“I wonder if anyone has reported her missing?” Kyra gnawed on her bottom lip.
“We have a lot of missing persons reports come through. Especially here in LA, we don’t know if they’re really missing or are runaways. Lots of runaways in this city. Lots of people from other places hoping to make it big.”
Kyra turned her head and traced her fingers along the glass of her window. “Yeah, city of broken dreams.”
After a few minutes of silence, Jake coughed. “Do you live near Quinn in Venice?”
“Close. I live in Santa Monica. That’s why I’m able to pop in and see him occasionally.”
“So, I’m actually taking you away from your home.”
“Where do you live?”
“Hollywood.” He kept it short. He didn’t want to get into the details of how he lived in the expensive part of Hollywood, in the hills that overlooked the city. He had his street-tough image to protect.
“If it’s too much trouble for you to come back this way to drop me off, I can get a rideshare.” She finally turned to face him, blinking her eyes rapidly.
He tapped his cheekbone. “Is the smoke bothering you? I can blast the AC.”
She sniffed. “The air’s fine.”
“And I don’t mind giving you a lift back to Santa Monica. When there’s no traffic, the driving isn’t too bad.”
“When is there no traffic?” She rolled her eyes. “Just look at it out here. Where are all these people going?”
“I’m sure they all have a story.” Jake steered the car off the freeway. “We’re probably going to have to show some ID to get close. The firefighters are probably not even allowing residents into the area.”
Kyra ducked her head to peer at the orange sky. “Were any structures damaged?”
“Not that I heard, just threatened.” Jake slowed down as he hit the twisty roads into the canyon. Gray ash floated through the air and coated his windshield, but he knew better than to smear it across the glass with his wipers.
He squinted at the figure ahead waving his arms. He slipped the badge from his shirt pocket as he powered down the window.
The sheriff’s deputy approached the car and bent forward. “What’s your business? Residents?”
Jake flashed his badge. “I’m here for the body. Any LAPD on scene, yet?”
“Yeah, couple of patrol officers. They already called the medical examiner’s office, but the meat wagon isn’t here yet.”
Jake grimaced. How did this deputy know whether or not Kyra was a civilian? The cop should watch his lingo, although if Kyra hung out with Quinn she probably knew all about the dark humor.
“Okay, thanks. Let the coroner’s van through when it gets here. I’m not sure how much of the crime scene we’re going to be able to process with this fire raging.” Jake drove on with the deputy’s blessing and pulled behind the LAPD squad car parked on the side of the road.
As soon as he cut the engine, Kyra scrambled from the car and stood with her hands on her hips. “I don’t know how much you’re going to be able to do here with those flames drawing closer.”
He strode around to her side of the car and placed his hands on her shoulders. “You need to wait here.”
Her body stiffened, and then she ducked out of his grasp. “I know that. If anyone comes, I’ll direct them in. How long do you want to hold off the ME?”
He tilted his head back as a gust of hot wind sent ashes and flecks of cinder swirling around his face. “Not too much longer, or we’ll lose the body completely and be running for our own lives. Maybe you should wait in the car.”
Jake walked toward the bushes without looking back. He couldn’t control Kyra’s action. If she wanted to get back in the car, she would. If he hadn’t cautioned her against following him to the crime scene, would she have gone with him? Without a doubt.
He almost tripped over the yellow crime scene tape strung between two low bushes. He stepped over it and approached the LAPD officers standing watch over a decaying body, a swath of black hair spread in the dirt.
How did the killer expect anyone to find the body here? Rookie mistake for someone wanting the notice.
He nodded to the officers. “Detective Jake McAllister. Anyone else besides you two?”
“You’re the first, sir. We just got orders to book over here and make sure nobody and nothing got to the body.”
Snapping on a pair of gloves, Jake crouched beside the young woman and swept a lock of hair from her neck. The mottled color of her skin concealed any strangulation marks; he didn’t see any blood or wounds.
Her mouth gaped open but no playing card nestled between her lips. Jake lifted her left hand with its missing finger. The wind must’ve dislodged the card and carried it away, or an animal got to it.
This looked like a messy first effort. The copycat had improved. Had he made other mistakes with this one? Had he been seen with her? Caught on camera somewhere?
“Damn, we need to get out of here.”
Jake sprang to his feet and almost took a swing at Billy. “Why are you creeping around out here looking like a bank robber?”
“Creeping?” Billy tugged on the bandanna covering the lower half of his face. “I called your name, and we both know only white dudes rob banks.”
Jake tipped his head toward the body. “Looks like our guy. The card’s missing, but so is the finger. I can’t tell if it’s strangulation, although there are no visible wounds other than animal bites and marks.”
Billy rubbed his hands. “And he called us. We have his voice on tape, even if he used an untraceable phone.”
Jake scanned the blackened hillside. “Tells us something about him that he’d rather risk a call than lose credit for this body.”
“Tells us he’s not going to stop.” Billy jerked his thumb over
