Leopard's Prey
Page 110

“The Rousseau brothers could have done this, Gage. They were in the swamp for certain, and not far from here.”
“Yep. They could have.” Gage watched his brother’s face. Every expression. Every nuance. The sharp intelligence in his eyes.
“Carson, though? That doesn’t make sense. He wouldn’t have been in the swamp at night alone, not dressed in his fancy gallery-showing clothes. He had to have been brought here. He’s not a target of opportunity for them.”
“And they have a lot of others to choose from, people they were really angry with,” Gage agreed. He waited for more. Remy puzzled things out, a master at it, and learning from him would only make him better at his own job.
Remy kept looking at the body. The altar was perfect. The discarded plastic suit was in the exact position it should have been, but there was something off and he just couldn’t put his finger on it.
“If the Rousseau brothers did this, and I wish they had, it makes no sense at all to choose Carson.” Remy carefully moved closer to the body, wanting to examine the neck to the see if the killer had done the same thing to Carson as he had to Cooper.
“Carson could have accidentally filmed something the Rousseaus didn’t want him to see,” Gage ventured.
“We’ve got to find the camera,” Remy said over his shoulder.
“Got it!” Drake triumphantly held up the very expensive camera still inside its case. “It was near the road, where the killer must have parked his car. He walked in. There are depressions in the grass. He carried Carson, so he’s very strong. I couldn’t find a decent print of a shoe, but he definitely walked in and it’s a long way to carry a grown man.”
“Two people?” Remy asked.
Drake shook his head. “I don’t think so, Remy. You can take a look yourself, but it looks like one man carrying a very heavy load. If Carson had been knocked out, he’d be even heavier. If he wasn’t, he would have been fighting and the steps wouldn’t have been so precise and steady.”
“He’d have to carry his bag of equipment as well,” Remy mused. “I doubt if he’d make two trips. His car would be on the road for any passerby to notice and if he left his victim, anything could have happened, from a poacher huntin’ alligators at night to Carson coming to and getting away. He’s strong. Like a leopard strong.”
“Robert was in custody,” Drake said, his tone neutral.
“Jason Durang was in prison,” Gage said. “He worked out like most prisoners and he’s an extremely strong—and dangerous—man. He could easily have overpowered Carson. Carson’s not exceptionally big.”
Remy kept looking at the body while Gage examined the photographs on the camera.
“We do have an excellent timeline, Remy,” Gage pronounced. “Carson took a whole hell of a lot of photographs last night.”
In the distance, they could hear the sheriff’s boat making its way toward the spot, coming in from the water with the forensic team. Word would be spreading up and down the bayou that another murder had taken place in their backyard.
Remy continued to look at the body. Carson had taken a while to die, mostly because the killer hadn’t severed any arteries when he began carving him up. But still, there were no marks on the throat indicating multiple chokings. He sighed and ran a hand down the back of his neck. It was right there in front of him, but he wasn’t getting it.
“Remy, you have to take a look at these pictures Carson took,” Gage said again. He walked the camera over to his brother. “Start here. There’s an entire series, startin’ at the gallery, inside, before we tossed him out. The first few pictures were of the sculptures in the gallery and then the more famous and wealthy jet-setters who came to fight for the right to purchase one of Lefevre’s latest creations. There are many photographs of Arnaud and Bijou. He’s definitely fixated on her.”
“That’s not news.”
“He took more photos with a zoom lens from across the street after we tossed him out, but the windows are glass and the place was lit up like a Christmas tree. Between those pictures and his scribbles for the headlines and article idea, we’ve at least got a timeline of his whereabouts right before his murder.”
“Did we get lucky enough to get his murderer caught in the act?” Remy asked, half serious. Of course, had the murderer been on the camera, he would have ditched it in the swamp or canals. No one was that stupid.
“Take a look, Remy,” Gage encouraged. “There’s a hell of a lot of photographs and some are very unexpected. I’d rather not jump to conclusions or influence you in any way. See for yourself.”
Remy took the camera with a gloved hand, studying the photograph Gage had brought up. Bijou, looking beautiful and far too elegant, was laughing, looking into Arnaud’s eyes over his drink. The next picture was of the two of them, studying his latest creation, a look of rapt attention on her face. Arnaud seemed enthralled with Bijou, his gaze only on her. If one just looked at the series of photographs and knew nothing of Bijou and Arnaud’s relationship, they would believe the two were lovers.
He moved on to the next few shots. They were taken from outside the gallery, Bijou and Arnaud dancing and then many more of Arnaud staring at Remy’s face. The artist looked enraptured. Even enamored. Definitely fixated on Remy now, not Bijou.
“It’s interestin’ what interpretation one can put on a photograph,” he murmured. “I can imagine what spin Carson was going to put on these.”