The One That Got Away by Liza Drozdov

Author:Liza Drozdov [Drozdov, Liza]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2023-03-29T16:00:00+00:00

Seventeen

Tuesday, January 14

The snow squeaks and crunches under my boots as I walk toward the group standing behind the police tape. It’s so cold again this morning my nostrils stick together when I try to breathe through my nose. So I hold my scarf over my mouth and breathe in that way.

I’m the last to arrive and they’ve already set up a tent to shield the scene from passersby and protect the evidence. Vogel is there, stamping his feet as he chats with one of the FSU team, their breath forming clouds in the frosty air. As I approach Maja steps out of the tent, her expression serious. She catches my eye and shakes her head almost imperceptibly. She’s telling me I won’t like what’s inside.

I take a deep breath and duck into the tent with Vogel right behind me, breathing down my neck. When I see the body I stumble and might have fallen to the ground had he not been there, with his hands out to catch me.

“I’m sorry,” he mumbles. “I didn’t get the chance to warn you.”

It’s Renee Schröder. She’s been strung up at the end of a row of grape vines, her body held in place by the netting. Blood streams down her face and her eyes are missing.

“Who would do this?” I whisper.

“Birds,” Maja says. I hadn’t noticed she’d come back into the tent. “Starlings, I’m guessing, based on the huge flocks of them in the trees outside.”

“When was she found? And by who?”

“One of the workers, Ramon Figueroa,” Vogel says. “He was driving up the lane to start work and saw her hanging there. We’ve got him in one of the patrol cars now, to stay warm. He’s…upset.”

“I can imagine.” How horrifying. It’s a sight I’m sure will haunt him for a long time. “When do you suppose she died?” I ask Maja.

“Hard to say,” she shrugs. “In this cold, exposed to the elements like she is, her body would have cooled quickly. Liver temperature suggests she’s been dead around six hours. Oh, and you should know,” she says as she carefully lifts a strand of Renee Schröder’s bloody hair up off her face. “A piece of her left ear has been cut off. Just like Martin Sanger.”

“Okay, thanks.” I duck out of the tent as quickly as I can. I’ve seen more than enough. Vogel is right behind me and I’m sure he’s thinking the same thing.

“Does the husband know yet?”

Vogel shakes his head. “I don’t think so. Figueroa called from his cell phone and waited in his car in the lane until we arrived. I haven’t seen any sign of activity from the house.”

I nod then we walk together up the laneway to the house. Vogel’s been waiting for me to arrive, as he should. Nobody wants to inform a man his wife’s been found murdered, let alone without back up. We’ll be sure to withhold the details of how she died when we tell him.

I have to knock on the door a few times before Kurt Schröder answers, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes.

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