Though in her mid-twenties, Thea was acutely aware she looked far younger. She wore her detective’s shield on a chain around her neck so she wouldn’t be mistaken for a high school student. Her curly, thick auburn hair was pulled back in a ponytail with a rubber band, loose strands making their way down the sides, framing an attractive, earthy face. She’d been told her emerald eyes were radiant and her seldom-seen smile dazzling. She didn’t have Ariel’s high
cheekbones, and her partner’s lips were full while hers were thin. Next to Ariel, who was in her mid-thirties, she knew she appeared younger than she was.
“I’ll check out the body,” Ariel said. “You speak with the first on the scene,” she added, and made her way over to the Medical Examiner. Gee, thanks for asking, Thea wanted to say, but just shook her head and went searching for her quarry. There was something different about Ariel’s demeanor tonight, though, Thea had noticed.
“Detective Hughes, homicide,” she said, holding out the shield that hung from her neck so he would know she wasn’t jerking his chain. Even if she hadn’t looked younger than her age, she was still young for a homicide detective. “Thea Hughes,” she added, trying to put the young officer at ease. Like Ariel, he towered over her, another six-footer, with the build of a linebacker.
“Hamilton,” he responded looking flustered. “Richard Hamilton.”
“How did you come upon the body?” Thea asked.
“Didn’t. We got a call, an anonymous tip.”
Thea looked up the steep incline that led to the road. No way the victim could have been dumped from a car and landed where she had. “Was she killed here?” Thea now asked. The call she and Ariel had received had only mentioned the body of a female had been found in the woods along Lincoln Drive.
“He shrugged. “She’s covered in blood, but there’s none on the ground. No stab wounds on her torso. No exit or entry wound from a bullet. No mutilation. And being naked … my guess is she was killed someplace else and brought here.”
“Why would he do that?” she asked. She now knew Hamilton was competent. She wanted to see if he had the insight so lacking in most cops. She hadn’t seen the body, but already had a theory.
Hamilton could confirm it. Him or the ME.
“He didn’t want her mutilated,” Hamilton said tentatively, and when Thea didn’t interrupt went on, seeming to gain confidence as he spoke.
“It’s like he killed her, but … I don’t know … respected her,” he said with a shrug.
“Thanks,” she said and made for the body. She had won him over, a fellow cop, not a female cop to be protected by the males of the pride.
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