Chapter 3: The Body in the Dumpster
"We'll be meeting with Loughlin down at the scene." Booth informed his partner as they climbed in the SUV. "The body was found in a dumpster in the parking lot of a mall. Three teenagers found it, just rotting there. Let's just say they were pretty grossed out."
"Corpse or remains?"
"Loughlin said it's a corpse."
"But I don't work with corpses. Why am I coming?"
"You're my partner. Wherever I go, you go too."
He turned to smile at her. She pointed back to the road. He chuckled.
The crime scene was crowded. Several curious bystanders had gathered behind the yellow duct tape and watched in excitement as Temperance and Booth ducked under the tape and walked towards the woman with CORONER spelled on the back of her shirt. Loughlin turned around at the sound of footsteps and greeted the two partners with a large smile.
"Nice day, huh?" She asked, cheerfully.
"Not really." Booth replied. "So, Michelle, what have you got for us?"
"Well, for her, nothing much." The coroner replied, pointing to Temperance. "But for you, I've got a nice recently murdered woman in a dumpster."
Booth shuddered slightly. Loughlin had way of putting her thoughts into words that always made Booth cringe. Today was no exception.
He took a few tentative steps towards the enormous garbage can. He could see an arm hanging out the side of the rusty container. He fought against the growing nauseous feeling. No matter how many times he saw a dead body, he always got the same reaction. He turned to Temperance. She seemed calm and not at all disgusted. He wondered how she could do it.
Loughlin's voice and a sharp pain on his right arm brought him back to his senses. He turned to find his girlfriend staring disapprovingly at him. He rubbed his arm where she had punched him.
A smile tugged at Loughlin's lips.
"As I was saying, from the looks of it, the victim has been dead for two or three days. I'm waiting for my assistant to bring me my corpse bag and we'll take her down."
"How do you know it's a woman?" Booth asked, glancing briefly at the arm.
"You'll see." Loughlin replied.
"Uh Dr. Loughlin?" A shy voice said from behind Booth.
A young looking man stepped forward.
"Yes, James?" Loughlin asked, a little annoyed.
"I got the bag you asked me for."
"Good. Just set it in front of the dumpster."
Booth turned to his partner and lowered his voice.
"Don't you think this James guy's a little like Zach?"
Temperance shook her head.
"Zach's a lot smarter." She replied before turning her attention to the coroner.
Minutes later, the body was safely resting inside a plastic bag. Loughlin had seen right when she had stated the victim had been female and it didn't take a coroner to figure out how she had died.
"Strangulation." Temperance whispered as she looked at the marks on the neck.
She imagined what the bones would look like under the skin. Instict made her crouch down in front of the corpse, snap on some latex gloves and lift the head slightly. A wound on the back of the skull confirmed her beliefs. She looked up at Loughlin.
"Strangulation and knocked behind the head." She said, a wave of familiarity sweeping through her.
"Just like Ian Shelley." Booth said behind her.
Loughlin looked up.
"The man in the ditch?"
Booth nodded.
"Do you think we could have a serial killer on the loose here?" Booth asked the women.
Temperance shrugged.
"I don't know." Loughlin replied. "But let's just get this little one back to the lab and give her an identity."
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"Hannah Kennan, 29 years old." Loughlin said as she dropped the file onto her colleague's desk. "Husband reported her missing three days ago."
"Does it match the time of death?" Booth replied, his eyes never leaving the picture of the beautiful woman on it.
"She died exactly three days ago and was thrown in the dumpster. The husband is coming down to identify her. Would you like to interview him at the same time?"
Booth shrugged then got up.
"Sure. Why not?"
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Mr. Kennan looked younger than Booth had expected considering his wife had been 29 years old. The agent introduced himself before taking a seat across from the husband's chair. He rubbed his hands together, not quite sure how to start. Kennan looked the sensitive type. A single wrong step could make him close up and not answer any questions. Booth had to be careful.
"I'm very sorry for your loss." Booth started, as per usual.
"I'm pretty sure you say that to all of your victim's families."
Kennan's tone was sharp. Booth felt the urge to snap back but he didn't. It wouldn't lead to anything.
"Doesn't mean that I don't mean what I say. It's different with each family. How long have you two been married?"
"It would have been ten years in November."
"So you loved your wife?"
Kennan's eyes narrowed.
