Warnings- This story will contain violence, depictions of death, mature topics and character death. Later chapters will be rated M.
Disclaimer- I do not own the WWE figures in this story. I own only the original characters in this story and the bar 'Almost Heaven' featured in this story as well. This is a fictional story for entertainment only. No money is being made from this story.
Author's Note- This is my latest work that was inspired by several different things. It is set in West Virginia as I find it to be a beautiful but mysterious place. Again it is fiction so the real places mentioned in the story have been fictionalized a bit. I hope everyone enjoys and gives feedback!
June 3rd, 0730 Hours
It was early morning in Davis, WV. A small town in Tucker County that was mostly known for the Blackwater Falls State Park and the Canaan Valley State Resort Park. It was a scenic area in the Monongahela National Forest. The town was small but used to the tourists that came year round for hiking, biking, sightseeing and skiing.
Trinvilla 'Trina' Conley parked her white Jeep Wrangler outside the police station. Trina had grown up Tucker County and couldn't imagine herself living anywhere else. After attending college at WVU, she had returned to Tucker County and joined the small police force in Davis. Trina was thirty two years old with dark blonde hair, blue-grey eyes and was a bit self-conscious about being tall at five foot ten inches.
Trina walked into the station seeing the other officers already milling around the small station. Police chief Jerry Lawler waved at her from inside his small office. Lt. John Layfield was sitting at his desk chatting with Officer Seth Rollins.
"You still here? I figured you'd go home to get some sleep since you are on night shift." Trina smiled at him.
"Sleep? What's that?" Seth joked.
"Well I was about to make some of my coffee, that is guaranteed to keep you awake." She joked.
"Your coffee could bring someone out of a coma." Layfield laughed.
"Yet you keep drinking it." She chuckled. "Anything going on?"
"Nothing exciting. Had a fender bender last night outside of Almost Heaven…..some woman texting and not paying attention. I handled it." Seth said.
"Good, if things stay slow I need to get an ad in the paper. I am looking to hire someone to work on the barn." Trina said.
"You back to that?" Seth asked.
"I have been trying to get it done since I bought the farm two years ago. And despite big talk that jackass never got it done." Trina said. "You got any secret carpentry skills?"
"Me? I can't even put together stuff from Ikea." Seth laughed. "I am out before she ropes me into something."
As Seth walked out of the station, Trina went to make a pot of coffee. Layfield looked over Seth's report from the previous night. They had no one in the two cells in the basement. It looked as if it was going to be a pretty easy day…..looks can be deceiving.
"Trina, John….we got a call." Jerry walked into the room with them.
"What's up?" Trina turned towards him.
"A body has been found in Blackwater Falls Park. You two better get out there. I'll call Ziggler and have him meet you."
Trina and John quickly grabbed their things and headed out to the department SUV. John climbed in the driver's seat as Trina climbed in the passenger seat. She gave a small sigh knowing her slow day was now a thing of the past.
John drove them to the Blackwater Falls State Park. There weren't any tourists around yet but a construction road crew had already started their day as they were working on road throughout the park. The park would open to the public in a few hours.
"Wonder how long this construction will take?" John grumbled.
"Oh calm down, they just started last week." Trina chuckled.
"Rangers are flagging us down." John pointed out.
John pulled the SUV up to the ranger's station where two rangers were standing out front waiting for them. Trina immediately recognized them as Jake Roberts and Mick Foley. Both men had been rangers at the park for several years. John rolled down the window.
"Mornin' gentlemen." John said.
"John, Trina….glad you guys are here." Jake said. "I'm afraid Slater called in finding a dead body this morning. He stayed with it to keep away anyone or any animals that may happen along."
"Climb in, you can show us where to go." Trina said.
Mick and Jake both climbed into the back of the SUV. Mick directed them to drive towards Lindy Point. John drove a short distance and then parked the SUV when he saw Ranger Tommy Rich waiting for them on a 4 wheeler.
"We gotta walk from here." Foley said as he climbed out of the SUV.
