Miles can still hear the distant sounds of the forensic teams and the sounds off cameras going off as he walks further into the woods. Most of the trees are bare and dry leaves cover the floor like a thick carpet.
When he ensures that no one is following he slumps down in front of a tree stump, as his anxiety starts to creep in.
His breath starts to come out in short gasps, with a shaking hand he reaches into the pocket of his jacket and frantically pulls out the contents. A pack of cigarettes, a lighter, and a piece of paper, he starts to panic as he realizes that his anxiety pills aren't with him. He swore under his breath and his throat burns and his vision starts getting blurry, he couldn't see anything else but blood. It is everywhere, dripping from the tree branches, his shirt his drenched in it and its leaking down his face, he is now grabbing onto an old branch as his mind takes control, loud screams and the sickening sound of a knife and the familiar voice he knows too well is laughing maniacally as a baby wails. He covers his ears from the sounds only audible to him, a single tear falls from his left eye. He softly starts to count to himself.
As his heart rate calms down, slowly he brings his hands towards the pack of cigarettes, he pulls one out and places it between his lips, shrugging off his jacket he went towards the small lake, he stares at the brown muddy water as his thoughts rotate back towards his case.
''This lake is less than five minutes away from the crime scene, why didn't the killer dispose of the body here, was this intentional or not,'' he mutters to himself.
''Miles!?'' He hears Jayla's voice getting closer, he keeps his eyes on the still water in front of him.
''There you are! Why did you walk away without informing me? I am quite sure that is not how partners wor- wait are you smoking?'' She notices the unlit cigar in his mouth. ''I can't believe you are smoking, and you are on your work, with a body a few feet from you,'' she says panting, she sits on a nearby stump as she takes off a blood-covered shoe.
At the sight of Jayla's shoes, he shudders and sweat starts to pour down his face, he removes a few strands of his hair that is plastered to his jaw, he quickly pulls his hat off, his dark hair falls in waves down his face then secures it to the back of his head.
''You have nice hair'', she compliments and avoids eye contact with him, she pulls off her shoes and went to the riverbank, and submerges her feet in the water.
''You know washing your dirty feet in dirty water isn't going to make it clean,'' he states bluntly as she rubs her feet against a rock to remove the dried bloodstains, she ignores him.
''I'm sorry for going off on you earlier, I didn't realize how much this affects you, I thought detectives are used to corpses,'' Miles tenses. ''I can see by the way you are tense and how you are constantly wiping your sweat as if… it's something else.'' She points out his fear of blood.
Miles looks annoyed, he doesn't acknowledge her apology. He changes the subject, it's not something he likes to talk about.
''What do you think of this so far?'' he says referring to the case.
''It is highly suspicious that she got killed in a place like this, it's autumn and you can pretty much see everything that is going on between the trees, the scene is pretty close to the road, but no one saw anything.''
''That's because she knows the killer.''
Jayla's eyes widen in surprise, ''really, you think so, and why would you say that?''
He plays with the unlit cigarette in his mouth, ''the distance from the crime scene is exactly 112 steps, this road is the shortest way to travel to the town so it's pretty occupied, if you go by the crime scene there will be onlookers, the reason no one found it suspicious is that whoever killed her or helped where either playing or doing something with her that is not suspicious, if you were driving on that road and saw a girl being dragged into the forest you would've called the police but if you saw her laughing or picnicking with someone you wouldn't even think about calling cops, would you?''
He turns to look at her, she scrunches up her face as her brain wraps around what he is saying.
''No, so that means the killer or killers are her friends.''
''Or family, anything is possible, we need to get back to the crime scene soon, Hodder is going to have my head for staying off this long.''
''But Miles-''
''Detective or Mr. Meyers,'' he corrects as he pulls his hat on over his head, and disposes the cigar into the lake.
Miles picks up his jacket and brushes off the soil, he turns his head towards Jayla who is lost in her thoughts. She stares emptily at the ripples in the lake.
''Don't think too much of it until you have enough evidence, I could be wrong, it's possible, maybe no one saw when she was taken, or the forest was just a dump site.''
''Yeah, but what if it were her friend or family, why would they do that? She's just so young,'' she trails off.
''Never take a case personally.'' He deadpans.
''I am not I was just showing some sympathy to- you know what it doesn't even make sense I even explain that to you, it's not like you would understand,'' Miles left eye twitch at her comment.
He watches her as she storms off towards the crime scene.
''Talk about overreacting,'' he says to himself, he sighs and heads back to the crime scene where new clues await.