A/N depicts a decaying body
Chapter 8: Oxygen
The clatter woke Taylor from her dream, from one of those lucid fantasies you never want to wake from. The one where you get the girl, the intimacy is electric passion, and every glance, smile, and touch is pure love.
She cuddled into a pillow while she mourned the missing dream girl. At the same time, a flash of brilliance saturated every inch of the room. The rain battered down with a steady, intense rhythm. One Mississi... the noise was deafening. The room felt like it buckled under the blast.
There was a freshness to the air for the first time since she arrived in Danvers. It filtered in through the ajar balcony door and refreshed her body, damp from the hotness of the dream.
She thought about the dream girl in a recalled memory and wished it was here. She thought about sitting on the balcony of the 10th floor watching the rain while the dreamy brunette stepped from the room, naked as the day she was born, and strolled over with all the confidence in the world. Giving her that look, her clear blue eyes were full of needed desire. "I'm not finished with your body yet," She whispered into her ear, placing soft lips on her neck.
Taylor felt her tummy tighten and send a pulse between her legs. She slid her hand over her toned torso and let it slip below the waistband of her shorts.
She recalled the naked woman straddling her on the balcony. She closed her eyes as she tried to pull up the sensation of her teeth sinking into her collar and hands on her body. She gasped and pictured the dream girl teasingly pushing their fingers between her lips.
She moaned and smiled into the eyes of her lover. The ringing frustratingly broke through the fantasy, lifting her hand from between her legs, removing her from the memory and dream, and pulling her from Abigail Ward. Fuck. "Andersson."
"Andersson," She repeated the reception affected by the storm. "What? I can't really hear you. But if you're getting me up at..." She paused, removed the phone from her ear to glance at the time, then continued, "4:30 am on a Sunday... It must be important. What? No, give me 30 minutes. I need to shower."
She needed that cold shower for more than one reason this morning.
...
The FBI doesn't really do it covertly. I'm sure the teams who do that disagree; the wiretap guys and the undercover agents. But do we have to brand everything? She pulled on her issued rain jacket and baseball cap to keep herself from getting soaked on the way to the patrol car.
"I'll give you three guesses about what I do for a living." She joked with Carson, who had just picked her up.
He laughed, "Subtle."
"I couldn't make out what was being said on the phone. Just something about New England and Jenifer."
"We got a report of a body in the New England Water Park. We believe it's Jennifer."
"When? I mean, it's the middle of the night. Who finds a body in the middle of the night? When did you get the report?"
"A little after 2 am. A lifeguard who works there was trying to impress some girl he picked up. I think they were heading to the pool for sex."
"Lovely."
"Yeah, well. Anyway, the first weird thing was that the water features were on. But they hadn't really noticed until they headed for the cove."
A sheet of lightning illuminated the sky, momentarily breaking the conversation.
"Coconut Cove, I think they were aiming just to float around there while they did it. But that's when they saw the body just drifting around in a lazy river," The rumble in the distance denoted the storm had moved on.
"Sure, it's Jennifer?"
"No formal, but, eh, she was kinda known to us for a while. Before she straightened herself out."
"Who's there? You have at least moved her out of the water?"
"No, we thought you'd want her in situ."
"Get the body out of the water. The chlorine will destroy any DNA evidence there might be. And the body temperature will be screwed so we can't get a time of death."
Carson looked shamed and embarrassed. "Chief. Agent Andersson says to get the body out of the pool," He ended the radio communication. "Sorry, we thought we were doing the right thing."
Taylor said nothing as she called a number on her mobile. It was after 5:15; she knew he'd be up, "Harris, we need another autopsy done."
She stopped at the reception area.
"Where's your barrier point?"
Carson looked over.
"The point where you need to be suited up."
He gulped.
"Fuck sake. I know you are not used to this kind of crime, but honestly," Taylor raised her voice.
"Agent Andersson, I'd appreciate it if you didn't speak to my staff like that. Carson was away to collect you; the barrier point is just through here."
"Sorry. I just can't believe you left her in the pool."
"That was my call. I had assumed there would be no way to determine the time of death or collect DNA anyway. You'll understand when you see her."
They suited up, pulled up the white hoods, and placed the slippers over their shoes.
"Watch your footing. These are not good for slippery poolsides," Sarah said.
The body was now semi-bagged, awaiting the zip. Dr. Howard was standing over the naked body directing a photographer.
It was shriveled and wrinkled; the skin had started to break down, and there were open sores along her side and back. Her feet and hands were almost purple from a lack of circulation. There were lacerations to her face, open wounds with no blood, no bruising. Postmortem. Taylor guessed that these had been caused as she aimlessly crashed into the sides of the pool while being carried around by the rapids.
"This is another dump site."
Dr. Howard nodded. "I think so. No blood. But also, the sores and osmosis level would suggest she's been in the water for days. Some of the sores looked like they were starting to become infected. It doesn't necessarily mean that the water was dirty but likely that she would have been in the water with whatever her body had excreted."
