himself around a bit.’
Jake gently touched the body: stiff but not completely. Rigor mortis was not fully established. That put the time of death less than twelve hours ago. With the cold night-time temperature, probably less than ten.
Mills whistled from the top of the ditch, then stepped down to join them. He looked at the body from top to bottom, as if checking out a lady in a bar. ‘Whoa, she’s a looker,’ he said.
‘Detective!’ warned Asher, who glanced behind him at the reporters and construction workers and said no more.
‘God, sorry,’ muttered Mills. ‘I was only trying to lighten the mood.’
Jake reached out his hand. ‘Just give me the thermometer and keep your thoughts to yourself.’
Mills gave Jake a digital thermometer. Jake took aflashlight out of his pocket and shone it into the victim’s mouth. This was a delicate operation, and strictly speaking he should not have been doing it, but he needed an approximation on the time of death as soon as possible – any advantage he could get against a killer Jake was starting to fear may already have an eye on a third victim.
The mouth seemed empty – no clues to be disturbed – so he inserted the thermometer and waited a few seconds for the temperature to register. The thermometer had two displays: external temperature and body temperature. Jake looked at the numbers and noted the difference. The outside temperature was 38 Fahrenheit, the internal temperature just below 41. The body had almost reached the temperature of the surrounding area so the victim had been killed up to eight hours ago. Because of the coldness of the night it could be as recently as six hours ago. That was good enough for Jake now. The ME could further narrow it down later.
While he was kneeling down Jake shone the flashlight around, but he could see nothing new apart from a third tooth. He left it there for the lab guys and stood. There was an awkward silence. Mills was unusually quiet. Jake had nothing. No idea where to go from here.
‘We need to know who she is,’ said Mills.
‘A woman like this will be reported missing before long,’ said Jake.
Mills stepped forward.
‘Taking another look?’ asked Jake.
‘You’re not the only—’ Suddenly Mills tensed. ‘Oh shit!’
‘What’s up?’ asked Asher.
Mills looked around. He nodded towards the press. Jake and Asher followed him as he walked away from the corpse. Once he was well out of earshot of everyone else, he turned and faced them.
‘I know who she is.’
Just then Asher’s phone cut in, its shrill tone jarring. Asher pulled it out of his pocket and was about to kill it when he recognized the number.
‘Hang on – it’s Harper. We’ll let him hear this.’
‘I don’t think so,’ said Mills, laying a restraining hand on the colonel’s arm. ‘It’s the councilman’s wife, Belinda.’
22
Wednesday, 10.20 a.m.
Jake, Mills and Asher stood in the small construction site office. It had been cleared out for them and turned into a temporary command post. There was a desk and chairs but they all stood. A cop was at the door, keeping the press at bay. A fresh pot of coffee was percolating, and the men were staring at each other gloomily. This was rapidly becoming bigger than they were able to handle.
‘It’s not a serial killer,’ said Asher to no one in particular. Jake could have added ‘yet’ to his sentence. Of course he also could have pointed out that, technically, a killer only became a serial killer with three victims spread over a month or more. So what did that make his guy? A ‘mass murderer’?
That didn’t exactly sound any better.
‘We could call in the Feds,’ Asher went on, sounding like he was voicing all the thoughts his mind was running through. ‘They have experience with this sort of thing. But since the deaths have not crossed state lines yet, it’s our choice.’ He looked right at Jake. ‘Can we handle it?’
Jake considered the question.