“Stop actin’ like a baby. Who could possibly connect us to a murder? Ely’s girl didn’t speak to the cops; she didn’t get time. Nobody recognized me at the hospital and I left no prints. I covered up good walkin’ in and even added a limp just in case. Soon as I was clear of the CCTV cameras outside, I wore a doctor’s jacket I found in the dirty laundry, gloves, and my clown mask in the elevator.” He sipped his beer. “You are stupid if you think he’s a threat to us. I hit him hard in the guts and made it quite clear I would kill him. He didn’t see anythin’ and took off before I’d gotten the girl back to the room. He was just a kid and probably hid in the hospital until dark to steal drugs; he won’t tell anyone.” He snorted. “What can he say? ‘I was stealing drugs and a doctor dressed as a clown hit me for being in a patient’s room?’ Who would believe a story like that? They’d probably arrest him for murder.”

“If you’re sure it’s safe to meet the girl, I’ll go. I don’t want to lose her—it’s taken me days to get her to cooperate. I don’t want to mess it up.” Chris wiped a hand over his sweaty face. “I’m meeting her on the trail to the cabin today. She is coming on her bicycle straight from school. I’m leaving my rig on the fire access road—it isn’t too far to carry her, or she might walk if I can convince her I’m taking her home.”

“I’ll leave my truck there as well. Good thinkin’.” Bobby-Joe chuckled. “Mine is riding her bicycle too. She usually rides home from school so no one will suspect anythin’. She is tellin’ her mom she is visitin’ a friend. I told her I would take her home afterward. She is real keen.” He wet his lips and let out a long sigh. “Man, it’s been a long time since we’ve had two in the hole. I took a few sick days. I couldn’t work knowin’ I had two honeys at home.”

“I only have two days off work.” Chris eyed him suspiciously. “Mine will get there first. Now don’t you go ruining her before I’ve had my fun. I want at least the weekend with her before you invite any of your friends over.”

Bobby-Joe lifted his beer in a salute. “You got it, but you know, if you’d taken the time to build a decent cellar in this dump, you could have kept her here.”

“I’m too close to the next cabin and someone would hear her or see her.”

“Maybe, maybe not.” He reached into a pocket and pulled out a bottle of pills. “You’ll need these. One will make her manageable and two will put her to sleep.” He slid the bottle across the table. “You know, I figure today is shapin’ up to be the best day of the week.”

44

Holding the meeting and g

oing over recent events was a prequel to listening to the dreaded autopsy report. What made it worse was Jenna had rescued Jane Stickler and felt a connection to the girl. She had made sure the doctors had located her in the special ward assigned for injured prisoners. She had left Walters on duty all day. The only access to the hospital wards overnight was via a card unless someone sneaked into the hospital by way of the ER, but they could leave undetected via the fire exit. This made no sense, as a patient would require a nurse or paramedic to admit them into the ER.

Only a handful of people knew Jane was at the hospital, and her greatest threat, Ely Dorsey, was dead. They had no leads, and the only person unaccounted for who had entered the hospital in the time leading up to her death had been dead for months. It had to be someone with access to the dead man’s card but he had no living relatives and his personal effects shed no light on the theft.

After returning to her desk, listening to her deputies’ reports, and making sure they updated the case files, Jenna turned her attention to Wolfe. She had to know the truth about Jane. “Are we ready for the autopsy report on Jane Stickler?”

“Yes, ma’am.” Voices echoed around the room.

“Go ahead when you’re ready, Deputy Wolfe.”

Wolfe gave her one of his ice-cold glances and placed a pile of photographs on the desk in front of him. “Do you want me to read my full report or do you want the abridged version?”

Her gaze slid to the stack of photographs and she swallowed hard at the images then turned her attention back to Wolfe. “The short version will be fine.”

“Firstly, the toxicology reports will take at least three weeks, maybe more. Add to this the changes in blood chemistry after death and what drugs were administered at the hospital, it is going to be difficult to pinpoint what drug was actually used.” Wolfe’s mouth formed a thin line. “I have reason to believe this was a homicide as there are too many injuries to assume a nurse gave an unintentional overdose of medication at the hospital.” He glanced down at his notes. “I have numbered the photographs to give you a clearer picture of my findings.” He passed Jenna an image of what she assumed was the back of Jane’s head. “I found substantial bruising on the head. As you can see in the image, I removed a section of the hair to reveal the extent of damage. Further investigation shows a substantial hematoma beneath the scalp consistent to the killer dragging the victim by her hair. The extent of the bruising, swelling, and blood clotting suggests this happened while she was alive.” He slid another image to Jenna.

