Swamp Gas

Winding through the back roads heading to the address he had been given Jim thought of the many times he had crossed through these parts. Several times he had been looking for a couple of kids out joyriding. Once finding a lost dog reported by the locals was his main objective. Mainly though he remembered the area from when he was a teenager looking for trouble on those hot summer nights that South Carolina is famous for. You could get lost out here easily among the old magnolia and pine trees which seemed to be everywhere. The new housing going up so rapidly throughout the town had not yet pushed its way to this part of the county. An occasional trailer home dotted every half mile or so along the way but overall it was just as it was fifteen years ago when he first passed through. In one spot he saw a couple of kids playing in some brackish looking water along the edge of the road, yet a quiet restlessness seemed to dictate the rest of the surroundings more then anything else.

Peering away from the kids and back to the road he could see B.J.s truck parked along side the road far ahead. One of the thoughts that crossed his mind was that this would be a good place to lose somebody if you really wanted to. Or you could lose yourself in here if you didn’t want to be found.

Continuing down the road it changed from asphalt to dirt and the dust began to spew forth behind his car. Slowing to a crawl as he neared the other vehicle he pulled up from behind and parked along side it. He put his sunglasses on and grabbed his pad of paper along with a pen. Opening the door his nostrils filled with the smell of swamp water. His glasses immediately fogged up from him moving out of the air conditioned comfort of his vehicle to the typically hot and very humid summer air. Looking around him he noticed that without a breath of wind to rustle the leaves it seemed peaceful to him.

Peering over his shoulder he could see the forensics truck moving down the road and just crossing onto the unpaved portion of it. Taking a mental note he thought have someone check with the people living nearby as to weather they had seen anything because it would be next to impossible to get back here without somebody noticing.

Turning away from the oncoming truck and walking towards the two figures he could see some twenty yards away, he yelled towards them. “Bill that you? What we looking at?”

Yelling back at Jim Bill said, “Oh man not really seen anything like this before Jimbo. Oh watched a murder or two on TV but this isn’t the same.” Bill then gestured towards one opening in the trees and back to another, “Watch your step. Looks like they came around through that opening over there. So you head this way.”

As Jim made his way through a small gap in a few smaller saplings he stepped into a natural opening underneath a large magnolia tree. Bill was just to his right standing in a grassy area that appeared to be undisturbed. Just to Bill’s right was a thin old black man with a scraggly graying beard. He looked as if he had been out wrestling some pigs in the woods. He was filthy and his clothes looked torn and tattered. Turning his focus to the rest of the surroundings Jim could see some sawed off stumps which appeared to be used as seats around a fire pit which was in the middle of the area. Counting the stumps he saw seven of them which meant probably a party spot where more then just a few people could come too. Several beer cans had been strewn throughout the site and plenty of garbage could be identified. The area around the pit was dirt covered so it looked as if the spot had been used recently and many times. No real distinguishable foot prints could be seen in the dirt so Jim said to Bill, ”This place looks to have been scoured of evidence either by whoever did this, or by someone else trying to cover it up. Not a footprint to be found.” Jim then focused in on the body of the victim. From where he stood only its feet and a portion of its legs could be seen from under the grass where the body was lying. Generic looking tennis shoes and bloodied blue jeans was all so noticeable.

Bill nodded and pointed towards the base of the tree and forcefully added, “There next to the tree is where I think the shooting happened. Plenty of blood left on the tree from what looks like a single shot fired.” He then pointed to an area between the tree and the body and said. “Looks like our suspect or suspects dragged the body over to that area and tried to cover it up in an attempt to haphazardly hide the victim.”

Changing his focus to the man who found the body, Bill pointed to the man standing next to him and said back to Jim, “Jim this is Mr. Smitts. He found this and got a hold of the authorities. Mr. Smitts said he was walking down here looking for beer cans to collect for money when he came across the victim in the brush or grass over there. He says he didn’t touch anything but rushed off to call us and let us know what he had found.” Bill then said, I don’t think he touched much of anything so if there is anything left that didn’t get brushed over by the perpetrators our guys shouldn’t have much contamination to worry about.”

