Page 159 of Forever Dead

“Cause of death?”

“Blethan’s waiting for the autopsy. There are several injuries beneath the clothing, and he hasn’t established their sequence or whether the corn contributed to her death. He examined her here overnight. Once we finish documenting the body, she can be taken to the morgue.”

Selena nodded.

Price moved around the protected side of the table.

“There’s something Connor wouldn’t have seen clearly last night.”

He indicated Nora’s left side, where part of her blouse had been cut away during the preliminary examination.

Selena moved closer.

A rectangular section of skin was missing from the outer abdomen and flank.

The wound was unlike the violence elsewhere. Its borders were surprisingly regular. No ragged tearing. No random slashes extending beyond it.

She stared at the exposed area.

“How big?”

“Roughly four by six inches,” Price said. “I’ll give you exact measurements once we finish.”

Chuck stood behind them. “Have you found the missing section?”

“Not so far,” Price said. “We’re still searching.”

“Trophy?” Chuck asked Selena.

“Possibly.”

She studied Nora’s outstretched arms, then the cornfields beyond the window.

“The corn suggests contempt,” she said. “He’s used something associated with her home to humiliate her.”

“Personal?” Chuck asked.

“It could be. But I thought Eleanor’s chair meant a personal grievance, and we still haven’t established one.”

“What about Patricia?”

“Her body was positioned to strike the door when somebody opened it. That made the finder part of the scene. Here, he’s laid Nora out where nobody could miss what he’s done to her.”

Chuck glanced toward the table. “He wants an audience.”

“That’s the part I’d put weight on. The chair suggests anger. This suggests contempt. Neither tells us whether he knew the women.”

Price indicated the missing section. “And this?”

“I don’t know yet. Taking something away serves a different purpose from leaving something for us to see.”

She stepped back toward the doorway.

The kitchen contained most of the obvious violence, but something about it bothered her.

Connor had heard the killer upstairs. Nora had been downstairs. If the attack began in the kitchen, the killer had either staged the body, gone upstairs for some reason and waited, or returned there after hearing Connor enter.

Possible.