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Jenna made a note. “Thanks. Are you coming to Mrs. Carson’s autopsy?”
“Sure.” Carter snapped his fingers and Zorro dropped like a statue of Anubis beside him. “Although I figure we have a pretty good idea about how she died.” He turned to Jo. “No wonder you enjoy analyzing psychopaths. Whoever is doing thi
s is breaking new ground. I’ve always found someone who fits the crime, but this time, I don’t have a clue.”
FORTY-FOUR
Dr. Shane Wolfe arranged the image files for both the current victims. He’d had time to move ahead with Harriette Jefferson’s autopsy and, having a badge-holding deputy at hand in the form of Colt Webber, his assistant, to save time, he’d completed the autopsy. When the rest of the team arrived along with his daughter Emily, he pulled back the sheet to display the old woman’s body. “I went ahead with this one because it’s straightforward. There is no trace evidence. The putrid water obliterated anything I could use. It was a soup of DNA down there. She had no skin or anything else under her nails. The hyoid bone was fractured, and from the ligature marks on her throat, the killer used a garrot made from nylon cord of a type found in any hardware store.” He pointed to the images Jenna had taken at the scene. “Apart from the drag marks, there was no sign of a struggle, but a woman of this age wouldn’t have been hard to strangle. The broken blood vessels in her eyes would add to my conclusion of suffocation due to strangulation by persons unknown. I’ve examined her organs and, apart from coronary heart disease, she was in reasonably good shape, although underweight.”
“Time of death?” Jenna’s pen poised above a notebook.
Wolfe smiled behind his mask. “As she was submerged in cold water it is hard to determine. What time was she last seen alive?”
“Mrs. Mills, spoke to her in town just before five and said that Mrs. Jefferson had set out to walk home. We figured she’d have gotten to the park by six, six-thirty, depending on how fast she went.” Jenna sighed. “Does that help?”
Wolfe wiggled his eyebrows at her. “As the body temperature was inconclusive, time of death is between five last night and the time you discovered the body this morning.”
“Anything else we should know?” Jenna blinked at him over her mask.
Covering the victim’s remains, Wolfe gestured to Emily to return the gurney to the slot in the refrigerated wall. Nope, that’s all.” He indicated to Webber to move the second gurney covered by a white sheet under the light. “As soon as I’ve changed my gloves and apron, we can start on Flora Carson. I’ve entered all relevant details: name, age, height, and weight—into the file.”
Carter’s phone chimed and he held a finger up to Wolfe and hurried out the door. Wolfe stared after him as he changed gloves, scrubs, and apron. By the time he’d tossed his dirty clothes in the bin, Carter had returned. “Are you ready?”
“Yeah, but I have some good news.” Carter’s green eyes creased at the sides. “Kalo just called. He traced all the kids put into Mrs. Jefferson’s care and they were all placed in new foster homes. Most of them are alive but none of them died in her custody.”
“So she just terrorized kids by hosing them down and locking them in closets.” Jenna shook her head. “No wonder someone wanted to strangle her. There’s your motive.” She sighed. “I’ll call Rowley and tell him to abandon the search of her backyard. Do we have a list of the kids she fostered?”
“Yeah, but there’s fifty or so.” Carter moved closer. “Kalo is hunting down their whereabouts now but, you do know, foster kids often fall through the cracks when they leave the system. Many end up on the streets and change their names. They don’t want to be found.”
“Fifty?” Kane whistled. “She has a lot to answer for. I wonder how many psychopaths she created?”
“That’s a classic scenario to create a psychosis in a susceptible personality.” Jo frowned and looked at Jenna. “That might be a list we need to keep on hand for future reference.”
Relieved that he didn’t have to call in a team from Helena, Wolfe let out a sigh. He had developed a friendship with Dr. Norrell Larson and didn’t really want to rush things along by having her in Black Rock Falls. He liked slow and steady. Any show of interest in her and he’d have some explaining to do to his very astute daughters. That could come later if needs be. He lifted his gaze to see everyone in the room watching him. He cleared his throat. “That is good news. The idea of wallowing in mud isn’t my idea of fun and you know darn well I would have been expected to be there.” He shrugged. “With all that’s going on here, I really don’t have the time.”
“You know, when we solve this case, I might just take a closer look at that house.” Jenna frowned. “I’m not convinced. People who hurt kids usually have an even darker side. I wouldn’t mind betting this ‘kind old lady’”—Jenna raised her fingers in quotes—“had something to do with her husband and her friends’ deaths. Maybe they had questions she wasn’t prepared to answer?”
Wolfe stared at her, watching her detective’s mind run riot. “Sure, when we’ve solved this case, and if people stop killing each other long enough to give us some downtime, we’ll go dig some test sites.”
“I’d love to do that.” Emily’s eyes flashed with enthusiasm over her mask. “I want to be an ME like Dad, but forensic anthropology is so interesting I might keep studying and branch out.”
“Oh, I’m sure if we find anything, your dad will find someone to drop by and give us a hand.” Kane chuckled. “There are great teams just waiting to go in Helena.”
Wolfe glared at him. “Right now, I’m waiting to start an autopsy. When you’ve all stopped chatting, we’ll handle one case at a time. If there are bodies from twenty years ago buried in Mrs. Jefferson’s backyard, they can wait until you catch this killer.” He indicated to the still body on the gurney. “As sure as hell, she won’t hurt another kid.” He moved to the gurney and pulled down the microphone and gave the details of the victim. “We have the murder weapon. This morning I did a preliminary examination of the body to save time and to establish a cause of death. The notes are in the file. The incisions are consistent with the use of the Ka-Bar knife found at the scene. The direction of the incisions are consistent with a person using their right hand. I found no trace DNA on the knife or on the victim.” He glanced up waiting for questions.
When everyone remained silent, he turned back to Mrs. Carson’s body. “We’ve discussed the possibility that the victim may have been held prior to the murder. There is no evidence to support this unless the killer held a weapon on her, which would seem impossible as the victim has extensive defense wounds on her arms and hands.” Wolfe held up each hand to show them. “This is a frenzied attack.”
“Do you have any proof that Rio was on scene prior to the murder?” Jenna peered at the body and then back to him.
Wolfe shook his head. “There is no evidence to prove she was alive when Deputy Zac Rio arrived on scene.”
“We figured he must have been there before the murder because the killer would have been covered with blood. It’s obvious that the victim’s blood loss was extensive.” Kane straightened. “We found no blood evidence anywhere outside the house. You’ve already established Rio was stabbed with a syringe from behind and there is a handprint on the front doorframe. We assumed he stopped on the stoop and was attacked there prior to the murder. He’s a competent officer. If he’d walked inside and seen the blood, he’d have pulled his weapon. Rio has a fast draw and wouldn’t have allowed himself to be taken down so easily.” He sighed. “What did we miss?”
Wolfe pulled up more images of the scene. “More detailed processing of the scene with luminol revealed a droplet of fresh blood beside the bathtub. On inspection of the bathroom, we discovered the pipes below the tub contained a large quantity of bleach. Outside, there’s evidence of a fire in the firepit. The embers gave me enough to determine a variety of fabrics. I’d say clothes and towels. From the evidence, the killer struck and used the bathroom to clean up. They showered, used bleach to remove all DNA traces, and burned their clothes.”
“No way.” Carter shook his head slowly. “There were footprints and they matched Rio’s boots. You’ve already established the killer dragged him through the blood wearing his boots. If he wasn’t there, how was that possible?”
Wolfe went to the sc
