Millar decided to ride with Penner to the second crime scene, and they pulled up alongside the Big Ben statue just ahead of Grant.
‘Right,’ said Penner, as they met up on the sidewalk, ‘So, let’s test our theory. I think we should start here, where the body was found, and retrace what may have been the killer’s steps by walking back towards the park on Range Road.’ Millar and Grant both nodded in agreement. ‘If we each take one of the cross streets, we can cover more ground. We’ll plan to meet up at the trailhead leading into the park, but keep your eyes on the ground for anything that may look like a blood trail—if you see something, call it in and we’ll all meet there. Sound good? I know uniforms did a canvas of the area, but they were asking questions, not necessarily looking for blood.’
‘Sounds like a plan,’ Millar said, checking the batteries in his flashlight. ‘I’ll head down Osgoode here.’
‘I’ll take Laurier,’ Grant jumped in.
‘I guess I’ll take Somerset then,’ said Penner. ‘I’ll see you both at the park. And remember,’ she added, looking back and forth at both Millar and Grant, ‘this isn’t a race or a competition.’
Millar rolled his eyes, but Grant took it in stride and asked, ‘Should we just stay on one side of the street, or kind of criss-cross?’
‘Good question,’ Penner said. ‘Just stay on one side heading there. If we don’t find anything, we can check the other side on the way back. I’d rather we gave both sides of the streets our complete attention. Okay? Let’s go.’
Millar started working his way down Osgoode Street while Penner and Grant each slowly made their way to their chosen streets, scanning the ground carefully as they went, looking for any sign that the victim had been brought that way. ‘It’s amazing how any little mark on the sidewalk can look like blood in the middle of the night…especially when you’re working with tired eyes,’ Penner thought, shining her light and squinting at any suspicious looking spot. After fifteen minutes of slowly working her way down the street, she arrived at the trailhead and waited for the other two.
She didn’t have to wait long. Millar arrived at the trailhead next, and Penner could tell that he hadn’t had any better luck. ‘Anything?’ he asked her.
‘Nope. You?’ Penner asked.
‘Same. If the killer did go that way, I couldn’t tell ya,’ Millar said. ‘No sign of newbie?’
‘No, he must walk slower than we do. Or maybe his younger eyes are able to look more thoroughly,’ Penner said. They stood together for another few minutes, when Penner’s phone rang. ‘Penner.’
‘I think I have something, ma-am,’ Grant said. ‘Just a block from where you are.’
‘We’ll come have a look,’ Penner said, hanging up and pocketing her phone. ‘Says he might have found something,’ she said to Millar. They started walking down Laurier, their steps noticeably quicker and lighter than they had been moments earlier.
‘So, you getting anywhere with a profile? Any idea who we should be looking for?’ Penner asked Millar as they walked.
‘Sorta, but I haven’t had too much time to work on it. Hopefully tomorrow I can really sit down and think,’ Millar said.
‘Grant said he’s been working on a profile.’ Penner looked sideways at Millar. ‘Apparently he’s read all your books.’
‘Yeah, he told me. Maybe I should compare notes with him,’ Millar said, wryly, as they walked up to where Grant was bent down, shining his flashlight on the sidewalk. ‘So,’ said Millar, ‘whaddya got?’
‘Its not much, but this looks like a drop of blood,’ Grant said, pointing to a spot on the sidewalk. ‘Based on the shape, looks like they were moving in the right direction.’
Millar and Penner leaned down to have a better look. ‘Could be blood for sure,’ Penner said. ‘Let’s see if there’s a drop trail that continues towards the park, or even somewhere else. Good work, Grant.’
Millar rolled his eyes again and straightened up, stretching his back. As he stretched, he glanced up and caught a glimpse of a camera on the building beside them. ‘We could be in luck,’ he said, pointing to the camera.
‘Grant, can you take note of the address? We’ll want to get a copy of the tape, if it seems like our guy came this way,’ Penner said. Grant was already writing in his notebook.
