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Trepidation sat on Jenna’s shoulders like a heavy weight as she followed Kane and Wolfe into the morgue. When she’d viewed the crime scene photographs from the case file, an overwhelming feeling of grief had hit her. She’d gazed at the bedraggled image of Chrissie Lowe, a young woman with all her life ahead of her. Had a monster raped her, perhaps murdered her, or left her so damaged she’d taken her own life?
Jenna bolstered her courage, determined to find out what had happened to Chrissie and bring the person to justice. Inside, the too familiar stink of the morgue seemed to crawl toward her in a cloud of cold. She grabbed a face mask from the box on the counter, pulled it on, then collected a pair of gloves. Nothing extinguished the smell of death no matter how cold or how much antiseptic Wolfe used. It seemed to cling to her clothes and hair as if an entity. She eyed the jar of mentholated salve Kane was applying under his nose and took it from him. “Thanks.”
“You’re welcome.” Kane added his face mask and took a position on Wolfe’s right.
Jenna joined him and stared down at the body covered in a white sheet. She looked at Wolfe. Dressed in green scrubs, with mask and gloves, he barely resembled the tough Texan deputy she’d first met. “Do you have a time of death?”
“When was she last seen alive?” Wolfe pulled back the sheet, folded it, and laid it under the gurney.
“Her roommate said she left at nine and was seen getting into a silver or light blue sedan shortly after.” Kane’s eyes narrowed. “She was discovered at seven Sunday morning.”
“Okay.” Wolfe pulled down his microphone and started to dictate his findings, giving the date and persons present, and the name and relevant details of the deceased. “Time of death is currently open and can be gauged between nine on Saturday night and seven Sunday morning. The findings will change due to the following circumstances. Further investigation into finding the last person to see her alive at the party would lessen the TOD. The temperature of the hot shower increased rigor, but from the condition of the epidermis, I would determine the immersion in hot water lasted approximately four to five hours post-mortem.”
Jenna moved closer and winced at the array of bruises on the young woman. “Have you taken swabs?”
“Yes, I found no foreign DNA evidence.” Wolfe raised his head from examining the bruising. “Her clothes were wet and gave up no viable DNA whatsoever.” He frowned. “The bruising on both upper arms is consistent with pressure from large hands. I believe someone held her down for an extended period to do this much damage. There are no defensive wounds and her nails aren’t broken. Not to fight back is very unusual.” He pointed to Chrissie’s thighs. “The bruising is consistent with rape. You can clearly see fingernail gouges in her flesh.” He sighed. “The handprint on the face is from a slap, looking at the impact area; I would say this injury caused the split in her lip.” He indicated to the X-rays on the lightbox. “She has no broken bones and no signs of head trauma. I’ve taken blood samples and have started a toxicology screen. I’ll be checking the stomach contents at the conclusion but she is showing a high blood-alcohol level. Enough to impair her reasoning and cognitive skills.”
Jenna wanted to look away, run out of the room, go straight to the college, line up every damn man on campus and scream at them until she discovered the culprit. Instead, she drew a deep breath and called on the logical part of her brain. She needed answers, and although Chrissie had passed, the young woman had the answers to all their questions. She waited expectantly for Wolfe to finish. “What conclusions do you have for me?”
“I can confirm she was raped over a period of some hours. This is not one man; it’s many men.” Wolfe’s gaze met Jenna’s.
An overwhelming rage balled up inside Jenna. She stared down at Chrissie’s angelic features and understood how terrified she’d been during her ordeal. Helpless and drunk, she’d had no chance to defend herself. Jenna dragged her gaze away from Chrissie’s face and looked at Wolfe. “If she recognized any of them, or threatened to go to the cops, they could’ve staged her suicide.”
“Exactly, and this being the case, I’ll leave the cause of death verdict open until I’ve examined the injuries microscopically and gained more information. It will take a few days, I’m afraid.” Wolfe peered at her over the top of his mask. “I’ll roll her over.”
With Kane’s help, Wolfe turned over the body and examined every inch of Chrissie’s deathly white skin, cataloging every scrape and each bruise, then turned it back. Jenna hated watching autopsies but it was part of the job, and when it involved a young woman, it just about broke her heart. No matter how caring or respectful Wolfe was, it came down to the awful truth that Chrissie had gone out to meet the boy of her dreams and a group of men had raped her. Had she been murdered or decided to kill herself rather than live with the memory?
Jenna concentrated on the evidence and allowed the various scenarios to settle in her mind. No matter how she personally felt about this victim, she needed to be objective and find out the absolute truth. She would need to speak to the roommate and ask her some personal questions about her friend. Kane had neglected to ask Livi how long she and Chrissie had been friends.
“Jenna.” Wolfe was stitching up the body. “You okay?”
Jenna frowned at him. “I’m just fine.”
“I’ll send you a full report once I’ve analyzed the stomach contents, but from the smell, I’d say it was juice laced with vodka and likely Bourbon—a potent mix. From the amount, I’d say she vomited at some time before she died.”
“Poor girl.” Jenna pushed a lock of hair from Chrissie’s face. “We’ll find out who did this to you, I promise.”
“We’ll find them.” Wolfe finished, covered the body, and then wheeled it into the storage locker. As the metallic door slammed shut, he turned and looked at her. “I ran a full toxicology screen on her blood but I also ran specific tests here for Rohypnol and GHB, the date-rape drugs. I’ll go and see if they’re ready as the full tox screen will take up to three weeks to come back from the lab.” He pulled off his gloves and strode from the room.
Jenna moved to Kane’s side. “I need to speak to Livi and get some personal details. I also want to find out a bit more about Phillip Stein and see if we can get a list of the boys Chrissie knew, although I’m leaning toward the football team for the rape.”
“The girl’s in bad shape; maybe we should leave it until tomorrow.” Kane shrugged. “But you’re the boss.”
“We’ll give her some space. It’s unlikely she’ll forget what happened during her lifetime.” Jenna removed her gloves and mask then tossed them into the trash. “It’s so much harder watching an autopsy of a young woman. The brutality
she endured makes me so angry.”
“I’ve seen the hardest of cops faint in an autopsy or, worse, spew—as if the smell isn’t bad enough.” They walked through the doors and out into the hallway.
Jenna sighed. “Wolfe does help by making it all very technical. I found a few things interesting from his examination: prior to the rape she wasn’t sexually active, and her attackers used protection, which means it wasn’t a spontaneous attack. The few leaves of freshly cut grass caught in the rolled-up material of her top are apparently from the lawn outside her dorm, which means someone delivered her to the residence hall and dumped her on the grass.”
“As no one witnessed her return, we don’t have a valid timeline.” Kane pushed his hands into the front pockets of his jeans and sighed.
Jenna leaned against the cold white wall and folded her arms across her chest. “Yeah, we do.”
“How so?” Kane mimicked her pose.
“We know someone gave her a ride just after nine and Livi found her at seven. If she’d been immersed in water for four to five hours, that would have her entering the shower at between two and three Sunday morning.” Jenna looked at him. “If we find out the distance from the residence hall to Lyons’ house, we’ll have a time of arrival at the party.”
