Ultimate Fear (Book 2 Ultimate CORE) (CORE Series) Read Free Page A

and start processing the scene.”
    Jessica loved working with the two Forensics Investigators. The women were sisters and although she could do without some of their—at times—caustic banter, they were meticulous and quick. Today was expected to hit close to ninety degrees. She had no desire to be at the cemetery staring at roasting dead bodies any longer than necessary.
    Kronowski stepped in front of them. “Do you need me? My partner is up there, so he can answer your questions, too.”
    Rookie . Then again, she couldn’t blame Kronowski. She’d been working for the Chicago PD for twelve years and had been a homicide detective for the past five. No matter how much she tried to harden herself, seeing the end results of violent crimes was never easy. She looked to her left and caught sight of a man leaning against a weed whacker beneath a large tree. “Is he the groundskeeper who reported the bodies?”
    Kronowski nodded. “Yeah. I told him to hang around until you guys got here.”
    As she moved past the patrol officer, she gave his shoulder a pat. “Good. Why don’t you go stand in the shade with him and make sure he stays put for us?” she suggested, giving Kronowski a break, and followed Alex up the hill.
    The thick green grass and the smatterings of mature trees and stone benches made Holy Cross appear more like a park than a cemetery. Arrays of beautiful vibrant flowers, large memorial bouquets and wreaths adorning the numerous graves indicated this place wasn’t for family picnics and Frisbee matches, though, but for resting in peace.
    As for murder?
    The crows continued to circle and caw and she counted six now. Leaves from the nearby trees rustled with the hot light breeze that brought with it the rancid odor of death. She slowed her pace when the bodies came into view and covered her nose and mouth with her forearm. Alex stood at least twenty feet from the gravesite. The other patrol officer was on the opposite side and approached them using a handkerchief to combat the smell.
    After the patrol officer introduced himself and relayed the same information as his partner, he said, “I gotta take a break from this shit.” He looked over his shoulder toward the crime scene. “Unless you need me to stick around.”
    “You’re good,” Alex said, as Megan and Audra made their way up the hill wearing white protective suits.
    “Morning,” Audra greeted them, and winced when the breeze gave them another acrid dose of decomposition. “What do we have?”
    “We’re about to find out,” Jessica responded, and nodded to Megan’s equipment box. “Got any extra masks in there, or are you going to make me have to walk back to my car?”
    “And miss out on the fun?” Megan pulled a couple of masks from the box, along with two pairs of booties to cover their shoes, and handed them to her and Alex. “Where’s the tape?”
    For whatever reason, Megan loved her crime scene tape. “Let’s figure out the perimeter first and then I’ll have the patrol officers take care of it,” Jessica said, then turned to Alex. “Ready?”
    With a nod, he placed the mask over his nose and mouth. After Jess did the same, they walked closer to the grave. With each step, with each cry from the orbiting crows, her stomach soured with dread, and she regretted that last cup of coffee. The mask helped with the smell, but not as much as she would have liked, and the view…
    Stopping only a few feet from the grave, she touched Alex’s arm. “I think Kronowski’s right.”
    “Murder-suicide? Yeah, looks like it.”
    Careful of where she stepped, she edged around the grave, halting a few feet from the headstone, which was a sculpted weeping angel holding a heart-shaped granite slab. She craned her neck and caught a glimpse of a child’s smiling face etched into the granite. Glancing to the base of the angel, she cringed and fought the bile rising at the back of her throat.
    “Assuming the victims are the parents, it looks