“This isn’t where they were shot, is it?” Joanna asked Deputy Valentine as she passed the first photo along to Ernie Carpenter.
The visiting deputy gave her a somewhat quizzical look before answering. “That’s right,” he said. “We think they were shot over by the stock tank. That’s where the brass was found, but we didn’t find much blood there. Sammy-that’s Sammy Soto, our CSI-says he thinks they were shot there and then dragged away from the stock tank to where they were found. If the guy on the bike hadn’t needed to take a dump-“
Embarrassed, Valentine broke off without finishing.
“But you don’t know that for sure?” Ernie asked.
“No. We didn’t find enough blood at the scene to place the shooting there for sure.
It’s a stock tank, you see,” Valentine explained. “A herd of cattle came through the scene to drink several times between the time the victims were shot and when the bodies were found. They stirred up the dirt around the stock tank pretty good.
We were damned lucky to find the brass and even a few footprints.”
“Is it possible they were inside a vehicle when they were shot?” Ernie asked. “That would explain the lack of blood at the stock tank, but the shooter would be left with a hell of a mess in whatever he was driving. Or maybe they were all in the stock tank skinny-dipping.”
Joanna knew Ernie Carpenter had just pulled Deputy Valentine’s leg. Valentine, on the other hand, had no idea. “I doubt that’s possible,” he objected with a frown.
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Shaking his head, Ernie continued to ask questions. ‘Any tire tracks?”
Valentine shrugged. “Some. And we made casts of what there were, but we don’t know for sure the vehicle belonged to the killer. And, like I said, it’s a stock tank.
There were probably lots more tire tracks at some point, but by the time we got there, the cattle had obliterated all but that one set.”
“So we don’t know if the victims were inside or outside a vehicle when they were shot, but they are both naked. Any sign of sexual assault?”
“None that we could see. We won’t know for sure until after the autopsies.”
“Did your CSI say whether or not he thought the women were naked when they were shot?”
Valentine looked surprised. “He didn’t say. Why?”
Ernie shrugged. “This kind of deliberate posing and sexual assault usually go together.
Now when are those autopsies due again?”
“Sheriff Trotter already gave me the bad news on that,” Joanna interjected, answering before Deputy Valentine had a chance. “Because it’s a holiday weekend, Monday is the soonest their ME will be available.”
“Too bad,” Ernie said, shaking his head. “We’ll be losing a lot of precious time.”
He passed the first photo along and reached for another. “What’s this?” he asked.
“Those are the casings,” Deputy Valentine said. “Four of them. Two shots each. There seem to be prints on the casings but we haven’t had time to process them yet. Sheriff Trotter said we’ll get those to you as soon as possible.”
“Good,” Joanna said.
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Together they sorted through one photo after another, twenty or so in all-photos taken before and after the bodies were removed from the scene, along with enlarged photos of shell casings with their telltale antique markings. Joanna was disappointed in the material. She had hoped for something definitive. Other than some footprints and the possibility of fingerprints, the New Mexico authorities didn’t have any more to go on in this case than Joanna’s people had in the Carol Mossman case. Even so, when they had finished with Deputy Valentine’s packet of photos, Dave Hollicker passed along the flimsy collection of Mossman material.
“I don’t think we’re dealing with a terribly sophisticated or organized perp,” Frank Montoya theorized as Valentine thumbed his way through the new set of crime scene photos. “If he was, he never would have left his brass lying around like that, to say nothing of brass with prints on it.”
“I agree,” Ernie said. “He may not be organized this minute, but at the rate he’s going, he won’t stay disorganized for long.”
“Right,” Jaime Carbajal added. “It could be he’s somebody who’s been thinking about killing people for a long time and he’s only just now started.”
“But he’s off to a big start,” Ernie said. “Right this minute the death toll stands at three. If he keeps up the pace, I’d hate to think how much damage he might do between now and Monday morning.”
“And he may not have started here,” Joanna put in. “Sheriff Trotter is having his people check points east looking for cases with similar MOs. I told him we’ll look west of here. If we can come up with any other recent cases that might be connected, we’d at least have some idea of what direction he’s going in.”
Valentine finished sorting through the Mossman material 139
and then stuffed it into the now empty folder he’d brought with him. “I’d better take this and head home,” he said.
“Sorry there’s not more,” Joanna told him.
“That’s okay. It’s better than nothing.”
“Well, guys,” Joanna said, turning to her officers once Deputy Valentine had left the room. “What do you
