Hell Is Burning (6 page)

He hated when she left to go out on her own. Yes, it had been a year, but each time he ominously got that feeling that she was in danger.

It scared the shit out of him.

In Vegas, that was a very valid fear.

       
                         
* * *
  Croft & Croft  * * *

Across Town

State Park

He met her outside the police tape. When Emma Croft pulled up in her Navigator, she hopped down and slung her badge around her neck.

“Same as the last two?” she asked Mace Bristol.

He nodded. “It’s another mess. I hope you’re free for the rest of the night.”

“My in-laws are heading into town soon. I’m definitely free.”

He gave her a fist bump. “Amen, partner.”

“What do we have?” she asked.

“The CSI’s are starting to take some pictures. We have a few witnesses if you want to start the interview. They’re the ones who found the body. We can’t touch her until the ME does her thing.”

God only knew how long that was going to take.

“Lead the way, partner.”

Emma really liked working with Mace Bristol. He was pretty level headed, and the best part was he knew how to do his job. While Emma missed Brynn on a friendship level, the ten months working with her was an emotional drain.

It sucked having to train someone each and every day, especially when they were trying to pick your brain to be more like you.

Now, she could simply do her job.

Mace was a damn good cop.

She got lucky.

As they approached the three men, she could tell they were hunters. While they weren’t carrying guns, they were decked out in enough camo to clothe an entire Army regiment. You didn't often see camo in Vegas.

Feathers, yes.

“Gentlemen, I hear you found our victim,” Emma said, pulling out her phone to start making notes.

The men stared at her.

“What?” she asked, looking around. She wasn’t sure if there was something creeping up behind her or not. They were ogling her like she had three heads.

“You’re her!” the one man exclaimed.

At first, she didn't register what he was talking about.

“You’re the one! You’re that woman on the TV all the time. The one married to the FBI guy. Why are you working? Aren’t you filthy rich?”

“Yeah, that’s me. You can call me Detective Croft, not she who is married to the Fed. As to wealth, it doesn’t really come in to play. Our victim doesn’t give a shit how much is in my bank account.”

This was a sore point for her. Everyone automatically thought a rich cop was a crooked one.

Ironically, they wanted them to think that…until they fell into billions. Now--they couldn’t get off that train.

The hunters laughed.

Mace Bristol was amused. To him, this never got old. Then again, he didn't have people taking pictures of his feet and shoes to see if he was in style.

“My wife loves you. She thinks you have the best fashion sense. I didn't think you’d be dressed like this,” he stated.

Okay, she’d had about enough.

If you wanted to piss her off, this was the best way to do it. Emma hated when people talked about her clothing and ignored that she actually had a job. Unfortunately, it wasn’t as a clothes mannequin. She was a cop.

A damn good one.

“Yeah, well I leave my tiara and ball gown at home during work hours. This is my day look. You know--pissed off homicide cop. Now can we discuss the body?” she asked, pointing at the woman still hanging from the tree.

Emma really wished the ME would get her ass in motion and get the victim down. It was creepy how she hung from the branches of the big tree like some sick ornamentation.

Jingle bells. Their killer was crazy.

“Sure thing, ma’am,” the youngest one said.

It wasn’t that Emma didn't trust them, but she wanted their stories separate from each other. She couldn’t count the times that someone who ‘found’ the body turned out to be the one who killed the person.

She took the youngest one and led him toward their dropped hunting gear.

“Start from the beginning,” she stated.

The boy did just that. “We decided to go camping and hunting about three days ago, so Bobby got us some beer and weed…I mean jerky.”

She held out her hand. “If you give it to me now, I’ll forget where I found it. If I have the nice officers frisk and cavity search you, you’re going to be spending time behind bars. Marijuana is illegal here.”

He immediately handed it over.

She tucked it in her pocket. “Now spill it.”

“We were out here walking around, looking for the perfect area to bed down and wait for something to come through. That’s when we saw her.”

Emma made notes.

“At first, we thought someone was screwing around. You know, you see those scary movies where they hang the body in the trees, and the unsuspected person gets freaked out.”

“Most people do get freaked out. Dead bodies are a little scary,” she stated.

“No way! I want to see it when it’s down.”

Yeah, that wasn’t happening.

While Emma was easy going, she wasn’t that easy going. She could tell that the woman had suffered. Anyone strung up like a human piñata had to have a rough time. She couldn’t imagine allowing someone to do that to her.

Well, not without one hell of a fight.

“Okay, so you saw her. What next?”

“Jimmy called the cops.”

“Did you see anyone around?” she asked.

He shook his head. “No, but there are some drag marks not that far away,” he offered. “There’s nowhere to park around here. We had to walk in because the closest road is for official vehicles only. We don’t break the law.”

She pulled the pot out of her pocket, and he had the dignity to blush.

“Sorry, ma’am. Other than that, we don’t break the law. No cars means no cars.”

She glanced back at her Navigator. It had been one hell of a trip in, and she had a monster vehicle. If the killer drove back here, he likely did too.

“Where are the marks?” she asked.

“I can show you, ma’am.”

She motioned for him to go ahead.

“We were over here, and that’s when I saw them,” he admitted. “I was taking a leak.”

