“You find the body?”
“Yeah. Shook me up pretty good.”
“I can understand that, not something you see during your average round of golf. Did you see anyone else around?”
“No, my buddy and I were the only one’s on that hole when we got there.”
Vanessa leaned in.
“How did you find her?”
“I sliced my ball into the woods and found her while I was looking for it. I was getting ready to hit when something glinted in the sun.”
“The wine glass?”
“I guess. That's some messed up shit.”
Jason gave Frank a card and patted him on the shoulder.
“Thanks. You think of anything else, call us.”
They got up and began making the rounds of the employees and other golfers that were present. Their last stop was at the groundskeeper’s shed.
Jason called through the door.
“Hello?”
A man stuck his head out from behind a tractor.
“Can I help you?”
Jason flashed his badge.
“Yes. Can I ask you a few questions?”
The man came around to where they were standing.
“This about that dead girl?”
“Yes. You see anybody or anything unusual this week?”
“No. I'm here most all day from open to close and I'm all over the course. I hadn't seen anything that would have made me think something like that was going on here.”
“How many roads are there around this place?”
The groundskeepers shed had a map of the course on the wall and he went over and pointed at the brown tracks.
“These are roads around the course, the gray are cart paths.”
Vanessa ran a finger along the seventh hole until it came to rest on a brown trail leading back to the parking lot.
“This is one route he could’ve taken to the scene. Is there any gates along this road?”
“No. Just the one on the parking lot and you can drive around it on the grass if you wanted. It's more of an inconvenience than a solid gate.”
Vanessa pointed to the far side of the forest, opposite the golf course.
“That’s the location of the first crime scene.”
Jason followed the road from the current crime scene out to the previous one. The road continued past the first scene and let out onto the main highway just 50 yards south.
“Is there a gate on the end of that road where it meets the highway?”
“Yes. But we never use it. It was put in during construction of the golf course.”
“Locked?”
“I imagine but I’m not sure.”
“Okay, thanks.”
Jason and Vanessa got back in their car and drove around to the end of the road they had seen on the groundskeeper’s map. Just as the groundskeeper had said, there was a gate. They got out and walked up to look at the chain. It was looped through the gate but the padlock, if there had been one, was gone. Vanessa grunted.
“I think we found his way in.”
Jason stared beyond the gate at the woods along the service road
“Yeah, and that makes me afraid for what we might find with the dogs. Who knows how long this lock has been cut.”
Chapter 6
Jason was at the station early on Monday. He met the lieutenant and got permission to call in the cadaver dogs. It took several phone calls to get the search set up but by 11:00 AM the area had been cordoned off and the dogs, with their handlers, were ready to begin searching.
Before the searchers were allowed in, the forensic team had taken tire tread castings from two spots. They were consistent with a truck but would only be useful if they had one to compare to.
Jason called the search teams in and gathered them together around a map of the area. He pointed as he spoke.
“First of all, as usual, thank you for your quick response to our call. The area we’re searching is not overly large, so everyone take their time following the dogs. We don’t want anything disturbed if the dogs do have a hit. This road here is the service road for the golf course. It was used mainly during construction and is rarely travelled any more. We’ll begin at the road edge and move inwards towards the trees. If someone has an alert, everyone freeze where they are. We’ll signal for the search to continue when we have secured the area that the dog hit on.”
Jason looked at Vanessa.
“You want to add anything?”
“Yes. Pay special attention around the base of trees. If the dog is at all curious, let him travel completely around the tree. We believe that any alerts will likely come in those areas. Also, keep your eyes open for a wine glass.”
One of the searchers raised his hand.
“Did you say wine glass?”
“I did. We believe that it may be found at any scene that the dogs find and we don’t want it broken, if possible.”
Jason looked around at the group.
“Detective Layne and myself will be by the radio. You all have the frequency. Any questions?”
There was no response so Jason assigned starting points to each team and they lined up along the service road at 100 yard intervals.
The teams began to work the area. It was no more than ten minutes when one of the dogs alerted with 6 sharp barks. He pointed at the location while his handler kept him from moving. The dog had alerted near the base of a large tree.
****
Jason and Vanessa were sitting in her car at the entrance gate when the radio crackled life.
“We’ve got a dog alerting on a location.”
Jason picked up the handheld radio.
“Where?”
He was already up and moving.
“About three hundred yards in. It’s search dog two, the one that started at 100 hundred yards up the road from the entrance.”
“We’re on our way.”
Vanessa caught up with him.
“Got something?”
“Dog number two has alerted.”
When they got to where the dog was, they began to step very carefully. Everyone else had been backed away and a uniformed officer was stretching yellow tape around the scene. Vanessa saw it first.
“Is that a wine glass?”
Laying in the undergrowth was a wine glass with a stain on it. Jason stopped and got on the handheld.
“Get me forensics. I need them at my location.”
He listened while his order was conveyed and then put the radio on his hip. He leaned over and looked at the bark on the tree. A dark stain and a hole. Under the leaves, you could make out a vague outline of a body
“Animals have probably scattered some of the bones. We’ll let forensics take it from here.”
Jason waited for the crime tape to be stretched completely around the alert location before he gave the signal for the search to resume.
****
Back at Vanessa’s car, they stayed by the radio until the dogs had searched the entire grid. The first alert turned out to be the only hit. Jason called the search off and thanked the handlers.
They walked over to the taped off area where forensics was finishing up. Leonard Davis had been on site all day and nodded at the two detectives when they walked up.
“Female, probably. That’s about all. I’ll know more at autopsy but she’s been here long enough to destroy most of the useful evidence.”
Vanessa picked up the baggie with the wine glass in it.
“Looks like the others. Did you find the casing or bullet?”
“Found the bullet in the tree, looks to be 9 millimeter like the others but either we missed the casing or it’s gone.”
Jason had his pad out.
“You got a guess how long she’s been here?”
“I don’t like to guess, but if I had to, I’d say around three months.