Caribbean Rain (27 page)

The CSI dropped his phone in his lap, shaking his head. The small beads of sweat on his forehead and lip sprayed in both directions.

“How many, this time?”

“Four. They were members of some tourist committee for San Juan.”

“How bad?” asked Manny, running his hand through his hair.

“Let’s just say you were right; he’s gone on to a new creepy high. He decapitated all four of them, then lined up the bodies and switched heads with them.”

This shit was getting old. “I suppose it’s worse than I can imagine?”

“I’d say that’s right.”

“Where?”

“Off that La Mina path thing that leads to some waterfalls.”

“Do Josh and the others know?”

He nodded. “Josh told her to call us since we were already here, and they’ll be showing up as soon as possible.”

Manny hit the lights and gas pedal. For the second time on this case, his mind was grasping at the killer’s intent. The actions in the morgue were gruesome, yet there was symmetry to the display, and he expected nothing less at this one. He was also taken aback by the closeness of the attacks. He knew this killer was accelerating his agenda, but even Argyle didn’t do it this quickly.

The uneasy feeling that this killer was up to something big gnawed at Manny’s gut. But what? And that was the million dollar question, wasn’t it? They’d better find out, or things would never be the same in Puerto Rico, of that he
was
sure.

They pulled around the sharp curb and Manny hit the brakes. The road was blocked by two cruisers and a small orange barricade between them that said POLICE.

Steering to the side of the uneven, dirt parking area, they got out. Alex’s forensic kit in hand, they showed their credentials and moved down the steps. They finally reached the juncture in the trail leading to the small, faded hut already taped off with the obligatory yellow, crime-scene plastic.

As he got closer, he noticed that the four blues, one posted on each side of the tape, were facing away from the carnage inside.

Fewer nightmares that way.

One of them crossed himself and seemed to be praying. A moment later, Manny knew why. He heard Alex gasp beside him. Manny bit his lip and bent his head to El Yunque’s lush canopy. He closed his eyes reaching for that famous, or maybe infamous, cop mode that caused everything emotional to leave and be replaced with a
Just the Facts
mindset. It wasn’t going to be that easy.

The rainforest was eerily quiet, except for the eternal rush of water to La Mina falls. The sound seemed out of place and the dichotomy was too ironic not to notice. Death and beauty had always existed side by side, and even tolerated one another. Between them, they represented almost every facet of life, but this was an extreme capturing of both ends of the spectrum. The place where he and Alex stood and the horrifying scene in front of them said so.

Releasing a breath, Alex snapped on his gloves, handed Manny a pair, and ducked under the tape. Manny waited another moment, took several mental notes, and then followed his friend into hell.

Chapter-51

Sophie and Josh left Flores’s fencing club, stepped into the heat of San Juan’s late morning, then quickly sought shelter in the SUV’s air conditioned interior.

Sophie swung out into the traffic. “What’s first?”

“Let’s drop this list off to the office and get our butts up to the rainforest,” said Josh.

“You’re the boss. Ah, how bad is it?”

The trepidation in Sophie’s voice echoed his own.

“Bad. I’ve called Chloe, and they’re going to meet us at the Federal Building.”

“I know it’s kind of low on the totem pole, but did they find out anything on that damned mongoose?”

“They hit two of the three labs. One was closed, and the others had a few employees off because it was Saturday so that might have to wait. But I want to find a link between that drug-pushing creep and that little critter gift in your room, so we’ll get some of the other agents involved.”

It’d been some time since Josh’s mind had operated like this. Too many pans in the fire and not nearly enough cooks, as usual. But then again, these situations came with the territory—always had. He did have a few advantages that most of the other unit leaders didn’t. He glanced at Sophie and smiled.

“What? You looking at my boobs?”

“Tempting as that is, not this time. I was just thinking how lucky this BAU is to have who we have. Not every specialty unit at the Bureau can say that. In fact, none of them can.”

“Manny?”

