Shadow's Mystery (Shadow Island FBI Mystery Series Book 9) by Mary Stone

Author:Mary Stone [Stone, Mary]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Mary Stone Publishing
Published: 2023-09-11T16:00:00+00:00

20

Two dead bodies on the school grounds, and both of them were longtime staff.

But this one had been much more violent.

Just as the witness had said, there was most definitely blood everywhere. Rebecca examined Sebastian Drysdale’s body. The camera in her hand wasn’t being utilized just yet. She wanted to observe every detail first.

He’d gone down fighting. Perhaps the scene was bloodier because the killer was escalating. Rebecca also had to consider that the victim was a man who was stronger and could put up a fight. If Amy had fought back, her death might’ve been equally brutal.

There was a drip mark line down a long hallway leading up to the victim. The line ended in a large arterial spray by the door, where someone had sliced the janitor’s throat. She could tell, even without the techs there, that the perpetrator had caught Sebastian from behind right as he reached the lobby door.

He’d been trying to get away after surviving an earlier attack, where he’d probably gotten the broken nose and the defensive wounds across his arm and hands, creating a bloody connect-the-dots. If her theory was correct, Drysdale had been pulled back from the door and flipped onto his back.

The timeline of events was written out in the trail of drops, the spray across the door, walls, and inside the jamb, and the streaks where his body slid through the rest. Once the techs arrived, she was sure they’d confirm her hypothesis. This scene reminded her of those old learning-to-dance kits that laid out the steps to follow on the floor. Even a rookie could look at this mess and know what happened.

And her newest deputy had done just that before leaving to take witness statements. Viviane was outside with Principal Steve Hill and Pamela Radcliffe. School would have to be put on hold at least until they could get the scene processed.

“This wasn’t done this morning.”

“Hmm?” Hoyt looked up from where he’d been taking measurements and recording them.

“The blood is old. I’d say this happened yesterday. Look how much of it has seeped into his clothes from the puddles on the floor. Rigor and lividity also indicate this happened more than ten hours ago.”

Hoyt nodded and went back to measuring. “Seems about right. Bailey will weigh in time of death when she gets here.”

“You know, I looked for him yesterday. I drove by his home and the school. Needed to talk to him about his alibi since Melvin didn’t corroborate it. None of the lights were on here.” Guilt did its best to overtake Rebecca, but she was too tired to deal with that. And this new layer couldn’t really compete with the one she’d been buried under for the last two weeks.

Sleeping had never been easy for her, but now it was nearly impossible. She kept waking up unable to take a full breath. Last night, it wasn’t because of the dreams, or rather, not solely because of them. Lying down made her ribs hurt more. When

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