Marked by Ally Wagner

Author:Ally Wagner [Wagner, Ally]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: MK Publishing
Published: 2022-07-18T16:00:00+00:00

Fifteen

You ready?” Scott asks as we stand outside the yellow crime scene tape. The body is on the other side of the k-rail on the west side of the I-15 freeway, close to the Flamingo Road exit. Since Jack caught him up on the Taylor situation, he’s been nice. Which is weird for us.

“Do you want me to go in first?” Jack offers as he slides on a pair of plastic gloves.

I shake my head and snap on my gloves. “No, I need to do it. It’s still my case.” I take a deep breath in and slowly let it out. As I do, I mentally check out, forcing my personal feelings to step back from the situation.

When I duck under the tape, I do so as Val the detective instead of Val the worried best friend. Jack is close behind but not close enough to suffocate me. Just enough to let me know he’s there as both my partner and my support. When exactly did he become both?

I squat down next to the headless victim, making sure I don’t step in any of the blood pooled around her. “This time the victim was killed here. She wasn’t dropped off at a club.” I state, pointing at the blood staining the dirt beneath her. The body is also lying frontside down, limbs in awkward positions as if she were thrown down. “She’s not like the last Jane Doe.”

“Does anyone happen to know who she is?” Jack asks an officer standing nearby.

“No, sir. The person who found her happened to have a flat tire on the freeway and pulled over. I have his statement but told him to standby until you guys got here,” he replies. “And we haven’t checked the body. We were waiting for you to arrive. The only thing we’ve done is let the crime tech take pictures.”

Jack nods and reaches for the pockets of our victim’s jacket. He finds a phone and clicks the center button, but he hands it off to a technician to bag as evidence when it asks for a passcode.

“Let’s roll her,” I say, trying not to assume it’s Taylor even though the body type seems very similar from behind.

Jack looks at the crime scene technicians. “You guys have everything you need?” When they nod, he looks at me then down at the body. “On the count of three.”

Jack counts down and together we very carefully roll the body over onto its back. The heavy, suffocating knot in my chests dissipates when I get a clear view of the torso. Small breasts and no crescent moon tattoo under the collarbone.

It’s not Taylor.

I’m so relieved I could vomit. Clearing the emotion from my throat I look at an expectant Jack. “It’s not her,” I whisper. “It’s not Taylor.”

The fact that he also visibly relaxes warms my decrepit heart to him more. He understands what she means to me. “I’m glad.”

I take a shaky breath and nod before focusing in on the poor woman who wasn’t so lucky.

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