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HORRIS WASHINGTON HAD worked for this current waste management company for about six months now. He preferred doing his routes in the early morning hours. The roads were nice and quiet, as if he was in his own little world. As he headed down the tight alleyway, he saw something near the rear of the dumpster. It looked as if someone had passed out in the alley. Several drivers talked about finding the homeless sleeping near dumpsters. They were instructed to wake the person up so they could move out of the way. The company didn’t want a lawsuit being filed against them just because a drunk or druggy was too out of it to move the hell out of the way.
He took his flashlight out of the truck and hollered, “Hey, you need to wake up and move now, okay?” When the figure didn’t move, he moved closer and shined the flashlight where the face should be. Horris would never erase the image from his mind. This was his first body to stumble upon and hopefully his last. He hurried back to his truck, pulled out his revolver, made sure the doors were locked tight and called 911.
***
DETECTIVE LEDET SPOTTED the flashing lights from the patrol cars parked at the entrance of the alleyway. An officer came up to Ledet as he stepped out of his vehicle. "Sir, we are still waiting for the coroner.”
Ledet watched as Dr. Ortego got out of his van, “Doc, sorry to drag you out at his hour.”
They walked over to the body. The smell of death still bothered Ledet. Dr. Ortego pointed out some details, “It’s your guy. It was risky killing her here. Even at night, there is a lot of foot traffic in this area.”
"How long has she been dead, doc?"
"Rigor hasn't set in. I'd say death was in the last couple of hours."
Ledet tried to keep his emotions under control when working a case, but this time he couldn’t help but feel for this poor girl. This killer treated her no better than a piece of trash.
"I don’t see any defensive wounds. It looks as if he killed her quickly.”
Ledet let out a string of curse words as the scene was finished being processed.