moment she decided to become a medical examiner. She could hear his voice in her mind as if he were standing next to her. You’ll come across murder or accident scenes that make you want to run in the opposite direction. Mutilated bodies will trigger the flight response, but remember it’s not the dead that can hurt you and only you can stand up for them and tell their story. Only you, Em. If you can’t do that, walk away now and choose another career. Don’t follow me along a path where you can’t possibly succeed.

She climbed carefully from the hood and stood for a few moments gathering her equilibrium before walking back to the blood trail from the bodies. She turned and followed it back, noticing the long deep scratches on one side of the truck. She looked at Jenna. “This is where we need Dave. He is so good at estimating people’s heights.” She walked back and forth and then around the back of the truck, going all around the front and back to Jenna. “We’ll need to wait for Raven and Webber to get back. I don’t believe that the killer climbed onto the truck to display the heads. I figure he was tall enough to place them on top of the cab.”

“That’s a stretch of the imagination.” Jenna frowned. “Dave is six-five and he stands on the doorsill to polish the top of the Beast. This is an older F-150, but he’d need to be a giant to reach up there with a head. They’re heavier than I imagined.”

Emily moved closer to the doorsill and bent to examine it more closely before checking the opposite side. “There’s blood spatter on both sills, either side. Some of the blood has a very slight mark on it, possibly a boot print. This is my dad’s field. He has so many gadgets to find prints. Once he gets home, we can investigate this further.”

“That makes more sense.” Jenna held up her hand when her phone buzzed. She took the call and then stared into space. “Unfortunately, they’re not missing any longer. Send me the details and I’ll go and speak to the parents once I’m done here. No, don’t say anything. Yes, they can wait there if they want. Take them to the conference room and make them comfortable. It’s a really bad scene, and they won’t be able to view the bodies.”

Emily moved closer and she touched Jenna’s arm. “Ask Rowley to get DNA swabs from the mothers. I can get them processed in a couple of hours.”

She waited for Jenna to relay the information. The white van appeared, moving toward them along the track. “Okay, we’ll get these loaded and see if Raven or Webber can place something from the ground to the roof. It will give you some idea of the size of this killer.”

After going through the motions, she decided a man would need to be over six feet to lift a heavy head onto the top of the cab while standing on the sill. She’d just removed her gloves and mask as the tow truck arrived from Millers’ Garage. Seeing George Miller behind the wheel was a bonus. He understood the meaning of preserving evidence and climbed out of the truck and nodded to her.

“We’ll winch it onto the trailer and slide it off at the morgue’s garage.” George rubbed his chin. “Don’t worry, no one will lay a finger on it.”

Emily smiled. “Thanks. We’ll be there when you arrive.” She turned to Jenna. “I’ll look at the victims late this afternoon, if you don’t mind staying back tonight? I’ll need to run many samples before I start. We’ll need to confirm identity.”

“That’s okay. I’ll call my boys. They understand when I need to work, and they have Raya to cook them dinner.” Jenna walked slowly toward Raven. “I’ll get a ride back to town with Em. Are you coming to the autopsy?”

“Yeah, and if you don’t need me, I’ll assist Em with the preliminary examinations to move things along.” Raven removed his gloves and added them to the plastic bag containing garbage. “I’ll just need to go back to the ranch and feed my animals.” He gave them both a long look. “It’s been a very long and stressful morning and it will be a long afternoon. We all need a break. Once Em has run the DNA tests and you’ve spoken to the parents, can I persuade you both to join me at Aunt Betty’s Café for a late lunch?” He looked hopefully from one to the other. “We’ll work better with some nourishment.”

Emily smiled ruefully. “I guess that would be better than listening to your stomach complaining all afternoon.”

“Okay, call me when you’re through and I’ll meet you there.” Jenna rubbed both hands down her jeans. “I’ll need a cup of coffee and Aunt Betty’s will be a nice distraction after this morning.” She glanced around her. “This killer is so brutal. I don’t believe we’ve seen the last of him. I have an awful feeling he’s just getting started.”