“Yeah. I know I keep saying this, but I’ve not seen a profiler like him, even with all of the distractions over the last two years. Not to mention, he knows how to get to the heart of a problem. His talk with me was vintage.”

“Oh, tell me about those talks.”

“But he’s not the only one. This team is a true team, and that’s hard to find.”

“That whole ‘work together’ thing is still a little weird to me. Never been part of a real team until I joined up with Manny. All of that loyalty and patience crap, he’s strange that way. I tolerate it just to humor the boy.”

This time he laughed out loud. “That’s so good of you.”

Sophie turned onto the exit leading to the Federal Building as he squeezed the list Flores had given them. He felt the answer was here, or part of it, then he shook his head. That “feeling” world belonged to Manny, but every now and then…

“Good job with the questioning in there. What made you ask the last one?”

“When Manny and I would talk about profiles, it seemed like all of the real psychos flew under the radar. There are some exceptions, like Gacy. Manny, and my Mom, always said to look out for the quiet ones. They’re both right, so it seemed a question that needed a little love.”

“What do you think about him? Samuel Crouse, I mean,” he asked, watching her face.

“I think it’s damn weird that he’s Crouse’s ex for one thing. We need to get the lowdown from her. Being married to her might mean he’s got some knowledge about how cops do what they do.”

“True.”

“He also fits, at least in part, some of the profile Manny put together, so he’s a good place to start. He might not be any more of a suspect than any of the other assholes on that list, but the ‘keep to yourself’ bit and arguing about the price of a sword, puts him at the top, in my book.”

“You're right.”

“I am? I mean, I am,” she said, grinning.

Gliding the SUV to the security gate, Sophie drove to the front of the building. Josh got out and handed the stack of papers to the agent he’d called to meet him.

“I want background checks on everyone on this list, starting with Samuel Crouse and the owner of the fencing clubs, Flores. I want to know everything you can find out about them. And I want a list of sword dealers from every damned corner of the globe, including what any of those people sold and to whom over the last three years.”

“Yes, sir.”

He started to walk away, but turned back to the agent. “I need one more thing.”

Josh told him what he needed.

The agent looked puzzled and shrugged. “Okay. That’s weird, but okay.”

“It is, but something tells me Special Agent Williams will want that information.”

“What would Manny want?” asked Sophie.

“If any of them owned an animal research lab.”

“Good one. He would want to know.”

A moment later, Chloe and Dean emerged from the building.

“How’d it go at the fencing clubs?” asked Chloe.

“Not bad. We’ll fill you in on the way to El Yunque.”

“Yeah, can’t wait to see that mess,” she shivered.

Dean and Chloe climbed into the backseat and Josh noticed, with some amusement, that Dean had gotten into the passenger side. It lent a better look in Sophie’s direction. The man was gone, for sure.

As the vehicle left the circle driveway, Sophie pointed to a man sprinting across the median from Carlos Chardon Avenue. He jumped the yellow curb and was running directly at them.

“What the hell’s going on with him?”

Josh watched the picture unfold in front of them as three more men came into view, running after the first man, two of them had weapons pulled and were yelling.

“Hey, isn’t that first guy Detective—?”

Dean didn’t finish his sentence because the first bullet that hit the windshield caused him to duck.

In an instant, Sophie yanked the vehicle to the left, away from Detective Ruiz and the weapon he had in his hand.

Chapter-52

“Sweet mother of Jesus,” whispered Alex. “This just went to the top of the list.”

Not able to speak at that moment, Manny only nodded. The climate in the rainforest had accelerated the decaying process, and all four bodies were bloated to the size of Thanksgiving Day Parade balloons. Add in the repulsive, metallic stench, the buzz of blow flies, and a few other insects he didn’t recognize, and you could chalk this crime scene up to one of the worst he’d ever witnessed. More sleepless nights and a visit or two to the FBI’s shrink staff were on the horizon. And he’d be lucky if that was all.

