“It looks like the bastard broke every bone in his face.” Colin’s tone was tight with tension.
“Fuck!” Vinnie went down on his haunches next to the woman. “That motherfucker sliced her face up.” He pointed at the top of her sweater. “And stabbed her in the chest.”
“The paramedics that got here said she received dozens of shallow stab wounds in her breasts.” Pink swallowed. “The killer never went deep enough to kill her.”
“Just to torture her.” Manny’s facial muscles contracted with anger. “We need to find this bloody killer and put a stop to this.”
“We need more data.” A lot more. I couldn’t see us catching this ruthless killer with the frustrating lack of a connection between all the clues we had at the moment. “Having their identities would be a good start.”
Manny pointed at Colin. “Take photos and let Francine show Caelan. He might be able to identify them.”
“I don’t think that’s a good idea, Millard.” Colin ignored Manny’s lowered brow. “There’s no way these people’s best friends or parents would be able to recognise them at the moment. Showing photos of brutally tortured dead people to Caelan is not going to help us and will not help him.”
“I don’t want to help that little shit. I want him to man up, identify these people so we can stop this from happening to anyone else.”
“Dude.” Vinnie stood up and frowned at Manny. “Chill.”
Manny swung around and glared at Vinnie. “Don’t you bloody call me ‘dude’. Instead of wasting time standing around here, why don’t you hit up your criminal buddies and find out if any of your friends have a friend who does this kind of thing for pleasure.”
“Whoa.” Vinnie leaned back, stared at Manny for a second, then looked at me. “I guess I have some phone calls to make.”
Colin watched Vinnie walk back to the vehicles, then turned to Manny. “That was not necessary.”
“Back off, Frey.” Manny pushed his hands in his coat pockets. “Doc? Do you at least have something useful?”
I took my time to study Manny. His expression revealed that he regretted his outburst and dreaded my response. It was truly difficult for me not to confront him with whatever was causing his emotional pain, but I recalled all the conversations Phillip and Colin had had with me about appropriate timing. I shook my head. “The bodies alone don’t give me any new information. We need to know who they are and how they fit into the victimology of Jace and Adèle.”
“If it’s not going to piss you off too much, Frey, I’ll ask Caelan about the other players in his geocaching gifted club.”
I stepped away from Colin and made sure my look at Manny conveyed my censure. “Your sarcasm isn’t helpful.”
“I think it’s a good idea to get names from Caelan.” Daniel stepped forward to obscure Manny’s view of Colin. Always the mediator. “I’ll put a rush on the medical examiner to give us everything he can so we can try to ID these two.”
“How long have the bodies been out here?” Colin asked.
“I have no idea.” Daniel raised his shoulders.
“It snowed lightly early this morning.” I pointed at a bush close to us. “There’s a light dusting of snow there. But there’s nothing on the bodies.”
“Could the snow have melted from their body heat?” Colin shook his head even before he finished his question. “No. They were dead before they got here. So they must’ve been dumped within the last four hours.”
“I’ll get an exact time from the weather guys to find out when it snowed,” Daniel said. “And hopefully, the medical examiner will be able to give us an exact time of death.”
I doubted the medical examiner would be able to give a precise time for these people’s deaths. “An estimate is more likely.”
Daniel smiled at me. “Then we’d better tell the crime scene techs and the guys from the medical examiner’s office the scene is theirs.”
I was grateful to turn away from the awful carnage on the snow. I took two steps towards the cars, then stopped. “I want to speak to the tourists.”
“Sure.” Pink nodded. “They have been very co-operative.”
I thought about it some more. As we walked back to the parking area, I moved away from Colin to walk next to Manny. “Are you able to give a professional interview?”
He stopped. “What the bloody hell does that mean, missy?”
“It means that I know you are dealing with emotional pain, but I would prefer if—like usual—you spoke to the tourists and I observed their body language.” I pointed at his scowl and flared nostrils. “But if you are this easily riled, it might be counterproductive and I won’t get an accurate reading from their reactions.”
“Bloody fucking hell.” Manny pushed both fists against his eyes for a few seconds. Then he glanced at Daniel and Colin continuing along the path without us. The narrowing of his eyes made me wonder if he realised they were giving him time to compose himself. He inhaled deeply, rolling his neck on his shoulders. “I’m good. Let’s do this.”
I didn’t believe that he was ‘good’, but I trusted that he would conduct the interview with the tourists in his usual professional manner. We walked in silence until we reached the others. Vinnie was out of earshot, talking on his phone. Colin, Pink and Daniel were leaning against the GIPN truck, but straightened when we got close. None of them said anything about Manny’s behaviour.
We walked over to the tourists still standing next to the patrol car, Daniel and Pink leading the way. We were about fifteen metres from them when Manny held out his hand to the side. I stopped and looked at him. He turned around to face away from the tourists and closed his eyes. I waited.
Manny took fifteen slow breaths before he opened his eyes and looked at me. “You need to pay extra attention, Doc.”
“I always pay full attention.” The intensity of my focus on others often caused them discomfort. I stopped this line of thinking and studied Manny’s face. This was not what he’d meant. He was doubting his own focus. “I understand.”
He grunted, inhaled deeply and turned around. “Let’s do this.”
I relaxed considerably when Manny’s posture changed. He hunched his shoulders and slowed his gait, his facial muscles less tense. We neared the small group and I turned my attention to them. Pink was introducing Colin and Daniel to the tourists and the police officer was taking a step back, allowing Daniel to take the lead. I was surprised to hear British accents all around.
“And this is Doctor Genevieve Lenard.” Daniel gestured towards me, then pointed at Manny.
“I’m Manny Millard.” Manny followed his interruption by stepping forward and shaking their hands.
The three women were in their forties and were spending a week away from their families and jobs in Oxford. Nina Gray was a mid-level manager at a public relations consulting firm. Her long, dark hair was covered by a fashionable turquoise knitted cap. The rest of her outfit seemed to have been ordered from an outdoor sports catalogue and was much more sensible than the pretty cap.
Rose Wright was the shortest of the three women and owned her own small children’s clothing company.
“And my name is Joan Hazard.” The third woman’s smile lifted her freckled cheeks. “I know, I know. Not quite the surname you want when you’re adventurous.”
“Are you adventurous?” Manny’s smile was small, but inviting.
“Is she ever.” Nina rolled her eyes. “She’s the one who made us come out here before I’ve had enough cake and coffee.”
“We all wanted to come.” Rose’s soft voice was controlled, her arms wrapped tightly around her torso. “So far the week has been wonderful. We’re doing things we wouldn’t do back home because we’re too busy or lazy. We decided to come to Strasbourg for the bridges, cathedral and fine art museums. And when Joanie suggested the nature reserve, we thought it would be wonderful to be out in the crisp morning air.”