Chuck practically groveled for forgiveness at their brunch, and eventually River was happy to forgive him and move on so long as he stayed out of his relationships going forward and never overstepped like that again. Krysta had come along with them, making Chuck pay for her as well, and she even apologized to River for interfering in his friendship with Chuck, and that she didn't want to alienate them from each other just because of her own insecurities. Emmanuel kept mostly silent the entire meal, feeling confident in River's ability to fend for himself but also happier to be present with his sister inviting herself along.
"Krysta, even when I had my crush on Chuck, I never wanted to interfere in your relationship," River told her. "He's happy with you. Why would I do anything to harm that?"
Krysta had to concede that he made a good point and told him she would try to be better going forward. River thought he would believe it when he saw it, but he kept that to himself. Instead, he tried to enjoy the rest of brunch.
At work, his test results came back for his sister's case. The DNA from the roots came out clear, but when River tested it against himself, it showed no relation. The saliva sample ended up different from the hair ones, though, which pointed toward a possible second culprit. That also came back with no relation to River. So whoever had killed her wasn't blood related to them at all. River wasn't surprised by this finding in the least, as he couldn't picture any of his family doing something so horrible to her.
Later that week, Detective Park called River to join him in the daytime at the place where her body had been dumped. River showed up with his to-go equipment, though he wasn't entirely sure they would find anything he'd need to collect. There were a couple of uniformed cops with them as they walked through the woods to the dump site, mostly as a precaution.
The area where her body had been left was a clearing within the woods. River set his bag down when they got to the spot and looked around. There was a lot of foliage and wild flowers here, but also a few bigger rocks. He could hear a river not far away, just beyond the tree line on the other side.
"I'm sure you don't think there's much to find, so what are we doing here?" River asked Jae once he was done taking a quick look around.
"Given that it's been a good twenty years since the crime, all trace elements would have washed away by now," Jae agreed. "Sometimes, though, coming to the scene of the crime can help give us ideas. So tell me, Squint, what do we know about the dump?"
River stared at Jae for a moment to show he was generally unimpressed with the nickname, then gave a sigh as he looked around the clearing. "From what we could tell with testing back then, she was strangled to death after being raped numerous times shortly after she disappeared. She was likely only kept alive for two days before he strangled her.
"The perpetrator wiped her body down and then dressed her in a white confirmation dress. He also placed a white veil over her face before he wrapped her up in plastic wrap and then rolled her into a thick rug. Based on the veil and white dress, it was probably someone who knew her and even felt he loved her. The veil shows remorse, because he couldn't handle her body looking at him in recrimination anymore. She was dumped in April, but it had been a particularly cold April. Because of the cold and how she was wrapped, it preserved the body well and there was very little insect activity on her body."
At some point River had closed his eyes, seeing everything before him as if he had been there personally. He could still remember the way she looked, with wide eyes, mouth open, and broken blood vessels in her eyes and around her mouth. The purple bruises on her neck where she had been strangled by large hands were a testament to how she had died.
River opened up his eyes again, looking at where markers had been put years before to show where the body had been found. All that was left were the little posts around the dig site, but it was enough.
"He likely thought she would never be found, or not for a very long time. Hunters come this way but usually not through the clearing. The only reason she was found was because a group of teens walked through this clearing to go to the river. Her feet could be seen barely poking out of one side of the rug and the kids panicked and called the cops," River finished up his overview of what they had read.
Jae nodded his head and looked down at the ground. "Boot prints were left behind which we have molds of. Size ten male. Work boots, from the look of them. None of the suspects ever had boots like that though from what we knew."
"Maybe he only used them sparingly," River pointed out. "Do we know who owned this land at the time?"
"Yup," Jae replied. "The current owner's uncle. We looked into him but he was a hermit. He never left his house, so people said. He's now deceased but his nephew took over the land and cabin that the man lived in."
They started to look around more as they spoke. River knew they wouldn't find anything new, but it never hurt to look. He knelt down and brushed away some of the dirt between the posts, noticing only rocks and pieces of bark and branches. He looked up at the trees around them and stopped when he noticed a trail camera on one of them. It would take photos of things passing through the area based on movement.
He was about to chalk it up as a hunter's remnants left behind until he turned the other way and saw a camera further up a tree looking down on the clearing where River was. This one had a small red light on it, showing it was currently recording. River could see it attached to a small solar panel that was likely keeping it charged.
At that point, River stood up, looking all around the clearing and counting three different trail cameras, and three recording video cameras with solar panels. "Uh, Detective?"
Jae looked over to River, who then pointed out the cameras. His brow furrowed the more they looked. "They're recording us now."
