Elements of a Broken Mind

“No sir, just a concerned citizen,” James winced. “I… I thought she might have been at the party last night and just… just passed out… or something…. I didn’t know… she was dead.” The security guard whispered the last words, withdrawing into himself as he pulled his arms tighter across his chest.

Grant frowned. This guy was pretty shaken up; but then not many of the people in this sleepy little town had ever seen a dead body, much less someone who had been murdered. Grant thought about it and could feel for the poor guy. It must be hard.

“I have to get home. My wife… she just recently had a baby… she’ll be worried about me.” James mumbled, carefully looking anywhere but the field where the girl’s body lie.

“I already got his statement Detective,” Keys added. “I just wanted to make sure you didn’t need anything else before I let him go.”

Grant eyed the guard a moment longer.  He didn’t squirm under Grant’s perusal as he seemed to be in his own world. “No, that should be fine. If I have any questions I’ll call you…. What did you have?” Grant asked politely, because he remembered from somewhere that this was the proper thing to do.

“A little girl, her name is Lexann Elisabeth.”

“That’s nice. A real pretty name. Congratulations to you and your wife.” No wonder the guy was taking it so hard, Grant thought.

“Thanks,” James mumbled. He shuffled his feet a bit, then walked around to the driver’s side of the jeep and climbed in. The clunky jeep sputtered, but eventually caught and roared to life. Both the men could see the security guard crying as he pulled out of the plant parking lot.

“Hell of a way to come off shift. Poor guy’s pretty shaken up about it,” Keys commented.

 “Horrible thing to experience,” Grant agreed.

“Especially with a new baby girl of his own,” Keys added.

Grant eyed him up and down for his rather astute observation. “So, are we sure this is the same guy?” Grant changed the subject, moving towards the body out on the lawn.

“No doubt about it. Same M.O. and there’s another note. Pretty much reads the same as the others ‘I thought her family might want her back, she’s of no use to me now.’ We thought we had better wait for Anne… and you, of course, before we continued any investigation,” Keys added quickly. We’ve pretty much just been securing the area,”

Grant just smirked at him. “Not that I expect it’ll matter much, but good thinking.” Grant started moving towards the cluster of police officers. “So do we know who she is yet?”

“We’re pretty sure she is Elisabeth Jones, nineteen years old, from Englewood Park. She’s been missing about two months. They thought she might have run away.”

“That was pretty quick. What makes you so sure?”

“She used to date my baby brother back in high school. I’d recognize her just about anywhere.” Keys reddened as he inspected his boots with a suddenly keen interest.

Grant nodded. One of the benefits of working in a small town, versus working in the big city, everyone knows each other. “Next question, why did he dump her here?”

Detective Keys responded quickly, getting back into investigation mode. “Well, the way I see it is he dropped her here because Englewood is too busy. Her dad works here. He’d be less likely to be seen, but still feels like he’s returning her to her family as directly as possible.”

Once again Grant appraised the young officer. “Impressive. Are you gunnin’ for my job?” he teased.

“No sir, but I thought you might like a partner soon. Maybe you could put in a good word with the sheriff for me,” Keys stated calmly.