Read Online Scarlet Rain (The Escaped #2) by Kristin Cast - Free Book Online

disappeared up the blood-spattered stairs. “You think that’s the husband’s?” He leaned over one of the brunet clumps. “Must’ve been some struggle to rip out the hair and scalp.”
    “But it doesn’t look like there was any kind of fight here. There’s just one set of footprints. And the only sign of a struggle is the hair.” Schilling turned in a tight circle, taking inventory of the surroundings. “The pictures hanging are all straight. There’s no blood on the walls. If there was some kind of altercation here, it’s pretty strange that the perp would go out of their way to clean up everywhere except the floor.”
    “You’ve got a point. That wouldn’t make much sense.”
    “Yeah, but then again, I have seen stupider shit go down. Let’s take this party into the kitchen.”
    “This is where our witness says she first noticed things out of the ordinary,” James informed Schilling as they slowly and carefully tiptoed around droplets of blood and into the living room and kitchen. “Apparently Mrs. Carroll kept everything extremely neat.”
    “My guess is it wasn’t Mrs. Carroll at all. She probably had an army of people running around making sure lint didn’t land wrong,” Schilling carped.
    “Either way, I’ll bet it never looked like this.” Scarlet flecks dotted the island’s white marble countertop. Bloodstained paper towels and splashes of red littered the floor, and rivulets of crimson coated the outside of the kitchen window. “You want to head out back and start with Mr. George, or go upstairs and take a look at Mrs. Carroll?” James asked.
    “We’ll leave him to bake until Pierce gets here. Let’s go up while I still feel like climbing stairs,” Schilling replied.
    James led the way back down the hall and up the stairs. Smudged and bloody fingerprints peppered the iron bannister and the wall bordering the staircase. “There’s a lot more blood up here,” he said, glancing back at Schilling. “Watch where you put your feet.”
    Schilling grumbled something undecipherable and continued to heft himself up each step.
    James paused on the top stair. Monica’s well-manicured hand rested in a pool of blood. The stark contrast between the pale flesh and deep ruby brought goose bumps to James’s arms.
    “You do know she’s not going to stand up and invite you on a tour of the second floor, right?” Schilling said.
    James chuckled awkwardly. “Yeah.”
    “Scootch.” Schilling squeezed past James and up the final stair. His face contorted as he scanned Monica’s body. “What a mess. You coming?”
    James swallowed his trepidation and carefully rounded the puddle of blood, keeping his gaze focused on Schilling.
    “Some seriously sick fuck did this one.” Schilling’s knees popped as he squatted next to the victim.
    James kept his eyes up, noticing an ignored layer of dust resting on the blades of the ceiling fan.
    “Putting it off isn’t going to make it look any less disgusting. We all have to see some bad shit, as I’m sure you know. Goes with the job.”
    “Yeah.” James prepared himself for whatever condition her corpse was in. He flicked his gaze down to Monica’s body. “Jesus. I was not ready for that.”
    Monica Carroll was unrecognizable. Her face looked like the sunken, gooey remains of a rotted pumpkin. Brain matter dappled the floor and wall next to her. James searched the meaty cavern for any human resemblance.
    “I don’t think anyone could’ve been prepared for it.” Schilling shooed away a few flies circling the body. “Doesn’t even look like a person anymore. They’re going to have to apply some real science down at the ME’s office to get a positive ID on her.”
    “How do you think this happened?” James averted his eyes and looked around the room for a possible murder weapon. Streams of dried blood coated the wall closest to Monica’s body and clumps of flesh clung to the paint. “I’m not seeing anything that could’ve been used to