They continued to walk slowly along the sidewalk towards the park, following the odd drop of what they were now sure was blood every few feet. The closer they got to the park, the closer together the drops got. ‘Okay, I think our theory may have been correct,’ said Millar, ‘The drops are closer together here, which probably means that the victim’s wound was bleeding more freely.’ He shone his flashlight towards the trees of the park, ‘Let’s go see if we can find us a murder scene.’ Millar headed into the park.
‘Grant, call dispatch and get forensics out here. I want a swab taken of some of the blood to test against Mrs. Jackson’s,’ Penner said over her shoulder, hurrying to catch up with Millar. ‘Meet up with us in the park. We should be moving slow enough for you to find us.’
‘Will do,’ Grant said, pulling out his phone. He watched Millar and Penner disappear into the dark woods.
‘The trail definitely leads in here,’ Penner said, shining her light on splashes of blood on leaves and dark streaks on tree branches. ‘And the drops are larger and even closer together. Seems like whatever was bleeding, the wound was fresher here—hadn’t had a chance to coagulate.’
They continued following the blood trail further into the woods when Penner suddenly heard a rustling behind them. Startled, she turned around quickly. It was Grant.
‘Little jumpy?’ Millar asked.
‘Not enough coffee is all,’ Penner said.
‘Maybe a little too much. Or maybe it’s the sight of that suit materializing out of the darkness,’ Millar said. ‘Forensics on their way?’ he asked Grant.
‘Probably won’t be able to get out until tomorrow. There was another robbery. They’re dusting for prints at the British embassy right now, and it seems like they’re expecting to be there most of the night,’ Grant said. ‘They did say that they finished processing that hair from the other night, apparently they left a message on your office phone earlier,’ he said to Penner.
‘And?’ Penner asked
‘They got a good DNA profile, but no match,’ Grant said, seeing disappointment in Penner’s eyes.
‘Well that sucks, but at least we have something to compare to later,’ Penner said. ‘Right, I don’t think it’s supposed to rain for a couple of days, so it should be okay if they don’t get out here ‘til tomorrow,’ Penner said. ‘Let’s keep going and see where this leads. The mosquitoes are getting bad in here!’
After ten minutes of following the blood trail, suddenly nothing. The trail seemed to disappear.
‘All the ground covers been disturbed,’ Millar said, walking a bit further on. ‘Looks like some dogs have been running around here. See their prints?’ he pointed to a dried mud patch with two distinct canine prints.
‘Now what?’ Grant asked, slapping a mosquito that was biting his cheek.
‘Well, the trail had to come from somewhere, so we should be able to pick it up again,’ Penner said, summoning up what little optimism she had left. ‘Let’s split up and see if we can find anything. I say give it fifteen minutes. If we don’t have anything by then, we’ll send forensics in when it’s daylight.’
They each stepped out in separate directions, keeping their flashlights trained to the ground. It was harder to distinguish what was what in the woods than on the sidewalk—every bit of decay on a leaf looked like it could have been a drop of blood. The mosquitoes were thick in the air and Penner was spending more time swatting them off of her arms and face, than concentrating on the task at hand. She was ready to give up when she heard Grant cry out.
‘Over here!’ The sound was coming from her left. She turned a little too quickly, and stumbled over a root sticking out along the path, nearly falling to her knees. ‘Where are you?’ she called back.
‘I’m here!’ Grant yelled, moving his light back and forth like a beacon.
It sounded like he was close. She kept moving in the same direction and finally saw his light through the leaves. ‘I see you!’ she called out. ‘Millar?’
‘On my way!’ Millar called back.
Penner moved the last branches out of her way and saw Grant standing in a small clearing. ‘Check this out,’ he said. Penner walked towards him and looked down at the ground where his light was focused.
‘Jeez, that’s a lot of blood,’ Penner said as Millar joined them. ‘Something died here, for sure.’
