Chapter 18
Eighteen
As they drove to the morgue, Jenna buzzed down her window and inhaled a few deep breaths of fresh summer air.
An autopsy wasn’t something she enjoyed, and although Kane never said anything, she noticed the way he stiffened his shoulders the moment they stepped inside the examination room.
The smell was always the same: antiseptic mixed with the recognizable smell of human decay.
It had its own sweet disgusting smell that clung to clothes and hair.
As this victim had been partially buried, the smell would be worse, and Jenna covered her hair and dressed in full PPE before entering.
Beside her, Kane had taken the same precautions.
They took their usual positions: She stood underneath the air conditioner and Kane moved closer to the gurney containing the body.
The sound of instruments clattering on stainless-steel trays seemed magnified in the quiet, almost reverent, atmosphere.
Beside the gurney, Wolfe and his daughter Emily collected swabs from the corpse.
Wolfe concentrated on the body, and Emily meticulously removed dirt from under the fingernails and toenails and from inside the victim’s ears. She took swabs from her mouth as well.
“It’s good to see y’all.” Wolfe glanced at the clock on the wall. “Right on time. No Raven today?”
Jenna shook her head. “Nope, we have him working on the Lawson case right now. It’s impossible for us to cover both of them at the same time, so I’ve split the team. We have Carter to assist and Kalo. I’m also expecting Beth and Styles to arrive sometime today.”
“That’s good.” Wolfe’s brow wrinkled into a frown. “The tape. The recording goes for a few seconds. It’s a woman screaming. It’s been taped over notes about livestock. Later I’ll listen to it all and let you know if there’s anything else significant.”
Swallowing hard, Jenna nodded. “Lawson must have heard something. I wonder why he didn’t go and help the woman. Most people would.”
“Not if he knew his wife and son would be next if he failed to take him down.” Kane shook his head.
“Not with that gun he carried. I don’t believe he was a coward.
He wasn’t a violent man. I noticed there wasn’t a gun safe in the house.
I mentioned it to Rhett and he’s having one installed.
No rifle racks, nothing. The man didn’t like or use weapons. ”
Jenna nodded. “That makes sense.”
“Okay, we’ll start.” Wolfe tapped his earpiece to begin the recording.
He gave the date and time. “The victim is adult female, mid-twenties to early thirties, brown eyes and hair, five-five, with olive skin. The condition of the body is consistent with a shallow burial.” He turned to Emily, who was examining a sample underneath a microscope. “What do you see?”
“Mostly organic debris.” Emily returned to his side.
“That would be expected, given she was found in a cattle grave. As a side note, when I exhumed the body, it was obvious that it had been placed in the ground deliberately. It was laid out and I didn’t get the impression it had been thrown in.”
Jenna moved her gaze over the body. The poor woman had been beaten to a pulp. She looked at Wolfe. “How did she survive?”
“It’s surprising how the will to live keeps people going even when they’re very seriously injured.
” Wolfe turned back to the victim. “There’s evidence of gaffer tape stuck to her hair and fragments of adhesive across her mouth.
I’m also seeing ligature marks on both wrists and ankles. The markings are consistent with rope.”
“Soil was packed deep under the fingernails.” Emily glanced up at Jenna. “That will be consistent with her clawing at something. She was probably trying to dig her way out.”
“I’m seeing multiple contusions to the face and scalp.
” Wolfe indicted to a large round mark on her cheek.
“Some of these blows are from gloved fists. The others are consistent with the use of a blunt force instrument, possibly a baseball bat. Can you see the elongated but rounded edges to the bruising? It’s repeated blows almost in a pattern, as if he intended leave his mark on this victim.
” He let out a long sigh. “This wasn’t a single attack.
From the bruising pattern, I would say this happened over one or two days. ”
“I’m seeing bruising but I’m not seeing any defensive wounds.” Kane leaned closer. “Would you agree that all the bruising is consistent with having her arms tied behind her back?”
“I would.” Wolfe looked at him over the top of his face mask. “I’ll open her up and see what damage there is inside.”
Looking away, Jenna hummed to herself to try to block out the noise coming from the gurney as Wolfe cut into the body and broke open the rib cage.
At no time did she ever consider the body on the examination table wasn’t once a vibrant living young woman.
She admired Emily’s strength and the way she treated each body with the utmost respect.
Everything about her reflected her father.
She noted the compassion in the girl’s eyes when the examiners peeled back the skin to reveal the fractured ribs below.
She stared almost trancelike as they continued with their examination.
“Four ribs are fractured on the left side and the hemorrhaging confirms they occurred while she was alive.”
“The airways are obstructed.” Emily indicated to the throat area.
“Take samples. That looks like soil in the trachea and bronchi. This indicates she breathed it and it’s our primary indicator of death by asphyxia.
We will collect samples from the lungs, stomach, and under her nails and compare them to the burial site.
If the killer moved her, we’ll know.” Wolfe shook his head slowly.
“This woman suffered before she died and whoever did this wanted her to experience fear, not just injury. This is a methodical torturing and I haven’t seen anything quite so bad since I left the service.
” He gave Jenna a long look. “We have a killer enjoying what he’s doing, and from the precision, he’s been doing this for a long time.
Any of these blows could have killed her, but they didn’t, which means he wanted to prolong the agony for as long as possible.
He likely left her tied and returned another time to finish her.
He enjoyed the fact he’d trapped her, and he made her wait for him and fear his return.
This is an animal y’all need to take down before he does any more damage. ”
“I’ve collected a ton of swabs from all over her body.” Emily frowned over her face mask. “If he left any fibers or DNA, we’ll find it.” She let out a long sigh. “I know it’s not much consolation, but I can tell you that there’s no indication of sexual activity.”
“Thank God for small mercies.” Kane straightened. “Thanks, Shane, Emily. We’ll head out to Lawson’s Ridge now and try and discover who did this.”
Sorrow engulfed Jenna as she stepped forward to take one last look at the poor woman’s face.
“We believe her name is Marie Reyes. She is Latina and fits the victim. She apparently left the ranch on Thursday evening. We’re investigating if she actually arrived at the bus station.
She had planned to start a job in Blackwater today.
I can check the ranch job boards to find out where she was heading and if she showed.
” She sighed. “If not, I’ll contact her family and arrange for a DNA sample to be sent here ASAP. ”
“I’ll run her prints and DNA.” Wolfe sighed. “Don’t worry, Jenna, we’ll take good care of her from here.”
Nodding, Jenna turned and headed out the door.
She stripped off the PPE and dumped them into the garbage.
As she walked along the white tiled passageway, the battered face of Marie hovered in her mind.
She’d seen many victims of crime and it never ceased to amaze her how a cold-blooded killer could function normally after inflicting such damage on another human being. It made her sick to her stomach.