Artist by Eric Drouant Page B

slowed, watching the ground, working their way in. They got within three feet before Dupond stopped.
    “There,” he said. “See that?”
    Cassie moved up closer. She could see a semi-circle, a slight edge pushed into the ground a foot from the base of the tree. A series of wavy lines ran across the arc, a heel mark. Dupond edged back, got the attention of Boles and waved him over, meeting him at the perimeter. “Get a photographer out here. Make him wait here for me and I’ll bring him in. Make him take off his shoes.” He returned to where Cassie was waiting.
    The girl was young, Hispanic, maybe eighteen or twenty years old from the looks of her, Cassie thought. Tiny, a little over five feet, probably less than a hundred pounds. There was a small heart tattoo on her upper right shoulder. The letters on her stomach, carved in this time, not scratched, crusted over with blood. Cassie could see a thin line of white fat where the skin splayed out from the lines. A line of ants crawled up from the ground along the blood line and into the wound, and back down again.
    “He wanted us to find it this time.” Cassie said. “No more hidden mark s.”
    Dupond nodded. “That’s what this whole thing is about. He put her on display.” He scratched his head, sighed. “He’s challenging us to catch him.”
    Three hours later, they were finished. There were two more marks in the ground, one smudged and unusable. Another carried the same arc and wavy lines across the heel and a partial impression of the instep. There was nothing between the road and the tree or the levee and the tree that they could find. The knots in the cord around the tree looked to be the same as the knots used to bind Chaisson.
    “We need to identify those knots,” Cassie said as the coroner cut the rope. She had the photographer take pictures. What she really wanted was to get her hands on the rope. It was something the murderer had handled. She might be able to pick something up if she could hold it, use her ability to gain some kind of edge. She couldn’t do it with Dupond or anyone else around. The coroner’s crew wheeled a flat table across the ground, looked at Dupond, who nodded. The attendants got on either side of the body, picked it up and placed the girl on the table. A sheet went over the body. The wheels dug into the soft grass and the attendants both got behind and pushed for the trip back to the wagon.
    “No ID on this one.” Dupond said. “Let’s get back. We’ll put in a notice in to Missing Persons with her description, hope to get something there.”
    “Wait,” Cassie said. She walked to within inches of where the body had been. She closed her eyes. In all her experience of Remote Viewing she almost always had something to use as a target. A picture, a map. Now she had nothing. Still, there was something here. Her eyes closed she felt something, a vibe, a lingering essence of two people, a bad odor hanging in the air, there and then gone.
    She opened her eyes. Dupond was looking at her. “What was that all about?”
    Cassie shook her head walking past. “Just getting a feel for the place. I don’t want to forget this.” She kept going, Dupond following, back out to the road.
     
     
    I should get this framed , Watt thought. He was so happy he almost danced around the breakfast table. Now he would get some recognition. The morning newspaper lay on the table, open to the second page. In the upper right corner, above the fold, was the first article about his activities.
     
    Police Investigate Unusual Killing
    New Orleans – The New Orleans Police Department is investigating a bizarre murder that occurred in the lakefront area Sunday night. On Saturday morning units were called to the area by a jogger who discovered the body of a young woman tied to a tree.
    Autopsy results have not yet been released. However, witnesses at the scene indicate the woman was strangled and left in an upright position with her body secured to the