Jenna stared at the images and her stomach rolled. The excited and very much alive girl she had met was now an exhibit of cruelty. “Could this have happened before we found her?”

“No.” Wolfe’s expression was serious. “There is nothing on her chart from the hospital, and the doctor’s initial examination was complete. She listed a scar on the scalp, so she would have hardly missed the substantial damage I found.” He passed another three photographs across the table. “The victim has burns on her knees consistent to being dragged over tiles; her calf is dirty on one side and her nightgown was bunched up with marks on the front. I believe the killer dragged her by her hair face down, likely unconscious.” He cleared his throat. “I spoke to the nurse on duty, who gave her a sedative at eight that night, not an injection, and yet she has a fresh and very ragged puncture wound in her forearm. More of a tear than an injection site. I believe she knew her killer, ran from him, and was caught, injected with something to knock her out cold, then dragged back to her bed. By the swelling and bleeding beneath the scalp, I would say death occurred a short time after her killer returned her to bed.” He met Jenna’s gaze and his cold expression remained unaffected. “If she had lingered more than a few minutes, the hematoma and swelling would have been significantly more pronounced.”

Although her stomach knotted into a tight ball, Jenna stared at the photographs in an effort to take a clinical approach. In death, Jane needed her help just as much as she had alive. “Anything else?”

“Yeah.” Wolfe’s lips turned down and his eyes flashed in anger. “She suffered prolonged torture. Her time as a sex slave to four men must have been brutal. Her right arm shows misaligned untreated fractures to the radius and ulna.” He pointed to his forearm. “She has cracked ribs and internal scarring.” His face darkened and he flipped over another image. “And this.”

Nausea rolled over Jenna as she stared at the scarring over the girl’s back. “The only people who would benefit from her death are the two remaining men in the pedophile ring. I figure they were worried she could identify them, but all we have to go on is a spider tattoo and a scar on one knee. In this town many of the hockey players or rodeo riders would have scars on their knees.”

“We searched high and low for a man with a spider tattoo and found no trace. The Black Widow biker club split up ten years ago. You would imagine if he worked at the hospital someone would notice it.” Rowley scratched his head, making his brown hair stick up in all directions. “Could the tattoo have been one he stuck on or something?”

“It’s a possibility. Doing something like that would throw us off his track.” Wolfe shrugged and glanced back at his open file. “Although everything Zoe told us has been correct: the appendicitis scar and the birthmark on Dorsey’s neck. She has amazing recall considering the stress she suffered.”

“Yes, but she wouldn’t likely spot the difference between a fake and a real tattoo.” Jenna chewed on her bottom lip. “Everything points to Jane’s killer being involved with the hospital. He managed to get inside after hours unseen and leave without a trace. We have cleared everyone who used the employees’ entrance bar the person who used the dead man’s swipe card. The employees’ entrance doesn’t have a CCTV camera, so we have no idea who used the dead man’s card.” She scanned her notes. “We have the drugs to consider. The pharmacist confirmed the bottles we found in Price’s truck and Dorsey’s cabin were from the hospital supplies. Our mystery killer works at the hospital, has access to drugs, and is likely a nurse. Yet, after extensive interviews, not one person on the damn staff knows a man with a spider tattoo and if it’s the other pedophile we don’t have a description.”

“We called everyone who works at the hospital.” Rowley’s eyes narrowed. “It doesn’t make sense. We went further as well—delivery services and even asked the mortician. This person is a phantom.”

Jenna shook her head. “Not a phantom, very clever. I think we have to examine every nurse at the hospital personally. One of the people you called could have lied, right? I know it will be tough going but we have no choice. I’m sure Jane’s killer is an associate of Price and Dorsey. Rowley, get the list of people working here divide it between you, Bradford, and Webber.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

“Two things.” Kane leaned his broad back into the chair, making it groan. “Rowley could be right, it could have been a stick-on tattoo: Many criminals use them to throw the law off their tail. And why didn’t he try to kill Zoe? If he works at the hospital as you say, he could have poisoned her food, for instance, and if he has access to drugs as we assume, he could have tampered with her meds.”

“She wasn’t medicated.” Wolfe flipped through his notes. “According to the doctor who treated her, he was happy to have her treated by the family’s GP in Helena. He wanted to wait for the blood tests to come back to make sure she wasn’t suffering from any STDs and did recommend a course of antibiotics for a chest infection.”

Tags: D.K. Hood Mystery
Source: readsnovelonline.net