The four of them climbed out of the SUV, John and Trina gathering their equipment as they exited.
"Heath is in the woods, off the trail about a quarter mile. Just a warning, the smell is horrible." Rich told them.
"Ziggler should be here soon. Make sure he knows where to go when he arrives." Trina told Rich.
"I'll wait here." Rich nodded.
The four others began walking up the path. Roberts spoke on the radio to Slater to guide them to the correct area when they left the path to move into the wooded area around the path. It wasn't hard to find, as Rich had warned them, the smell of decay was strong. As they walked up to where the body was, they could see Heath standing nearby with a handkerchief held over his mouth and nose.
Trina pulled a bandana out of her equipment bag and tied it around her face to help with the strong odor; it didn't help much but it was better than nothing. She noticed John trying to pull his shirt up over his nose and mouth.
They looked at the body and immediately noticed the head was missing.
"What the hell? There is no head." John stated.
"I was hoping this was a hiker died of a heart attack or something. Looks like a homicide." Trina said.
"Heath, what can you tell us?" John asked.
"I was making my rounds this morning and smelled something dead. That happens often and it turns out to be a dead animal. I decided to investigate, thought I would have to call our animal disposal crew…..found it was a human. I radioed in to the ranger station for Jake to call you guys." Heath said.
"Trina, start taking pictures. Mick, Jake, Heath…I need you guys to set up a 100 yard perimeter and keep everyone out while we investigate." John said. "Don't touch or disturb anything. We never know what might be evidence."
As the rangers moved to set up the perimeter as instructed, Trina took her camera out of her bag. Being a small town, they didn't have a CSI team but Lawler had his team trained and kept up to date on how to collect evidence and handle a crime scene. He refused to be one of those small town police departments that couldn't handle anything bigger than a traffic ticket. Trina carefully began moving around the corpse taking pictures.
"This is the first homicide in the area in years." John sighed.
"The body is pretty bloated, skin is marbled and blistering. This person has been dead at least a day of course with this heat, decomposition is tricky. Dolph will be able to tell us more." Trina said.
"You know the science end of a homicide investigation?" John asked as he searched the area for any evidence.
"I like to stay up to date and be well read. You know how old those country bumpkin cracks get." She said. "I also don't see any blood. My guess is this person was killed elsewhere and dumped here."
"From the clothing I would say it is a female." John said, indicating the dress and sandals the deceased was wearing.
"These days that isn't a guarantee. I will wait for Dolph to confirm it." She answered as she snapped off a few more photos. "The body is laid out, legs straight and arms by their side. I'd say they were carefully placed here."
"I got a backpack over here." John called out from a patch of weeds several feet away.
Trina carefully hurried over to where John was. There in the weeds was a small yellow backpack. She snapped off pictures of it from several angles. She looked up to see Dolph approaching them. Dolph Ziggler was the Tucker County coroner.
"Damn, what a way to start the month." Dolph sighed as he set down his kit.
"Rangers found the deceased this morning. Area has been secured." John said.
Dolph took a small jar of OdorScreen out of his kit and wiped some of it under his nose. He tossed the jar to Trina so she and John could do the same. Dolph pulled on some latex gloves as John and Trina put some OdorScreen under their noses.
Dolph approached the body. "Any signs of ID?"
"No, based on clothing it appears to be female but I didn't want to jump to any conclusions." Trina said.
"Deceased has their nails done…acrylic or gel or whatever you girls do these days." Dolph said as he carefully tied bags around the deceased hands so evidence would not be lost in transport. "I may be able to fingerprint them if the skin is not too loose."
"Any other tell-tale signs?" John asked.
"From a quick visual inspection, I would say that blood has been drained from the body, I don't see any signs of lividity. No blood in the area, I would say the deceased was dumped here after being killed elsewhere." Dolph said as he carefully bagged their feet.
"Got extra gloves and an evidence bag? We have a backpack here." Trina asked.
"Yeah in my kit. We can look through it at autopsy. I wanna get the body out of this heat and into a controlled environment. John help me with the body bag."
