He kept digging.
“A bra, panties, and socks. No shoes,” he stated.
As he was pulling them out, Luis was having one of their techs bag the items for inventory of evidence.
Just.
In.
Case.
“What’s in the purse?” Gene asked, directing his partner to dig in. If they found Vina’s things, that would give them a head start on this.
Oh, and they needed it.
They had four victims, and no idea what the hell was going on.
Blackhawk opened the purse and dug around in it. He pulled out lipstick, a wallet, and a few other items like hair ties, a pencil, and some other makeup.
Opening the wallet, he saw the driver’s license.
“The wallet belongs to Vina Beede,” he said, pulling out the picture and holding it next to the dead woman’s face. “It looks to be her.”
Again, their ME went there.
“I’ll make positive ID with dentals.”
They weren’t shocked. That was normally the hill all MEs were willing to die on.
So to speak.
“That’s her,” Dannie said, seeing a less traumatized face in the license as he held the picture on the phone beside it. “I knew she looked familiar.”
Well, it appeared luck was on their side. The killer wouldn’t have that big of a head start on them.
“Um, something is on her tongue,” Luis said, as he was shining a flashlight into her mouth to find trace for the techs to bag up.
That had Ethan’s attention.
This was what he was looking for to continue profiling. It was odd that they didn’t have the same markers as the first three victims, and he needed to see what the killer was telling them.
“What?” he asked, moving closer.
Luis looked up at the city ME, who was so close to him that he’d be on him with a few more inches.
“Do you mind?” Luis asked. “I need my elbows to be able to bend my arms.”
The man rolled his eyes.
“I’m leaving,” Doctor Parker said. “It’s clear, I’m not needed here.”
Gene went to say something, but Ethan was staring at him. So, instead, he kept his yap shut. Oh, but that was a hard-fought war. He wanted to be so goddamn snarky to the man who suddenly wanted to be up in their business when this morning he wanted the opposite.
No one said anything as the city ME hustled off with that stick up his ass.
With him gone, Luis went back to what he was doing. He was carefully prying open the woman’s mouth with his thumbs.
“Are her lips stitched shut?” Ethan asked.