There was a very large pool of dried blood on the ground, almost three feet in diameter. The leaves around it were scattered as though something large had been dragged through them.
‘Looks like the drag marks continue in that direction,’ Millar said, pointing in the opposite direction from where they had entered the park. ‘So, if this is where our murder took place, the victim, Mrs. Jackson, could have been carried or dragged in from over there. We should check that out in the light. Not sure if we’ll see much or not, but we should have a look.’
‘What do you mean ‘if’ our murder took place here?’ Grant asked. ‘Looks pretty obvious to me.’
‘First lesson, never jump to conclusions,’ Millar said. ‘Yes, I would agree that something died here, but it could have been an animal. Or it even could have been someone other than our victim.’
‘I really hope we don’t have another murder. I’d say three is enough for one week, wouldn’t you?’ Penner said. ‘Right. Grant, I want this area taped off. Call in to get a uniformed officer here to keep watch overnight. Until we can get the blood tested, we don’t want anything messing up our ‘possible’ crime scene.’
‘Will do, ma-am. See you back in the office tomorrow morning.’ Grant started jogging back towards the entrance of the park to get a roll of police tape out of his car.
‘Coffee?’ Penner asked Millar. He looked at his watch.
‘Why not, only have to report to work in the next couple of hours. You’re buying.’
Grant walked back to his car, pulled out his cell phone and leaned against the hood, scrolling through his stored numbers. He dialed and listened to it ring several times. ‘Hi Sergeant, it’s Grant. Yeah, I know I was supposed to be off but I got a call to help Detective Penner with a homicide, which is why I am calling. We may have found a crime scene and the Detective wants someone out to guard it until morning. You can send someone? Perfect. Big park over on Range Road, I can meet them at the east entrance and show them where to go. An hour? No problem. Thanks, Sarge.’ He hung up the phone and put it back in his suit jacket pocket before walking around to the back of the car. He popped the trunk and dug around for a roll of caution tape.
Now that he knew where he was going, it didn’t take long to walk back into the woods and find the bloody clearing. He paced off a few steps outside the area and ran the caution tape in a wide circle, winding it around the trees as he went. ‘I really should have put on bug spray,’ he thought, swatting a mosquito off of his forehead. He looked at his watch. ‘Got some time to kill. Might as well take a look around and see if I can figure out where the drag marks came from.’ He started following the parallel drag lines along the trail. Well, it was almost a trail, probably made by small animals. It was a bit overgrown but easy enough to follow. After a few minutes of winding though the trail, slapping bugs as he went, he finally came out on the other side of the trees. He was standing on a quiet street, but he wasn’t sure which one—it was an area he wasn’t familiar with. He walked across the sidewalk to the road, looking for any sign of drag marks, but nothing showed on the dark pavement. ‘Great,’ he thought. At least he knew the body was brought into the woods here, so that was a start. He walked around the general area, seeing if he could spot anything. ‘Jackpot!’ he said out loud, looking up at a security camera outside of a convenience store.
There were so many posters on the windows of the store, Grant couldn’t see inside, but the ‘open’ sign told him someone should be there. He opened the door and stepped inside, the bell above him jingling. A young man sitting behind the counter looked up from his phone at the sound. He glanced briefly at Grant and went back to his phone. Grant walked up to the counter and waited for the young man to look up again.
‘Can I help you?’ he asked, eyes still glued to his phone.
‘Ottawa Police. My name’s Constable Grant and I want to ask you about the security camera you have outside.’ The young man finally looked up and his eyes scanned up and down.
‘Police, eh?’ the young man said. ‘Nice suit.’ He went back to his phone.
Grant pulled out his badge and slammed it on the counter, a bit harder than he had anticipated, making the young man almost drop his phone. ‘As I said. I’m with the police and I would like to ask you about your security camera outside.’
‘Uh, sorry, sir. How can I help?’ The young man actually put his phone down. Grant finally had his attention.
