14 - J. T. Ellison [5]
“No. She’s naked, no sign of any purse or clothing. Do you think it’s going to snow as much as they said?”
“I heard we might get twelve inches. Or more.” Sam winked at Taylor and started for the body. Taylor followed her, questioning. Visions of airport closures, snowplows running into ditches, caterers with no electricity ran through her mind like drunken mice. She shouldn’t be so happy at the thought of her wedding being postponed. Good luck with that, Taylor. Even if it snowed ten feet, in five days people would manage to get it in gear.
“They’re never accurate, though. Seriously, weather-men are notorious for getting the forecast wrong. Right? Sam?” Maybe the snow would hold off until Thursday….
The M.E. wasn’t listening anymore. She’d just caught her first glimpse of the body. She went rigid, stopped in her tracks.
Taylor put a hand on her best friend’s shoulder, all personal worries pushed away for the time being.
“I know,” she murmured, squeezing Sam’s shoulder. “It looks that way to me, too. Meet Janesicle Doe.”
“Wow. Certainly appears to be his work.” Sam knelt by the body, staring intently at the dead girl’s face.
“He’s changing it up. This isn’t a separate dump site—judging by the amount of blood, I’d bet my badge she was killed right here.”
“And not that long ago, either.” Sam reached for her bag. Taylor knew what came next and stepped away to let Sam do her work.
The lights of the sneaky satellite truck snapped on with an audible hum, catching Taylor in the gleam. She excused herself, went to block the cameras. The media was getting bolder with each killing, Taylor had no intention of letting them ruin her case with suppositions.
Behind her, she heard Sam whisper, “Bingo.”
Two
Nashville, Tennessee
Monday, December 15
9:24 p.m.
Taylor fidgeted under the hot studio lights of the Fox affiliate in Nashville. Their parent network, Fox News, wanted to get the lowdown on the Snow White case from the inside, and Taylor had been ponied up for the slaughter. As soon as she’d been set and miked, the remote anchor had been drawn into a breaking-news story: a suicide bomber had taken out a group of diners at a restaurant in Jerusalem, claiming the lives of fifteen and injuring two Americans. The news alert had been going on for a while, giving her plenty of time to second-guess agreeing to be interviewed.
She was grateful for the opportunity to get the word out, though she would have preferred the newspeople talk with Dan Franklin, Metro’s official spokesman. She wasn’t fond of doing on-air interviews. Understandably, the reemergence of the Snow White Killer had the entire country up in arms, not to mention her own city and her homicide division. That meant everyone was pulling cross duties.
She wiped her fingers across her forehead, gathering little beads of sweat. It would be nice if they turned off the lights while she waited. She stared blindly into the bowels of the studio, her mind in overdrive. The network had specifically requested Taylor’s presence. She suspected it had more to do with her notorious background than the fact that she was the lead investigator on a sensational series of crimes. The anchor had been warned to steer clear of the Win Jackson story, and Taylor hoped they would listen for once.
Oh, Win. Where in the world are you?
There was a commotion. The tech was signaling they were going live. He counted down, then went silent, showing his fingers. Three, two, one. She took a deep breath, blew it out slowly and smiled for the camera.
“We’re back now with Homicide Detective Lieutenant Taylor Jackson from the Metro Nashville Police Department. We’re talking about the horrific string of murders plaguing Music City, a town more accustomed to the shenanigans of country music stars than murderers. Just last night, a new victim of this dreadful killer was found.
“Lieutenant Jackson, have you identified the body of this latest victim?”
“No, we haven’t. We—”
“And this is victim number four, correct?”
“It’s too soon to—”
“Two months ago, police found the battered