Great.

The forensics team was going to have fun with that one. There were days when being a detective sucked, but this wasn’t one of them. At least she wasn’t going to have to track through pee covered grass. Some tech was stuck with that crappy job.

It was a small miracle.

“Right here.”

Emma looked around. The tracks came from the opposite direction of where she was parked. The killer didn't drive in to deposit the body.

He’d been careful.

That said a lot.

This was meditated. It was planned. This wasn’t a spur of the moment thing.

When they got back, she was going to take her husband up on borrowing his profiler. Emma was pretty sure Paris would have a field day with this one.

Body hanging from tree…

Yeah, someone was a few crayons short of a box.

“What else did you see?”

“Not much, ma’am. We didn't want to get too close to the body. We knew that the cops would need to check it, and we didn't want to be suspects.”

“You found the bodies, so you’re automatically suspects.”

He stared at her. “Really?”

“Yes.”

“That is so freaking cool!” As he pulled out his phone to post some message on social media, she took it away from him.

“NO.”

He pouted.

Emma simply shook her head. “I’m going to have one of the CSI’s check your clothes and get some samples from you. Is that okay?”

“Yeah, I don’t mind,” he offered.

When she waved over a tech, the young man was taken away. While Mace was making sure the techs were doing their jobs, she motioned for the second man to join her.

She was going to see what he had to say.

“Can you tell me what happened?” she asked.

“We were hunting, and we found the body. That’s all.”

“I already have the weed, so you’re in the clear,” she stated. “You can calm down. I can see your pulse jumping in your throat.”

The man swallowed.

“I don’t want to be in trouble with the FBI.”

She tapped her badge. “LVPD. I’m not with the Feds. You have the wrong Croft. He’s taller than I am, has that pirate scar, and a bad temper when people lie. Oh, wait! So do I.”

Again, he began, and once more, it was the same story. Emma was beginning to believe that the men were on the up and up.

When she sent him off with another tech, the final man joined her. He was far less nervous than the other two.

“What’s it like to be a celebrity?” he asked.

“Annoying.”

“It looks cool.”

She was getting irritated. “What’s it like to be in jail?” she asked.

“I don’t know. I’ve never been arrested before,” he stated.

“I can change that if you don’t stop talking.”

He clammed up. “Sorry.”

Emma proceeded to ask him the same questions, and he, too, gave the exact same answers. When she was done with him, off he went.

It didn't take her partner long to find her.

“All set?” he asked.

“Next time, you get the interviews,” she stated.

Mace grinned. “Are you sure I’m qualified to ask the hard hitting questions? Who designed that suit? I bet it cost more than last week’s paycheck,” he teased. When she gave him a look, he lifted both hands. “Kidding! Man, someone’s cranky about their fashion this morning.”

She punched him in the arm.

“Yeah, yeah. Where the heck is Doctor Hanlon?” she asked, looking around.

“She’s running late,” a tech stated. “We’ve documented the scene. The doctor gave us the authorization to take her down.”

Emma rolled her eyes. If Steele was there, he’d shit a brick if someone touched his victim.

“You’re the lead investigator. It’s up to you, ma’am.”

“Okay, whatever the doctor wants. Do it.”

They stepped back and stared up at the body as it was slowly lowered. It was clearly a woman, and in the pit of her stomach, Emma had that feeling. She couldn’t quite put her finger on it, but it was there.

Something felt off.

All this talk about clothes had her focused on the dead woman’s things.

In fact, they looked familiar.

It was like she’d seen them before…but where?

Emma shook her head and tried to focus on anything else. She was obviously out of her mind. The trio of hunters had dropped her IQ to dangerously low levels.

As the body reached the ground, the techs again started taking pictures. Immediately, Mace began noticing things that were different.

“She’s got all her jewelry,” he stated.

Emma took note. “You’re right. That’s odd.”

The last two victims were missing their rings, earrings, and necklaces. The killer even took a toe ring.

Yet, now, not so much. She was adorned with a wedding band on her bloody finger.

Why?

The team began bagging her hands. She was placed on a tarp so they could catch any trace that fell off of her.

“Ready, Detectives?” the tech inquired.

Emma nodded. They were going to take the pillowcase off the victim’s head and try to ascertain her identity.

Mace handed Emma a pair of gloves and snapped into his own. With gentle fingers, he felt the woman’s arm.

“Rigor has set in. She’s been dead at least eight hours,” he stated.

“Remember when we had an ME who would be here and could tell us that?” she asked.

He snorted. “Yeah, it was all fun and games until that suave, coroner stealing bastard of yours took our fine doctor away.”

Yeah, not quite, but it was still amusing.

“No ID,” stated Emma, checking the woman’s blazer pockets.

Again, she got that feeling in the pit of her stomach. It was like a swarm of bees buzzing around.

She tried to ignore it.

“Nothing in her pockets,” he stated, checking her pants.

“Okay, cut the rope, but make sure it gets placed in with the body as evidence,” Emma stated. “Let’s disturb her as little as possible.”

She’d done enough of these that she could do a crime scene in the dark, blindfolded, and drunk. Sadly, she didn't trust the techs, who looked like they were fresh out of high school, to do the job.