Called in by the Longhorn sheriff, Texas Ranger Ian Pierce pulled up to the crime scene outside of town. A woman’s body had been found by an older couple out for a morning walk on the country road.
Ian approached Sheriff Tom Mason and shook his hand. He’d been the sheriff in the community when Ian was a teenager. He’d always admired the man and the way he ran his department. The people in this county did too because he’d been in his current position for twenty-five years. “It’s good to see you again. I just wish under different circumstances.”
“So do I, especially with this one. The woman murdered was Jane Shephard.”
“Senator Shephard’s daughter?”
Tom nodded. “I figure with a state senator’s family involved, I should have you involved too.”
“You think it might be politically motivated?”
“No indication of that, but it’ll be a volatile case.” Tom headed toward the roped-off crime scene. “It appears she was dumped here sometime early this morning. She hasn’t been dead long. We’ll know more after the autopsy.”
Ian ducked under the yellow crime-scene tape and made his way down the steep side of the ditch where the victim lay faceup in about an inch of dirty rainwater, posed with her hands across her chest. No outward sign of how she’d been killed. “Do we know how she died?”
“When we rolled her over, she had multiple stab wounds in her back, but there’s little blood on the scene, which rules out this as the place where she was murdered. I’d like to keep the extent of the wounds quiet.”
“Any evidence?” Ian asked as he took his cell phone and snapped pictures of the dump site.
“Some smudged footprints in the mud. When Mr. White saw Jane, he thought she might be alive and hurried down the side of the ditch. He slipped once. His actions destroyed some evidence, but I don’t know when she would have been found if the Whites hadn’t been out for a walk. You can’t see the bottom of the ditch from a passing car.”
“Have you informed the family yet?”
“Nope. But I’m going over to the house, right after I make sure this is processed correctly and the body’s off to the morgue.” The sheriff removed his cowboy hat and ran his fingers through his hair. “I’ve never gotten used to this part of my job.”
“I know what you mean. And it would be better coming from you than me. I’ve only seen Jack Shephard recently on TV. But I can stay here to make sure everything is done by the book, if you want to go now. I wouldn’t want him to hear it from someone else.”
“I agree. Let’s meet later at the station. I’ll find out what I can about Jane’s whereabouts yesterday and this morning, and especially when her family last saw her and where she would have been going this morning.”
“Maybe if we can piece together a timeline of her movements, we can discover where she was murdered.”
Tom stuck a toothpick into his mouth and put his hat on his head, then climbed out of the ditch and left.
Three days on the job in Longhorn and Ian had already become involved in the murder of a member from a prominent family. After the intense few months he’d spent in El Paso rounding up a drug cartel, he’d hoped to have a little downtime to deal with his brother and make sure his grandma was all right. Something was wrong with Sean, and he was determined to help his older brother whether he wanted it or not. His grandma was worried sick about Sean. Ian had returned to his hometown because of his family, especially for Nana, who needed more help than she wanted to admit to anyone.
An hour later, the area had been processed, with pictures taken and what little evidence there was collected. Jane Shephard’s body had been transported to the morgue for an autopsy.
When Ian left the dump site, he drove toward his grandmother’s house. He had promised to have lunch with her next door, at her best friend Sally’s, and he was late. He’d forgotten about it until he’d been climbing out of the ditch and had received a call from Nana.
As Ian stopped at a light, his cell phone rang, and he saw it was the sheriff. “How did the family notification go?”
“Jack Shephard wasn’t there. He’s in Austin. His wife called him, and he’s heading back to Longhorn now. Ruth took the news relatively well, but I was glad her housekeeper was