Samantha

Chapter One: The body

Aaron stepped out of his FBI issued black SUV and onto the crime scene. His messy short brown hair was tossed around by the wind that seemed restless. Agent Smith was nearby, talking to one of the agents collecting evidence.

This was a crime scene. Here, he was known as Agent Aaron Shepard, FBI. Agent Smith walked over to him. "So," he started. "What do we got?" The crime scene was in the middle of the woods with most of the visible area sectioned off by yellow police tape.

"Victim is female, mid to late twenties. Blonde hair, brown eyes, and of Caucasian descent. Forensics think the body has been here a couple days at most." Aaron nodded​, "Anyway to identify her yet?" Agent Smith shook her head. "Not yet. Case of death is also unknown," she added.

They approached the body while several forensic scientists searched the area looking for the smallest bits of evidence. The girl laying stretched out on the ground, mud all over her clothing. Her blonde hair was a muddy mess with streaks dried blood in it.

Aaron nodded to a nearby rock with blood on. "Think she hit her head on that, Smith?" She frowned. "I told you not to call me Smith," she replied.

Aaron walked over to the rock, squatting next to it to examine it closer. "And I told you I'm not calling you Lila." She sighed and answered his question. "We assume she hit her head in the rock, yes." Aaron straightened up. "So, an accident?" 

One of the nearby scientists corrected him. "It is too early as of now to determine that based on lack of evidence. See the footprints right here? They match the victim's shoes, but these footprints over here are different, probably belonging to whoever last saw her alive."

Aaron noticed the grass nearby pressed down slightly from where the unknown person had left quickly. He nodded, "They left quickly, things went bad." A photographer snapped photos of the grass to put into evidence. The body was sent back to the Gracebury Field Laboratory, the lab that the FBI worked with to solve cases.

Agent Smith walked over to Aaron. "Soon as the lab identifies her we can contact immediate family," she said.  Aaron nodded, looking at the woods around him. It was peaceful, if you ignored the whole murderer victim part.

~•~••~•~••~•~••~•~••~

Agent Smith sat at her desk, typing the report for the body find this morning. Short blonde hair framed her face, bangs hanging down in her eyes. Her eyes were squinting at the screen, a sign of her obvious concentration. A knock on the door drew her attention away from the computer.

Agent Aaron was standing there with a case file. "Samantha Miles, 25. Grew up in Florida, moved here three years ago after the death of her mother to be closer to family."

Agent Smith took the file from his hand, "The lab identified her this fast?" Aaron nodded, leaning against the doorway. "I got into contact with her family. Father passed away last year, but she has 2 sisters that I told to come in so we could talk to. They just got here if you want to help."

Smith winced, "It's never easy telling someone their loved one is gone." They started walking towards the conference room/break room where they usually did this sort of thing. "Especially when they've lost so much already," Aaron added.

Samantha Miles' sisters were sitting in the couch, talking quietly until they saw the agents. One of the sisters bad brown hair with brown eyes and the other looked more like Samantha with blonde hair and blue eyes.

The brunette introduced herself, "Hi, I'm Julie Miles. You must be Agent Shepard and Smith?" They shook her hand and the other sister spoke up. "Why are we here?" Julie frowned slightly. "Please forgive my sister, Christina has always been a bit forward."

Agent Smith gestured for them to sit. "We are here to discuss your sister. Samantha?" Julie paled slightly and Christina stiffened but didn't respond.

"Samantha? Is she ok, what happened?!" Julie asked in a hurry, worried. Aaron spoke in a soft voice. "No, she isn't. I'm sorry to say that your sister is dead."

Christina's head dropped into her hands, a stifled sob coming from them. Julie cried but kept talking. "What do you mean dead? She was fine Tuesday, how could she be dead?! You must be mistaken."

Christina's tearful voice called from her hands bitterly, "They're the FBI. Clearly, Sammy was killed." Julie's eyes widened. "But why would anyone want to hurt Samantha? She never hurt anyone and kept mostly to herself."

Smith cleared her throat, "Can you think of anyone that might​ have wanted to harm her? Maybe she had a fight with someone recently?" Julie shook her head. "No, no one. Everyone loved Samantha. Oh, no. What am I going to tell Jeremy?" Christina's head popped up at that. "He may already know."

Julie looked confused. "What do you mean," she asked. They seemed to forget that the agents were there for a moment. Christina leaned forward. "Remember last Friday when they got into that fight at Franklin's?"Julie gasped. "No," she exclaimed. "He would never hurt Samantha!"

Aaron cleared his throat. "I'm sorry. Who's Jeremy?" Christina looked over at them. "Jeremy was Sammy's boyfriend, they lived together." Lila leaned forward. "We're gonna need that address. Can you give that to us?" Julie nodded, "um..Yeah, sure. Whatever you need."

~•~••~•~••~•~••~•~••~

After the sisters left, Lila and Aaron went to the break room for coffee. "You think the boyfriend did it?" Lila asked. Aaron shrugged, "Christina seems to." Lila nodded, pouring herself a cup of coffee.

"Lab figure out cause of death yet?" Aaron asked. Lila shook her head. "They only found the body today," she reminded him. He nodded. "Right." Lila leaned back in a chair. "When should we go talk to Jeremy?"

Aaron shrugged. "Tomorrow, give us some time to see if he has a record, past history." Lila nodded, standing up. "I'll get started on that right away."  She left the room and Aaron looked down at the case file.

Samantha Miles, she looked so happy in the picture of her on file. Aaron picked up her picture. She was so young, had so much life left to live. And it had been taken from her. Aaron promised to find out what happened to her.