Elysium Dreams

Twenty

I didn't torture the nurses or tell them my thoughts on the fact that they didn't let me sleep through the night. The bed had been more comfortable than my cot in the jail, but I had slept better in the jail. Now it was morning and Michael was booting up a computer and a projection screen. The nurses had been warned not to interrupt for a while.

The screen flickered just once as the video began. It was dark, but the clearing was bathed in an ominous glow. There were three halogen lights, on poles, set up in the snow, pointing towards the victim.

They bathed the victim in an eerie and surreal light. Making her seem even more horrifically posed. Her lack of movement and skin showed that she was already dead. Our killer was standing with his back to us. He had a cigar in one gloved hand. His head was covered with a mask, hiding his hair and skin. At his thigh was what appeared to be a large filet knife. Xavier took a deep breath, loud enough for us all to hear.

The killer walked over to a large duffle bag on the ground. Out came a large bottle of Pine-Sol. He used a remote and the winch began to lower the victim. Her head was only a few inches from the ground when he stopped it. He flicked ash onto the ground and stared at the spot below her head.

He went back to his bag and pulled out something that looked like a tarp but crinkled like plastic. He set it on the ground under the victim, covering the cigar ash. He stood up and began pouring the Pine-Sol on the victim. It ran down from her feet, coating her body in the oily, smelly stuff. He stood for another several minutes and finished his cigar.

He stubbed it out on his Pine-Sol soaked glove and put it in his pocket. He checked the area and picked up any ash that had fallen. Then he rolled the black thing up carefully. The winch motor began again. It whirred and hummed as it pulled the victim to his desired height. She now towered over him.

The body in place, he went to the spike in the ground and tied the cable up. Once tied, he cut it. He walked to his winch and wrestled it from the hard, frozen ground. Something popped on the tape. He looked up, noticed something, tossed the winch onto the black thing, picked them both up, and left. There was no motion for several minutes.

Then the reporter came into frame. She picked up the halogen lights. I nearly yelled at the TV.

"That's what he was getting," Lucas said.

"Damn," Xavier sighed. Michael shut it off.

"Is that the guy that attacked you?" Gabriel asked me.

"Yeah, he looked a little stockier in person but, otherwise, he seemed the same."

"And we know what crushed the ash," Xavier said. "And why he missed it."

"He was sloppy this time," Gabriel said. "What the tape doesn't show is the reporter covering up the spots where the lights had stood. They wouldn't have left much of a mark, a small tripod of holes, but she walked over them when she pulled up the lights and they aren't mentioned in any of the other reports, except once. I went back and checked, the Sheriff reported them at one scene, but when he asked they be photographed, they were gone. I called and he said he thought someone on scene had done it deliberately."

"Much sloppier. Did the body have any differences?" Lucas asked.

"A few, not many," Xavier said.

"Maybe Agent Gentry put up more of a fight than he expected," I suggested.

"That is a good possibility," Gabriel said. "She was well trained and should have been given a medal, not a post in Alaska. But the higher ups decided to send her here to get her out of the limelight."