River gave a nod to acknowledge that he was aware of that. "Do you think they pick up sound?"
"Hard to say," Jae replied. "Officer Lawrence, I need you two to get these cameras down now."
Jae also called the owner to come meet them to talk. When he got there, they pointed out the cameras that were currently being taken down and the man, Carlos, knew nothing about the cameras at all. Not even his uncle had put up cameras back when he lived on the land. It was generally quiet there, and no one bothered them.
River asked him if he'd be willing to submit a DNA sample to rule out his uncle, and Carlos was happy to do so, explaining that he knew his uncle wouldn't have done it because he was agoraphobic. Carlos' parents had always brought groceries over for his uncle, and the only time his uncle left the cabin was to gather fruit in the woods and check his traps for animals and reset them. Still, River took the DNA sample.
Once they had the cameras in their possession and the DNA sample, they went back to the coroner's office to start the test and ask their tech guys to meet them. The tech guys didn't find much, though. The videos were connected to a burner phone that the perpetrator must not use as a phone because it never pinged off of any cell towers. On top of that, he had something set up in the phone to make the IP address of it ping around the country.
"A dead end," the tech guy told them.
"Maybe not," Jae said thoughtfully. "If he's been watching the area, he's probably nervous about River working here in Detroit. This means he knows you're working on the case now, but for all intents and purposes needs to pretend he doesn't know. So you should be watching out for any slip ups or someone asking about your work too much."
River frowned at that but agreed to do so. He could recognize that this investigation had just gotten more dangerous. Jae and their tech guy left before River's shift officially started. River was glad when he heard the buzzer for transport and Rufus and Emmanuel strolled in. Once they had done most of their work there, Rufus excused himself to the bathroom, claiming that he'd had some enchiladas that didn't quite agree with him, leaving River and Emmanuel alone.
River waited until he was sure Rufus was in the bathroom before he looked over at Emmanuel and said, "So, we think the perpetrator knows we're investigating Cassia's death."
Emmanuel looked concerned, "What does that mean for your safety?"
River shook his head. "I don't know for certain. If I don't talk about it openly, he might not do anything for now. I'm a threat, but not a huge one yet, you know? Plus, if he says anything, then he lets me know who it is."
Emmanuel shook his head doubtfully, "Just be careful, Pet," he said. He looked like he was going to say more but he could hear the squeak of Rufus's shoes on the waxed floor in the hallway.
River wanted to go to Emmanuel and try to reassure him he was being careful, but Rufus came around the corner right then and motioned to the stretcher they used to transport bodies to show he was ready to go. River gave Rufus a smile and caught Emmanuel's eyes once Rufus had turned around. He gave a look that promised he would be careful, the only thing he could do right then, before the two of them disappeared through the hallway.
Rufus gave Emmanuel the side-eye when they got into the cab of the van after loading the gurney. "You fishin' in the comp'ny pond, youngin'?" he asked in his grandfatherly tone.
Emmanuel stared at him blankly for a second before smiling a wolfish grin that more than answered Rufus's question, but said, "It's an adjacent pond to the company pond, but the fishing there is so good!"
Rufus just stared at him levelly for a moment before starting the van and putting it gruffly into gear. "Just be careful, eh Manny?" he offered as they pulled away from the morgue.
River might have gotten a similar conversation if Dr. Carrington had been there, but instead he had to go back to his thoughts on what to do about this case. He also had to be ready for the family party on Saturday, which seemed to come faster than he was ready for while he was working on this case.
He had explained to Emmanuel that the dress code would be casual, but to expect that people would still dress nicely. Most of the women wore sundresses and the men would be in nice jeans and either polos or button ups, or something better than a t-shirt at least.
When River showed up at Emmanuel's apartment building to pick him up, he was wearing dark wash jeans, nice black sneakers, and a three-quarter's sleeve baseball shirt in purple with black sleeves. He had a silver chain around his neck that had a mjölnir hammer design with intricate knots carved into the hammer, and a black leather bracelet that had a silver pentagram in the center around his wrist.
Emmanuel had been left almost completely up to his own devices beyond the scant preparatory information that River had imparted, so he had put on a clean pair of dark blue acid-washed jeans and a forest green button shirt with the top two buttons undone. He tied the outfit together with a green and white plaid vest and a dragon pin stylized to look like the Welsh dragon emblazoned on their flag set opposite to the breast pocket sporting a periwinkle pocket square.
River smiled as Emmanuel walked up to him. "You look amazing, though I can't be surprised by that. My family is going to say I'm swinging at a league above my own," he joked.
