Page 8 of Shadows Reel

This was where it had happened.

Two dented gasoline cans lay on their sides. In the middle of the yard was burned grass and blackened leaves.

Joe dug for his cell phone and called Tibbs. The sheriff answered after one ring.

“I’m at Bert Kizer’s place up the road. It looks like he was tortured here and dumped where you are. I can’t tell if he was alive or dead when they set him on fire.”

“Oh my God,” Tibbs said. He sounded stunned.

“Don’t worry, I didn’t go inside,” Joe said. “And this is just my working theory after about five minutes of looking around. But the house looks to be a wreck inside and they didn’t clean up after themselves. I’m guessing Norwood can find prints and DNA in there.”

“Shit, this is awful,” Tibbs said.

“I’ll stay on the scene until you get here,” Joe said.

“Don’t let anyone go inside until we do.”

Joe punched off. Tibbs was a master of stating the obvious.

—

Twenty minutes later,Sheriff Tibbs paced in the front yard with his cell phone pressed to his face. He’d seen what Joe hadseen and he looked harried. Joe understood. The first hour at a newly discovered crime scene was often the most crucial, and that was when every small procedure or decision that later turned out to be clumsy or wrong could be amplified by a sharp defense attorney to imply the investigation had been botched from the beginning. That was why Tibbs was already requesting assistance from the adjoining Shell County Sheriff’s Department as well the Wyoming Division of Criminal Investigation (DCI). He was covering his butt, and Joe thought it was smart and the correct way to go.

While Tibbs paced and talked, forensics technician Gary Norwood arrived. He looked almost as harried as the sheriff. They’d all parked out on the county road behind Joe’s pickup.

Norwood was in his mid-thirties and was shared by three northern Wyoming counties. He was gangly and balding and Joe noticed he’d taken to wearing glasses full-time. He was already wearing white scrubs and his face mask was pulled down below his chin.

“Processing two crime scenes at once isn’t optimal,” Norwood complained to Joe.

“Did you get an impression of the tire tracks back at the scene?”

Norwood nodded. “Brand-new, they looked like. Sharp clean edges on the tread.”

“Those same tracks might be out on the road to this place,” Joe said, pointing.

“Great. I’ll get to those as soon as I can.”

“That kind of narrows it down to new vehicles in the area—or a new set of tires,” Joe said.

There were fewer than a half-dozen shops that sold new tires around there, Joe knew. And only two auto dealerships.

“Correct,” Norwood said as he pulled on a pair of puffy white paper booties. “I told the sheriff.”

“Any more physical evidence around the body?”

“Not that I could determine. I got called over here before I could do a thorough examination, but I’m pretty sure the body was tossed over the fence by the evidence we located on the top strand. Tossed over like a sack of potatoes, is my guess.”

“So he was already gone?” Joe couldn’t shake his earlier fears.

Norwood shrugged. “Either that, or he wasn’t in any condition to put up much of a struggle.

“I’ll do a quick prelim here before I go back,” he said. “The real work starts later. I’ve got to find what I can find outside before the weather changes in both locations.”

“You’ve got a busy day ahead,” Joe said.

“No shit. A busy day and night,” Norwood said as he handed Joe a pair of booties and Tyvek gloves. “How about you take some notes to save me time?”

Joe glanced at Sheriff Tibbs. The man’s back was turned. He knew Tibbs wouldn’t approve.