“Noooo…we’ll never get this room done.”

Jason laid the roller in the pan and went over to look at the pager.

“Sorry, honey. Got to check in.”

He left the room and retrieved his cell phone, punching the speed dial for the station. Vanessa answered.

“Homicide.”

He was surprised to hear her voice.

“What are you doing there?”

“ Hey, Jason. I came into to pick up something and the call came through.”

“What call?”

“There’s another victim.”

Jason groaned.

“Wineglass?”

“Afraid so.”

“I’m on my way.”

****

Jason picked up Vanessa at the station and they headed out to the crime scene. It was in the northwest section of San Antonio, at a golf course on the fringe of Canyon State Park.

“Two crime scenes in close proximity to the park.” Vanessa was thinking out loud. “Leads you to think he either lives near the park or it’s in his route from one place to another.”

“Sure or he's just comfortable with the national forest area from previous experiences there.”

Jason stopped the car at the entrance to the golf course parking lot. Two police cars were parked nose to nose, blocking entrance. The car on the left backed up to let Jason pull in. After parking, they got out to find an officer standing with his arms crossed and shaking his head at Devin James.

Devin James is a reporter for the San Antonio News. Black, easily six three, balding and a cynical mind that he concealed with a wide smile. Jason could tell he’d been spotted.

The reporter stopped pestering the officer and walked, or rather limped, directly towards the detective. He had a pronounced limp but the one time Jason had asked about it, James brushed it off.

“Detective, nice to see you again.”

The reporter ignored Vanessa. They had a feud going back to before Jason made it to homicide. Vanessa had never told him the details and he had not pried. Jason didn’t mind Devin but he remained guarded around him.

“Devin, You playing golf today?”

“Very funny, Detective. Actually, the scanner said there’s something much more interesting going on here than just putt-putt.”

The lieutenant had been able to keep the first girls death under the radar, but this one was going to be different.

“They just called us out here, I don’t know anymore than you do.”

“Okay if I tag along?”

“Nope.”

The officer that had been shaking his head at the reporter, pointed at an electric golf cart parked behind him. The two detectives walked over and got in.

The officer got into the cart in front of them and turned to look at them.

“I'm supposed to lead you out to the seventh hole. The crime scene techs are there. They took their van down a service road.”

Devin had followed them to the carts. Jason gave him a big smile.

“Sorry Devin, duty calls.”

“Come on, Detective. Give me something.”

Jason pretended not to hear and stepped down on the gas pedal. The officer led the way, heading down the far side of hole #1, cutting across #4, and through some woods, until they could see the yellow crime tape flitting in the breeze.

They pulled up and got out as the medical examiner was walking back to his van. It was one of Doctor Davis' assistants. Jason caught up with him.

“What have we got?”

“Gunshot wound to the chest. She's been out here about a week. We're done with photos and forensics is done with evidence collection. We'll bag her when you guys are done.”

“Okay, thanks.”

Vanessa had already gone over by the body and Jason followed her. Instead of examining the victim, she was staring out towards the forest. Jason left her alone while he made some notes.

Naked, no clothes or belongings found in the area, gunshot to chest at scene. Propped up against tree, bloodstained wineglass in her hand. Victims hair color, eye color and approximate height match previous two crime scenes.

When he was done, he walked over to where she was standing. He tried to figure out what she was focused on.

“What are you looking at?”

“I'm trying to place the previous crime scene. Wasn't it maybe 500 yards that way, across the woods?”

Jason followed her sight line.

“Yeah, I think you're right.”

At first they seemed much farther apart because they had arrived at the first crime scene from the other side of the forest, but they appeared to be much closer if you drew an imaginary line between the two.

“We need to have a complete search of the area between the two scenes.”

Vanessa agreed.

“Yeah. We can walk it but it might be better to bring in cadaver dogs. If there's a crime scene we haven't found, we don't want to be traipsing all over it.”

Jason nodded.

“Good Point. I'll talk to the lieutenant in the morning.”

Jason signalled they were done with the body and the techs started to wrap her up. Jason and Vanessa got in their cart and went back to the parking lot.

They found Frank in the clubhouse bar. He had regained his composure with help of several beers. Jason sat on one side and Vanessa stood on the other. Jason smiled at Frank.

“You find the body?”

“Yeah. Shook me up pretty good.”

“I can understand that, not something you see during your average round of golf. Did you see anyone else around?”

“No, my buddy and I were the only one’s on that hole when we got there.”

Vanessa leaned in.

“How did you find her?”

“I sliced my ball into the woods and found her while I was looking for it. I was getting ready to hit when something glinted in the sun.”

“The wine glass?”

“I guess. That's some messed up shit.”

Jason gave Frank a card and patted him on the shoulder.

“Thanks. You think of anything else, call us.”

They got up and began making the rounds of the employees and other golfers that were present. Their last stop was at the groundskeeper’s shed.

Jason called through the door.

“Hello?”

A man stuck his head out from behind a tractor.

“Can I help you?”

Jason flashed his badge.

“Yes. Can I ask you a few questions?”

The man came around to where they were standing.

“This about that dead girl?”

“Yes. You see anybody or anything unusual this week?”

“No. I'm here most all day from open to close and I'm all over the course. I hadn't seen anything that would have made me think something like that was going on here.”

“How many roads are there around this place?”

The groundskeepers shed had a map of the course on the wall and he went over and pointed at the brown tracks.

“These are roads around the course, the gray are cart paths.”

Vanessa ran a finger along the seventh hole until it came to rest on a brown trail leading back to the parking lot.

“This is one route he could’ve taken to the scene. Is there any gates along this road?”

“No. Just the one on the parking lot and you can drive around it on the grass if you wanted. It's more of an inconvenience than a solid gate.”

Vanessa pointed to the far side of the forest, opposite the golf course.

“That’s the location of the first crime scene.”

Jason followed the road from the current crime scene out to the previous one. The road continued past the first scene and let out onto the main highway just 50 yards south.

“Is there a gate on the end of that road where it meets the highway?”

“Yes. But we never use it. It was put in during construction of the golf course.”

“Locked?”

“I imagine but I’m not sure.”

“Okay, thanks.”

Jason and Vanessa got back in their car and drove around to the end of the road they had seen on the groundskeeper’s map. Just as the groundskeeper had said, there was a gate. They got out and walked up to look at the chain. It was looped through the gate but the padlock, if there had been one, was gone. Vanessa grunted.