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It was almost enough to get me fucking hard again.
“Got to develop these,” I said to her.
“Sure. I’ll be here.” She sat down at the desk, rearranging the messy surface.
I walked toward the bathroom, but a vibrating in my pocket drew me up short. I pulled out my cell and answered it.
“Hello?”
“Easton? This is Sheriff Sloan.”
Ah fuck, I thought. Can’t the world let me feel fucking okay for ten fucking minutes?
“What can I do for you, Sheriff?”
“We have another body.”
I felt a stab of adrenaline. I leaned up against the doorjamb, speaking more softly.
“That’s fast.”
“We found her today. I think she’s only been dead for twelve hours at most.”
“Where are you?”
“I’ll text you the location.”
“Got it.” I hung up the phone and walked back into the main room.
Laney looked up. “Everything okay?”
“Do you know how to use a gun?”
She stared at me for a second and then smiled uncertainly. “You point and shoot, right?”
“Seriously.”
She shook her head. “No. What’s wrong?”
I unlocked a drawer at the bottom of the cabinet and pulled out my old service revolver. I flipped open the chamber and made sure it was loaded, and then I flipped it back.
“No safety. You just point and shoot. Pull the trigger slowly and breathe. Don’t panic.”
Laney looked concerned now as I walked over and placed the gun on the desk in front of her.
“What’s going on?”
“Nothing, Laney. I have to go meet Sheriff Sloan. I want you to lock the door behind me and wait here.”
“Was there another murder?”
I nodded gravely. “I don’t have time to drop you off. So please, stay here. Don’t open the door for anyone but me under any circumstances.” I paused and looked down at my weapon. “Shoot to kill if you have to.”
Her eyes were wide. “Easton, let me come with you.”
“No. It’s not safe for you.”
“I can help.”
“Laney,” I said, more forcefully than I’d meant to. “There’s a killer on the loose. I need to know you’re safe.”
She nodded slowly. “Okay. Fine.”
“Call if you need anything.” I walked into my back room and reached under my mattress, grabbing my own pistol. I checked the clip, shoved it into a holster, and shoved the holster into my pants.
“Be careful,” Laney said as I left.
“You too.” I shut the door behind me and headed down the steps, all thoughts of Laney’s body banished from my mind.
“Are you ready to see this?” Sloan asked me.
We were ten minutes outside town. It was a small wooded area not five minutes from a small subdivision of houses. Whoever put the body in this area had huge hulking balls, because he’d been within easy sight of anyone.
“Show me.”
Sloan nodded and we headed through the police tape. Up ahead, I saw the body propped against a tree, just like the last one.
As I got closer, I began to use my analytically-trained mind to understand what I was seeing. The girl was young, maybe fifteen or sixteen, and Hispanic. She looked familiar, but I couldn’t put my finger on why exactly.
Like all the other killings, her hands were mutilated and her fingers were removed. Like the new killings only, her hands were placed gently in her lap. She was fully clothed, which meant I wasn’t sure if she had been sexually assaulted or not. The girl was younger than the victims normally were, and whoever did the killing may not have been able to rape a minor.
Good for him. I doubted it mattered in the long run whether the sick fuck could get it up or not.
Finally, the strangest part of the whole scene: Nailed above the girl’s head was a wooden board with the word “TON” carved into it.
“What do you think?” Sloan asked me.
“Odd,” I said, distracted. I walked around the tree again slowly, being careful of where I stepped, looking for any evidence. A single boot print had been marked out, but it was faint. Otherwise, the scene was clean, as usual.
“Some differences,” I said. “Her hands are folded gently, like the killer cared. Normally she’s left splayed open, or just tossed on the ground. The sign is also new.”
“Any clue what it means?”
“No. Not right now.”
“Tech says they don’t think she was raped.”
I nodded. “I heard him say that. Another oddity.”
“Maybe he’s not into young girls.”
“Good for him.”
Sloan grunted. “I’ll let you look around. We set up over there in the east.” He pointed back the way we’d come.
