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TWENTY-EIGHT
A few scattered puffy white clouds drifted across the endless blue sky as Kane headed the Beast toward the medical examiner’s office. Townsfolk ambled through town enjoying a beautiful summer’s afternoon oblivious to the fact a killer lurked among them. How long would it take for the murderer to exhaust his stash of captives? Would he risk snatching someone from town to appease his lust for killing or would he be arriving soon with a new woman from parts unknown? With no reports of recent missing persons fitting the descriptions of the current victims, he had no idea which direction Jenna should take the investigation. He glanced at her. “I called Bobby Kalo and asked him to widen the area for the missing persons reports, and although he did come up with a couple of women fitting the descriptions of the victims, all of them went missing over five years ago. I find it hard to believe that our killer has kept these women prisoner for that period of time.”
“Really?” Jenna looked at him and raised one eyebrow. “Do you recall the kids who were taken and kept as sex slaves until they were too old to be of interest to their captors?” She shook her head. “Anything is possible. Having a stock of women to murder when the need arises wouldn’t surprise me at all. The way psychopaths’ minds work, and the fact they are so darn smart, it seems to me this would be very convenient.” She looked at him, her face animated. “Think about it. After five years these women have ceased to be a priority and end up in the cold case files. A psychopath who likes to display his victims, like this one, could select a victim from a different state for instance, and the chances of discovering their identity would be near impossible. More so if the woman was a prostitute or a vagrant. It would almost be a perfect crime.”
Kane pulled his truck into a parking spot outside the medical examiner’s office and turned to her. “Yeah, and after that time, the chances of any witnesses of an abduction coming forward would be long gone.”
“If he is doing this, he is very much in control.” Jo leaned forward in her seat. “Many would escalate into a frenzy and kill them all. From what I’ve seen so far, this man’s hatred of women is deep set. Which would make me believe his psychosis started a long time ago and he has some control over it. We all agree that this man has killed before and often but now his lifestyle precludes him from procuring women on a regular basis. Maybe this wasn’t his MO in the beginning but now he gains pleasure from keeping them prisoner and making them suffer.” She gathered her things from the seat beside her. “Unfortunately, most of our suspects meet that profile. More than one of them move around and could easily have places set up anywhere in Black Rock Falls to keep their victims. The options here are endless. You have the forest, caves, cabins in the mountains, mineshafts, and any number of isolated areas. The thing is that living in a town like this it’s not unusual for people to buy large amounts of food or supplies. They can buy just about anything here and not call attention to themselves. It’s a psychopath’s paradise.”
They headed inside the ME’s office, and Kane flashed his ID card over the scanner and they made their way down the white tiled hallway to the morgue. They found the examination room with the red light blinking outside and quickly changed into scrubs, masks, and gloves for the autopsy. The door opened with a whoosh as they entered the cool room. Even with mentholated salve spread beneath his nose, the smell of decomposing flesh seared Kane’s nostrils.
“Right on time.” Wolfe removed the sheet from the body on the gurney. “We’ll get started because this case is complicated and it will take time to explain the subtle differences between this case and the others.”
“You mentioned finding DNA.” Jenna moved closer to the body. “Have any results come back yet?”
“Not yet but this victim was a minefield of DNA and latent fingerprints. It was almost as if someone deliberately left evidence.” Wolfe peered at them over the top of his mask. “You’ll recall Emily noticing the fluid in the victim’s ear? Of course, my first thought was cranial fluid leaking from the ear due to head trauma. On examination under the microscope, I determined the fluid was spittle. I immediately set up a sample for the DNA sequencer and just before you arrived, I sent them to Kalo, who is currently running the results through the DNA databases.”
Leaning against the counter, Kane nodded. “I guess the chances of the victim getting their own spittle in their ear would be impossible?”
“That’s the first thing I checked.” Wolfe went to the screen array and pulled up some files. “The latent fingerprints don’t belong to her either.” He indicated to the images on the screen. “Latent fingerprints are those left by body oils and I use a light filter to get a clearer image. From what I collected I can only imagine these were left deliberately because I found a smear of sweat across the cheek of this victim. DNA analysis of the sample was consistent with the spittle in the victim’s ear.”
“Are you running the prints as well?” Jenna stared at the images on the screen. “I don’t see any marks on the victim’s neck. This one is different from the others. Have you determined a cause of death?”
