“Just being realistic,” he said.
“Right.” She sighed. “In that case I’ll head back up there and take a look and see if I can find the branch.”
“I would like to head up there myself actually,” he shared, “because, until I know for sure, I won’t be satisfied.”
“I’ll meet you there in ten,” she said, jumping to her feet.
“That’ll be about right,” he murmured. “I’m already in the car.”
“Good, I’m not far away. I’m just down on the beach.”
“You’re at the beach?” he asked in surprise.
“Yeah, I just came from talking with the ex-husband, and I needed five minutes to digest this information on the abuse.”
“Just park it,” he advised. “Take it under consideration with the rest of the information you gather, but don’t let it be more than it is.”
“I won’t,” she agreed, “but it’s troubling because abusive wives are always hidden. We never really think about it, even though we know it happens. I can’t remember any case I’ve personally dealt with where an abused husband was a factor.”
“No, and chances are you won’t. In order for that to happen, you’d actually have to find out about it first, and the male victims are especially silent on these things. It’s slowly becoming recognized as something that happens, but we’re a long way from the male victims routinely coming forward.”
“I know,” she added quietly, “that abuse is never acceptable, no matter who it happens to, but there is such a component of shame associated with it—even more so with the men.”
“I hear you there. I’ll see you in about five minutes.” And, with that, he hung up on her.
She stared down at her phone. “Goodbye to you too.” She headed to her car, while chugging down the rest of her coffee, then dropped the cup in the closest trash can. Interesting that Smidge wanted to return to the crime scene. But then that was Smidge. He wanted to have a damn good idea of what was going on here, before he signed off on his reports. And, if anybody had missed something or hadn’t thought something important enough to worry about, he wouldn’t be a happy camper.
Back at the crime scene, she parked in the nearest parking lot and walked down the pathway to where the two bodies hadbeen found. She studied the area once again, now with the information in mind that Smidge had given her. Looking at the site, she didn’t think it was likely to have been a stray branch that had hit them, but the theory that one was pulled back and secured was worth exploring. She studied the nearby tree and found one that had potential.
Walking closer, she looked carefully and saw where the surface of one of the branches was stripped clear around, and it looked like it had been pulled back by a rope or something. As she followed the branch farther back, she realized that it pulled back easily enough and would send quite a whip flying into somebody’s face, if that were the plan. As she studied it, moving it back and forth, Dr. Smidge arrived.
He looked at it, nodded. “That’s exactly what I was coming to check.”
“You’re thinking he pulled this back.” She demonstrated. “It looks like the only place would be to try and secure it right here.”
He nodded. “Yes, so now look where the other end of the rope was tied and related footprints—but carefully though.”
Cautiously the two of them moved around to the most likely spot.
“It’s also possible,” she suggested, “that he just stood right here, holding the rope himself.”
Smidge immediately grabbed her arm and pointed at the nearby ground. “You see where the heels were dug in over there? Either he strained to pull it back to tie it off or stood here, holding it back himself.”
She frowned. “The only way you could do that is if you knew they were coming.” But, as she understood by now, that wasn’t difficult information to come by. She turned and looked up the hill. “Look over there. See those tracks sliding down the hill?”
He nodded, and, slowly walking on either side of the footsteps, they headed up to where more tracks revealed wherethe killer had stopped and watched and waited. They both crouched to get a better look at the ground.
“So, chances are,” Kate suggested, “that he had the rope tied to the branch with the rope hanging where he could get to it. Then, as soon as he knew that they were coming, he slid down here, grabbed the rope, and pulled it back. When they came around that corner, he let it fly right in their faces.”
“So Jenna must have been slightly in the lead at that time and took it right across the bridge of her nose,” Smidge noted, “which is why the damage was here.” He pointed across the brow area on his face. “It’s actually cracked. She would have gone right down, probably without a fight. The other one, Robin, would have been stunned, and he must have come with a stick and hit her over the head. There’s no evidence she got a shot of bear spray off.”
“And then what? He grabbed the rope off the branch, tied it around their necks, and tried to strangle them with it?” Kate asked the coroner.
“Unconscious bodies are not cooperative at all,” Smidge declared. “It would have been quite hard to get their heads into a position where he could have choked the life out of both of them simultaneously. And who knows? He might have heard somebody coming and pulled the bodies off into the shrubbery here. That could have been a change in his plan, causing him to panic a bit.”
“But he must have had the garrote with him.”
Dr. Smidge nodded. “I suspect he did. You know, a contingency plan perhaps.”