Pray for Mercy (Detectives Kane and Alton)

He went through the careful dissection. Stopping each time to answer a question or two from the team. “Okay, we have a hematoma on the back of the skull consistent with someone grasping her hair. For the bleeding to be evident under the skin, it happened before she expired. So, we can say, the killer grabbed her by the hair with their left hand and stabbed her throat with the right. The throat puncture is consistent with a downward thrust from a right hand. This injury would have caused the arterial spray on the carpet. The hematoma at the back of the skull also indicates the killer waited until she collapsed before stabbing her face and chest, or the collection of blood under the skin would have been minimal if any.”

“You sayin’ the killer attacked from behind, struck, and then stepped away?” Rio leaned against the counter in a relaxed pose. “If so, it wouldn’t have been difficult to have avoided the blood spatter if they used the victim as a shield. That’s possible, isn’t it?”

“Yeah, but the arterial spray is immediate, so it would be near impossible not to be splashed, especially if the victim is trying to get away.” Kane looked at Wolfe. “So, we can assume the killer struck from behind and the victim staggered forward before falling. How come she fell on her back?”

“If someone stabbed me in the neck in a confined space, I’d grab my throat and turn to defend myself.” Jenna frowned. “I assume the loss of blood was so great she collapsed and fell.”

“Some people freeze in an attack situation, but I figure they frightened her and she tried to get away.” Kane shrugged. “It’s the classic flee-or-fight response. Your reaction is to fight, Jenna, because it’s part of your training, or more likely your mind is gene-programed to fight back. Look at the evidence—Agnes fled.”

“Gene programmed?” Jenna’s gaze sharpened. “What do you mean by that?”

“The more research they do into gene sequencing, the more we know about why we act the way we do.” Kane met her gaze. “They have known about the fear gene for a while. People without it, like me, go into dangerous situations without fearing they might die. Then there’s the warrior gene. Those of us who run into danger to protect every

one, and now the star gene.”

“Aliens from outer space?” Jenna snorted. “I’ve heard about that one.”

“Haven’t you noticed how technologically advanced kids are who can’t walk yet?” Rio tapped his head. “It’s all in there just waiting to be activated.”

“Yeah, I agree but getting back to the autopsy.” Kane looked at Wolfe. “If she passed out, would she fall straight back?”

Wolfe looked from one to the other. “Yeah, that’s possible. Y’all have some good theories. I’ve another to throw into the mix. What if she’d had a coronary? Her heart is in shreds but I’ll do blood tests to confirm.” He lifted his eyebrows. “I have all the latest research into DNA, if you want to read it.”

“I sure do.” Kane nodded.

“Wow!” Rio chuckled. “If you and Jenna get together and have kids, do you have any idea what a guy your size with a double dose of fear genes or a woman like Jenna would be capable of?” He narrowed his gaze. “Forget about combat robots, the military could enlist your kids.”

“Ha, ha, ha. Very funny.” Jenna shot him a glance to freeze Black Rock Falls Lake.

“The attack on the face and eyes is significant.” Kane ignored them and bent closer to the body. “The killer didn’t want her to see them and then there’s the reason they dragged her into the closet.” He shrugged. “That reason is complicated and could be a contradiction of some kind. I figure the killer might know her and wanted to hide what they’d done to her from anyone coming here.”

“Yet they left the front door wide open.” Rio let out a long sigh. “That moves us away from the hiding-the-crime theory. More like, the ‘come see what I did’ theory.”

Wolfe took measurements of the incisions and frowned. “I thought at first maybe a screwdriver, but from the damage to the bones, the scoring is indicative of a sharp pointed instrument.” He pointed to indents on the flesh of the chest. “This is what I see usually in fights, they’re very similar to injuries inflicted by knuckles. I figure someone had their fist wrapped around the handle of an icepick and used it in a downward thrust, as if punching it into the flesh.” He looked at Jenna. “The measurements fit the width and length of a domestic icepick with a wooden handle.”

“There doesn’t appear to be any head injuries apart from the hair-pulling hematoma and the sharp force trauma.” Jenna peered at the X-rays. She turned and looked back at Wolfe. “We’ll need to take a team back to the victim’s house and do a sweep of the yard to see if the killer tossed the murder weapon in the grass.” She looked at Rio. “Get on the phone and find me some metal detectors.”