Looking at Jim’s face you could tell he was intently analyzing the entire situation in front of him. He leaned towards Bill, and Jim quietly said, “OK thanks Bill.” He paused then louder asked, “Mr. Smitts are you from around here?”

The little old man answered shyly, “Well, ahh yes sir. Just down the road a piece. Probably a mile or two.”

Jim asked him, “You usually see any body coming down here to do some partying?”

“Well, ahh, well.” The man quietly stumbled out looking a bit scared.

Sensing that the man was a bit frightened Jim dropped his tone a bit and told him, “No need to worry Mr. Smitts no one will find out you spoke with us.”

Still hesitating just a second or two then the man continued, “Well sir people seem to head down this road on Friday and Saturday nights I guess. Couldn’t tell you what dere doing but most must be stopping here cause there ain’t much else down the road. It stops just a hundred yards or so that way you see.”

“Is that right you say?’ Jim asked. Then he stepped a little closer to the man and asked. “When was the last time you was down here?”

“Hmm, well sir I was here just about two Saturday’s ago looking for cans like I was today.” He paused then said, “Yah that would be about right.”

Jim had one last question, “You see anything you think a bit suspicious in the last couple of weeks heading on down this way Mr. Smitts?”

“Cant rightly say sir.” He then added, “Usually trucks headed this way most of the time but do remember one of those fancy sports cars last weekend. It seemed a bit outta place for what I usually see down here.”

“How do you mean?” Jim asked.

Then the old man started in on how he had been sitting on his front porch when he saw a sports car go speeding by maybe last Saturday he thought. The car was black on the bottom and silver on top with those pop up kind of headlights. Looked out of place being that generally it was just trucks he saw. He thought two guys were in it but it went by so fast he didn’t get a good look at them. Jim thanked Mr. Smitts for his help and Bill took him out towards the road where he headed on home.

By this time the forensics team consisting of two people, one with a camera for pictures and one for gathering other specifics headed into the crime scene area. Jim told them to start around the tree and photograph every thing and log everything. To much information was still not enough as far as he was concerned.

As Bill came back through the saplings he joined Jim and the both of them moved over to the body to get a better look. Jim moved a bit of the grass with his foot and saw a blood stained black T-shirt. It looked like one of those rock band shirts with the bands schedule on it. He couldn’t make out the name of the band because it was covered in a dark thick pocket of blood which had settled in that area. He could also tell now that this was a man roughly in his mid twenties. Long blond hair stuck out from under the grass and Jim uncovered the rest of the remains to get a better look at it. Pointing to a spot just behind the victim’s left ear Bill told Jim he thought that is where the bullet entered and then exited the front and was still potentially in the tree or around it.

Jim was really starting to get a feel for what had happened now. You don’t shoot someone behind the ear like the mob unless you are trying to make a point. Someone or several people had brought this guy out here to end his life and make sure that others eventually knew about it. Scare tactics yes, but gruesome and potentially powerful to those who it was aimed at. Looking for defensive wounds Jim peered at the victims wrists and arms. He saw no marks or bruises so it appeared that there had not been a struggle.

“Find any identification on him Bill?” Jim asked.

“Nope, seems to have been left high and dry. Although in an execution like this doesn’t seem like it would be a robbery.” Bill said.

Then Jim professed, “My sentiments exactly. Took his wallet so we would have troubles finding out who he was. Not to take his money.” He paused a second or two then added, “Makes me think that who ever killed him doesn’t really have to worry about money. Or they want us to think it was a robbery. Either way it is calculating, brutal, and cold blooded.”

Rising to his feet and turning towards Bill Jim started to gather his thoughts of what had happened. First someone or several people had come down here on the premis of having a good time. Or maybe and more likely it was some kind of private meeting amongst business partners. Shady business partners, and, as many times occurs in this kind of crowd something went wrong. It could have been something had gone wrong long before they got there and this entire scenario had been set up and planned in advance.