Trina moved to get the evidence bag and gloves as Dolph pulled out a body bag to place the deceased in. Trina looked at the deceased a moment as she pulled on her gloves.
"Guys, be extra careful with them. Whoever they are they deserve dignity and respect and right now we are all they have." Trina told them.
"Of course, we will." Dolph assured her.
Trina went to gather the backpack in the evidence bag as the men carefully placed the deceased in a body bag for transport to the county morgue.
1200 Hours
Trina arrived at the county morgue. After Ziggler had left the park with the deceased victim, she and John had spent the morning interviewing the rangers. The four rangers all reported that they had not seen anything out of the ordinary in the past few days. The rangers had double checked their reports from around the park and found nothing. They had then interviewed the employees around the park; everyone from the janitors to the grounds crew but no one had saw a thing.
John had gone back to the station to fill Lawler in on what they had found. Trina opted to go to the morgue and find out what Ziggler had found. She was shocked that such a brutal murder had taken place in Davis.
Trina walked into the morgue building and down the hall. She saw the autopsy room. She walked in, finding Dolph in his scrubs with a clear shield over his face as he inspected the body they had recovered that morning.
"What do you have for me?" Trina asked.
"Oh Trina, glad you are here. I got most of the autopsy finished. I have been working all morning." Dolph said.
"And?"
"And, I can tell you that the victim was indeed female. I would say she has been dead about 36 hours give or take a few hours. That heat made it impossible to get an exact time of death." Dolph said.
"Anything we can use to identify her?" Trina asked as she pulled on latex gloves.
"I was able to get good finger prints from a few of her fingers. I got a card for you." Dolph said. "She had no tattoos. I took x-rays of her skeleton but she didn't have any metal plates or joint replacements."
"Sexual assault?" Trina questioned.
"I ran a complete rape kit but found nothing. No semen in the vagina or on the pubic hair or the rectum. No foreign matter in her pubic hair. No vaginal tearing or rectal tearing." Dolph said.
There was a knock at the door. They both looked up and saw a man standing at the door. He had dark brown hair and brown eyes. He was wearing khaki pants and a green polo shirt, a gun in a holster on his belt.
"Can I help you?" Dolph asked.
"I got a call a body had been brought here for autopsy. It was found in Blackwater Falls Park." The man said.
"And you are?" Trina raised an eyebrow.
"Oh, I'm sorry. I haven't met many people yet." He walked up to them. "I'm Steve Borden, the new county detective."
"The county has been looking to hire a new detective since Sammartino retired a few months ago." Trina said. "I'm Trina Conley, Davis police department."
"Dolph Ziggler, county coroner." Dolph said. "We'll have to shake hands later." He indicated their gloved hands. "I was just catching Trina up on our Jane Doe."
"Carry on, I want to work with the police departments, not just take over." Steve said.
"Our Jane Doe appears to be 18-21 years old based on her bone fusion." Dolph said. "It doesn't appear that she has ever had children. I ran a tox screen and found no sign of drugs or alcohol in her system." Dolph said.
"Could you find the cause of death?" Trina asked.
"Not yet. No sign of gunshot wounds or stab wounds. But I can tell you she was beheaded post-mortem." Dolph said. "I scraped under her nails but didn't find anything."
"Any rope burns or handcuff marks?" Steve asked.
"No which is a bit of a surprise." Dolph said.
"Did you find anything of interest in the backpack?" Trina asked.
"I have everything spread out on the table." Dolph led them to a small table on the other side of the room. "I am willing to bet this is her backpack."
Laying on the table in front of them was a complete change of clothes including underwear and bra. There was also a stick of deodorant and a hairbrush.
"No wallet?" Steve asked.
"No, no wallet, no money and no ID." Dolph sighed. "For now she will remain a Jane Doe."
"I will fax the fingerprints to Charleston, maybe we will get a hit from AFIS (Automated Fingerprint Identification System)." She said.
"I will finish the autopsy and let you know if I find anything else." Dolph said.
"Take good care of her. I know you are the best." She smiled.
