Total pages in book: 72
Estimated words: 72154 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 361(@200wpm)___ 289(@250wpm)___ 241(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 72154 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 361(@200wpm)___ 289(@250wpm)___ 241(@300wpm)
Plus, this agent didn’t look too happy to see me.
I knew when to shut up—and this was one of those times.
“What’s going on is this is the first of three victims we’ve found. Also, the freshest.” Loki paused. “The other two are in more advanced stages of decomposition as compared to this one.”
My stomach roiled again.
I guess I was glad that he’d taken me to this scene first.
This one didn’t even smell yet.
Although that was likely due to the fact that it was colder than a witch’s tit outside, and it hadn’t gone above forty degrees in the last three days—which was unprecedented for Louisiana, apparently.
It just so happened that not only was the home’s heat not on, but also the back door had been left open. It was almost like a freezer inside, which no doubt helped to preserve the body.
“Who was the first on scene?” Agent Lynn asked.
Loki pointed at a young rookie cop, who looked so baby-faced that I thought he might be even younger than me.
“Stol,” Loki said to the rookie. “Tell the agent what he needs to know.”
Stol looked terrified to be left alone with the Agent, and I would, too.
Especially with the way he looked so angry.
Loki looked unaffected, however.
“Do you know him?” I asked when Loki made his way up to my side.
“Lynn? He’s the uncle of a man in the Alabama chapter of the Dixie Wardens MC,” he answered. “I’ve seen him a few times. He does work this area, however. When I see him—which isn’t all that often—it’s business related.”
“Is he always so scary looking?” I questioned, looking at the agent over my shoulder.
Loki’s lips twitched. “He’s not that bad. Just stressed this time, I would think. You’ve heard about this,” he gestured to the scene behind him, and I couldn’t help it. I looked. Then immediately felt bile start to rise again. “He’s the head of all this. They assigned this case to him about three months ago when the murders first started.”
I swallowed convulsively. “I’m going to have to leave again.”
He gestured to the door with his head, and I went without having to be told twice.
The moment I felt the cool, fresh air on my face, the bile started to lower.
“Yo, Ayers,” Loki said, startling me. “Would you grab her a bottle of water from the trunk?”
Ayers, who happened to be the crime scene tech that asked about my well-being earlier, turned and rounded Loki’s SUV. Coming back, he handed me the bottle of water. “Just to say, you don’t have a trunk, sir.”
Loki snorted. “Whatever.”
The crime scene tech walked away, but he kept his eyes on me as he moved to a more remote part of the yard where he and another tech were going over some information.
“You normally ask the techs to do your bidding?” I asked sweetly.
Loki pulled out his phone and started to tap out a text message. “One who isn’t a newbie? No. That guy is new, though. Been here about a week and a half at most. He’s still earning his place with me.”
I rolled my eyes, then opened the bottle and started to drain it.
“I don’t think I’ll ever be able to ever unsee what I saw today,” I told him. “Is this normal?”
“People being cut up into little bite-sized pieces?” He rose a brow in question.
I nodded, even though the thought of a body being ‘bite-size’ was laughable. Especially when it came to a human body.
I choked on my last swallow of water, then pulled it away from my face and tried to breathe past the burn.
“Please,” I said carefully through half-filled lungs. “Don’t ever mention anything pertaining to a body as being ‘bite-sized’ within my earshot again.”
Loki grinned. “You’re going to have to grow a thicker skin to do this job. There are things that you’ll see that will be worse than this. Not much. Your first dead kid? It’ll break your fucking heart. Seeing an adult cut up into pieces doesn’t begin to register on the horror scale when you’ve seen a baby who’s been killed…”
“Okay.” I held up my hand. “I get it.”
“So have you found your life’s work?” he questioned.
I shook my head. “I’m finishing the two weeks, man. But I gotta admit…I don’t think I’m digging this for my everyday life.”
Loki snorted and moved a little farther away to answer his phone, which started to ring in his hand, and I studied the house that we’d just come out of.
It was one of those trendy farmhouses. One that looked like it was straight out of a magazine. The house was white, and a wraparound white front porch dominated the entire front of it. There were beautifully maintained flower beds and a cute little walkway with flower beds lining the entire length of it.
There was an apple tree in front and even a white picket fence.