The stench of garbage was foul and the sounds of the seagulls squawking overhead was deafening. Gavin, who had barely slept in the last twenty-four hours, thought the top of his head would explode from the unremitting noise. The events of today were only going to add to the unbearable stress he was under.

Just forty-eight hours after the discovery of Jeanne Coleman’s skull, Francine Donohue’s teeth are found. Several days after that, more human remains are discovered in this landfill. For two months there had been no clues, no additional body parts. Now they show up in rapid succession? Their discovery seemed planned, and from what was here, it appeared as if the killer’s strategy was evolving. In addition to a skull, this time there was also an arm. The media was going to have a field day with this.

Warren pointed at a man coming towards them.

“You have to see it. It’s just crazy. The arm’s all dried up, like it’s mummified. The skull has no skin on it. It’s only bone,” Todd Spencer, the manager of the landfill, said. They walked with him to the location of the bones.

“Were they found together?” Warren asked.

“Yeah, both came out of the same pile. No other parts were with them. All the teeth were missing from the skull,” Todd said.

Gavin stared at the remains. They’d been found together but looked entirely different. The color of the arm was brown and the skin resembled dried parchment. With its desiccated appearance it seemed brittle, as if it would crack at any moment. Its fingers were shriveled and curled inward. Gavin remembered that Jeanne Coleman’s skull had also been stripped of its skin and desiccated. According to Dr. Blythe it was probably exposed to a heat source. He’d even gone so far as to imply that someone baked it.

This skull was completely skeletonized, but didn’t look dried out, like the arm. There was no way this was an unintended find, though. Their states were so different that they couldn’t have decomposed under the same conditions. Which means they had been deliberately placed here. They were meant to be found together; like this.

“We need this area taped off and a grid laid down for excavation,” Gavin ordered with a sense of urgency to Warren.

Warren grabbed his phone and began to call for back up.

“Mr. Spencer, what time were these found?” Gavin asked.

“About 5pm.”

“It’s almost seven now. We’re going to need some lights out here. It’ll be dark soon and it’s going to be a long night.”