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“Very well.” The mortician, wearing round spectacles on the end of his nose, peered at him like a small frightened animal. “My assistant is away today. I’ll need help to lift the body.”
“That’s not a problem.” Wolfe indicated to everyone. “I have a team with me. Leave it to me and we’ll have her back in her coffin before you know it.”
“What is the purpose of the examination?” The mortician peered at Wolfe over his spectacles. “I’m afraid she’s been embalmed. There won’t be any evidence for you to find on her body.”
“Just leave the details to me.” Wolfe pushed the casket toward the doorway. “Which way?”
“Through the double doors at the end of the passageway.” The timid man pointed a shaking finger.
“Who signed the death certificate?” Wolfe turned to look at him. “I’ll need a name and contact details. Do you have a copy by any chance?”
“I’ll have one on file.” The mortician pushed his glasses up onto his nose. “The details will be on the certificate. I’ll print one for you.” He hurried from the room.
It was difficult to be there while Wolfe proceeded with his examination. Beside him, Colt Webber took photographs for evidence, but the internal examination was recorded on a laptop via a small camera, before and after a dye was introduced into the cavities to highlight any damage. Wolfe wasn’t giving a running commentary and was way too busy to take questions. To link the cases, Beth needed to find a similar burn mark on the victim and moved closer. She scanned the body and found the small burn mark, clearly with a distinct marking of a Celtic rune. She waited for Wolfe to finish his examination and then pointed it out. “Look another burn mark. Do you figure this is a signature?”
“Yeah, I noticed that, and Webber has taken images.” Wolfe went to his kit and pulled out instruments. “As this victim is being buried, I’ll need to take this as evidence.” He went about removing the small area of skin. “I’ll compare this to the mark we found on the other victim. I can see this one clearly has a mark. It’s maybe from a ring or similar. Something like this could break a case wide open.” He looked at Beth. “I hope there are images of the other victims we can use for comparison. I’ll get my team onto it as soon as we get back to the office.”
It didn’t take too long at all for Wolfe to finish, and the body was redressed and placed back into the casket. Emily Wolfe re-arranged the victim’s hair and gave her a little pat on the arm before nodding to Webber to take the body back to the viewing room. That gentle kindness surprised Beth. She’d have imagined after the victim was through the process, they’d be just another case, but then maybe that was her psychopath side not understanding the way of things.
Although Beth often experienced strong emotions and understood that the presumed complete lack of empathy in psychopaths all the experts professed was flawed, over the years she’d come to understand many things about herself and others like her. It was strong emotions that triggered their behavior in the first instance. The same drive that pushed them to kill repeatedly. What made her different was her understanding about why it happened—how the trigger drove the person to kill.
For years, she’d compartmentalized the bad things in her life. She’d locked away seeing her father murder her mother, the years of abuse in foster care, and placed them where they couldn’t control her emotions. Normal people do this all the time. Someone is nasty to them, so they lock the memory of what happened away and forget it. It’s a way of coping with bad things in life. The problem with a psychopath is their brain is slightly different and the fail-safe everyone else has that stopsthem acting on impulse is missing. So when their emotional trigger happens, all those boxes carrying all those bad memories open up and flood the mind. It’s like a powerful drug and it had taken Beth a long time to bring the impulses to fight back under a modicum of control. The problem was, if she didn’t direct her anger toward stopping the unstoppable monsters, she’d lose control. She could become a “shoot first and ask questions later” type of special agent, by placing herself in impossible and dangerous situations. That action could be considered to be on the right side of the law. Many would see her as a hero, but how long would that last? No, she’d keep to her own code of doing things, using self-defense as her proof or seeing a crime committed before she acted as the Tarot Killer.
“Beth.” Styles touched her arm. “You okay?”
Dragging her mind back to the case, she nodded. “Just thinking, is all.”
