See Her Die (Bree Taggert #2)(14)

Bree wished Brody didn’t freak her out. Her brain knew he wouldn’t hurt her, but she was conditioned to fear him.

A few minutes later, a sheriff’s department cruiser drove up from the opposite direction, stopping short of the parking area.

Bree gestured toward the vehicle. “The deputy will take you back to your vehicle. Thanks for your help, Matt.”

“It was all Brody, but you’re welcome.” Matt called the dog, who rose painfully to his feet.

She watched Brody limp to the patrol car and gingerly climb into the back. Worry for the big dog tugged at her.

Matt climbed into the passenger seat, and they drove away. She instantly wished he could have stayed. Not that she couldn’t handle being alone with a dead body. That was hardly a first for her. But she missed having a dependable partner, and Matt was solid.

Another sheriff’s department cruiser appeared on the road above the parking lot. Her chief deputy climbed out and approached Bree. He avoided stepping on the tire tracks leading to and away from the boat ramp area.

Bree turned back toward the body. Todd fell into step beside her.

She retraced her own path back to the bank. “Try to stay on the tracks Matt and I left so we disturb the scene as little as possible.”

“Holy . . .” Todd stopped cold. “What the hell happened to him?”

Bree shook her head. “Best not to make assumptions this early in the investigation. Let’s wait for the ME.”

“Is he the shooter?”

“Too early to say. We’ll have to wait for the ME to ID the body and give us a time of death. I need you to secure the scene. Include the tire tracks and footprints in the parking area. Direct responding vehicles to park on the south side of the access road. Set up an area for the press. When in doubt, add distance to the crime scene perimeter. You can always make the area smaller. Harder to go back and expand it later.”

Todd took a small notepad from his pocket and wrote in it. “Yes, ma’am.”

“Let’s get a forensic team down here.” Bree pointed to a set of tire tracks. “These tire imprints look good enough to cast. Some of the footprints here are clearer than they were back at the cabin, maybe clear enough to get an impression. Get someone on that.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

“Assign a deputy to start a crime scene log ASAP. I’m going to need you.”

Todd hurried back to his car. While he secured the scene, Bree called the SFPD and asked for Detective Dane. The desk sergeant put her through to the detective’s voice mail, and Bree left a brief message.

She turned back to the body.

Could this be the shooter? If so, how did he end up in the lake? She scanned its frozen surface for a place where he could have gone through the ice but didn’t see a hole. A human body was slightly heavier than fresh water. Bodies sank, and a lake wouldn’t have much of a current. Drowning victims were typically found close to the place they went under. Where and when had this victim gone into the water? What had happened to his face?

Bree surveyed the area. Even if they’d found the shooter, they were still missing the victim.





CHAPTER SEVEN

Two hours later, Bree watched the forensics tech shake a can of spray paint and crouch over a shoe print next to the vehicle tracks. He’d set a camera up on a tripod over the shoe print. Now he sprayed the print lightly with gray paint to create enough contrast and show the tread.

Shoe prints in snow, white on white, were difficult to photograph. The spray paint would also help prevent the casting material from running between the crystals of snow.

The tech snapped a photo. Then he added a scale, a black L-shaped ruler, pushing it into the snow until it was level with the shoe print. He snapped another picture using the ruler to show the size of the print.

A few feet away from her, a second tech was preparing to cast the tire tracks. He’d already photographed them with and without spray paint.

Holding a plastic bag of powdered dental stone, the tech squatted next to the print and added snow to a stainless-steel bottle of water. Once he added the water to the powdered dental stone, the chemical reaction would heat up the mixture. The snow would chill the water and help keep the mixture as cold as possible so that it didn’t melt the snow before setting. He poured the water into the plastic bag, closed it, and then kneaded the bag until the mixture reached the right consistency. Slowly, he poured it into the tire track. “I’ll work on the shoe prints now.”

“How long before you can lift them?” she asked.

“I should be able to transport them within the hour, but they’ll take twenty-four hours to dry completely.”

Bree turned as the medical examiner’s van bounced over the frozen grass and parked next to the forensic unit. Crime scene tape encircled the entire parking area. Dr. Serena Jones and her assistant got out of the van and opened the hatch at the back of the vehicle. They donned coveralls and knee-high rubber boots before trudging to the edge of the lake.

“Sheriff.” Dr. Jones was a tall African American woman. Today, she wore a purple fleece hat over her closely cropped hair.

Bree’s heart ached. The last time she had seen the medical examiner had been over her sister’s dead body.

Dr. Jones’s gaze went to the body on the shore.

“A K-9 found the body at approximately nine a.m.” Bree turned and walked toward the lake beside the ME.