Wolfe nodded. “Leave this with me and head out now. I’ll finish up and send you a report. I’m still waiting on the trace evidence samples from the shower. I did find traces of blood but nothing else. The sample isn’t good but I’m running it against Agnes’ DNA. If it’s her blood, we know the killer washed before leaving the house.” He met Jenna’s eyes. “Unless she died from a coronary, I’d say cause of death is blood loss from sharp force trauma. From the evidence we have at hand, I can give you an approximate time of death. The fact she was in bed and obviously disturbed, and considering the temperature of the body, I can put the time frame between six at the earliest last night to when the body was discovered this morning, but factoring in the room temperature, I’d say she probably died between midnight and two this morning.”

“Okay.” Jenna turned to look at her deputies. “Let’s go, we have a murder to solve.”

EIGHT

In the truck on the way back to town, Jenna stared at the melting landscape, glad to see the green awakening of spring at last. Winter had seemed to last forever and she yearned to stand in the sunshine and not be constantly chilled to the bone. As Rio chatted in the back seat on his phone, trying to locate metal detectors, she allowed the case to percolate through her mind, mentally listing the correct procedure for apprehending a killer. She had Rowley working through the contacts on Agnes’ phone to get information from her friends. When she got back to the office, she’d work through the information and send Rowley and Rio out to search for the murder weapon. Kane she’d set to work finding a possible motive for killing the poor woman and profiling the suspect.

“There are so many aspects to this case that don’t make a whole lot of sense.” Kane turned onto Stanton and headed down a shadow-striped highway. “The frenzied attack is more what I’ve seen from a jealous lover. Often killing isn’t on their minds at all. In a jealousy kill, they usually want to inflict pain and suffering by attacking what’s most important to the victim. The woman is no longer the person they loved. They see a twisted ugly person, someone who has betrayed them. They want people to remember them as they see them and not as they were before the attack. Disfigurement is usually because they have the ‘if I can’t have her, nobody else will’ mentality, but they don’t attack the eyes.”

Interested, Jenna turned to him. “The last case we had where the face was attacked post-mortem, the victim was a schoolkid murdered by a jealous teenager. This is an old woman. How does it compare?”

“From what I recall, in that case the killer believed the girl was watching her even in death.” Kane shrugged. “There’s a deal of hate in this murder as well, but seems to me it was well planned. I don’t believe the killer struck from behind because they wanted to prevent blood spatter. I’m thinking it was because they were frightened of Agnes seeing them.”

“So, you figure this suspect is young?” Rio’s eyebrows rose almost to his hairline. “I can’t see a kid having a knowledge of forensics to cover their tracks. They went to great pains not to leave evidence behind. Trust me, living with my impulsive twin siblings, if they decided to murder someone, they’d make one hell of a mess of it.” He shrugged. “This wasn’t a thrill kill. It was messy, yeah, but look at the scene. It was almost clinical, wasn’t it? They covered their tracks too well. Looking at the almost precise placing of the stab wounds, I figure they took their time.”

Glancing from one to the other, Jenna considered both arguments. “I don’t think Kane is suggesting a thrill kill. I’m thinking it’s more like a violent home invasion, as if they hunted down Agnes and murdered her for a reason.” She rested her gaze on Rio. “What you say makes sense too. They planned the kill and took their time.” A shiver went down her spine. “If they used the shower, collected the evidence, and burned it before they left, they have no fear of being caught—this makes them very dangerous.” She glanced at Kane. “It’s not only the good guys who lack the fear gene.”

As Kane parked the Beast outside the sheriff’s department, Jenna could see people crowded around the front counter. Blasted by a cold gust of wind that seeped through her clothes, she gathered her things and headed for the wide glass doors. The remnants of the address someone had scrawled over it were no longer visible. She pushed open the door to find a crowd of elderly women talking nonstop to a bewildered Rowley and a flustered Maggie. She waited for Kane and Rio to follow her into the foyer and cleared her throat. “Ladies. If there’s a problem, we’ll speak to each of you, but one at a time, please.”

Faces, red from shouting all turned toward her and spoke at once. She held up both hands, and rather than raising her voice, lowered it. Using this method often made people stop shouting and strain to listen to what she had to say. Thankfully it had the desired effect. The women fell silent and stared at her. “Settle down, take a seat, and I’ll get to everyone. Please give your names to Maggie.” She glanced up the stairs to her office and back at the elderly women. “Send them along to Deputy Kane’s desk. We’ll speak to them down here.” She looked at Rowley. “You’d better come and explain what’s happened.”