The Killers Amongst Us: Chimera Dawn Chronicles by Declan Conner Read Free Book Online Page B

pointed. “See there,
that’s the paw mark.”
    Shaw could see brown smudges, but nothing more.
    “It looks as though the midday sun has dried the tracks, so
there’s no telling what time the paw print was made,” Shaw said.
    “Judging by the blood in the corridor, I reckon eight or
nine hours.”
    Shaw raised his eyebrows.
    “How so?”
    “Hanging up deer to bleed out. I’m no expert on human blood,
but the way it’s congealed, if it works like animal blood, I won’t be far out.”
    “That makes it around four in the morning. How do you work
out that’s a dog’s paw and not say a mountain lion?”
    “Well, it’s big enough for a mountain lion, but see, there,
those smudges close together are the heel. You could almost draw a cross where
there’s no mark on the stone because of the heel structure. If it were any type
of cat, it would be a solid track. A mountain lion heel track almost looks like
a solid small letter m shape, rounded on both leading edges. Then those
two pear shapes are the front toes. For a cat, they’d be spread out with even
gaps, but these are close together. There’s also a tiny speck in front of one
of the toes. Likely, that’s the claw. A cat doesn’t walk with its claws out. A
dog can’t retract its claws.”
    “Could it be a coyote?”
    “Nah, too small, and we don’t have wolves in these parts.
Whatever left this behind must be huge. Listen, I phoned the wild animal park,
but they’ve not got any of their exotic animals missing.”
    Frank made an impression on Shaw with his knowledge and
initiative. He thought that maybe he was better hanging on to him. Shaw
rummaged in his case and passed Frank a ruler.
    “Here, lay this ruler along the width and then measure the length
while I take photos.”
    They measured all the paw marks and arrived at a human heel
print at front of the door. The next bare footprint had collected more blood
from the animal tracks and it was almost complete. Shaw placed his foot
alongside the track.
    “It’s an inch bigger than mine without shoes. I’m guessing
at a guy. Someone was here at the time of, or soon after her death. We could be
looking at a murder here and not a wild animal killing her, especially as no
one phoned it in,” said Shaw.
    “Yeah, the footprint is bugging me. Maybe for it to be a
bare footprint, she was with someone who had his dog with them. Say they
argued. Someone killed her, then grabbed his clothes and left with the dog.”
    “But then why is the footprint facing the door?” Shaw asked.
    “If it is a he, it could be that he forgot something that
would show he’d been there.”
    “Could be, but looking at the throat, it looks as though
it’s been gouged by an animal.”
    “Maybe the dog frenzied, thinking it was protecting its
owner,” said Frank.
    “It’s a possibility, we really need forensics here.”
    Shaw knew he was out of his depth with the task in hand.
Back in LA, he could have had forensics there within the hour and shortly after
the body would be at the coroner’s ready for autopsy. All he would need to do
was to start investigating. But LA was ninety miles away.

Chapter 7
     
    SHAW laid his ruler alongside the bare footprint and
took a photo.
    “Mrs. Fisher is at the gate.” Frank said.
    A familiar voice called out. “Sheriff Shaw, what about
Montague?” Mrs. Fisher asked. “His ear is infected.”
    “Not now Mrs. Fisher. I’m busy.”                     
    Frank grabbed Shaw’s arm. “Leave it to me,” Frank said.
Perhaps he had sensed the tone of frustration in Shaw’s reply. He called over
to her. “I spoke to the vet at the wild animal park earlier. He said he could
handle emergencies until we can find a replacement.”
    “But that’s a thirty mile drive. I don’t mind driving around
town, but thirty miles?”
    Shaw’s patience snapped, and springing to his feet, he
walked to the gate.
    “Sorry, Mrs. Fisher, but this is an emergency here and we
really are