"If we don't get a hit on her fingerprints, perhaps we can get a hit on her DNA." Steve said.
Trina walked back over to the body. Dolph knew Trina had a tender heart and felt bad this girl had been murdered and as of yet they couldn't identify her. Steve watched her, curious as to what she was doing.
Trina gently laid a gloved hand on the sheet covering the body. "I'll find where you belong."
Steve smiled a bit, realizing she had deep compassion for victims. Dolph walked over and wrapped an arm around Trina.
"We'll make sure she gets home. I am sure whoever loves her is frantic looking for her." Dolph said.
"It's weird, I never worked a murder before. I know I can't go getting all emotional….but"
"Just because you are a professional doesn't take away your compassion." Steve said. "It's natural."
"He's right. Every time I do an autopsy on a suicide or an OD or an unattended death…I feel emotions for the person even though I didn't know them." Dolph said.
"Thanks….I was afraid I was acting like a woman." She gave a small laugh. "I better get back to the station in Davis. I will fax her prints."
"I'll go with you. I wanna meet the rest of the Davis officers and get caught up." Steve said.
1400 Hours
Trina walked into the Davis Police Station with Detective Borden following behind her. She saw John sitting at his desk working. She looked through the large window of Jerry's office and motioned for him to come out to speak with them.
"Hey Trina, how did it go at the morgue?" John looked up as she laid some folders on her desk that was across from him.
"I'll get to that in a minute. This is Detective Steve Borden, the new county detective." She introduced. "Detective, this is Lt. John Layfield."
"Nice to meet you Detective." John stood to shake his hand.
"Likewise. I have only been in West Virginia a week, I am still trying to get settled." Steve smiled.
"How do you enjoy working for county Sheriff Flair?" John asked.
"He seems like a good man. I am sure we will get along just fine." Steve said.
"And this is Davis Police Chief Jerry Lawler." Trina said as Jerry walked up to them. "Jerry, this is the new county Detective Steve Borden."
"Welcome abroad. I am sure we will work fine together." Jerry shook his hand.
"Thank you, I am glad to be here." Steve said.
"Tell us about your background." Jerry questioned, wanting to get a feel for the new detective.
"Not much to tell. I worked for the LAPD, Venice Beach Division for the past 25 years. Worked my way up from beat cop to detective. Decided I wanted a change of scenery, started looking around and here I am." Steve shrugged.
"Wow, LAPD…and you ended up here?" Trina was surprised.
"Trina, what did you find out at the morgue?" Jerry asked, wanting to focus on the case. He did not like the fact a murder had been committed in his safe little town.
"The victim is a female, Jane Doe for now. No ID found on her or in the backpack and no identifying marks on her. Dolph gave me her fingerprints to fax to Charleston." Trina said. "Also, she has been dead for at least a day, decapitated post-mortem and there were no signs of rape. Dolph estimates she is 18-21 years old, white female, no tattoos or surgical scars. He also gave me an estimated weight and height."
"Trina, get those prints faxed. John start looking through missing persons reported in Tucker County in the past few days." Lawler said.
"Do you mind if I look at missing persons for the surrounding counties?" Steve asked.
"Not at all, glad you want to jump in. I'm gonna call the park again and see if they have had anyone inquiring about a missing female." Jerry said.
Everyone went to do what they were assigned. John logged onto the missing persons database to search the county, while Trina let Steve use her computer to search the surrounding counties. She then went to the fax machine to fax the Jane Doe's prints to the state capital.
1800 Hours
"I think it is safe to say that our Jane Doe has not been reported missing in Tucker County or any of our neighbors." John sighed. He and Steve had spent the past few hours searching the database and calling neighboring counties about anyone that resembled their Jane Doe.
"Do you think she was a street person?" Steve asked.
"We don't have many of those here…..a few but none that would fit her age description. And she appeared too healthy for that." Trina said.
"You guys take off. I'll stick around until Seth comes in for the night shift." Jerry told them.
"In that case, I got a beautiful lady waiting for me." John said as he gathered his things.
