Nick lifted a shoulder. “Maybe. Seems too well-constructed to be a one time thing.”
“Sonofabitch.” Vito crouched down to peer into the grave which was about three feet deep. “How did he permanently pose her hands, Jen?”
Down in the hole brushing loose dirt from the victim’s hands into an evidence bag with painstaking care was Jennifer McFain, the head of CSU. Jen looked up, her eyes covered with goggles, her nose and mouth by a mask. “Wire,” she said. “Very fine. It’s wound around her fingers. You’ll be able to see it better once the ME cleans her up. When are they getting here, anyway?”
“Katherine called to say she’ll be here in ten or fifteen minutes,” Nick told her.
Jen nodded. “Good. I want to get this body out of here so I can sample the soil underneath. We may be able to get a better idea of how long she’s been here.”
Vito frowned. “Is the wire what set off the old guy’s metal detector? Doesn’t seem like wire that thin would be enough to trip the sensor, especially under a foot of dirt.”
Jen nimbly climbed out of the grave. “Well, the old guy does have a really nice detector, but you’re right, the wire probably wouldn’t have set it off. For that we can thank the rods your perp ran under the victim’s arms.” She demonstrated, tracing one gloved finger along the underside of her own arm, an inch above her elbow to her palm. “They’re thin and bendable, but have enough mass to set off a metal detector. Again, you’ll see them once the ME cleans her up. It’s how he kept her arms fixed in position.”
Vito shook his head. “Why?” he asked and Jen shrugged.
“Maybe we’ll get more from the body.” She made a face. “You would’ve thought she’d have been a little less ripe considering the outside temperature. Then again, I don’t think she’s been in the ground that long.”
Vito’s brows lifted. “Looks like she’s been dead a few weeks, maybe longer.”
“Katherine can tell you how long she’s been dead, but I’m telling you the fill dirt hadn’t been there that long. Have you talked to the property owner yet?”
Vito glanced over at the cruiser parked in front of the CSU van. In the back of the cruiser sat an elderly man, a blanket over his shoulders. “Not yet.”
“Well, he uncovered one of her arms using his garden spade.”
Nick looked into the grave. “Then he must’ve moved about a foot of dirt.”
Jen nodded. “Exactly. Now, he’s in pretty good shape for his age, but he probably couldn’t have gotten an inch down if the ground had been frozen. The fill dirt was easy to move until we got to the grave wall, then it was hard as a rock. The wires look like they were cut using a T-square.”
Nick let out a breath. “Which means he dug the grave before the ground froze.”
Vito felt a sick tug at his gut. “Which means he planned this pretty far in advance.” Vito scanned the field again. Except for the old man’s footprints and their own prints around the grave, the snow was undisturbed. But knowing their killer had planned ahead...“Which means we could have more than one victim.”
Karen Rose, Count to Ten
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