My throat tightened. Two innocent children were now orphans. And my decision this morning may have got their mother killed.
Mary had been right. We should screen clients before working for them.
Through a line of pines, I could make out a golf club’s fairway. Squeezing through gaps in the trees, I reached the back fence. On the right-hand corner, on a hinged gate, were dark smears. Blood.
The killer had escaped over the back fence. Someone on the golf course could have seen him. I called Johnny to find out who could have been playing those holes in the hours before the body was found.
I photographed the area with my phone. Darlene should swab here when she’d finished. With crime scene officers still inside the house, I told the constable standing guard by the car not to let anyone traipse through the yard. All we needed was for inexperienced officers to tread all over what could be the only evidence to help find the killer.
I pulled shoe covers on and entered through the front door. The lock was intact, with no signs of forced entry. In the corridor a hole had been knocked through the plasterboard wall with blood spatters on the floor. Dark red smears marked the way to the lounge room. It looked like the victim had been hit or shoved into the wall and had bled on to the floor, then been dragged further inside.
The first room on the right contained a neatly made double bed with a floral bedspread. A pine tallboy held silver-framed family photos. Above the bed hung a large wedding photo of the couple gazing into each other’s eyes at the beach. The wardrobe doors were open. Female clothes filled only half the space.
The horror had unfolded in the kitchen. The body was slumped forward in a chair. Long brown hair was matted with blood.
The stench in the room was one I’d inhaled too many times. Body odour almost masked the metallic aroma of blood. I wished we could bottle it. Every individual left a unique and identifiable scent at a scene.
Dr Rex King greeted me. I was grateful that a pathologist friendly to us was in attendance. Rex had no problem sharing the work and respected Darlene’s abilities. There would be no pissing contest between organisations here.
‘Cause of death looks like a knife wound to the lower abdomen,’ he said. ‘She took a beating first.’
A female detective stood, hands on hips, observing. She introduced herself as Detective Constable Kristen Massey.
I needed to know. ‘Where are the kids?’
‘How’d you know she had any?’ Detective Massey asked.
‘She had a four-year-old girl and a three-year-old boy. Husband died in a work accident about six months ago.’
‘Then, Mr Gisto, you know almost as much as us. They’re still in day care. If we can’t locate a relative, they’ll spend tonight in the care of the state.’
Darlene looked up at me. ‘No signs of a break-in. She either knew the killer or unsuspectingly opened the door.’
The detective said, ‘So far, there’s no sign of robbery. Her purse and phone are still on the lounge.’
A microwave steriliser with upturned baby bottles sat on the bench. It seemed odd to me she would be sterilising bottles for a toddler and preschooler.
Rex King stepped back. ‘I suspect she was systematically beaten before being stabbed – once. I’ll need to check on the autopsy table but the blade appears to have passed downward through the lower abdomen.’
Darlene and the forensic technician took more photos of the wound, as I confirmed, ‘No signs of sexual assault, then?’
Rex nodded. ‘From the position and angle of the blade entry,’ he examined the stab wound more closely, ‘it’s likely our victim suffered a perforated uterus.’
The w
ords hit like a mallet to my chest.
Chapter 21
‘WHAT THE HELL do you think you’re doing?’
I turned to face Local Area Command Detective Mark Talbot. My cousin and I had a torturous history but I thought we’d made peace last year.
‘Dr King, if these people are disturbing the scene, I’ll –’
‘The opposite. They’re proving invaluable. Darlene’s helping and we’ll get faster turnaround if she can put the samples through Private’s lab.’
Detective Massey added, ‘Mr Gisto knows the background.’