Six

Nothing could be worse than waiting on DNA results to confirm identity when the parents of missing kids waited close by. Jenna sat at her desk checking through statewide reports, searching for any similar cases. Who could possibly be deranged enough to decapitate people? Her head ached from lack of sleep and she actually looked forward to taking a short break to eat lunch and try and push the images of the victims from her mind for a few minutes. She picked up her phone and called Agent Ty Carter and behavioral analyst Agent Jo Wells in Snakeskin Gully. It was good to see their faces and she smiled. “Hey, how are things?”

“Slow. I even encouraged Jo to go fishing with me yesterday.” Carter moved a toothpick across his lips, catching it between his teeth to grin. “The problem with Jo is she’s a catch-and-release girl—and me, well, I lived off the land for a time and appreciate a home-cooked fish dinner. But I compromised and we let everything we caught swim away with only bruised egos.”

“I don’t see Dave.” Jo frowned at her. “Is something wrong?”

Wanting to tell them Kane hadn’t been around for ten long days as she should be able to trust her best friends, but knowing one slip of the tongue would place Kane in mortal danger, Jenna forced a smile. “It’s been the same here and Dave and Shane went on a guys’ getaway. It was a spur-of-the-moment idea. They left their phones behind, so I’m guessing they’ll be somewhere off the grid for a time.”

“You don’t need to worry about them, Jenna.” Carter picked up on her concern. “If there are two people who can survive anywhere, it’s them.” His eyebrows raised. “Now what’s the real reason you called? You know you can’t hide anything from the FBI; we have superpowers.”

After explaining the current situation, she looked at Jo. “Who would do such a thing? I have nothing. Both women gave statements and neither saw anything. No one along the trail, no vehicles—nothing. There’s no evidence at the scene, apart from maybe a partial boot print in the blood spatter, but it could be from the female victim.”

“Yeah, well if the killer is obsessed with the legend, the male would be the first to die.” Jo drummed her fingers on the desk. “The couple in the car hear a scraping noise, which in the stories is the Axman dragging the blade of the ax along the side of the vehicle. The guy gets out to see what’s happening and he is murdered and his head placed on the roof. The girl is left alone, waiting for him to return, and then she gets out of the vehicle and is murdered. It’s been told many times over Halloween to scare people.”

Nodding, Jenna leaned back in her chair. “Rio is ready to send out a media release, telling young people not to drive into the forest late at night and to avoid any of the local lovers’ lanes. He’s not mentioning the murders, just that someone has been stalking couples in the area.”

“Hmm, it’s almost Halloween. Seems to me the moment the displays start going up all the crazies crawl out of the woodwork.” Carter looked at Jenna. “We love to be with you guys at Halloween. If officially you ask us for help, I’ll run it past the director, and if I get the green light, we can get there tomorrow.”

Blowing out a sigh of relief, Jenna nodded. “Oh, please come. Bring Kalo and Jaime. Our cottage is stocked. You can stay for as long as you want. Raya is here to watch the kids.”

“Okay, I’ll call him right away.” Carter swung his attention to Jo. “Can you profile someone like this, Jo?”

“Not until we have some evidence, but if you consider the killer might be obsessed with Halloween or is part of a cult, something like this might be an initiation.” Jo shrugged. “There might be more than one person involved too. It’s a wait-and-see game to discover if this perp uses any other weird myths. There are so many that it would be very difficult to cover all of them with a contingency plan.”

Chewing on her bottom lip, Jenna nodded. “It’s terrifying to think we’ll need to wait until someone else dies in the hope of finding evidence. I’ve been searching all morning for anyone who has committed the same crime or just been released from prison and came up with a big fat zero.”

“It’s likely someone passing through.” Carter blew out a sigh. “At this time of year, tourism is at a peak. It might be someone just wanting to make a name for themselves in Serial Killer Central.”