“Well, someone did,” Rivera replied.“The killer mutilated both victims’ genitals before they died.”
“Jesus,” Marcus breathed.
Kate swallowed.“On second thought, if you have an antacid, I’ll take one.”
“I’ll get you one,” Rivera said, retrieving a packet from the center console of the Caddy.“But it won’t make the scene any less disturbing.”
***
Rivera turned out to be right about that.Richard and Vanessa Carlton’s bodies had been removed from the sprawling waterfront mansion before Kate and Marcus arrived, but white tape helpfully outlined the positions of their bodies, and the handcuffs used to restrain them to the headboard of their enormous mahogany bed still dangled from the posts.Pools of blood located in between the spread outlines of their legs emanated a sweet, fermented aroma and helpfully bridged the gap between Kate’s imagination and the photographs Rivera provided of the bodies as they were discovered.
“Fuck me,” Marcus breathed.He looked as green as Kate felt a few minutes ago.“I’m not even going to ask you to pardon my French.”
"Yeah, it's bad," Rivera said."I've seen shit like this before with the cartels.Usually, the victims will pass out before the job's finished, but the coroner's assistant was pretty sure they were alive the entire time."
“Jesus,” Marcus swore again.He pushed the photos toward Kate.“Hey, you want to see these?”
“Not really,” Kate replied.
She was more interested in the ciphers carved into the headboard.The wordshevawas the only one written in Hebrew.The rest appeared to be in Aramaic, a distinct though morphologically similarlingua francapopular in the Near East during the Greek and Roman periods.Itwasa cipher, though, not just a statement.The words were arranged in gibberish.Kate would need to put some work into figuring out exactly what the killer had written.
She had a good starting point, though.The line directly undershevano doubt represented the commandment in question.Thou shalt not commit adultery.
“What’s with the roses?”Marcus asked.
Kate lifted her eyes to the garland of roses hung over the bed.They appeared to be held in place by wires tacked to the ceiling.They were just starting to wilt at the edges, suggesting they were fresh when they were strung over the bed either just before or just after the commission of the murder.
“No idea,” Rivera replied.“We assume it has something to do with marriage, but that’s only because the victims themselves were married.”
“It’s a safe assumption,” Kate said.“The commandment referenced here is ‘thou shalt not commit adultery.’”
“Is swinging adultery, though?”Rivera asked.“Again, I’m not in the lifestyle, but my understanding was that all parties were consenting, including the husbands and wives being cuck—uh, enjoying other people.”
“Well, Cox and his disciples are rarely concerned with how other people interpret the law,” Kate said, taking pictures of the cipher.“I’m willing to bet that the killer views sexual contact with anyone other than a person’s spouse as sinful.”
“So, you’re sure that it’s Cox,” Rivera said.
“No,” Marcus replied firmly before Kate could answer.
She rolled his eyes.“We don’t know yet if Cox is involved in this personally either directly or indirectly.Wedoknow that someone mutilated and murdered Richard and Vanessa Carlton in their own bed because they believe the Carlton’s violated the seventh commandment.”She frowned.“Who was here, anyway?There’s no way they were alone in the house?”
“We’re trying to figure that out,” Rivera said.“The security cameras on the property were inactive during the commission of the murder.”
“Destroyed?”Marcus guessed.
"No, shut off.The Carltons' guests often included people who don't want to be seen attending one of their parties."
“But there weren’t any staff members here?”Kate pressed.
“We’re working on it,” Rivera repeated.“The woman who called it in was their housemaid, but she has an alibi.She was home on the mainland, and when she left, Carlton and their guests were still alive.”
“We should talk to her,” Marcus said.“Maybe she can give us the guest list and let us know if she saw or heard anything untoward.”
Kate nodded.“Is she here?”
“She’s on the property,” Rivera replied.“She refuses to re-enter the house.She’s with a pair of sheriff’s officers in the pool house.It’s past the garden.”
“I’ll go talk to her,” Marcus volunteered.