“The prints, yeah, Kalo has all the information”—Wolfe let out a long sigh—“and, no, I haven’t determined the cause of death at this time. We’ll see what the autopsy shows us.” He moved back to the gurney, selected a scalpel from the instrument tray, and motioned to his assistant Colt Webber that he was ready to start.
Kane followed along with the autopsy, which was textbook until Wolfe examined the heart. He removed it, set it on a pair of scales, and then proceeded to dissect it. The victim had injuries not consistent with the others. The images they’d taken at the crime scene hadn’t indicated that one of the skewers had been pushed into the victim’s heart. Although, the killer had placed the others along the spine exactly in the same position as the previous victims. “Is sharp forced trauma what killed her?”
“Yeah. Death would have been instantaneous.” Wolfe looked up from his work. “She took a beating. The same as the others, using a baseball bat or similar, and the consistency is that the abuse happened over time. The injuries vary. Some are recent and others as old as six months, maybe more. The bruising, again, is in stages of healing, which would prove that this woman has been held for at least six months.”
“I don’t see any head trauma on the X-rays.” Jenna walked up and down peering at the screens. “For some reason he didn’t want to damage this one’s face, and by not strangling her, it seems to me he was in a hurry. What do you think, Jo?”
“Stabbing someone in the heart is pretty up close and personal.” Jo’s eyebrows rose above her mask. “Was she raped as well?”
“Yeah.” Wolfe pulled the sheet down to the victim’s knees. “Her inner thighs are bruised so I would assume she fought back. Also, there are bruises to the forearms, knuckles, and wrists. In my opinion, this one was a problem for him. He was unable to dominate her into submission and went for the quick kill.” He turned to Jenna. “Many people believe death by strangulation is fast and clinical, but it isn’t.”
“Go on.” Jenna lifted her chin as if readying herself for the reply.
“The victim’s face swells and becomes blue, the eyes bulge, and blood vessels burst. Mucus pours from their mouth and nose. Their tongue protrudes and their lips swell.” Wolfe raised one eyebrow. “I know many killers are addicted to this type of face-to face suffering and it disgusts me.”
“Why do you consider stabbing someone is a quick kill?” Jenna stared at the victim on the gurney. “He’s always preferred strangling them before, so why would he change?”
“Maybe he was running out of time? That’s for you to decide. I just give you the facts.” Wolfe shrugged. “The intensity of the grip required to kill someone by asphyxiation takes at least four minutes of continuous pressure. This takes considerable strength and that’s the reason many people who kill by strangulation use a cord or similar to twist around the neck to sustain the pressure. Holding someone and exerting enough pressure with their thumbs is difficult because no one is going to sit still and just allow someone to strangle them. Even though it only takes a very short time, ten seconds or so to achieve unconsciousness, the moment the pressure is released blood flows to the brain and the victim regains consciousness.”
Kane cleared his throat. “I figure a man capable of strangling would have the strength to break a person’s neck. Doing so from behind in one fast movement is not up front and personal. It’s fast and silent. He enjoys his killing.”
“From the evidence in front of me, I conclude this victim died of sharp force trauma to the heart, causing massive damage to the left atrium and left ventricle.” Wolfe looked at Jenna. “Time of death is approximately six to twelve hours before the discovery of the body.”
Nodding, Kane wanted to know if the body had been washed in formaldehyde. “Is there—”
“Just a minute.” Wolfe stripped off his gloves and headed for the door. “I have a call coming in and it might be the results I’m waiting for.” He turned to look at Webber. “Close her up. I’m done here.”
Kane noticed a flashing red light on the screen array and turned to the others. “That will be Kalo. I’m getting out of these scrubs and going to see what he’s found.” He followed Wolfe out of the door.
“Wait for us.” Jenna hurried out of the door behind him.
By the time they piled into Wolfe’s office, he was sitting at his desk staring at the screen. Kane leaned against the wall and waited. Wolfe had his phone on speaker.
“Are you absolutely sure?” Wolfe stared at the screen. “Send me the comparison files.” He leaned back in his chair, rubbing his chin thoughtfully as he perused the files.
“I’m sure.”Kalo’s voice came through the speaker. “It’s the same Poppy Anderson I’ve been tracking since she hightailed it from Black Rock Falls. Her DNA profile and prints are on file. It’s her. I’m one hundred percent certain. DNA don’t lie.”
