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“A serial killer in California,” explained Williams. “He was slaughtering people long before you were even born. He was never caught.”
A look of panic appeared in Deputy Rogers’s baby blues.
King began to read. “By now, you find the girl. She’s all cut up, but that ain’t me. Cut her up looking for clues. Ain’t none. Trust me. The watch don’t lie. She was numero uno. But more numbers to come. Lots of ’em. One more thing. I ain’t, repeat, ain’t the Zodiac. Or his second or third or fourth coming. I am me. It ain’t going to be that easy don’t you know. By the time I’m done you wish it be just Zodiac.”
“So this isn’t the end of it,” said Williams slowly.
“Actually, I’m afraid it’s just beginning,” answered King.
CHAPTER
12
DEPUTY CLANCY WAS TALL
and well built and trying hard not to look anxious as he stared between Sylvia and Michelle.
“Are you going to be okay?” asked Sylvia as she watched him closely. “I don’t need you passing out on me.”
“I’m fine, Doc,” he replied gamely.
Sylvia said, “Have you seen an autopsied body before?”
“Of course,” he answered curtly.
“These are shotgun wounds to the head.” Sylvia looked at Michelle too as she said this.
Michelle took a deep breath. “I’m ready.”
“Part of the job,” said Clancy, trying to project confidence. “In fact, next month Chief Williams is sending me to the Forensic Crime Scene School.”
“That’s a great program, you’ll learn a lot. Don’t let what you’re about to see dissuade you from going.”
Sylvia walked over to a set of stainless-steel doors. “This is what we unofficially call the grisly room. It’s for bodies that have undergone extreme trauma: burns,explosives, underwater for long periods of time. And shotgun wounds to the head,” she added with emphasis. She hit a button on the wall and the doors opened. She moved inside and came back out a few moments later pushing a gurney with a body on it. She rolled the gurney to her workstation area and clicked on the overhead exam light.
Clancy coughed and put a hand up to his face mask. Sylvia quickly gave him the same lecture on sense of smell deadening. He removed his hand grudgingly but seemed to be a little unsteady on his feet. Sylvia nudged a chair over near him. Michelle noticed the movement; Clancy didn’t. The two women exchanged a silent communication.
“This is Steven Canney.” When she uncovered the body, Michelle’s hand shot out and pushed the chair behind the deputy in
time to catch him as he slumped backward, gagged and then passed out.
They rolled him in the chair to a far corner of the room, where Sylvia cracked open a tube of ammonia and stuck it under his nostrils. He came to, jerked up and shook his head, looking awful.
“If you’re going to be sick, there’s a restroom right there,” she said, pointing.
The young man turned red. “I’m sorry, Doc. Real sorry.”
“Deputy Clancy, there’s nothing to be sorry about. It’s a horrific sight. And the first time I saw something like that, my reaction was the same as yours.”
He looked surprised. “It was?”
Yes, she assured him, it was. “I have a written report that I can give you. If you want to leave, you can. If you want to rejoin us when you feel better, that’s fine too. If you just want to sit here, that’s okay as well.”
Deputy Clancy decided on the latter, although as soon as they turned away, he slumped down on the desk, his face in his hands.
Sylvia and Michelle went back over to Steve Canney’s corpse.
“Did you really pass out your first time?” asked Michelle quietly.