“No rape.” Wolfe removed his gloves and mask and tossed them into the garbage and then washed his hands. “She has bruises and burn marks all over her from where her clothes were torn, same as the other victim. I’m not seeing defensive wounds on either victim either, and there are multiple ligature marks, so he used the cord to subdue rather than kill. The scratches on the neck are from the victim clawing at the cord. The bruises on the thighs would suggest rape but it didn’t happen in this case. I’ll do a more conclusive examination on the other victim, but the fact he wants to rape them and doesn’t is significant.” He looked at Beth and Styles. “This isn’t the same killer as the Convenience Store Killer. His victims were savagely raped, and this man is looking impotent. If you decide to continue with this case, I suggest you consult with Jo Wells. She’ll be able to give you an insight into this killer’s motive, especially if we can tie in the burn marks as well.”
Beth nodded. “I’m seeing gross incompetence by the local sheriff’s office here. It’s something we need to call in. I’d appreciate it if we keep this information to ourselves right now.”
“Y’all thinking there’s been a cover-up?” Wolfe’s eyes narrowed. “Involving the local doctors as well?”
“I figure it’s something we need to look into.” Styles let out a long sigh. “I checked out the files and seems to me the sheriff called in someone different every time they found a body. That in itself is unusual. In homicide you need comparisons to make a case and I’m not seeing that here.”
“This is something I can explore.” Wolfe’s brows knitted together in a frown. “If any of the local doctors are skirting the rules, I’ll report them. It’s part of my job. I’ll need copies of everything you have so I can compare the information on every victim.”
“I’ll upload everything onto the server.” Styles smiled. “We have a few files Beth pulled from the sheriff’s department computers. I’ve cleared our involvement with the director. We’ll be dropping by for another visit first thing tomorrow to go through the sheriff’s murder books and see what else he has hidden away in evidence.”
“That’s a ton of work”—Emily looked from one to the other—“running two cases back-to-back. What if the Convenience Store Killer strikes again while you’re here?”
Not wanting her plans disrupted, Beth shrugged. “We’re interviewing suspects this afternoon, but apart from some sketchy facial-recognition hits on eye shape, we have zip on the killer. That case is our priority, but as both killers have just struck, it’s unlikely they’ll kill again soon. I figure we can work both of them for a day or so. If it looks like a cover-up on this case, then we’ll call in another team to take over. Right now, it’s a gut feeling, is all.”
“Okay.” Styles checked his watch. “We need to go. I’ll follow up with the sheriff and see if he has any reports on missing girls, so we can get an ID on the latest victim. If he has anything, I’ll upload the details. We’ll swing by first thing and attend the autopsy on the other victim. I want to know what you discover about the burn mark.”
“Okay.” Wolfe picked up his forensic kit. “Autopsy is at ten.”
TWENTY-FOUR
Roaring Creek
In the air and heading to Roaring Creek, Beth checked her phone for the local map of the area. “We can walk to where they’re dropping by with deliveries for the first two. The second and third are mining camps and we’ll need transport. I called Sheriff Bowman and he’ll have a cruiser we can use standing by.” She scrolled through her phone. “Just a rundown on the suspects to refresh our memories. Austin Buck delivers newspapers, magazines, tobacco goods, etcetera, to stores in all four towns. The delivery this afternoon is to the local gas station. The manager there is Ann Jones. Next, Clay Maverick delivers dairy products to the diner. The contact there is Elizabeth McGill. Both these businesses are expecting us, so there won’t be a problem.”
“Okay and where to after that?” Styles flicked her a glance.
Beth scrolled through her notes. “No contact for the next one, Wyatt Cody. I hacked his delivery schedule. Cody, as I mentioned before, owns his own online supply service. He supplies mining camps and local stores with a variety of goods.So we head out to the Lost Gold mining camp about two miles out of town. He’s due there around four and as luck would have it Billy Straus is due at the same camp at four-thirty. He handles medical supplies and delivers pharmacy orders mainly to the mines.”
Ten minutes later, they dropped down on top of Roaring Creek General and after being buffeted by the howling wind, headed down the stairs and out into the sunshine. She checked the map on her phone. “The local gas station is along Main on the right.”