Jim felt it was in the evening; maybe they had started a fire. After an intense argument the victim had been forced at gunpoint down to his knees between the tree and the stumps. Standing over the victim the shooter yelled at him for information. Screamed at him to get ready to meet his maker. Jim could fell the distress in the victim. He could almost see the panic in the shooters face. Bang the gun went off and the body fell to the ground in a massive lifeless heap. At this point the shooter either alone or with help, grabbed the body up and dragged it to where it was now. Combing for any signs of identification the assailants took his wallet and any thing else of significance from the lifeless body. Then covering it with grass they turned their attention to the area around them. First snagging up any trash they had brought with them then using a tree branch with leaves on it or using some old clothing they brushed there tracks clean as they fled back out the way they had come.

A commotion startled both Jim and Bill and they spun around to check out the noise behind them. Stumbling through the small saplings into the opening came a smallish man maybe standing five foot two. He had balding grey hair and numerous freckles spotted his face. Somewhat large glasses and a small thin lined mustache just above his lip gave him a distinguished look. With one hand he tried to straighten his hair and with the other he banged off the dust from his white lab coat. “AAhh, Ahh, sorry I took so long gentlemen. Have I missed anything important?” the man said.

“Nah doc, he ain’t going anywhere.” Bill wise cracked as he glanced at Jim. Bill

realized very quickly that this was not the joking time based on the look he got back from Jim.

Then Jim said, “Doc Harvey, we have one deceased male Caucasian. Single gunshot to the head. No other apparent trauma.”

“How many times I have to tell you gentlemen. Do not call me Doc. I am a forensic pathologist. Fancy name for coroner.” He said.

Pleading his case Bill said. “Yah Doc, but fore, forens, forensick pathogist that’s a mouthful so Doc sounds better. Plus have you looked in the dictionary lately Doc. There’s a picture of you next to the word doctor.”

“Bill, back to the case will you?” Jim bellowed.

“Oh yah, ahh sorry.” Bill said.

There was an awkward moment of silence then the three men moved to where the body lay. Doc put on some rubber gloves and bent down to the body. He slowly did a visual examination of the victim and its surroundings. After he had finished he stood and asked, “Looks like a small caliber round, have you found the bullet yet?”

Jim replied while pointing, “No but we believe it is somewhere near the big tree over there.”

“All right. Preliminary, of course cause of death is a gun shot wound to the back of the head. Not hard to see that at this point.” Doc said then turned and gestured towards the body, “Looks as though he is in fairly good shape forensics wise. I believe if he is in a data base I will have his identity by late tomorrow or the day after.”

Astonished Jim said, “Your kidding right? Late tomorrow!”

“Look Jim, this isn’t CSI on TV. I can’t just run back to my computer in five minutes and have an answer for you. Our computers are much slower and our data bases are harder to access. If he has a big time record we will find him fairly fast. Or, if he was in the military, that will be quick too. But over all still takes some time.” The Doc finished with one more thought, “If he is local we might find him faster also. But I am not counting on that either.”

“OK Doc, I know you will do the best you can.” Jim said.

Doc headed off towards his car while Jim and Bill took one last look at the crime scene. Standing just to Jim’s left one of the forensics technicians snapped several pictures as the other tech was scrapping blood from the tree. Jim said to the techs, “You guys need to find that bullet, I think a metal detector might do the trick but as of now it might be about the only real piece of evidence we have.” One of the techs replied that they would make sure that it would be a priority and that they might be getting just a bit more information then had first been thought. This may have been the only good news Jim had gotten since getting here and it at least gave him a sense that it may come together in the long run. He said to Bill, “Let’s get outta here. We need to set up a meeting with everyone this afternoon. Going to need some extra help on this one.”

Bill replied, “Yep a few extra bodies never hurt an investigation.”

“Let’s just hope the few extra bodies you refer too are just police officers working and not more corpse’s turning up.” Jim said.

“Sure thing Jimbo, I’ll set up the meeting.” Bill replied as the two of them walked to there vehicles and split up.

The early afternoon heat and humidity was really starting to kick in about this time. Jim quickly jumped in his car and flipped on the air conditioning. As he sat in his vehicle soaking up the cooler air he wrote on a small note pad all the things he wanted to say at the meeting. At the top of the list was the one problem that bugged him the most. He had written it in big bold capitol letters, it was simply the word WHY?