Sarah looked pale. "Andersson. We're not used to this. The officer who arrived first on the scene has had to go home. She's traumatized."
Taylor nodded. "I understand, and I'm sorry I shouted at your team and questioned your decision." She was sincere. "We're all going to have to pick our game up. People who can be as callous as to watch someone die slowly over days is not someone who is simply going to stop."
Suddenly she remembered. "Tattoo?"
Dr. Howard nodded, "Yup. Same place as the other," they kneeled at the foot of the body. "An upside-down triangle," He said.
"It can mean a few things, but given what happened. I'd say it means water," Taylor stood up, "Arrange to take her out to the morgue, please. Harris is on his way up from Boston. He'll be with you about 10. Dr. Howard, are you okay to assist him again?"
The doctor nodded.
"Where's Romeo and Juliet?" Taylor asked, removing and binning her gloves and paper suit.
Sarah smiled. "They are in the manager's office."
"Let's go say hello."
"The girl is a bit of a mess."
"I can imagine."
"Hello. I am Agent Andersson with the FBI. This is Chief of Police Sarah Jackman. We need to ask you a few questions."
The couple nodded from a small two-seater. "What's your name?"
"Tyler Jones," The guy looked a little sheepish.
"Kristen Dur...Durham."
"Okay," She sat across from them.
"I know this is difficult, but take your time. It's better we talk now while everything is fresh. I just need to check your age."
"Twenty," Tyler replied.
Andersson looked toward the girl. She looked down at her feet, "Seventeen," She almost whispered.
"You're a minor," Tyler seemed pissed, "What the fuck! Seriously," He stood up.
"Carson!" Sarah shouted.
He entered, "Take Mr. Jones to another room."
"Sarah, do we need anyone else here to speak with Kristen?" Sarah shook her head, "Not as a witness, no."
"Okay, tell me about tonight. I am assuming you just met Tyler tonight?"
"Yeah," Her voice was quiet and broken, "I went out with the girls to a college frat party in Amherst. I met him there. We got on; he offered to drive me back. He hadn't been drinking and said he was working tomorrow. So we smoked a little pot, got to know each other a bit, and he dared me to go skinny dipping with him. So he used his keys to get in here."
"Any idea what time it was when you got here?"
She shook her head, "We left the party after eleven. My pals had hooked up and left already."
"Stop anywhere on the way back?"
"Tyler needed to piss, so we pulled off the road briefly."
"How long?"
She went quiet. "I gave him a quick blow job at the side of the car. Maybe ten minutes all in, if that."
"Okay. So it's just under two hours. Did you take the I-90?"
She nodded.
"Obeying the speed limit?"
"Probably not. How much trouble are we in?"
"I personally don't care about the pot or the speeding. That's down to Chief Jackman."
She shook her head, "We just want to try to get a timeline together."
"Will you tell my parents?"
Andersson looked at Sarah.
"No," the older woman replied, "But maybe you should. You witnessed something horrible tonight. You might need someone to speak to about that."
"So when you arrived here, what happened?"
"Ty unlocked the door. Then he went to the office to switch back the CCTV. He said there was a loop system where he could pause the timeline. But when he got there, it was already completely off. But all the water features in the pool were on."
"So what next?"
"We went to the side of the pool and started undressing and got into the pool. We started to make out a bit. He suggested it might be cool to do it through the lazy river. So I swam over that way, and he jumped out to get a condom and was walking along the side of the pool. I turned to watch him just to make sure he was putting it on. When his face just went this white color. That's when I turned and saw it, just floating by me. Her leg or something brushed by me, and I screamed."
"Then what?"
"We got dressed; we didn't know what to do. Ty said he'd lose his job if his boss knew he brought girls back to the pool at night. But I made him call."
Andersson nodded.
"Can you think of anything else?"
"There was no alarm. I was surprised that a big building like this isn't alarmed."
"Okay. You can go home now, Kristen. But we will have to speak to you again. The Chief will arrange a lift home."
"Can you like be discreet? My mum would kill me if she knew I'd gone to a college party and hooked up with a boy."
"We will try, but just like Sarah said. You'll likely need someone to talk to."
...
They left the pool complex. The sun was up now. They'd spent hours photographing and bagging possible evidence. But there didn't seem like there was much to go on. It wasn't a crime scene; it was a dump site. What's more, whoever was behind this was forensically aware.
It was overcast and starting to get humid. Taylor yawned as she pulled a cigarette from her packet. She felt the fuzz of the drizzle tickle her face. It was warm rain. She was glad she hadn't put her jacket and hat back on.
"Nobody told you those things would kill you?"
She smiled at Sarah's comment, "Sorry, bad habit. Just need it after that."
"Yeah. So what now?"
"Breakfast and back to Beverly, we can check up on the Sanchez girl before the autopsy. Do a lot of kids here travel out a 100 miles to college parties?"
"Yeah. You must have noticed by now that the place is pretty conservative. The church still has a stronghold here. The kids need somewhere to breathe."