No Rest for the Wicked

Chapter Twenty-Two

Jack watched as Barns held the bloodied rock firmly upright in his palm, his gloved fingers gripping it tightly as he avoided touching the bloody part. Jack had taught the sheriff and the deputy how to properly handle evidence, feeling a sense of pride at Barns' his carefulness as well as distress from the current predicament they were in.

"Is it blood?" Riggs asked, staring at the rock alongside Barns and Jack.

"No, Bobby, it's paint." Barns responded sarcastically, giving Riggs the side eye.

Jack exhaled through his nose as he took the rock from Barns, taking a closer look at the rock as he held it gently in his own gloved hand. "Yes, it's blood, but the real question is who's blood is it..."

"God knows, considering this town," Barn's mumbled. "Is your girl ok at least?"

"She's alright. A little shaken up but alright," Jack muttered. "I sent her over to her friend's house while figure out why the hell a rock was thrown through her window."

Barns was about to speak when a sound came from the cruiser. A static noise echoed through the air, causing all three men to glance at the car.

"Go see what's on the radio, Bobby." Barns instructed, pointing to the cruiser as he looked to Riggs.

"Probably just another animal sighting," Riggs muttered. "Mrs. Jacobs has been calling non-stop about a raccoon that keeps digging through her trash... I swear somebody needs to take that woman's damn phone away."

Riggs sat in the front seat of the cruiser, answering the radio as Jack and Barns turned back towards each other.

Barns sighed, shaking his head as he scanned the body. "Could this be the devil? Doesn't look very biblical to me, just lazy."

"Considering that there aren't any other crazed killers running around town, most likely," Jack muttered. "Unless there's another lunatic on the loose that we just don't know about."

"There better damn not be," Barns mumbled. "See anything useful?"

Jack continued to study the rock, his eyes trained on the crimson stain. "It's fresh. Wherever this came from... it was very, very recent."

"Like... just murdered recent?" Barns asked.

"At least a couple of hours ago." Jack said quietly.

Riggs re-appeared, his somewhat neutral demeanor now being replaced by a look of dread.

Barns raised an eyebrow. "So what was it?"

Riggs swallowed softly, looking to the rock. Then to the ground. "I think... I think they found where that rock came from."

—----------------------------

A woman lay face down in the snow, the back of her head nothing but a mess of skull fragments and brain tissue as she lie completely still on the ground.

The three men were crowded around the woman, silently staring down at the corps as they determined what to do.

Jack had just finished taking some photos, glancing to Barns and Riggs as he slowly began to bend down and gently pushed the body over to lay face up.

The three instantly recoiled as they saw her face, or rather the bloody mess that should have been her face.

"Christ... just like Amanda." Barns muttered, his eyes stuck on the skinless head of the mystery woman.

Jack bent down to look more closely at the woman, studying her body to try to determine a little more about her. "She's definitely older, probably his oldest victim. Without the face it's hard to tell but she looks to be in her late forties."