I suppressed a groan. I respected his reasons for not entering scenes. I really did. But, unfortunately, Captain Turnham still wanted to know what was going on beyond the tape, and he had developed a rather aggravating habit of whistling to his detectives and motioning them over every few minutes so he could find out what they’d come up with.
Not even six in the morning and he was already showered, shaved, and dressed in clothes that held more starch than I had ever worn in my entire life. “Morning, Gillian,” he said when I reached him. “What do you have?”
“Morning, Captain. It fits the pattern of all the others. Shitload of torture—burned in a zillion little lines.” I shuddered. “It’d look really cool if it wasn’t so nasty.”
“Symbol on the body?”
“Right above the pubic bone. And cause of death is probably going to be ligature strangulation.”
He nodded, face impassive. “I pulled Boudreaux and Pellini from their other cases for the day to canvass for witnesses, but I’m working on getting you some permanent help.”
“I met Agent Kristoff yesterday during the autopsy on the other victim.” Some sourness must have crept into my tone, because my captain gave a dry laugh.
“He didn’t light your fire?”
“He barely spoke to me.”
“You know how some of those Feds are. He isn’t even officially assigned yet. He called me after the body was found at the wastewater plant and asked for the file.”
“Well, that’s strange,” I said, frowning. Hadn’t Kristoff said that he’d been assigned to a task force?
The captain gave a half shrug. “Actually, not really. He’s on another task force that focuses on ritual murders and cult things. He’s probably evaluating the case to see if it falls under their sort of thing.”
“Oh, jeez.” I groaned. “Is he the kind who’s going to insist that it’s satanic rituals?”
Captain Turnham’s mouth twitched slightly. “I’m well aware of how you feel about that.”
“Sorry, Captain, it’s just that it gets a little old having the ‘satanic’ label slapped onto everything—especially when the people don’t have a fucking clue about satanism. It’s almost as bad as when they start screaming about witchcraft.”
He lifted an eyebrow at me. “Your aunt’s been ranting again?”
“Yeesh, you should hear her whenever she gets wind of that sort of thing. She’s considered an expert on the occult and paranormal, you know.”
“Oh, yes, I know.” He tilted his head. “It still amazes me that she never gets hassled for that. This is the Bible Belt, after all.”
I shrugged. “Everyone just thinks of her as a harmless eccentric.”
He nodded, absently polishing his glasses on his sleeve. “So, did Crime Scene find anything that we can work with?”
“Not yet.” I paused, then decided to take a chance. “Look, Captain, I know this is going to sound insane, but is there any way I can bring my aunt out here to take a look at the body?”
His brows lifted. “Are you kidding? Look, I know she’s an expert on the occult, but the chief would lose his mind if I brought a civilian in to look at a corpse.” He paused. “But I’ll let you show her some pictures, see if maybe you can get that symbol identified.”
I’d done that right after I got the old Symbol Man file, but of course I wasn’t about to tell him that.
“So, is there going to be a task force? I’m thinking it would be pretty nice,” I said.
A grimace flickered across his face. “I agree with you, Gillian. I think that there’s sufficient reason to form one, and I’m still pushing the issue. But the chief isn’t ready to announce that these bodies are Symbol Man victims. Bad press, you know?” He spread his hands.
I looked back at the pitiful lump on the ground. “Yeah, well, if either of these victims had been the daughter or son of an upstanding member of society, we’d have had FBI, CIA, NSA, FAA, you name it, crawling all over this place.”
“He’s picking his victims well. People no one gives a shit about.”
“No. He’s wrong,” I said, eyes narrowing. “Because I give a shit about them.”
“And that’s why you’re the lead on these cases. Because you’re a stubborn, obnoxious, tenacious bitch.” His dark eyes flashed in rarely shown humor and something that might have been approval.
I laughed. “Aw, Captain, I didn’t know you cared.”
“Don’t let it get out. I have a reputation to maintain.” He lifted his chin toward the bleachers, where a man sat with an imposing Rottweiler on a leash. “That’s Reverend David Thomas over there. He’s the one who found the body.”
“Thanks, Captain. I’ll let you know what I find out.” I turned and headed to the bleachers.
The man looked up as I approached, and my first thought was that he didn’t look at all like a preacher. He was dressed in utilitarian gray sweats and worn sneakers. Then I realized that I was looking for a clerical collar but that this was a preacher, not a priest. His hair was salt-and-pepper and his face was weathered, though not heavily lined. He looked to be well on the far side of middle age, probably late fifties, perhaps early sixties, though he also looked like he was in pretty good condition, which made it hard to tell. I had known out-of-shape forty-year-olds who looked older than fit and trim octogenarians.
The dog gave a low growl as I got close. I slowed, and the preacher put his hand on the dog’s collar. Light- blue eyes lifted to mine. “I’m sorry,” he said, brows furrowed. “He’s usually very friendly.”
He nodded, then gave the collar a slight jerk as the dog growled again. “Easy, Butch,” he said to the dog, then he looked back up at me. “Ask away, ma’am.”
I asked the usual identification questions, quickly jotting the info down in my notebook, and was surprised to find that he was actually in his early seventies. He was the preacher at a nondenominational church in town—one with which I was familiar, though certainly not as an attendee. It was a popular church—so much so that the church hired off-duty officers to help with traffic control on Sundays. I’d worked that particular detail a couple of times when I was in desperate need of extra income.
“Can you tell me what happened?” I asked.
“I was out walking Butch this morning. I go out every morning at about five a.m., unless it’s raining.” His mouth twitched into a smile. “Fortunately it does that enough in Louisiana that I get a break every now and then.”
I echoed the smile and waited for him to continue.
“Butch started acting really strange, pulling on the leash and barking. Then he finally pulled right away from me and ran over to the ball field.” Reverend Thomas grimaced. “He was going crazy, and so I had to go get him and pull him back. I saw it was a … body, so as soon as I could drag Butch away, I tied him up here and called 911.” He patted his pocket. “Thank God I always carry my cell phone.”
“Did you see anyone else in the park while you were walking?”
“No, I’m usually by myself this early in the morning. I don’t worry about it too much, since Butch looks fairly intimidating.” He gave me an apologetic smile as the Rottweiler continued to emit a low, unnerving growl in my direction. “I really am sorry. He looks fierce, but he’s normally incredibly placid and friendly. I guess he’s unnerved by the body.”
“But you don’t seem to be,” I pointed out.
He met my eyes. “I was a POW in Vietnam. Unfortunately, I’ve seen quite a bit of what one human can do to another.”
I exhaled. “I see.” I made a note to myself to check his military record. “Do you always walk in this park?”
Reverend Thomas shook his head. “Not always. I mix it up a bit, among this one and the lakefront and some
