Her Shallow Grave (Detectives Kane and Alton)

Jenna fitted her face mask. “No, it doesn’t.” She sighed. “He has to be local because he knew how to avoid the CCTV cameras and the backroad to the ski resort.” She looked at him. “How did he know the mayor’s wife would be heading for her cabin? He’s close, I can almost feel him.”

Thirty-Four

Wolfe smiled at the sight of Jenna and Kane coming through the door of the examination room. They looked as if they’d prepared for brain surgery, with their gowns, caps, and gloves. He caught a whiff of the mentholated salve and went to greet them. “Before we begin, I’d like you to look at the X-rays.” He indicated to the screen. “As you can see, Charlotte Barnes’ cause of death was asphyxiation due to strangulation. There is a fracture of the hyoid bone and the killer crushed the larynx. This would have taken a considerable amount of strength and it was a slow death. Like I’ve mentioned before, killing like this is up close and personal.

“Did he use a chainsaw like before to dismember the body?” Jenna nodded at Emily and Colt Webber then turned to Wolfe. “The damage to her torso was extreme.”

“Yeah, look.” Kane pointed at the X-ray and ran a finger across the marks on the damaged ribcage. “That sure looks like chainsaw marks to me.”

Wolfe nodded. “He used the same chainsaw on both victims. I matched the grooves and they’re identical. You’ll see when Colt gets the body, the flesh has the same uneven marks.” He looked at Jenna. “Emily is going to conduct the preliminary examination, as I mentioned on the phone, I’ve taken all the necessary swabs. There is no indication of sexual activity prior to death.”

“Nervous about conducting your first autopsy?” Jenna peered over her mask at Emily.

“No, I wouldn’t say nervous. Determined more like.” Emily helped Colt pull out the gurney and they slid it beneath the overhead light. “I want to help solve a crime. If we prove this is Charlotte Barnes, she needs justice and I mean to find it for her.” She pulled back the sheet with a flourish and one hand went to the mic. “We have a female, approximately eighteen to twenty years old, Caucasian, brown hair, and blue eyes. As we have a torso and the limbs are separate, we estimate her height to be five feet, five inches. Before death, we consider her body weight and condition to be normal for her age. She has a tattoo of a snake around her neck extending to one breast and down to her navel. There is extensive laceration to both sides of her torso, displaying clear sight to her lungs and intestines.”

“Have you discovered any blunt force trauma to the head?” Kane moved closer, peering down at the lush black hair. “Any gunshot wounds?”

“No.” Emily lifted the head to display the neck. “There are substantial hematomas in the neck region and distinct thumb prints over the larynx. This would indicate a substantial and prolonged struggle before asphyxiation.”

Wolfe nodded. “What does the position of the marks on the neck tell us?”

“She was strangled face to face and most likely lifted off her feet.” Emily looked at him. “This is typical for the killer to use the victim’s weight to increase the pressure on the neck. He wanted to see her die and would have lifted her eye to eye with him.”

“If I can butt in here?” Colt Webber pulled back the sheet to display the missing limbs. “I found something unusual. Look at the limbs and the victim’s torso. Apart from the damage inflicted by the killer, there are no injuries on the torso. On the hands, the nails are fine. She has no ligature marks, no damage.”

“Did you find the same on the first victim?” Jenna turned to Wolfe. “You thought she was shot running away?”

Wolfe went to the body storage and pulled out a drawer. “Look for yourself. Apart from a few scratches, consistent with running through a wooded area, and dirt under her nails, this woman displayed no signs of mistreatment. The soil sample from the first victim came from Colorado. I have tested both victims for various drugs, although a full tox screen is underway. Both tested positive for the date-rape drug, Rohypnol.”

“So, he’s picking them up, drugging them before he kills them, and then puts them on ice. He’s not keeping them alive as sex slaves or whatever.” Kane shook his head. “Hmm, so thrill kills? Can you tell if they were dead before he froze them?”

Wolfe nodded. “Yeah they were dead.” He turned to Emily. “Go on, what else did you find?”

“In both victims, their expressions have been posed. He used glue on the eyelids to keep them open and to hold the lips in a smile on both women. I found traces of toothpicks in the teeth, which I believe he used to hold the face in the desired expression.” Emily frowned. “He wanted them laughing.” She looked at Jenna. “Both had traces of the same body lotion on their skin. It’s not a common one either. I found it in one place in Montana, one of those hippie shops. I think that’s too much of a coincidence.”

“So, the evidence suggests he drugged, killed. and froze them and then transported them here from another state before exhibiting them.” Jenna’s brow furrowed. “But finding the same body lotion would suggest both women had been together at some time?”

“Or he’s taking them home and keeping them prisoner before he decides to kill them? There’s no evidence to prove he had them at the same time but maybe he held them at the same place.” Kane leaned back on the counter. “He’s not having sex with them as far as we know and he’s not abusing them. In fact, from the condition of the bodies, he’s caring for them.” He threw both hands in the air. “Yet, he murders them, cuts them up, and displays them. Wow! This guy is breaking new ground when it comes to exhibiting an unusual psychosis. We’ll be able to re-write the book on psychopathy with this one.”

Thirty-Five

Sunday

Ava paced up and down the basement, feeling the eyes of the other captives on her. She stared at the dumbwaiter and turned to Zoe. “We have to escape. There’s three of us, we should be able to overpower him.”

“How?” Zoe picked at a thread from her sweater, curling it around one finger. “He never comes down here.”

“He knows nobody is looking for us, so is taking his time, I guess.” Isabella pushed both hands through her hair and her mouth turned down. “I’d like to know what he wants. He keeps us warm, feeds us and we have clean clothes. What is he getting out of it?”

Unable to offer an explanation, Ava shrugged. “Unless he has cameras down here and he’s watching us like his own reality show. The sick freak.”

“Do you really think so?” Zoe looked at her, wide-eyed. “I don’t see any cameras.”

“Cameras are so small these days, we wouldn’t notice them. Jeez you’re so naive, I can’t believe you survived on the streets.” Ava stood before the two girls sitting on the bed. “I’ve been wondering if we can use the dumbwaiter to escape. There must be a gap between the walls, right?”

“I guess so.” Zoe shrugged. “Why? We can’t go up in it, it’s too small and he’s up there, I can hear him walking around. There’s no way of making it move anyway, it’s controlled from above.”

Unconvinced, Ava walked to the dumbwaiter and opened the sliding hatch. “Just as I thought. When the dumbwaiter goes up, it leaves a gap. There’s nothing in here just the cables.”