“Make it three,” said his son. “Sooo lit.” Cool, in teen-speak.
“Not a chance, pal.”
Tucker frowned and then explained what was happening with the cold front that had swept through the mountains and the other one that was approaching.
“They had a record snowfall in Lake Tahoe overnight. It kinda got lost in the news with all that’s happening over there, but some of my friends who are farmers are pretty stoked.”
Lacey was surprised. “Snow in October? I can’t even remember the last time that happened.”
“More than just snow, Mom. I’m talking GOAT levels.” GOAT was an acronym used for greatest of all time. It was often overused, but in the case of the unusual winter precipitation that was ongoing, it was the truth. The snowmelt to follow was much needed by Northern California farmers.
The horrific drought conditions had made it difficult for farmers to make ends meet. Pressured by banks to pay their notes despite the lack of crop production, many of them took to growing grapes to supply local wineries. Others in the higher elevations converted their lands to grow hemp and marijuana like so many others in California.
The drought had another significant impact. Wildfires had devastated hundreds of thousands of acres across the state. The drought conditions and high winds at that time of year created a worst-case scenario in the event a negligent camper or a careless smoker started what might ordinarily be a harmless flame. The fires had been burning since September but were largely contained.
“So you’re thinking South Lake Tahoe for snowboarding?”
“You name it, Mom. Wouldn’t it be great to get away? Heck, we can even unplug the television in the room so we don’t have to listen to that crap anymore.” He pointed over his shoulder with his thumb.
Lacey glanced into the living room. She was tempted to turn it back on and see if there were any new developments. It was like watching a train wreck that you couldn’t take your eyes off of. Only it was much larger.
PART IV
ONE WEEK IN OCTOBER
Day four, Monday, October 21
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
Monday, October 21
Near Key Largo, Florida
Mike had raced up A1A after receiving the phone call from Jessica. She’d been called out to assist two snorkelers when they’d made a discovery. Fortunately, Mike was in Islamorada, only seventeen miles down the highway. To expedite matters, Jessica met Mike at the Calusa Campground Marina located on the Gulf side of the Overseas Highway.
When he arrived, Jessica stood on the dock, waving to get his attention. She had several MCSD deputies with her and a young couple sitting cross-legged on the dock with colorful beach towels wrapped around their shoulders. The young woman was still crying, and her boyfriend appeared to be shaken as well.
Jessica walked toward Mike to meet him halfway.
“Hey, whatcha got?” he asked. Ordinarily, the two would exchange a kiss on the cheek, but not while on duty.
“Another body. May or may not be related.”
“Out there?” Mike nodded toward Tarpon Basin, a circular body of water surrounded on all sides by land except for a couple of openings to the Gulf.
“Out at Bush Point,” replied Jessica, pointing toward the north and the mainland. “They’d taken their kayaks up Dusenbury Creek to do some snorkeling around the point. They didn’t tie their kayaks off properly, and they’d both floated away, too far for the couple to swim to. Fortunately, the young guy had brought his cell phone secured in a waterproof pouch, so he could call for help.”
“Okaaay,” Mike began, stretching out the word. “How does a dead body fit into all of this?”
Jessica led him by the arm toward the college kids. “I’ll let them explain.”
When they arrived at the end of the dock, the deputies stepped away, and Mike knelt down in front of them. “Hi. I’m Detective Mike Albright. I know you’ve told these other guys about what you found, but would you mind telling me, too?”
The young girl sniffled and nodded her head in agreement. Her boyfriend took the lead.
“Well, we lost our kayaks, so I called for help while we were treading water. She was gettin’ tired, so I looked around the point to find some solid ground or at least a few mangrove branches to hold onto.
“Anyways, we snorkeled around the point, and that’s when this large cluster of lobsters grabbed my attention. It was early this morning, and I’ve been around long enough to know that lobsters are more active at night, so I thought it was weird.
“We floated there for a minute, watching them gnaw away at something until I noticed something metallic flash up ahead. I kicked my fins a little and moved toward it. It looked like a broken piece of dead coral stuck out of another cluster of lobsters. Only, the reflection of the light striking something shiny made me wanna take a closer look.
“I reached down to grab the coral branch off the bottom. When I pulled it up, the hand came with it. Then an arm floated by me with a watch around it. I started to panic. I broke the surface and gasped for air, and that’s when she started screaming. The hand floated toward her, and she twisted her body in the water, kicking her fins really fast to get away. I guess the turbulence stirred up the bottom enough until more body parts were dislodged.
“Another arm. A foot. An ear. We freaked out and swam away as fast as we could until she rescued us.” He pointed at Jessica.
The girl began to cry again, and the young man welled up in tears. Mike decided to give them a break, so he stood to speak with Jessica.
“Did you call it in, too?”
“Yeah. They’re sending forensics. Also, we have another one of our units out at the scene to preserve it and, um, gather up evidence.”
“Great. I wanna go out there. First, did you happen to bag what these two found.”
“I did,” she replied with a smile. “Just like the boss taught me.”
Mike chuckled as he followed Jessica to her boat. She jumped over the side and opened up a large ice cooler underneath the rear seat. On one side were several water bottles. On the other were several body parts secured in Ziploc baggies, identified by location and time. A bluish-white stretch of arm, or at least what remained after the crustaceans had fed off it, was lying on top of the ice. It had been drained of blood.
He joined her side and studied the hand, foot and ear. “There is some decomposition here. If this is related to our serial killer, it happened sooner. Forensics will tell us that. Also, look at the arm. How it was severed. Do you see here? On the side just above the elbow? It’s not a clean cut. This arm was brutally hacked off.”
“With what?”
“An axe maybe? Hell, there is a whole field of science on the various cutting tools to dismember a body. All I know is the wounds are different from the two victims we’ve already examined.”
Jessica asked, “If this person was murdered before the other two, as the decomposition suggests, it could be unrelated.”
“Or the killer is getting better at what he does,” said Mike, his voice trailing off. Mike stood and shielded his eyes from the sun to look out across Tarpon Basin.
“You wanna take a look?” she asked.
“Yeah. Wait. The kid said something about a watch.”
Jessica turned around and pointed toward an open compartment in the boat’s center console. “I didn’t put it in the cooler. Nice watch, see?” She handed him another Ziploc.
Mike held it up. “Well, we can either rule out robbery, or the killer didn’t know what he had.”