Scream for Me Read Free Page A

him.
    “Stop, sir. This area is off limits.”
    Straddling the tape, Daniel looked over his shoulder to where a young, earnest-faced officer stood, one hand on his weapon. “I’m Special Agent Daniel Vartanian, Georgia Bureau of Investigation.”
    The man’s eyes widened. “Vartanian? You mean—I mean—” He took a breath and straightened abruptly. “I’m sorry, sir. I was just surprised, that’s all.”
    Daniel nodded, giving the young man a kind smile. “I understand.” He didn’t like it, but he did understand. The name Vartanian had gotten quite a bit of publicity in the week since his brother Simon’s death, none of it good, all of it deserved. Simon Vartanian had taken seventeen lives in Philadelphia—two of those victims his own parents. The story had made every newspaper in the country. It would be a long time before the name Vartanian could be said without a wide-eyed response. “Where can I find the sheriff?”
    The officer pointed about forty feet down the road. “That’s Sheriff Corchran.”
    “Thanks, Officer.” Daniel pulled his leg back over the tape and started walking again, conscious of the officer’s eyes following him. In two minutes everyone here would know a Vartanian was on the scene. Daniel hoped he could keep the hubbub to a minimum. This wasn’t about him or any other Vartanian, it was about that woman lying in the ditch wrapped in a brown blanket. She had family somewhere, people who would be missing her. People who would need justice and closure to get on with their lives.
    Daniel had once thought justice and closure to be the same thing, that knowing a perpetrator had been caught and punished for his crimes closed the book on a painful chapter in the lives of the victims and their families. Now, hundreds of crimes, victims, and families later, he understood that every crime created a ripple effect, touched lives in ways that could never be measured. Simply knowing evil had been punished wasn’t always enough to allow one to move on. Daniel knew all about that, too.
    “Daniel.” It was a surprised greeting from Ed Randall, head of the crime lab team. “I didn’t know you were back.”
    “Just today.” It was supposed to have been tomorrow, but having been away for two weeks, Daniel was next in the barrel for an assignment. When this call had come in, his boss had called him back in early. He stuck out his hand to the sheriff. “Sheriff Corchran, I’m Special Agent Vartanian, GBI. We’ll provide any support you request.”
    The sheriff’s eyes widened as he shook Daniel’s hand. “Any relation to . . . ?”
    God help me, yes.
He made himself smile. “I’m afraid so.”
    Corchran studied him shrewdly. “You ready to be back?”
    No.
Daniel kept his voice level. “Yes. If it’s a problem, I can request someone else.”
    Corchran seemed to consider it and Daniel waited, keeping his temper carefully locked down. It wasn’t right, wasn’t fair, but being judged by his family’s deeds was his reality. Finally Corchran shook his head. “No, you don’t need to do that. We’re good.”
    Daniel’s temper settled and again he made himself smile. “Good. So can you tell me what happened? Who discovered the body and when?”
    “Today was our annual Cycle Challenge and this road is part of the course. One of the cyclists noticed the blanket. He didn’t want to lose the race, so he called 911 and kept cycling. I have him waiting at the finish line if you need to talk to him.”
    “I’ll want to talk to him, yes. Did anyone else stop?”
    “No, we got lucky,” Ed Randall said. “We had an undisturbed scene when we got here and no crowd watching—they were all at the finish line.”
    “That doesn’t happen very often. Who was first on the scene from your department, Sheriff?” Daniel asked.
    “Larkin. He lifted only a corner of the blanket to see her face.” Corchran’s stony face flinched, a telling sign. “I immediately called you guys. We don’t have