He scanned each body slowly and was suddenly struck with his own mortality. It had entered his mind a time or two over the years, especially in Galway, Ireland, but to see what this maniac was capable of drove the point home. God had watched out for him—he had no doubt regarding that—but we all have an appointment with destiny. Louise was proof, and he suspected everyone, deep down, knew it. Knowing and accepting were about as compatible as fire and ice, and he thought most people knew that, too.

“You’re trancing, and I think I need to learn,” said Alex.

“No. Just thinking.”

“If it’s about death and dying, forget it. It’ll make you crazy, and that’s not why we’re here.”

“You’re right on both counts.”

Standing, he ran his hand through his hair and tried to get a feel for what had gone down in this little area of paradise. You can’t do this to four people unless you surprise them like a trained jungle guerilla. Or maybe they were taken off guard because the killer seemed harmless. Maybe they knew him. His vote this time was for knowing the killer. No one would seem harmless approaching a campsite early on Saturday morning. If he was right, what exactly did that mean? Relative? Jealous coworker? Professional associate?

He squatted next to Alex, both of them feeling the heat and perspiring to prove it.

“Tell me something good,” said Manny.

“You first.”

“All right. I think these people knew him. It’s hard to surprise more than one or two folks without one of them getting the opportunity to escape or at least scream for help.”

“Yeah, but even if you knew him, after the first swing of the blade, maybe the second, the others would be on their way to anywhere but here, right?”

“Right, but I don’t think they were all together. If you look close enough, you can see subtle breaks in the vegetation and the dirt over there has drag marks. Let me show you something else.”

Still on his haunches, Manny pointed to the cracked cement slab. “There are small streaks of blood on that slab, and you’ll let me know for sure, but it looks like there’s a crossing pattern, indicating that more than one body was dragged over it and from different directions.”

Inhaling from his mouth so as not to take in too much of the smell, he pointed to the ground behind the faded bench supporting the heads. “There are different angles of blood splatter on the leaves and the stones. Also, the amounts vary. To me, that says he killed them one at a time and at slightly different times. And not to put a damper on your ‘run screaming into the woods and hope for the best’ theory, but where in hell are you going to run if he’s coming in from the same direction we did?”

Alex surveyed the area, then nodded slowly. “You’re correct. It’s almost a natural boxed-in location, but he couldn’t have known that, right?”

“That’s probably true, unless he knew the area and had that in mind when he planned this one. Even if he didn’t really realize it, he may have counted on the fact that the rainforest is a tough place to navigate.”

“Sounds true.”

“Your turn, what do you have?”

“Right. First, I gotta say that I thought some of the shit Argyle pulled was something from the dark ages, but this is something to make Count Vlad the Impaler proud.”

“No argument from me.”

Standing up, Manny stood with him. Alex was still sweating, but he wore a paler shade than when they first arrived. He probably did, too.

“They’ve been dead for about three hours, but these conditions make it appear longer. You talked about the blood patterns outside the body area, and that makes sense. We’ll have to go over the perimeter to see exactly where they were all killed, but I won’t lie, the moisture and the rain will make that tougher. We have our ways, luminol, for one, but these conditions are going to be a factor. Also, look here at the cuts on the abdomens of both women. It’s like he was thinking of playing a little more, then decided not to.”

“Maybe he was running short of time.”

“That’s probably it, but once we get them cleaned up we’ll get a better idea. Also, if you look at the area where the heads left the bodies of three of them, the angle of cuts, at least to the naked eye, looks the same. The head on the far left belongs to the body on the right, and the cut looks like it angles slightly up, but for the most part, the man could be a damned surgeon with that kind of precision.”

Manny frowned. “Would you say that this victim was a little taller than the others?”

“I would. But—oh. If the angle’s a little on the up slant then—”

“We might be able to get a height for him, and that’s a great start.”

“One of the blues is about the right height. I’ll get him over here and see what I can figure out.”

“Good.”

Alex raised his hands in the air. “There are more obvious things to do. There must be about a million places to collect samples of dirt and bugs, and I have to start taking pictures now.”

“Have at it. I can handle going to the other scenes. It might even be better to be alone.”