Fireflies: A Katie Bell Mystery (book 1) Read Free Page B

bound with barbed wire that was neatly attached to the side mirrors of the Mustang. Her feet and ankles were bound together in a similar fashion. The barbed wire was stained a red-black hue from her dried blood and wrapping underneath the front of the sedan, likely attached to the under carriage of the bumper.
    She had been pretty, with blonde hair and striking features that would make someone remember her. The fading lines underneath her breasts indicated she’d had implants recently. The D cups were tastefully done by an experienced surgeon, considering the overall size of her frame. Her wrists were also bloody, but the majority of the blood came from where her throat had been slit neatly from the edge of one cheek to the other. The blood stained her chest and ran down her flat stomach and over her trimmed pubic hair onto the hood of the car. It continued from there down to the floor where there was a substantial pool of sticky thick red-black on the cement.
    To the left of the Mustang, her clothes were folded meticulously and lay on a rusted metal stool.
    Arthur inspected the whole scene for a few minutes in silence. The agents behind him were no longer talking but rather watching him work. The techs ignored him and continued to examine various other parts of the garage bay with UV lights and other equipment.
    Arthur didn’t notice the others. Over the last twenty years, he had grown used to background chatter and to him it was similar to having the radio turned halfway up in the room. The work in front of him needed his full attention, so he gave it. This poor woman, this poor girl deserved it. She certainly hadn’t deserved her fate.
    Something was bugging Arthur though, and it took him a second to look around the rest of the garage before he realized what it was.
    Or more particularly, whom .
    She was standing to one side and her attention had also been solely fixed on the victim. For the first few minutes he had thought she was one of the techs, until he realized she didn’t fit.
    That was what had distracted Arthur; everyone in the room, but the techs paid attention to him, however she was clearly not a tech and hadn’t looked at him.
    She had a guarded air about her. Her black hair was cut just below her ears in a professional cut that looked expensive. She wore makeup that wasn’t overdone and matched her coffee-colored skin, but it was obviously there to add to her professionalism, and not meant as a distraction to others. She was beautiful, and she obviously knew it and that detail was probably the most boring one, at least to her. She was not one of the forensic team members, and she wasn’t wearing the standard blue windbreaker. She was in a simple business suit, but it wasn’t cheap. Not custom, but definitely tailored and not something she had grabbed on clearance at JC Penny’s.
    “Who are you?” Arthur asked.
    She tilted her head to the side when he addressed her, and her brown eyes met his. He did not intimidate her, but she was curious.
    “I’m Special Agent Sandra Fields, Agent Bell. I was assigned to your team last week, but we haven’t been introduced,” Fields said, extending her hand.
    Arthur took three steps towards her and took her hand. “That’s right, the newbie. Welcome to your first day.”
    “Thanks,” she said, letting go of his hand. Her eyes moved back to the victim.
    Arthur moved away from her and crouched down to get a better angle.
    “Your first body?” Agent Tapscott asked.
    Arthur didn’t need to turn around to know that Fields’s body posture tightened. He could hear it in her voice when she said, “In the field, yes.”
    Still low, Arthur circled around the car before going to the stack of clothes. He looked at them for a long time before turning to Hutchison.
    “You can clear out the rest of your team, but if you want to keep the perimeter that would be appreciated. Thanks for the call,” he added.
    Detective Hutchison opened his mouth to say something,