"The top of the truck was imploded," Gearhart said, "and the back of the cab itself is intact. That isn't what got the driver."
"What if the truck hit the breakwater when it left the road?" Danza said. "The driver could have been thrown."
"There are no signs of scraping on top of the truck or on the rocks," Gearhart said. "That was the first thing we checked. And he wasn't thrown. The seatbelt is still buckled."
"Still buckled?"
"Yes. He was pulled out. Or torn out."
"Unbelievable."
"Yes," Gearhart said. "But what's most unbelievable is that we haven't even got a shoe or a piece of bone or any trace of the driver anywhere. Not even footprints, though the tide was probably a lot closer to the truck when this happened. The killer could have walked in the surf or even on the cab itself. The truck is also near enough to the road so that someone might have parked on the shoulder, hopped onto the truck, and stayed off the sand altogether."
"And then just drove away with the body," Danza said. "Or what about flew away in a helicopter?"
"That would have shown up on the airport radar," Gearhart said. "One of my deputies checked. There was nothing in the log."
"Did you get anything else from the man who found the wreck?"
"Highway patrol talked to him for over an hour. Unless he's a hell of an actor, he didn't make off with the body."
"What about the owner of the seafood company?" Danza asked.
"She said that everyone loved the driver," Gearhart said. "But according to Caltrans, Roche and Greene didn't have enemies either-"
"Hold on," Danza said. "Do you think these incidents are related?"
"It's possible," Gearhart said. "The emergency crew reported finding a lot of blood up at Painted Cave Road. Now we have this. Maybe some whacko's moving south, sniping at people from the foothills at relatively close range and then taking the bodies."
"Like a serial killer or cultist."
"Something like that," Gearhart said.
What he didn't tell Danza-he knew she had cooperated with Hannah Hughes in the past and didn't want this getting around-was that he wasn't ruling out Greene as the killer. The first patch of blood was found where Roche reportedly had been waiting for him, and there was no damage to Greene's backpack, only to Roche's. The men might have struggled and Roche could have had the backpack on while they fought. Since the search team started moving out from that site, Greene might be panicked or flipped-out and was doing the same. According to Chief Deputy Valentine, the senior engineer's psych profile indicated that he had been treated for severe depression and was taking medication to treat it. Gearhart didn't know what the hell could depress a guy with a secure, good-paying job and a couple of healthy kids. But he had never understood people who "broke" anyway.
"So how do we handle this?" Danza asked.
"With who?"
"The reporters waiting outside, for one."
"Assuming that Greene and Roche continue to be missing," Gearhart said, "we tell the press that both situations are still under investigation and we don't see any evidence that the disappearances are connected and that there is no evidence of criminal activity."
"That's probably best for now," Danza agreed. "Okay. That's what we tell them. Meanwhile, what do we do? We can't say there's no criminal activity and then put out a general advisory-"
"No, but we can take strong, reasonable precautions."
Gearhart said. "I've ordered Chief Deputy Valentine to increase our vehicular patrols in the hills from Goleta to Montecito. He's also stationing lookouts along San Marcos Pass and at high spots overlooking other roads, which is another reason we need to keep this quiet I don't want people spotting our guys up there with spyglasses and high-powered rifles and thinking they've found a killer. I'll be talking with Captain March at the highway patrol later this morning. We'll work out shifts to cover the highways and main roads throughout the county."
Danza nodded. "Do you want me to handle the-"
"Sheriff!"
The voice had come from the cab. Gearhart walked over, followed by Danza. The sheriff was surprised that be could smell the rubber of the gloves over the scent of the fish. Then again, maybe he'd just gotten used to the stench. He could also smell the tart scent of the IS vapors being used to search for fingerprints. The vapors were a combination of iodine and superglue, which could be sprayed onto any surface, including blood. They coalesced quickly on prints and revealed more details than traditional powder.
The sheriff stepped up to portly team leader Thomas Gomez, who was on his knees in the sand, right outside the broken windshield. The three other members of his group were working through the open passenger's side door and on the other side of the shattered windshield. There was a gentle hum coming from inside the cab. Gomez had hooked a small battery pack to the air system and was blowing the contents of the vents into plastic bags. The bags had pinholes that allowed the air out but kept particles in. Sometimes pieces of skin, strands of hair, or fluid samples ended up in the bags.
"What have you got?" Gearhart asked.
"A very weird case," Thomas admitted. "Sheriff, did the victim have a dog?"
"I don't know," Gearhart admitted. "Why?"
"Because we've got what looks like fur stuck in the blood and floating from the air vents," the balding man replied. "There's also what looks like spittle in the grooves of the floor mat. It's thicker than drool from any dog or bobcat I've ever seen, though I'll have to check it against samples from rabid animals. If it matches, that would lead us in a whole different direction. I'd also put in calls to all the local zoos and animal preserves."
Gearhart pulled his cell phone and notepad from his jacket He was angry at himself for not having thought to ask about the dog. A lot of drivers traveled with dogs for companionship, protection, and to keep from having to put them in kennels. He checked his notes for Caroline Bennett's number and called. The woman had gone back to her office with a deputy to talk to the packers in the small warehouse, see if Glen Grey had seemed different from usual the night before. There was always the chance that he had to meet with someone on the road, maybe a drug dealer or someone who held a chit, possibly a gambling debt If so, he might have been anxious or depressed.
Gearhart was only on the phone for a few seconds. "The driver did not have a dog."
"Well, that does complicate things," Gomez said. "There was almost certainly a long-haired animal here at some point."
"Maybe he picked up a stray," Danza said.
"I doubt that," Gomez said.
"Why?" Gearhart asked.
"Because I haven't found any nose-painting on the pieces of glass," Gomez replied.
"Excuse me?" Danza said.
"You're not a dog owner," Gomez said.
"No."
"If a car window is closed, dogs often put their paws on the dashboard and their wet noses on the windshield," Gomez said. "So I'm betting this was a predator, possibly drawn by blood after the accident and possibly it was a bobcat-though if a carnivore was here, I also don't understand how it managed to get the victim out without leaving footprints in the blood. A bobcat can't just pull someone through a broken window."
"I know," Gearhart said He looked back across the smashed walls of the truck. "And an animal didn't cause those breaks."
"I also don't understand why there isn't a trace of the victim other than blood and a few strands of hair," Thomas went on. "A large boa constrictor could do that, but they don't have fur, they don't live here, and they leave slither marks, which pretty much rules that out. Like I said, it's a weird one. I'll know more after we get the fur and spittle samples over to the lab."