"Come on detective, I'll buy you a beer." Trina said. "John, see you in the morning."
"Have a good night." John smiled at her.
"We'll go to Almost Heaven, it's our local watering hole." Trina smiled. "It's just down the street. We can walk."
Trina gathered her things quickly and waved to Jerry as she walked out of the station. Steve walked quietly beside her down the street a bit and then they crossed the street. Steve saw a bar with a huge sign overhead that read 'Almost Heaven' with mountains behind the letters. They walked in finding a few patrons already in there and country music was playing from a jukebox in the corner.
"Hey Trina, wondered if you would be in tonight!" the bartender called out to her.
"Hi Randy. Send us a couple of beers." She waved to the bartender.
Trina and Steve sat down at a booth along the wall.
"You come here often?" Steve asked.
"We all do. That was Randy Orton. Randy owns the place and is very hands on in running the place. He is a good guy." She smiled.
"I guess I will have to get used to living and working in a place where everyone knows everyone." Steve said.
"So detective, what made you move to middle of nowhere West Virginia?" she asked.
"You can call me Steve…I have noticed that you guys are a little informal around here." He said.
"That's because we are all so close and kinda like unofficial family. And you can call me Trina."
"I noticed on your paperwork you sign it Trinvilla." He stated.
"That is my real name, but don't call me that. Trina is a nickname I picked up because my grandma said Trinvilla was too long to say and hated the name. And personally I think Trinvilla sounds like a disease instead of a name." she chuckled as Randy arrived with their beers.
"For my favorite female officer in Davis." Randy winked as he handed her a beer.
"I'm the only female officer in Davis." She chuckled as he handed Steve his beer. "Randy this is the new county detective Steve Borden."
"Nice to meet you." Randy shook his hand. "I gotta get back to the bar. Anything you guys need, let me know."
Randy walked back to the bar. A few more people were coming in the bar as many people stopped in after work.
"So Steve, you never told me how you ended up in West Virginia. We don't get too many out of state people coming to work out here." She said as she took a drink of her beer.
"Like I said earlier, I wanted a change….I needed to make a fresh start after I got a divorce. My sons are grown and supported me moving. I started looking around for a new job and when I found the opening here in Tucker county…..it seemed like a nice change. Living in the country is a welcome change after all those years in the city." He explained.
"I think you will like it here. You may get bored after all the excitement in the city. The murder we pulled today is the first in Davis in a very long time."
"I look forward to a slower pace." He said and took a drink of his beer. "How about you? How did you get here? You have a thick West Virginia accent, I am guessing you are from the area."
"I am from Tucker County. Grew up down the road a bit in the town of Hendricks. After college I came back here and was lucky enough to get hired with the Davis police. I don't wanna work anywhere else. I like it here…taking care of my own people." She said.
"You have family in the area?" Steve asked.
"I have a few cousins, aunts and uncles in the state. Daddy died young from working the coal mines….coal dust ruined his lungs. Mom died a few years after that….she pretty well grieved herself to death." Trina explained.
"I'm sorry. It is hard to lose both parents so young." Steve said. "You married?"
She frowned. "No, never have been."
He sensed that was a sensitive subject with her so he changed the topic. "What do people do for fun around here?"
"A lot of people do stuff in the parks; hiking, biking or skiing. The churches do a lot of community activities…socials, picnics etc." she said as she finished off her beer. "Where you staying?"
"I am renting a small place in Parsons, it is close to the sheriff's station." Steve said. "You live in Davis?"
"I got a small farm just outside of town." She answered. "I need to be getting home, but I enjoyed having a drink with you."
"I'll get the check." Steve said.
"Don't bother…..Randy has a policy that officers drink free on week nights." She smiled as she stood up. "He takes care of his people too."
"I'll call you tomorrow about the case." Steve said.
She nodded. "Have a good night."
Author's Note- A long introduction chapter I know but I couldn't find a good way to break it up. Hope I didn't overwhelm anyone. And please share feedback. Author's live for feedback on their work both good and bad. Author's work hard on their material and if you are enjoying it, let them know!