The Hunted Girls by Jenna Kernan (best book club books for discussion txt) 📕

the lower leg of one of the victims. “Massive tissue loss for victim one both before and after death. Water in lungs indicates she drowned.”

Couldn’t breathe. But could swallow water. Nadine felt a chill at the image she conjured.

“And victim two?”

“Victim two died of exsanguination.”

“Bled out,” said Nadine. “Do you agree with the ME?”

“Predatory activity. Likely an alligator. Big one. Nothing else can remove flesh like that. Bruising around the wound on victim two shows she had circulation.”

“I’ve seen some gruesome deaths,” said Juliette. “From boat propellers, heavy machinery, automobiles. But these two top the list. Simply horrifying.”

The silence stretched as Nadine tried and failed to eradicate the image of an alligator feeding on the living women.

“Have a look at these.” She flipped to a photo of an arm and shoulder. “Both victims also shared similar puncture marks on the extremities, not caused by an animal, and these were also inflicted before death.”

“What about these smaller wounds?” Nadine asked, referring to the red crisscrossing marks that reminded her of the sort that might be caused by a switch.

“We think that’s from the serrated edges of palmetto fronds. They’re pervasive. Seems they were moving through them without the protection of clothing.”

Nadine took a moment to internalize that before moving back to the puncture marks and dark gaping wounds. “Do you know what weapon was used?”

“Pretty sure this was also arrows.”

Nadine’s brows lifted.

“It looks to us as if our first victim was hung up on some kind of a backboard or large tree and someone shot arrows at her. Multiple punctures in the extremities. The wounds are consistent with a body that was left to hang; the weight of the torso further tore the wounds. Easy to confuse with knife wounds but a knife wound often leaves bruising on the skin and you see there is none. Also knife wounds frequently show directionality, and again, there is none. The wounds are uniform and, more importantly, they are narrow and deep, so deep that with a knife you would expect to see a hilt mark. Additionally, these wounds were consistent in size all the way through the tissue except for the ones where there was tearing after initial penetration. They were slightly larger there. The ME is going to get ahold of some arrows and see if they can make a match.”

Nadine was tempted to ask her why she knew so much about arrow wounds, but then thought better of it. She knew that medical examiners’ training involved working backward to identify what tool or implement made each wound.

Nadine gave a grim summary. “In other words, the victims were starved, chased, used for human target practice and then had their spinal columns severed before feeding them to alligators?”

“Yes. The perpetrator delivered no fatal wounds. In fact, the injuries seemed designed to inflict pain, rather than death. Extremities only, except for the single wound to the spine. No major blood vessels damaged by the arrow wounds. Those two injuries, only, were delivered from the rear. And though the second victim died from animal attack, she was already experiencing organ failure resulting from exposure and dehydration.” Juliette wrinkled her nose. “Do you think the alligator’s purpose was to dispose of the bodies?”

Nadine shook her head. “No, because then there would be no reason to remove them from the water and cover them with dirt and dead leaves.”

“I suppose.”

“So he shot each, in the water, with an arrowhead that remained lodged in the spinal column. Then waited for the alligators to attack?”

“He would have had a line on them, either before or after shooting them.” She flipped to an image of bruising around the torso. “These ligature marks are pre- and postmortem. Seems they were chained for retrieval. Looks like the sort used to chain a dog. See the mark from the twisted links.”

“Then after the alligator attack and the victims had bled out, this killer dragged them to the riverbank and dug a grave?”

“Not a grave, exactly. Victim one was loosely covered with debris and left near the water. Reminded me of the sort of treatment that bears, bobcats and panthers use to cover a food cache up in New Hampshire.”

“Or a human, making a hasty effort to hide a body.”

“If that’s what it was, he made a bad job of it. Close to a trailhead, close to the water and guaranteed to draw buzzards.”

As if this killer wanted the bodies found. “He’s exhibiting them. But then why cover the first and not the second?”

“There were small bits of debris found on the most recent victim.”

Nadine latched onto this. “Do you think it possible she was covered and then uncovered?”

Juliette nodded. “Might have. There’s a debris pile close by.”

This might mean their killer had returned to visit his victims. Nadine smiled. Such a predator was easier to catch.

“And returned to uncover her?”

“Yes. And to masturbate.”

Nadine would allow herself to feel all the pain and horror of the deaths later. After that, she’d permit herself to sink into the mind of a predator who enjoyed using a living person for target practice, leaving them to suffer, then returning to continue the job. A male who planned the entire hunt, carried the chain, altered his arrows and possibly returned to his kills.

She needed information, puzzle pieces from which to construct a complete picture.

“Any indication of direct sexual activity with either victim?”

“Unable to determine with victim one.”

“What about the other?” asked Nadine.

“No. We don’t think so. Just the sperm on the body. But we did find something interesting.”

“What’s that?”

“Sperm were viable.”

Three

Nadine thought about this for a moment. Visualizing the predator standing over the mutilated corpse.

Not yet. Don’t go there yet. Wait for more pieces.

“How long do sperm survive outside the body?”

Juliette nodded, possibly in appreciation of Nadine’s question. “In ideal conditions, which these were not, sperm can survive for only a few hours. This body would have been somewhere between two and three days postmortem when this happened.”

“We just missed him.”

“It seems so.” Nadine failed to repress