Dr. Lockhart looked toward the crime scene. “Looks like Jenna will be taking photos for a bit longer.” She met Rowan’s gaze. “I understand you found her?”
“Yes.”
The doctor paused. When Rowan didn’t expand, she locked eyes with Evan. “Have you taken a look?”
“Not yet. I just got here too.”
“Let’s go.” Dr. Lockhart headed toward the crime scene tape.
Evan checked the explorers. The deputy had them in a line and moving into the woods a step at a time, an arm’s length apart on either side, gazes scanning the ground. “I’ll be back in a bit,” he told Rowan, and he followed the doctor. They both stopped to sign the scene log.
The dead woman lay on her back on the rocks. Her discolored abdomen was severely swollen with gases from decomposition. The current of the river made her lower legs seem to undulate, appearing gelatinous. Small animals had been at her eyes, mouth, and fingers. She had long, dark-blonde hair, and Evan couldn’t guess her age; her body had swollen too much. There was some sort of flower tattooed on one ankle, and her toenail polish was hot pink.
She’s younger. I can feel it.
She was looking more and more similar to his other two victims. Dr. Lockhart held a small flashlight next to the woman’s neck, examining the mottling. Evan couldn’t distinguish strangulation bruises from the rest of the discolorations, but the doctor was nodding.
“Strangled?” Evan asked.
“It’s a possibility.” The doctor did a quick visual scan of the woman’s body and then palpated the skull, checking for depressions or injuries. “All clear so far. Help me roll her over.” Evan stepped into a few inches of water, trusting his boots to keep his feet dry. He rolled the woman on her side, and the doctor scanned her back with the flashlight. Her skin was dark purple. “Looks like this is the location where she died. You must be wondering if it’s related to the other two strangled young women,” Dr. Lockhart said quietly.
“That’s my job,” answered Evan.
“You haven’t found a concrete link between the other two?”
“No. Just that the situations and victims were similar. No physical evidence.”
“I remember one was from Portland . . . where was the other from?”
“Idaho,” said Evan.
“Both far from home,” said the doctor.
“Bend is a vacation destination,” said Evan.
“But neither young woman was on vacation.”
“True.” The first young woman had been living on the Portland streets in a homeless camp. No one had noticed when she vanished. The other had been living with her boyfriend when they got in a fight and she stormed off. He hadn’t been surprised not to hear from her for several days.
“Something or someone brought them here,” Dr. Lockhart said quietly.
Evan was silent. He didn’t like to speculate on how the women had arrived in Central Oregon; there were dozens of possibilities, and nothing indicated they’d arrived under the same circumstances. One woman had been found six weeks ago and the other four weeks ago.
The doctor hummed to herself as she continued her rapid examination.
“How long ago did she die?” asked Evan.
“Somewhere between five and ten days,” said the doctor. “I’ll try to get a tighter timeline after I run some labs. Lot of factors to consider. The sun speeds things up, but the cold water might have slowed them down.” She stood and looked up and down the river. “At least it’s a peaceful place.”
Evan didn’t care. There was no mitigating the circumstances of the woman’s murder. Someone had brutally taken her life. It made no difference to him whether the location was peaceful.
It could be suicide. She might have poisoned herself.
And removed her clothing?
No clothing had turned up yet. No indication of how she’d arrived in the middle of nowhere.
Someone undressed and killed her here.
So far everything pointed at a murder.
“Hey, Detective Bolton.”
Evan turned to see the deputy who’d taken charge of the explorers. Evan’s jaw tensed at the concern on the deputy’s face. “What’d they find?” he asked.
The deputy stopped and looked at Dr. Lockhart, who was watching with interest. “You might want to come take a look at this too, Doc. One of the kids found a lot of bones.”
“Human?” asked Evan, already sure of the answer.
The deputy grimaced. “Can’t vouch that all of them are human, but I know a human skull when I see it.”