Find Me If You Dare (The Chronicles of Elizabeth Marshall Book 2) by Rachel Lucas

represented. 
    “As soon as they saw the mark and recognized it from our bulletins, they contacted the Rangers and our local field office,” Phillips went on to explain. “They haven’t been able to ID the victim yet. From what they do know, the victim seems to be a male Caucasian in his late-forties to mid-fifties. They’re currently canvassing the entire area to look for any other evidence or form of identification.”
    “Do we have a cause of death yet?” Logan asked.
    “Right before our plane took off they were preparing to take the body to the coroner. There won’t be an official cause of death until she finishes her full examination. But from initial reports, they believe it was a possible torture, a mutilation.”
    The director seemed to debate whether or not to go into any further detail. I noticed t here were more images to be viewed on the screen but Phillips moved the laptop back around so it wasn’t within my view.
    I didn’t miss the look exchanged between Logan and the FBI director. It clearly stated that this was not going to be an easy crime scene for a “rookie” like myself to see. I couldn’t decide if I should be grateful for their discretion or annoyed. 

 
                      Chapter Twenty-One
                                                            
    As we prepared for landing at the Killeen-Ft. Hood Regional Airport, I was able to get a good look at the Texas town from the air. It was a sprawling mid-western town with a good deal of new growth. The local military base, Ft. Hood, had a strong presence here and many residents of the town had ties to the military.
    At one time, there might have been ma ny patches of green with fields, grass and trees, but this area of the country, the south and mid-west had been under a severe drought in the last year or so. Browns and dried yellows made up most of the colors I could see from the air. The very land itself looked parched and dried.
    We were met on the tarmac by an agent from the local field office named Special Agent Carter. He had a dark blue van waiting for us to take us to the crime scene. He handed a brown envelope to Director Phillips. After the introductions were made Phillips immediately began asking for updates.
    “Anything yet on the victim’s identity?” He asked as we climbed into a non-descript navy blue van and started leaving the airport.
    “Not yet,” Agent Carter replied as we turned right out of the airport and started heading east on 201. “As you can tell from the photos we’ve sent you, the victim was found without clothing. There has been nothing found close by to identify him. There has been relatively little blood found at the crime scene, so the theory at the moment is that he was killed elsewhere. He may have been dumped from a vehicle, but the ground there is so dry and dusty, we haven’t been able to get any tire tracks.”
    The road we were on took us to the outskirts of town. Up close, the drought here was evident. Tall yellow grass and weeds covered most of the landscape. Eventually, the road turned south and we came to a near-deserted area. A couple of local police cruisers sat at the entrance of a long dirt road. A few local news vans were there also, but were not allowed past the entrance to the road. We were waved past once they saw who we were.
    We traveled almost a half a mile down the road before we saw the area off to the side sectioned off by police tape. There were more cars there, from the local police, to the county sheriff, to the Texas Rangers and the local FBI. It was probably more excitement than this town had seen in a while.
    We stepped out of the van and walked over to the crime scene. Logan lifted up the police tape for me to duck under.
    With the body removed, there didn’t seem to be very much out of the ordinary in the area. There were a few places that were marked by numbered tags, identifying that some