Free Betrayed by Camilla Isles Page A

hunter smelled the acrid odor as he trampled through the brush to his usual spot in the state forest. He normally came in the morning, but he had errands to take care of first. He knew morning and dusk were the best times to hunt, but he figured he’d come out anyway, relishing the smell of the outdoors and the quiet essence of the wild. He usually hunted deer, but that was out of season. Today he was hunting rabbit, but he wasn’t having much luck.
    The wind had picked up, and an annoying scent cascaded down the holler towards him. It smelled like something burnt or burning. Likely some idiot left a fire burning , he thought.
    However, it’d been a wet spring and even attempting to light a fire in these conditions would likely prove futile. And this didn’t smell like wet wood and leaves. There was something not right about it.
    The hunter decided he should investigate despite the unlikely threat of a forest fire. Something propelled him forward. He didn’t know why, only that he should find out where the unnatural odor was emanating from.
    He crested the top of the holler and immediately saw a vehicle parked not twenty yards away. The burning odor was stronger now than in the valley below. He didn’t notice anyone around the car, so he started to walk closer to it. Once he walked a few yards he could see a sliver of smoke wafting out the passenger side window. The window was rolled half way down.
    As he walked closer to the vehicle, coming up from behind it, he noticed another smell. This one much worse than the burnt odor. Now the hunter’s instincts were on high alert. This wasn’t just an abandoned vehicle. It was too new. Someone was trying to hide it. He didn’t want to look inside the vehicle, afraid of what he might see, but curiosity got the better of him. To his relief all he saw was the remains of someone attempting to start a fire in the back seat. All it achieved was burning a hole in the fabric. But the smell coming from the trunk was different from the burning odor.
    The hunter quickly retreated from the vehicle and back down into the holler the way he’d come. He grabbed his cell phone out of his back pocket, but instantly knew he wouldn’t get a signal this deep in the holler. He headed back to his truck at the road. Once there he jumped in, locked the doors, and tried his phone again. This time he got a signal. He punched in 911.
    Two rings and then, “911, what is your emergency?”
    “I’m out on route 29 in the Paint Creek State Park Forestry, and I found an abandoned vehicle.”
    “Sir, you should call the sheriff’s department regarding an abandoned vehicle.”
    “No, wait. I think there’s a dead body inside it.”
    The operator wrote down the hunter’s directions and instructed him to stay put until a deputy found him. The hunter looked at his watch. It read 2:15 p.m. At approximately 2:25 two sheriff’s vehicles rolled up behind his truck. The hunter got out and told the deputies what he found. The deputies and the hunter started down the same trek into the forestry towards the abandoned vehicle. Once there, the deputies popped the trunk lid. The odor the hunter smelled an hour before now punched the air and their nostrils.
    The dead girl lay on her back looking straight up. Her skin had a grayish cast which made her glassy eyes stand out even more.
    “Good God,” the hunter said staring into the trunk.
    “Sir, we need you to stand back,” one deputy said to the hunter, motioning him to move away from the vehicle.
    The hunter hung his head and took several steps away from the car. One of the deputies grabbed his radio to call it in. He also gave dispatch the license plate number. The plate number came back with the owner’s name: Amy Taylor.
    At approximately 4:00 p.m. the forensics team was on the scene gathering evidence. The girl had several knife wounds to her chest and one slash across the neck that ultimately killed her. Someone wanted her dead, but whom? And