A tangled web of hair floated around the young womans mud-streaked face, bones poked through the already decaying skin and there were bruises, scratches and teeth marks from animals that had picked at her marred body.
She was still clothed, her thin T-shirt torn and tattered, her jeans full of holes and layered in dirt.
The CSU team snapped pictures while Dr. Sagebrush adjusted his glasses and examined her.
How long do you think shes been dead? Justin asked.
Hard to say yet, Dr. Sagebrush replied. The temperature of the water could have slowed down decomp, but Id guess a while. Maybe a couple of months.
Two young women had disappeared within that time frame.
Justin eyed the creek, scanning the terrain up and downstream with his flashlight. You think she was dumped in the creek or floated
in from the river?
Dont know. Dr. Sagebrush shrugged, his eyes narrowed as he pushed strands of wet hair away from the girls face. Look at this. The ME pointed to the bruises on her neck.
She was strangled, Justin said, frowning at the angry, inch-wide red lines cutting into the womans throat. Looks like the killer used a belt.
Dr. Sagebrush nodded. Probably the cause of death, but I cant say for sure till I get her on the table. If theres water in her lungs, she might have been alive when she was dumped.
Justins stomach knotted as an image of the girl fighting for her last breath flashed in his eyes. The current in this part of the creek was strong, the rocks jagged. Kayakers and raft guides trained on the wider, rougher sections as practice for the river. If she was alive, shed probably been too weak to fight the current and save herself.
But the doctor lifted the girls eyelids, and Justin saw petechial hemorrhaging and guessed shed died of strangulation.
One of the crime techs dragged a tennis shoe from the muddy bank, then compared it to the girls foot. Could have belonged to her. Well bag it and see if we find anything on it.
Justin nodded. Ill look around for forensics although, like you say, she probably wasnt killed here.
Justin knew the drill. Hed been working homicide cases, hunting serial killers and the most wanted, for ten years now. Nothing surprised him.
Yet a young womans senseless murder still made sorrow fill his chest.
He walked over to the edge of the river and studied the foliage, then dipped deeper into the woods to search for any sign that the girl had lost her life nearby.
If they found hair or clothing, even a footprint, it might help track down the killer.
Anxiety twitched at his insides. Only two of the girls whod gone missing in the past few years had been found. One dead; the other had run away.
But there was no sign of the others. No notes goodbye. No phone calls or ransom requests.
No bodies, making the police wonder if the girls were alive or dead.
So why had this womans body been dumped where it could be found?
Were the cases connected? And if so, were any of the other young women still alive?
* * *
SHERIFF AMANDA BLAIR sipped her umpteenth cup of coffee for the day while she skimmed the mail on her desk. An envelope stamped with the high schools emblem and a sketch of the canyon for which the school had been named, Canyon High, caught her eye, and she ripped it open.
The invitation to her high school class reunion filled her with a mixture of dread and wariness.
Shed moved away from Sunset Mesa after her senior year when her father had been transferred. Having grown up with a Texas Ranger for a father, shed known shed wanted to follow in his footsteps and work in law enforcement. And there had been nothing for her in Sunset Mesa. No best friend. No boyfriend.
No one whod missed her or written her love letters or even asked what her plans were for the future.
Truthfully shed been glad to move. Shed always been a loner, a tomboy, more interested in her fathers cases than joining the girly girls at school with their silly obsessions with makeup, fashion and boys.
Shed chosen softball and the swim team over cheerleading and dance competitions and had felt more comfortable hanging out with guys at sports events than having sleepovers or going shopping with her female peers.
The one event that had colored her entire high school experience was her classmate Carlton Buttss death.
Juniors in high school were not supposed to die. They especially werent supposed to commit suicide.
Regret, that she hadnt been a better friend to him and sensed how deep his depression ran, taunted her. Shed had nightmares about him plunging to the bottom of the canyon for years. In fact, most people in town now referred to the canyon as Carltons Canyonsome even called the high school Carlton Canyon High.
Occasionally she even thought she heard Carlton whispering her voice in the night. Calling to her for help.
Begging her to save him from himself.
Only shed missed the signs.
Guilt had driven her to search for answers, only none had ever come. Then young women had started disappearing across Texas, two from Sunset Mesa, and shed felt her heart tugging at her to return to the town. To find out what was happening to them because shed failed to help her own friend.