"Of course I love my wife. Are you insinuating that I killed her?"
"That's not what I said, Mr. Kennan." Booth replied, an edge of frustration in his voice. "I have a few procedural questions to ask you. It's not going to take long."
Kennan leaned back in his chair. Booth took it as an invitation to continue. So he did.
"What did your wife do for a living?"
"She was an elementary school teacher. She taught the fourth grade. She loved her job and, in all modesty, I can say that she was the best teacher in the school. Some of her colleagues were even jealous of her. I know what you're thinking, Agent Booth. None of them were jealous enough to kill her."
"That is not what I was thinking."
"But I'm sure it crossed your mind. Hannah just had a way with children. Even with ours."
"You have children?"
Kennan nodded.
"Two. Claudia is eight and Paul is five. We were planning on having our third and last child."
"I have a son too. He's six. His name is Parker. I can imagine how you feel. I'd feel the same way if his mother would die, leaving me to care for him on my own. You must be scared."
Kennan's voice cracked.
"Terrified."
Booth nodded.
"I need you to tell me, Mr. Kennan, what Hannah was doing the day she disappeared. When did you first notice that she had vanished?"
Kennan seemed to consider his answer for a moment before replying. Booth didn't think much of it. Kennan looked like the type who simply went to the point. He was probably just erasing some minor, unimportant details from his memory. He'd see, later on, if these details were worth enquiring about.
"She left to drop off our daughter to her last soccer game Saturday morning. She had some errands to do afterwards and she asked me to go pick up Claudia after her game and that she'd be back for lunch. I decided to surprise my daughter and I went down with her brother earlier to the field and to watch her play. We went straight home after the game, thinking my wife would be there and that lunch would be on the table. Except, she wasn't there. We waited for a few hours, thinking that maybe she'd run into someone she knew and had just gone out for a coffee or something."
He paused to take a breath. Booth remained motionless.
"At dinner, I got worried. I called her parents to see if maybe she had stopped by their house but they hadn't seen or heard of her. I tried her cell, I called her sister, her brother and some of her friends but nobody had seen her. I waited until midnight before calling the police. They said there was nothing they could do until morning. So I waited. Sunday, I called them again and an officer came down to our house to take my story. He told me that they'd search for her car or a woman with that description but I know that they didn't do it."
"Did your wife tell you what kind of errands she had to do?"
"Groceries, mostly."
"Her body was found in the parking lot of Greenboro Mall. Do you have any idea what she might have been doing there?"
"Greenboro Mall? This is pretty far from our grocery store."
"Actually, there isn't a grocery store anywhere close to this mall. Her car was found parked behind the mall, near where she was found. The car was empty. Do you think she could have been meeting someone?"
Kennan shook her head.
"Not that I know of."
Booth could see the emotions the man was feeling at the thought that, maybe, his wife had gone to meet another man. He saw the betrayal, the hurt, the jealousy, the anger all flash into the man's eyes.
"Does anything suspicious or weird happen around the time of her disappearance? Weird phone calls, people showing up wherever you went. Things like that."
Kennan's eyes locked with Booth's. Both men stayed silent. Somewhere in the room, a fly was buzzing.
"Actually," Kennan started after thirty seconds of silence, "Hannah complained about being stalked after her trip to Albany, New York."
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"Stalked?" Temperance asked as she set two plates on her table.
"Yep. Stalked. Apparently, Hannah was seeing the same man everywhere she went." Booth replied as he poured some milk into a casserole already half-filled with water.
"Could be just a coincidence."
"Would you think it was a coincidence if everywhere you went, the same man showed up?"
Temperance shrugged.
"Probably not. Did Kennan give you the description of the man?"
Booth shook his head.
"He was never with her when the 'stalking' occurred. He just took her word for it. He did say that she described the man as tall and with brown hair. Doesn't help us much, though. Think how many tall, brown-haired lives in Washington."
"Good point. So, is this my special surprise dinner?" She asked as she watched Booth empty the pre-packaged noodles on the boiling water and milk.
"It's part of it." Booth answered.
"Where's the other part?"
But Booth didn't answer. Instead, he walked up to her, wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her to him.
"How about you go take a bath and I'll call you when dinner is ready?"
"But I don't like baths." Temperance replied, a little childishely.
Booth leaned in and kissed her tenderly.
"Tough." He replied, softly.
