Close Enough to Kill

When they arrived at the crime scene, a small crowd had already formed along the roadside and the rutted lane leading into farmer Earl Wheeler ' s soybean fields. Jim had seen this happen all too often, thanks to citizens in possession of police scanners. Although several deputies had beaten them there and were doing their best to keep the spectators at bay, Lieutenant Downs was sweating profusely, apparently concerned about keeping the scene secured.

' Look at them, ' Hensley said. ' Swarming like maggots. Why is it that people are so damn fascinated by murder and mayhem '

Neither Jim nor Bernie replied since the deputy ' s question was obviously rhetorical.

Bernie parked her Jeep just short of the yellow tape marking the scene, opened the driver ' s door and hopped out, with Hensley on her heels. She gave the bystanders a hard glare and ordered everyone to keep their distance, then met Downs as he came toward her. Jim, who ' d been sitting in the backseat, didn ' t rush, allowing the sheriff to take the lead. After all, when it came time to speak to the press, she ' d be the one to take the heat. And when the case was solved, it was her right to take most, if not all, the glory. As the new chief investigator, this should be his case, but he wasn ' t about to inform either the sheriff or Hensley of that fact. After he got out of the Jeep, he stood back, surveying the scene. Bernie paused after speaking to Downs and looked at Jim. She motioned to him with a wave of her hand. He nodded, and then joined the others at the edge of the yellow tape. ' It ' s Stephanie Preston, ' Bernie said. ' John called Morris Claunch, our county coroner, and he should be here any minute now. He ' ll be able to give us some basic info, but it seems fairly obvious that Stephanie ' s throat has been slashed. '

Jim stepped over the tape and moved closer to the body, stopping a good five feet away. Stephanie was young, pretty, dark haired, full breasted and slender. With no apparent signs of a struggle and no blood anywhere on the ground near the victim, Jim surmised that she had been killed elsewhere and brought to this spot. And it was apparent, even to an untrained eye, that she had been posed in a somewhat seductive manner. One arm was draped across her breasts and one hand covered her mound, as if although the killer had wanted to expose her lush body, he ' d also wanted to present her corpse with a small degree of modesty. The way he had arranged her limbs and long dark hair said that, in his own sick, perverted way, the killer had cared about his victim. Jim had seen this before, usually in cases where a member of the family turned out to be the murderer and in one case where the perpetrator had been a serial killer and posing his victims had been part of his MO.