Vengeance Road Read Free Page A

Landon?”
    Surprised, the two women looked at each other.
    â€œWould that be you?”
    Kim nodded. Helen was uneasy. Both women looked as though they had been crying. Gannon didn’t want to lose them.
    â€œCan we talk to you a bit about this morning?” he asked.
    â€œHow did you get this address?” Helen Dodd wanted to know.
    Gannon said, “Well, we just came from the park, talked to police sources and stuff. We understand you found the woman.”
    Awkward silence followed until Brandy punctuated it with a prompt.
    â€œIt must’ve been terrible.”
    Kim resumed nodding.
    â€œIt was horrible,” Kim said.
    â€œMay I take notes?” Gannon asked.
    â€œI don’t know.” Helen eyed their press tags. “You’re going to put this in the Sentinel? ”
    â€œYes, for the story we’re doing,” Gannon said.
    â€œFor as long as I live, I’ll never forget it,” Kim started. “At first we thought it was a joke. When you see something like this, it makes you appreciate what’s important. It was just so horrible. I mean, neighbourhood kids play in that park.”
    â€œI hope they catch the monster who did it,” Helen said. “I’m calling my home-security company to make sure they keep an eye on my house.”
    â€œCan you walk us through how you found her?” Gannon asked.
    â€œWe take a regular morning walk in that area and spotted it. Her,” Kim said. “At first she looked like a mannequin, entangled in shrubs and small trees. We didn’t get too close once we realized what it was.”
    â€œCan you tell me exactly what you saw?” Gannon asked.
    â€œWe’d heard stories about what happens in there at night, which I never believed until now. We saw condoms and hypodermic needles,” Kim said.
    â€œShe was in a shallow grave,” Helen said. “We saw dark hair, an arm bent over a head in a swimmer’s posture, like she was breaking the surface of the earth.”
    After they finished, Gannon dropped Brandy off at the scene to keep vigil until they removed the body.
    He had to get back to the newsroom.
    This was shaping up to be a grisly homicide, he thought, settling in at his desk. While eating a club sandwich from the cafeteria, he checked regional and state missing-person cases posted online, using the detective’s description of a white or Native American woman in her twenties as his guide.
    So many of them fit the general description, he thought, wondering if there was any chance this was linked to that tip he wanted to chase about a missing woman from Vermont or Connecticut. He stared into their faces, reading their information.
    Was he staring at the unidentified victim near Ellicott Creek? Who was she? And how did her life come to an end there? She was someone’s daughter, maybe someone’s wife or sister?
    He was pierced by a memory of his sister, Cora.
    And what became of her life?
    He couldn’t dwell on that now and forced himself back to his story.
    â€œDo we have any idea who she is?” Tim Derrick, the assignment editor, had a habit of sneaking up behind reporters and reading over their shoulders.
    â€œNot yet.”
    Gannon clicked onto the latest news release from the investigators. He touched his pen to the words “unidentified female, in her twenties.”
    â€œShe was sort of half buried in a shallow grave,” Gannon said.
    â€œCripes,” Derrick said. “Well, we’ve got strong art from the air and the walkers. Front will take your story. Give us about twenty-five inches or so. Make sure the Web people get it.”
    â€œSure.”
    Derrick patted Gannon’s shoulder.
    â€œAnd nice work.”
    â€œHey, Tim. Anything more to the rumors going around about more cuts?”
    Derrick stuck out his bottom lip, shook his head.
    â€œThe way things are in this business, those rumors never go away.”
    A few hours later,