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Harry drove slowly past the scene of Hardy's mysterious reappearance. She parked far enough away not to cause any suspicion, but close enough that they could get back to her car quickly if anyone saw them. Harry expected the blood Hardy trailed, but the amount was a shock. It was much more than she thought a scalp could reasonably drip, and looked like someone large had been exsanguinated right in the center.
"What fresh hell is this?" Busy asked with a nervous chuckle. "This has got to be a joke. Right? It's fake blood."
Harry walked up to the scene, careful not to leave footprints or get the blood on her. She leaned in close, took a deep breath, and the unmistakable scent of copper hit her nostrils. Something else was beneath it, something more carnal and fleshy... The body was near enough that she could smell it starting to rot.
"It's not fake. Whoever left all this blood also left us a body. Come on," she said, walking a wide path around the blood and heading toward the wooded area behind it. When she noticed Busy wasn't behind her, she turned and raised her hand in a question. "We need to find this body."
Busy was staring down at the wide circle of blood in disgust. She wouldn't look up and meet Harry's eyes.
"What's wrong?" Harry asked. "You've seen worse crime scenes than this."
Instead of listening to her, Busy pulled out her phone, leaned in close, and took a picture of something within the circle. Then she stumbled back away from the scene and ended up with the seat of her pants in the dewy grass.
"Shit!" she said softly.
She picked herself up as Harry jogged back over to help her. They both checked her over, and finding no blood, Harry put her hands on the sides of Busy's arms. "Are you okay, babe?"
Busy nodded and brushed the wet pieces of grass onto the front of her jeans. "Look at this," she said, and showed Harry her phone. The picture she had taken was washed out from the flash, but it was unmistakable what was in the center. The bangles were gory with blood and strips of ripped flesh, but Harry recognized them immediately. They were Selena's.
"Fuck," Harry hissed.
She pulled out her own phone and rang a familiar number. When the captain picked up, Harry told her what she had found. The captain jumped into action, and Harry could hear her giving orders over a landline phone. When she came back, she ordered Harry to stay away from the scene in order to stop any contamination, and Harry acquiesced.
"I'm going to see if there's a body nearby this time," Harry told her.
"I said to stay away from the scene!" Captain Briggs hissed. "Are you trying to get me suspended, too? You can't put your foot in it this time, Thresher. You need to stay clean and out of it."
Harry looked from the woods to Busy, who was worrying her lips with her teeth and staring at the dark woods. "Fine," she said, and hung up the phone. She stuffed it into her pocket, then took Busy's cold hand.
"It's okay. Let's go home."
Busy shuddered, but followed Harry to the car. She got in at Harry's insistence, and Harry was halfway into the car herself when something caught her eye. It glistened in the moonlight like the bracelets had. She studied it for a long moment.
"What are you doing?" Busy asked softly. “You shouldn’t be out there. You’ll contaminate the scene.”
Harry pulled her leg out of her car and ducked her head in. "Wait here, okay? I just need to take a look at something."
"Don't touch it!" Busy called out as Harry walked away from the car and into the edge of the wooded area. She opened her door and stuck her head out. "Take a picture that has some kind of scale in it."
Harry paid no attention to Busy as she stalked out of the parking lot toward the woods. How had she not seen it when they pulled up and parked? She was too wired on adrenaline, pumped to check out a case, ready to be back on the force instead of stuck at home with her nightmares and bitterness. She turned on the flashlight app of her phone and swept it over the grass as she stood on the edge of the concrete parking lot. It took her a few swipes to see it again, but when her light landed on it, she took an unconscious step back.
"What is it?" Busy called in a stage whisper from the car.
Harry snatched a stick from the edge of the clearing, leaned down, and lifted the handle of a purse she recognized. What stuck out looked like pure gore. It was flesh, that Harry knew for sure, and it had been massacred. She prayed to the universe that it wasn't human. She swung her flashlight to shine inside, then stumbled back away as the lump of flesh dropped onto the ground. She let go of the stick and stumbled back to the car. She checked her shoes and clothes with her flashlight to make sure she hadn't been contaminated, got back into the car, closed the door, and stared at what the lights illuminated. It was just a shiny metal handle to a young girl's purse. What was inside... Harry shuddered, then pulled out her phone.
"What was it, Harry?" Busy asked, placing a hand on Harry's shoulder gently. "Evidence?"
Harry nodded her head numbly as she waited for Briggs to pick up again. She could hear doors being closed nearby, and hoped that the uniforms and forensics team were now coming on the site of the bloodbath. When Briggs picked up, Harry opened her mouth, but nothing came out.
"What is it, Thresher?"
Harry stared hard at the silver handle of the purse as it glinted in her headlights, and took a deep breath. "I found another body."
"What?" Briggs and Busy asked in unison.
Harry kept her eyes steady and her phone up to her head, but pulled on her seatbelt as she spoke. "It's a little less than a block away along the edge of the woods. I wasn't looking for it; I just happened to see it when I was getting in my car to leave. I'm leaving the parking lot of Sun Donuts and State Farm. Look for the purse."
She hung up the phone, put the car into reverse, and backed up slowly. As the lights swept up and revealed more of the gory scene, Busy gasped and put her hand up to her mouth. She made a gagging noise in the back of her throat. Harry pulled away from the image and started to drive home, but not before searing the image of the dead baby into her brain forever.
