Chapter 4 #3
“We don’t need everything, just cause of death confirmed and if pathology has any initial findings.”
He nodded and flipped through the screen of his tablet as if he were searching for the answers we’d been hanging around for.
“Cause of death was exsanguination from multiple stab wounds. They’ve been photographed and numbered. Initial pathology report shows that there was something in her system that could’ve caused her to be impaired.”
“What makes you think so?”
“Lack of strain at her ligature marks. She has bruising on her arms and legs that are consistent with being bound but the precision of her cuts don’t show a struggle.”
“Dead when they were inflicted?”
He shook his head as he looked from his findings.
“No. The volume loss is too consistent with an active and normal heart rate while the wounds were being inflicted. I’m sure you’ve already gathered that where you found her was a secondary scene.
She lost about a third of her blood volume before her heart finally gave out. ”
I nodded realizing that someone had basically drugged this girl before stabbing her up. That seemed a direct conflict with the way she was displayed near the river. It had been done boldly hoping someone would find her. But to give her the mercy of sleeping through her death was unusual.
“They must have known her.”
I nodded at Vega’s words which mirrored the direction of my thoughts. “You’ll be sending this over to Cochran in the morning?”
“I was instructed to send it to her and the director tonight. I’m assuming that everything will be delivered to you all securely when she views it.”
Knowing Cochran she would try to wait to give us the information to force our hands in going to George Washington University tomorrow.
Vega already had his phone out like he was going to send her a message to advise against it.
I was happily going to allow him to take the cannon fodder for that because I was sure I would be on Cochran’s bad side the second I refused to work with this person after meeting up with them.
And I was going to refuse. I hated the people in my office thinking they could tell me how to do my job.
Someone from the outside who only understood the concepts of criminality and had never dealt with the reality of it was for damn sure not going to tell me what I needed to alter about my methods.
They got results and that was all that mattered.
“Thank you.”
Despite being disgusted with his attitude, I appreciated the information he provided.
We turned to walk away but were stopped by the coroner’s voice. “That’s not all.”
We turned back slowly and I was now heightened by the need for his pageantry. Since I wasn’t able to stay civil Vega spoke up instead.
“What else is there?”
“She’s missing her liver and there look to be teeth marks on the tissue surrounding where it should be.”
ASHA
“Asha are you almost done with the assignments for this week?”
My door swung open and the bane of my existence walked through. I don’t know how many times I’d demanded this man knock before he entered my office but each time he took it as a suggestion instead of a boundary. I took another minute off his life.
He’s lucky he wasn’t already dead.
That was my fault since I’d allowed myself to succumb to the charms of a man and he’d been running through my mind for weeks since then. I’d only just gotten him out of my brain since work had geared back up for the spring semester.
I’d had my mind on writing a new book since my first had been so successful academically.
Of course, so many people thought I needed to achieve commercial success for me to feel vindicated by my findings but that didn’t matter to me.
There were so many books, fiction and non-fiction, worthy of more praise than those on the bestseller list. All you needed was good PR and a story that slanted to whichever lens they needed the public to view reality through and you’d made it.
My peers having robust discussions about my ideas across the nation and inviting me into their classrooms to discuss my theories had been the highlight of my last semester.
I’d taken time off and so my arrival back on campus was met with a bunch of busy work my colleagues felt they could dump on me as a punishment for the success I’d gained in our very small circles.
Why is it that you want to stay within academia again?
Criminology and psychology were similar disciplines, and when they intersected you had the point where my expertise flourished.
But being spoken to like I was a first-year psychology 101 student and he was my professor had me shutting off the civilized side of my brain.
My fingers twitched as he stood there with an expectant look on his face as though he were my supervisor instead of a peer.
“Dr.”
“Yes?” He rolled his wrist in the universal motion for me to hurry up and now I was going to get angry.
He had the audacity to be a redhead and freckled and used it as an excuse for his abominable behavior.
It was something that was going to have me counting how many little pricks of melanin existed on his face as I carved them off.
You can’t keep killing people without reason, Asha.
I knew theoretically that was true but allowing someone like me to have this level of intelligence and these multiple successes with evading capture meant that I didn’t think like others. I was still angry that I hadn’t killed Wilbur a few weeks ago.
Not that we can’t find out who he was.
With murder firmly etched in its permanent spot in my periphery, I turned back in my chair to face the asshole that had invaded my space.
“Do not ever address me as Asha. I’ve worked too hard for all of my titles to allow them to be dismissed. My name is Dr. Avery, use it or don’t speak to me.”
“Do you really want to be known as someone who is pretentious? That doesn’t really bode well for you.
” He was blowing me off but I could tell my bucking against his desires was pissing him off.
The redness creeping up from his chest and infusing his face was going to make it to his hairline if he didn’t take a breath.
“Why in the world would I be concerned? Since Ph.D.s are so prevalent here you shouldn’t have any issue with addressing me formally. We aren’t friends and we never will be.”
He exhaled as if my request were ridiculous but he was going to do me a favor. “Fine, have you—”
I held up my hand effectively cutting off whatever bullshit he was about to speak.
“I’m not finished. I do not answer to you, despite how badly you wish the contrary were true.
I run my courses and my students determine if I’m performing up to an adequate standard.
Until there’s a complaint from them, I don’t need to be micromanaged.
You wouldn’t want to have yet another promising professor take their talents elsewhere because of your overbearing nature now would you?
I doubt that would look good to the donors who count on us to ensure that we are making the university look good enough to keep the funding rolling in. ”
Narrowed eyes met mine and I kept my desire to gloat in a chokehold. “That sounded like a threat.”
“Not a threat. A typical and predictable course of action when people are unhappy with their current employment: they move on. You’ve had a higher number of people in your vicinity and under your leadership moving on so I’d be careful about more complaints.
With the way I’ve had donors interested in having their name on my next book, I’d think you’d tread carefully with me. ”
“You’ve allowed one successful endeavor to go to your head.”
I smiled, knowing if he’d ever had anything successful happen to him he’d be insufferable.
“Funny how that happens. Yet here you stand with no successful endeavors feeling as though you can somehow humble me and tell me what to do. Ironic, isn’t it?”
“Just make sure you get your stuff done so that you don’t have others thinking that you’re slacking since you’ve gotten back.”
“Unlike you, I don’t make my assistants teach all of my courses while I walk around campus attempting to look important.
And since you’re so worried about ensuring I get my work done, get out of here so that I can do just that.
” I pointed toward the door and he fumbled at the ease in which I dismissed him.
“You really should—”
“Save whatever declarations you think I’m going to care about and keep them to yourself.
I don’t care and never will. And while you’re here, if you barge into my office unannounced and uninvited I will have to make that formal complaint against you.
I think they said that if you had one more you might be put on probation didn’t they?
Wouldn’t want to mess up the tenure track you’re on now would you? ”
He didn’t say anything else but he slammed my office door as he exited.
I chuckled as I leaned back in my chair to release the tension in my back.
It was always funny to me when men threw tantrums. They swore they were the stronger sex but couldn’t handle rejection or the weight of the world they’d handcrafted.
Women had to adjust to being second-class citizens for centuries.
The idea of not being prioritized was the reason why everything was going to shit now.
They truly were the sorest winners ever.
I went back through my students’ test scores putting the interaction with my colleague out of my head. I was almost done inputting them in the system when I got a call a few hours later.
I frowned at the phone on my desk since it rarely ever rang. I felt personally affronted by the intrusive sound but knew I had to answer it.
“Hello?”
“Yes, Dr. Avery?” Even the person on the other end seemed surprised that I had answered.
“Yes?”
“There are two officers here to see you.”
“Officers?”