Part 03

“Yeah, this is definitely different. I wonder where he did ’em. It couldn’t have been here.”

Stegner looked at his younger partner. “I was thinking he must have brought them in after they were dead, then strung ’em up. Notice how pale they are?”

“Yeah.” Jenkins dark skin had gone a bit ashen. “They look like they were bled dry.”

“I can almost guarantee it. Look at the wrists, where the cord and anchors were driven through. Not even a drop of blood on the metal. No, our boy did them somewhere else, then drained them, cleaned ’em up, and brought them here. Do we have any tentative IDs from the manager?”

“No. He says they aren’t part of the crew or the dancers from the current show.” Jenkins waved his hand at the feet of the victims on stage. “What do you make of the flowers?”

“I don’t know what the hell to make of any of this.” Stegner pulled on a pair of latex gloves, and walked onto the stage slowly, examining the floor with each step. He crouched down on his haunches in front of the nearest victim, and just stared at the girl. She looked like she was still too young to have even had her first drink.

Who are you, my dear, and where is the family that you should be having dinner with?

“Paul, come here and check this out.”

Jenkins approached, and pulled on his own pair of gloves before joining Stegner at the feet of the girl.

“Look at how clean her hair looks.” The girl’s hair was not only clean, but well brushed and styled. Her stage makeup was heavy, but flawless. “We’ll know more after we get them down from these ropes, but on first glance, I’d say our boy is either into hair and makeup, or maybe works in the entertainment industry.”

The door to the theater behind them opened, and Stegner could hear the sound of the forensics techs from the M.E.’s Office, making their way down the aisle in their clean suits. Without looking, he extended his arm back at the noise, and ticked his finger back and forth. The techs stopped in their tracks.

“Smell that?”

“What?” Jenkins was sniffing the air in search of whatever it was that Stegner had smelled. “I don’t smell anything.”

“Exactly. They have no odor at all. Even if they had just been bled dry, we should be able to smell them. Combined with the clean hair, I think our boy bathed them before he dressed them.”

He stood, and both of his knees gave loud cracks. Jenkins stood as well, and then he looked up at the wooden controllers above them.

“This bastard is into puppets it seems.”

Stegner’s eyes followed his partner’s gaze. “Either that or he wanted it to look like it.”

The detective turned to the forensics crew. “All yours. Do me a favor though, give me a double set of photos. I want a full grid set for my own file on this one.”

Dr. Jerry Walters, the assistant M.E. and lead investigative agent, gave him a big thumbs-up. “You got it, boss.” Walters was competent, and Stegner was glad he pulled this case.

“And make sure you double bag everything. This is gonna be looked at from on high.”