spoke again , her voice was trembling . “ Guys ? You should see this .”
Curious and worried at the same time , Grey and Lita joined Knives . The first thing they noticed was how much stronger the stench was . If it could be seen , Grey was sure it would obscure everything around them like a winter ’ s fog . How they were breathing without gagging , he would never know .
The second thing they noticed was that there was a plastic bin filled with odd shapes at the foot of the furnace . And there was something familiar about the shapes in the bin that unnerved Grey .
“ Oh my God !” Lita let go of his hand and fell to her knees in front of the plastic bin . “ Annie ! Princess ! What the hell did he do to you ?”
Grey ’ s stomach jolted uncomfortably as he realized what those odd shapes were : body parts . Human body parts . An assortment of arms , legs , hands , a torso and … oh sweet Jesus , is that Annie ’ s head ? He bent over and vomited . A moment later , all three of them were vomiting , filling the basement with a new , noxious scent .
When they had finished retching , they ran to the stairs at the other end of the basement , panting like they ’ d just run a marathon together .
“ What the hell ?” Lita gasped , leaning against the wall . “ Why would he do that to them ?”
“ He ’ s burning them in that furnace ,” Grey coughed , sitting on the steps . “ He ’ s cutting them up to make it easier to destroy them and then throwing them in the fire . Serial killers who don ’ t want anyone to know what they ’ re doing have done it for years .” Like H . H . Holmes in Chicago , he thought . Or that serial killer in Paris who prayed on escapees during WWII . They killed people and then burned their bodies to get rid of the evidence .
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