Cam, he asked, “From what I saw last night, it didn’t look likely that the bone could have come from last night’s victim.”
“I didn’t,” Cam agreed grimly. “The body found last night is intact. Lucy would only say from the size of the one found that it likely belonged to a small-boned adult.”
“With its proximity to the river, the cave would be prone to flooding,” Sophie noted.
“It would if we had a year like five years ago. Rivers were up record levels. And with the spring rains the Raccoon was definitely out of its banks. But not high enough to make it up that slope and into the cave.”
“The Ziegler box wouldn’t be waterproof,” Seth informed her. “But if river water has gotten inside it, we’ll be able to tell at the lab.”
Sophia took a step back and looked at the site with new eyes. Dense woods above the bluff flanked the grassy clearing on two sides. On another it was bordered by a rocky hill that hid the tunnel. Scattered trees and underbrush on the shoreline blocked the clearing from view of the river. The seclusion it offered would have been perfect for the UNSUB’s activities.
He’d perfected it even more to meet his needs.
“How much time would it take him to dig out that tunnel?” she wondered aloud. It wouldn’t be unusual for an offender to invest copious amounts of time looking for exactly the right spot to enact his atrocities. Some killers spent years fitting a cellar with cells and torture equipment, acting out their fantasies in the meantime with a mate or prostitutes. Others found spots that required little repurposing for their needs, like the abandoned livestock barn Vance had used. “I imagine this river is heavily fished. Although he’d be shielded from view, he still ran the risk of being seen, unless he only came here at night.”
“People fish at night too,” Cam informed her. He’d put on his suit jacket before exiting the car and his hands were in the pockets, his expression enigmatic. “And he wouldn’t have had to dig it by hand. If he used a power shovel he could have done it in one or two nights. Probably two, because he would have needed to haul the dirt out and dump it. It would still have been a risk. But he’s already proved he’d not risk-averse.”
Sophia silently agreed. The second offender had been seen stalking Vance’s last victim. He’d waited outside a bank while his victim went outside and made a large withdrawal, under his orders. But it hadn’t been until he’d been captured on a security camera outside a gas station enroute to Iowa that they’d matched him to the eyewitness sketch from Edina. “That would be a lot of work to go through for one victim.”
“It sure as hell would be.” Cam was already taking his cell from his pocket. Dialing in a number. “I’ll call Story County Emergency Services and the HRD liaison. Get a STAR 1 team out here.”
The words left her shaken, although they echoed her own thoughts. The Story County emergency services would dispatch a civilian human remains detection canine team trained to alert to clandestine graves, or to determine the location of bodies in the water. The discovery of that finger bone meant the UNSUB had likely brought other victims to this site.
The trill of a songbird sounded. An inquisitive squirrel paused at the bottom of a tree on the ridgeline, as if puzzled by the human interruption of its normal tranquil routine.
Staring out over the peaceful scene, she wondered bleakly what sort of macabre secrets its serene facade might mask.
Chapter 5
The excitement of being this close to Lucy Benally’s home almost made him giddy.
Carefully he opened the door and eased out of the borrowed car, pausing for his bag of tools before turning to squint at the nearby house. The picture on the web was obviously outdated. It hadn’t done justice to the place. The home glistened with a
“I didn’t,” Cam agreed grimly. “The body found last night is intact. Lucy would only say from the size of the one found that it likely belonged to a small-boned adult.”
“With its proximity to the river, the cave would be prone to flooding,” Sophie noted.
“It would if we had a year like five years ago. Rivers were up record levels. And with the spring rains the Raccoon was definitely out of its banks. But not high enough to make it up that slope and into the cave.”
“The Ziegler box wouldn’t be waterproof,” Seth informed her. “But if river water has gotten inside it, we’ll be able to tell at the lab.”
Sophia took a step back and looked at the site with new eyes. Dense woods above the bluff flanked the grassy clearing on two sides. On another it was bordered by a rocky hill that hid the tunnel. Scattered trees and underbrush on the shoreline blocked the clearing from view of the river. The seclusion it offered would have been perfect for the UNSUB’s activities.
He’d perfected it even more to meet his needs.
“How much time would it take him to dig out that tunnel?” she wondered aloud. It wouldn’t be unusual for an offender to invest copious amounts of time looking for exactly the right spot to enact his atrocities. Some killers spent years fitting a cellar with cells and torture equipment, acting out their fantasies in the meantime with a mate or prostitutes. Others found spots that required little repurposing for their needs, like the abandoned livestock barn Vance had used. “I imagine this river is heavily fished. Although he’d be shielded from view, he still ran the risk of being seen, unless he only came here at night.”
“People fish at night too,” Cam informed her. He’d put on his suit jacket before exiting the car and his hands were in the pockets, his expression enigmatic. “And he wouldn’t have had to dig it by hand. If he used a power shovel he could have done it in one or two nights. Probably two, because he would have needed to haul the dirt out and dump it. It would still have been a risk. But he’s already proved he’d not risk-averse.”
Sophia silently agreed. The second offender had been seen stalking Vance’s last victim. He’d waited outside a bank while his victim went outside and made a large withdrawal, under his orders. But it hadn’t been until he’d been captured on a security camera outside a gas station enroute to Iowa that they’d matched him to the eyewitness sketch from Edina. “That would be a lot of work to go through for one victim.”
“It sure as hell would be.” Cam was already taking his cell from his pocket. Dialing in a number. “I’ll call Story County Emergency Services and the HRD liaison. Get a STAR 1 team out here.”
The words left her shaken, although they echoed her own thoughts. The Story County emergency services would dispatch a civilian human remains detection canine team trained to alert to clandestine graves, or to determine the location of bodies in the water. The discovery of that finger bone meant the UNSUB had likely brought other victims to this site.
The trill of a songbird sounded. An inquisitive squirrel paused at the bottom of a tree on the ridgeline, as if puzzled by the human interruption of its normal tranquil routine.
Staring out over the peaceful scene, she wondered bleakly what sort of macabre secrets its serene facade might mask.
Chapter 5
The excitement of being this close to Lucy Benally’s home almost made him giddy.
Carefully he opened the door and eased out of the borrowed car, pausing for his bag of tools before turning to squint at the nearby house. The picture on the web was obviously outdated. It hadn’t done justice to the place. The home glistened with a
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