The scene was his worst nightmare. Not only was there a crowd too big to cut through, but they were all crammed into the small running path beside the canal, blocking his view. Logan stayed at the top of the steps, peering over at the crime scene beside the emerald river.
From here, at this time of night, there was nothing to see.
Preferring not to take his chances on pushing his way to the front, he walked along the road high above the river, navigating through the thin bustle of civilians as he looked over the stone railing that kept them all from falling onto the people below. The police were working on establishing a plastic canopy to obstruct the view from those above. This told Logan one thing: it was so bad down there that they didn’t want people seeing it.
As he moved closer, a news crew pulled up and stopped on the road. They hurried over and found a good spot, the reporter snapping her fingers and ordering the camera crew around. They set up quickly, readying their report. Logan kept an ear out for their words.
His eyes, however, were fixed on the scene. It wasn’t the best view from here, but if he could just get a glimpse of the body – just enough to know whether or not it was Jenny – maybe he could keep his hands from shaking. He imagined having to head back and tell Maggie her sister was dead. He pictured the disbelieving look of disgust on her face as she realized he had failed her. That he’d broken his promise to get her back safe.
But there was more than that. He liked Jenny a lot. Knowing something bad had happened to her wasn’t going to help his state of mind any, and neither was worrying. He had to keep a clear head as he studied the scene, looking everywhere for the body.
He found nothing.
“We’re here live at the Chicago River, where a young woman’s body was discovered by a jogger,” the reporter said to the camera.
Logan slunk in closer to listen.
“Police say the body was found by Louise Jennings, who is currently giving her statement to officials. However, the condition of the body was what shook her the most – naked, with both breasts sawed from her body in a malicious…”
Logan turned and walked away, not wanting to hear more. Parts missing from the body sounded like his guy, but was Jenny the victim? By now, they had finished setting up the canopy below, making it impossible to see the body for himself. At least Logan found it likely this was his killer, but that led to more questions: why kill this girl and not Jenny? How many young women did he have ready to slice like animals?
None of it made sense – there was no pattern outside of missing body parts, and even that was yet to be explained. A piercing ache throbbed in Logan’s head, the stress and worry working together to cloud his thoughts. Knowing he wasn’t getting answers here tonight, he turned his attention to the array of police cars, looking everywhere for Peters.
There was no other way to get the intel.