Alex Kava Bundle - Alex Kava [677]
The medical examiner had estimated no less than a week. Other tests were needed for a more accurate time of death. Maggie remembered Adam Bonzado telling her that in a matter of a week maggots could consume a body down to the bone in a moist, hot environment. The Florida panhandle in July seemed to fit that environment, but the corpse had been partially hidden with debris and dirt thrown on top, which would have slowed down the process.
Maggie stood in front of the map Pakula had just finished tacking up. “Why try to hide him when he’s already in the middle of what looks like several acres of thick woods.”
“Wetlands,” Pakula said. “They call them wetlands and you’re right—it is thick with trees, scrub grass and some kind of vining crap, not to mention the mosquitoes and the no-see-ums.”
“You sound like a fan of the area.”
“Oh, I love it. Sugar-white beaches and emerald green water. But a lot of places inland aren’t developed. A lot of it is owned by the government. I can’t think what they call it,” Pakula said. “Oh, I know, historic preservation. It’s along the gulf coast where the early explorers landed. In fact, Pensacola would have had the oldest settlement if it hadn’t been washed away by a hurricane.”
“Do you usually learn this much about your crime scenes?” Maggie asked, smiling.
“No, I’ve got friends who live down there. I’ve already been in contact with them. Since they’re Catholics I’m hoping they might be able to dig up some dirt for me on this Father Rudolph.”
“Father Rudy,” she corrected him.
“Yeah, right.”
“The single stab wound to the chest is consistent with our guy, but this is definitely not a public area.”
“Actually, it is.” It was Pakula’s turn to correct her. “It’s part of a public campground. Friends claim the old priest lived about a mile away. He took walks down to the boat ramp, using, of course, the road that runs alongside this wetland area.”
“Okay, so it’s a public area, but why not slice him on the road and leave him in the ditch? The killer would have had to coax him into the trees and then kill him or kill him on the road and drag him into the trees. Why bother? He’s left all the other bodies out in the open. He seemed to have gone to great lengths to hide this one.”
“I don’t know. You’re the profiler, you tell me.” Pakula shrugged and smiled.
“This one feels different,” she said, stopping at the table’s edge to glance over the other reports.
“Wait until you see the Boston one.”
“You already said that.”
“Yeah, well, it’s pretty freaky,” Pakula said just as Carmichael came waltzing in.
“You’ve got to be talking about this one,” Carmichael said, dropping the copies in the middle of the table. “This guy’s either lost it or else this isn’t our guy.”
Maggie and Pakula came up on either side of Carmichael to take a look. Maggie grabbed the top page, staring at the first crime scene photo with yet another decapitated head sitting on a church altar. Maggie couldn’t believe it. This one resembled the D.C. killer more than their priest killer.
“Boston detective I talked to said the killer practically ripped the head off,” Carmichael told them
“I hate to tell both of you this,” Maggie said and Pakula and Carmichael stopped to look at her. “I think we’ve got more than one killer.”
CHAPTER 70
Omaha Police Department
Omaha, Nebraska
Tommy Pakula couldn’t believe what he was hearing. “What the hell do you mean we’ve got more than one killer?”
“I was working on a serial killer case back in D.C. before I came out here. All the victims have been decapitated,” O’Dell started to explain.
“But they’ve been all women so far, haven’t they?” Pakula remembered seeing bits and pieces on TV.
“Yes, as far as we know.”
“And in the D.C. area. Not Boston.”
“Look,” O’Dell said, “I’m not sure about this, but I don’t think a killer who hides a victim