The Killer Vanished, But Her Husband Knows
Chapter 10: Dan’s Return
Dan Harper, working at a construction site in another city, got the call from local police and raced home the night of the murder.
The body was still at the scene, preserved for evidence and awaiting the family. The heat was brutal, so they’d packed ice around the corpse to slow decay, but the forensic doctor, busy collecting blood and fluids, hadn’t sewn up the neck wound or moved the victim’s head.
When Dan Harper entered, the grief hit him like a freight train. He threw himself onto his wife’s body. The moment he wrapped his arms around her shoulders, Lila’s head rolled to the floor.
The axe had cut so deep that only a thin layer of skin held it, and the forensic doctor hadn’t dared touch her.
On the ground, Lila’s lips were still bright red, her eyes wide open, staring right at her husband.
Dan’s legs buckled, and the air left the room. He clung to the doorframe, gasping like a man who’d forgotten how to breathe.
The police report said Dan’s knees gave out like a sapling in a tornado. The town’s pastor was called to sit with him, his hands trembling as he recited the Lord’s Prayer, sweat running down his brow in the suffocating heat.
