Vanessa was his opposite. She was always going forward, most always talking, and ready for anything. She was also smart and the two of them complimented each other well. They made a formidable team.

She wheeled the Challenger around a sharp corner and came to stop at a stretch of yellow crime tape. The crime scene ran from the road back into the woods about two hundred yards, across another hundred and then back to the road. Jason could see the forensics team near the middle of the yellow box, bending over a form.

They got out, and even though they were well known to the officers, flashed their badges before ducking under the tape. Vanessa was pulling on latex gloves while they walked. She had gone quiet. For all the talking she did normally, at a crime scene she was the quiet one. Jason would ask most of the questions while Vanessa looked at the scene for things that seemed out of place or somehow askew.

They got up to the body and the forensics team stepped back. Jason nodded at the chief medical examiner, Doctor Leonard Davis.

He had first met Leonard Davis at the city morgue during his first year on patrol. Jason had gone over to meet a detective who had some questions, and had been introduced to the Doc.

The years hadn’t changed Doc at all. Jason remembered thinking the doctor was near retirement when he first met him. He still looked 65, with just a ring of gray hair around his head and extremely pale skin, from too many days in the basement morgue. He weighed on the heavy side of 250 pounds and could best be described as ‘lumbering’ when he walked. He might be the smartest man Jason knew.

“Doc, what have we got?”

“Female, approximately 25, been dead about two days.”

“Can you tell what killed her?”

“Appears to be single gunshot to the heart.”

The woman's body was naked and she was propped up with her back against a tree. A wine glass had been stood up in her right hand. Vanessa shook her head.

“What kinda sick shit is that?”

Jason squinted at the wine glass. It had a bloodstain on it. He looked at the medical examiner.

“Can you tell if she was killed here or dumped?”

Leonard Davis leaned over and pulled the body away from the tree.

“Look for yourself.”

Jason bent over and looked at the tree behind her. There was blood and tissue imbedded in the tree bark.

“You find a bullet?”

The medical examiner let the body resume it’s position against the tree and pulled a baggie out of his pocket, waving it at them.

“It's a 9 millimeter. Forensics lab will run ballistics when I get back to see if it matches anything on record. I wouldn’t hold my breath though, it’s pretty badly beat up.” He waved a second baggie. “Also found a shell casing. It might be more helpful.”

Jason took out a note pad and started jotting down information. Vanessa reached over with a pen and moved the wine glass in the sun.

“Is there any other blood, where this stain could come from?”

Doc Davis shook his head.

“No. The gunshot is the only wound.”

“So it could be our perpetrator’s blood?”

“Could be. Won’t know until autopsy.

“Any ID?”

“No, and a search of the area hasn't turned up any clothes or a purse.”

Jason looked around.

“Who found the body?”

One of the uniforms nearby pointed at a man in green fatigues and a ball cap.

“A hunter. That's him over there.”

Jason left Vanessa studying the scene and walked over to the hunter. Even though he hunted animals, and probably killed some if he was any good, the sight of a human body had clearly left him shaken. Jason extended his hand as he reached the man.

“Detective Jason Strong.”

“Mike Gilbert.”

They shook hands.

“You found the body?”

“Unfortunately. Couple hours ago.”

“Can I ask what you were doing back here off the road?”

“I like to hunt. This is one of my favorite areas.”

“It's July, what were you hunting?”

“Squirrel.”

Jason noticed there wasn’t any defensiveness in his answers.

“Okay, make sure the officer has your name and number. You can go after that. Thanks.”

Jason went back to Vanessa. He found her standing about thirty feet from the body taking in the whole scene. It was time to pick her brain.

“What do you think?”

“Well, he was clearly comfortable here. It's not that far off the road. Probably stripped her and raped her, if she was raped, somewhere besides this forest. We know she was shot here but it feels more like a dump site than like he spent a lot of time here.”

Jason was adding her thoughts to his notebook while she continued.

“The wine glass and posing of the body indicate a ritual or message of some kind. The choice of the victim may have been opportunity but the crime itself was clearly premeditated. Assuming she was raped, the final pose speaks more to why she was killed than the sex act itself does.”

Doctor Davis waved and pointed at the body. He wanted to know if they were done. Jason gave him a thumbs up and they started preparing the body for transport. Evidence bags were put over the hands and the dead woman zipped into a body bag.

Jason and Vanessa rounded up the uniformed officers on the scene and began a search line. They began at the road and walked slowly until they reached a point approximately fifty yards past the body. The only items bagged for evidence were two soda cans and a cigarette butt.

Jason didn’t think they would yield anything helpful because they were located pretty far from the body. The scene directly around the body was immaculate, especially for a forest, and it was clear the killer had taken his time making sure very little in the way of evidence was left behind.

Jason and Vanessa headed for the car.

****

Lieutenant John Patton was waiting for them when they got back to the station.

“What have we got?”

They were in the lieutenant's office and Jason had his notebook open. As he went over his notes, the lieutenant leaned back in his chair and listened intently.

When Jason had finished, he looked at Vanessa, then back at Jason.

“What's your next step, JD?”

“We wait for the autopsy report and, in the meantime, check our description against missing persons.”

Vanessa spoke up.

“I think the wine glass is not an afterthought but a signature. I'm gonna do a search for any similar crimes.”

John Patton's phone rang.

“Good. Keep me in the loop.”

He picked up the phone and the detectives went to work.

****

Vanessa sat down at her desk opposite Jason.

“I'm going to put together a description of the crime scene and send it out to all bureaus in Texas. I want to see if this matches something done elsewhere.”

“Makes sense. If it has occurred elsewhere, it almost certainly would be the same guy.”

Jason's phone rang.

“Hello?”

“JD, Doctor Davis.”

“Yeah, Doc. What have you got?”

“Ran the girls fingerprints through the data base and got a hit. Jennifer Samples, age 24, arrested on prostitution charges three times in the last year.”

Jason could hear the medical examiner flipping pages.

“Last known address was 224 West Dixon. No phone.”

“Thanks, Doc. Call me when you get the autopsy done?”

“You’re the first. Bye.”

Vanessa was working on the profile to send out and looked up from her notes as Jason hung up.

“Got something?”

“An address. Wanna go?”

“Sure. Let me get this on the wire and I'll meet you downstairs.”

Jason nodded, got up and stuck his head into the lieutenant's office.

“Got an address on our dead girl, we're going to check it out.”

The lieutenant didn't look up from his paperwork.