"I don't know about this one." Sweeny said tiredly as he looked up at Miles from where he crouched near what was left of the most recent murder victim in Grand Junction. "It just doesn't feel right. Something about it seems off. Too random."
"I see a body that has been not only killed, but displayed for us as well." Miles answered, as he frowned while taking in the whole scene. They had just arrived a few minutes after eight in the morning. A student attending Mesa State College had been walking past the tennis courts on their way to an early class when they had seen the victim. Shortly after this, the call went out to Sweeny, who was entirely too sleep depraved. In turn, he passed it along to Agent Hook, and the two of them converged on the murder scene.
Tied to the net in the middle of the tennis court was the naked body of a young male, probably about college age himself. Disturbingly, his penis had been removed just like Anderson's. That was not the cause of death, however. It was quite clear that evisceration was the cause of death for this young man. He had been sliced open. Not as wide as James' mother, but enough for the murderer to get their hands on his intestines. The duct tape over the man's mouth indicated that he had been alive at the time of his intestines being accessed.
Apparently they had been on a mission to see just how long his intestines really were, because they had pulled them out and ran them in horizontal rows along the court. Sweeny had once heard that if you did this, it would cover the entire side of a tennis court, and he saw that this was indeed correct. When he had been told this, he had never really pictured it being done, and now that he saw what it looked like, he really wished he hadn't.
There were no other marks on his body, so it appeared as if he had been tied here while still alive. The cut he had been given was not dramatic enough to have killed him quickly, so he must have been able to feel a lot of pain before he passed away. Sweeny could just imagine the kind of horror that this kid must have felt along with the excruciating pain as his intestines were tugged out of his body. The thought made him nearly vomit all over the scene. If nothing else, the recent murders threatened to turn him into a bulimic.
"Yeah, there is no doubt that this poor guy is displayed for us, but it still doesn't feel like Wraith." Sweeny said. He had informed Miles about his late night conversation with their quarry over the phone before they had come out to see this victim. Now they both readily referred to him by his self-proclaimed title. It seemed as if James had been very accurate in that regard and Sweeny intended to ask him about it.
"How many psychos do you think are running around this city?" Miles asked. "I think we should assume that Wraith had at least some involvement in this unless we are able to prove otherwise."
"You are right, but it doesn't really fit with his pattern." Sweeny said. "Maybe there is a message here with the intestines, but I don't see it. It seems more like simple play time more than anything. I know that Wraith is pretty damn cocky, but I just don't see him being foolish enough to mess around with somebody for fun when he knows about your involvement in this case. He may be a lot of things, but reckless is not one of them."
"I don't know about that." Miles said. "It sure seems reckless to me for him to have called you last night to taunt you."
"Under normal circumstances I would agree with you." Sweeny acknowledged. "But he called when he knew that I would be the only one there. He also must have known how difficult it would have been for me to trace his call on my own while I talked to him. In addition to that, he seems to be quite resourceful. I have a feeling that he was confident that a trace would not be able to be established anyway."
"You mean he called from a public place?" Miles asked.
"I mean he may have an encrypted phone that we are not able to trace." Sweeny answered. "This really scares me."
"There is not much chance of that." Miles said. "He would have to have some serious connections to be able to get his hands on one of those."
"That is why it scares me." Sweeny said. "What if he really is connected? How else would he know about federal involvement in this case? I think he knows, but he really doesn't care. That means that either he is crazier than we think, or he feels his connections run deep enough to get him out of trouble even if we catch him."
"Either of those options is pretty scary to think about." Miles said.
"I know. Which brings us back to this." Sweeny said, gesturing at the grisly display in front of them. "If he is willing to play around for no point at all while we try our damndest to get our hands on him, then we really need to worry about his connections. For some reason, though, this still just feels wrong. It is almost like we have a copycat on our hands. Like this was done by a disciple of his work or something."
"A disciple?" Miles asked. "Now that is a truly terrifying thought."
"No kidding." Sweeny agreed. "I hate to sound morbid, but I haven't had a chance to get a bite to eat yet. I really don't know if I can muster an appetite after this, but at least coffee would be nice. Do you want to swing by Village Inn before we head over to the office and pick up where we left off?"
"Sure." Miles said. He was not sure he could find it in his heart to eat anything either, but coffee did sound nice. Getting away from this gruesome scene also sounded nice. He started to head off to his car. He thought about what Sweeny had said. There really wasn't much of a point for Wraith to kill this guy and display him like this. He certainly did not like the idea that Wraith was well enough connected to kill without concern. The thought of his having a disciple was not all that appealing either. All in all, it was a really crappy start to the day.
Sweeny talked to the crime scene investigators that were swarming the place and told them that he wanted to know immediately when they got a positive identification on the victim. Maybe knowing who this guy was would help shed some light on his murder. In this case, he kind of doubted it, but it would be better than nothing. He took one last look at the morbid scene and then followed in Agent Hook's footsteps.
He was tired. Too tired to deal with this right now. He wouldn't have gotten very much sleep the night before anyway, but after Wraith had called him, he had gotten even less. He needed coffee in a bad way. What he really needed was a lot of sleep and maybe a vacation, but he did not think either of those would come his way for quite some time. First he needed to nail this bastard to the wall. Bullets would make excellent nails for that. This thought allowed him a brief smile. So did the thought of the cup of coffee he would soon have to his lips.