‘How long do you keep copies of the recordings before they’re overwritten?’ Grant asked.
‘I don’t know, sir. I just work the counter two nights a week. I don’t deal with the cameras—my boss takes care of all that stuff.’
‘How can I get in touch with your boss?’ asked Grant.
‘I have his number here somewhere,’ the young man said, fumbling through some papers under the cash. ‘Here, here it is.’ He handed Grant a small sheet of paper.
‘Thanks,’ Grant said. He folded the paper and put it in his pocket. ‘Did you happen to work two nights ago?’
‘Um, no, sir. This is my first shift this week.’
‘Okay, thanks.’ Grant walked back towards the door. Before he’d even left the store, he noticed the young man’s attention was back on his phone.
By the time Grant got back to the park entrance, a squad car was already sitting there. The door opened and Constable Curry got out. ‘Evening, Detective,’ he said.
‘Call me whatever you want. I’m about to go home while you get to sit in the woods all night,’ Grant said.
‘Yeah, yeah. So, where do I need to set up?’ Constable Curry asked, grabbing his large flashlight out of the trunk. ‘How are the bugs, do I need bug spray?’
‘Bugs are fine, follow me,’ Grant said with a smile.
‘So, what’s your take on this Constable Grant?’ asked Millar, taking a sip of his coffee.
‘I don’t know. He seems pretty nice and like he’s a pretty good cop,’ Penner said. She tilted her head back, finished the last of her coffee and continued. ‘Good observation skills, which doesn’t always come naturally to cops his age. Keen, too. I think he’s got a good career ahead of him. Why?’
‘No reason. There’s just something about him that bugs me,’ Millar said.
‘Jealous of the new young kid coming in and doing your job?’ Penner teased him with a grin.
‘Hardly,’ said Millar. ‘What do you really know about him? How long’s he been on the force?’
‘Not long, I don’t think. Year, two, I don’t know. I didn’t ask for his c.v.,’ Penner said, getting the waitress’s attention for more coffee.
Millar hesitated before asking, ‘Do you know where he was during the second murder?’ Penner shot him a look as the waitress brought around another pot.
‘I’ll just leave this here for you, shall I?’ the waitress said to Penner.
‘Thanks, that would be much more convenient,’ said Penner, filling her cup first and then topping up Millar’s, waiting until the waitress was out of earshot. ‘I’m not really sure where he was, why?’
‘Just seems a bit suspicious to me,’ Millar said. ‘He’s first on scene for the first murder, no one ever called it in. Tonight, he couldn’t be contacted because he was having a shower at one in the morning. He chose to search the street where the blood droplets were found, and then he finds the crime scene in the woods. Coincidence?’
‘Are you kidding me?’ Penner asked, shaking her head. ‘You’re the one who suggested going to the park to search—maybe you’re the one who did it. Drink your coffee, I think you’re delirious.’
‘He has a baton and a Taser.’ Millar pushed on.
‘And so does every cop in the country,’ said Penner, surprised that Millar would even suggest a fellow cop could be involved. ‘Besides,’ she added, trying to lighten the mood, ‘Look at him. I really doubt he could carry a hundred pound person six feet let alone six blocks.’
‘Still, there’s something about him.’ Millar wouldn’t let it go.
‘Do you think he fits the profile?’
‘No, not really,’ he admitted. ‘Since you asked about it earlier, I’ve been thinking. Right now I’d say we’re looking for a middle-aged, divorced or separated, white male, probably has a kid. He has some form of custody, be it full-time or part-time, but he’s in the kid’s life. Employed with a good job. Even though all of the victims were petite, he’d have to be somewhat strong to carry a body. I think he knew the victims. Not super friendly or anything, but he knew who they were.’
‘Huh, almost sounds like you?’ Penner said winking.
‘Almost. Let’s keep that our little secret.’ Millar smiled into his coffee cup.