Chapter Three
Twenty-Four Hours
Later
In the Air
Evening
Handling The Hunters was now off of her very long to-do list. Elizabeth had arranged their transport to the UK, so that they could take care of Von Donore, and the bullshit about to go down there.
A part of her hoped they got him, but a part prayed they didn’t for a while.
Why?
Well, maybe because the last thing she wanted was for them to be tied up in this mess. They were a secret group that helped the US government, and she was scared that this would out them.
Then what?
Losing The Hunters would risk the rest of the country.
Living here was a non-stop safety risk, and without the teams in play, in the ports, people could die.
What the citizens of the country didn’t know wouldn’t bite her in the ass, but it would also keep them safe.
The secrets that the government carried were monumental, and with that knowledge came great burden.
Like Gabe had told her once, many years ago… the hardest part of climbing the ladder wasn’t the actual climb, but the knowledge you gained along the way.
And it was the truth.
You had to carry the weight of choices that didn’t always set right, and the last thing she wanted was a bunch of mercenaries getting caught up in her cases.
It blurred the lines.
Truth be told, Elizabeth liked to keep the separation of church and state. Church was her job as someone who hunted down serial killers, and state was her job as the deputy director who had to make sure the United States stayed safe against domestic and foreign terrorists.
When they mixed, that risked everyone.
For her, that was problematic.
Now, as she was flying out, there were things to handle regarding this case. Forensics was back from Corpus Christi, and the FBI team there.
Doctor Monroe had jumped in and done the job for the FBI, and she appreciated that.
“MATE, put a call in for me,” she said. “Also, alter the video call so it looks like I’m at my office in FBI West,” she said, not wanting ANYONE to know she was crisscrossing the country playing this kind of a game.
She’d be landing in DC shortly, and a part of her knew that keeping her location quiet was going to be key.
Did she think someone would betray her?
No, but it was better safe than sorry. Keeping this buttoned up was paramount, and she knew it.
If she wasn’t letting her husbands know where she was, she absolutely wasn’t letting some ME somewhere know either.
For the lives of her loved ones, she’d play covert games.
PERIOD.
“On it, Director,” MATE said, sitting across from her.
Both Uriel and Raphael moved so they weren’t in the view of the video call, so she could do her job.
On the screen, a man appeared.
“Director,” he said. “I was expecting your call,” Doctor Monroe stated.
She smiled, pushing nerves, anxiety, and stress to the back burner so she could keep this charade going.
Only, she was three days past tired, and on the verge of a mental breakdown.
Dealing with the situation tied to Von Donore, and balancing Devon Slater was getting to be very overwhelming. Honestly, she felt like she was being pulled in a million directions.
And that was a problem.
Thank God that she could fake it until she made it.
Or hoped.
“I appreciate you putting a rush on things, Franklin. I’m going to need a copy of everything emailed to me, and CC’d to my personal ME, Doctor Leonard.”
Without a word, the man hit a button, and sent it off for her and the other ME.
As soon as her tablet chimed, she knew that the transfer was complete.
“You’re the best, Doctor.”
The man smiled.
“I mean, you don’t help the FBI out and not know how they like to get shit done, Director. I’m glad to help whenever you need it.”
Well, she was grateful.
“I thank you, and the president thanks you,” she offered. That was the truth, too. The less problems, the happier Gabe was.
PERIOD.
“Well, I’d like to say it was a lot, but this is my job, so…,” he began. “Would you like to go through the findings?” Franklin asked.
She nodded.
Yeah, that would be damn helpful. The last thing she wanted to do was call Chris and have to spend time talking to him.
Why?
Oh, that was simple.
Truthfully, she knew she looked like Hell warmed over, and she didn’t need ANOTHER husband up her ass. Ethan had already been there and done that.
“Yes, I would. Start when you’re ready. I’m all ears,” she stated.
The man flipped open the file and began with the first victim.
“Sister Mary Cramer was sexually assaulted, and from the look of it, multiple times. We found trace of semen in her mouth, and bruising in the back of her throat, along with evidence inside of her.”
Elizabeth wasn’t shocked.
Devon Slater had used the skulls of his victims to get off, so this was him keeping that consistency. He also liked having sex with a dead body so…
This all fit.
This sicko was the king of necrophilia, so anything related to that wouldn’t be shocking.
Well, it would be shocking if it didn’t show up in this autopsy report. Devon had an MO, and this fit.
“What about the rest of her?” she asked, grossed out talking about a nun like this. This whole situation made her sick to her stomach.
“That’s what’s odd. I found evidence of vaginal tearing, but no bleeding. There’s no pinkening of the tissue.”
Yep.
That was what she was waiting for to make sure they weren’t being dicked around.
Don’t get her wrong, she loved a good dicking, but she preferred it to be by her husbands, and not a killer—screwing her over.
She clued him in.
“Unfortunately, that’s not odd for this killer. That’s the norm.”
Franklin grimaced upon hearing that. It was clear he’d not considered how it happened. Well, it wasn’t like he was using an object to prove a point.
Devon was a sicko.
“So, he’s…”
She nodded.
“Well, that’s disgusting.”
Yeah, well, Devon was about as sick as they came. There was no doubt in Elizabeth’s mind that the nun was dead before he did the damage to her and the other women’s bodies.
He hated females that much.
Well, that and someone couldn’t get it up without a dead body in his midst, apparently.
“How did she die?” she asked. “What do we have for COD and TOD?”
The man flipped, and as he did, Elizabeth was making notes to go into her drive.
He shared.
“Suffocation. I found bruising around her throat and ruptured vessels in her lungs. Her eyes were missing, so I couldn’t check for hemorrhaging there.”
She wasn’t shocked.
Instead of saying anything, she let the man continue.
“She was bound, since there were vicious abrasions around her wrists. When he took out her organs, the bleeding would have been horrific. The uterus holds a good deal of blood, especially if a woman is of childbearing age.”
No shock there.
“Can we tell if she was alive when he took out her uterus, or her eyes?” she asked.
He nodded.
“I can for the eyes. There was profuse hemorrhaging in the sockets. As for the uterus, I can’t. There’s normally a lot of blood there and cutting into it…it would already be bloody.”
Well, she’d take what she could get.
From what it sounded like, her corpse humper was getting spicy. It appeared he’d moved on to abduction, binding, and torturing.
Well, that wasn’t good for anyone else he took. Elizabeth really had to hope and pray that the stop to help The Hunters didn’t give that sicko time to find new victims.
Only, her gut knew the truth.
It likely had.
“How about the other two women?” she asked, wanting to get this done.
Doctor Monroe flipped to another page.
“COD for Debbie Lewston and Tammy Bisset are the same. Both are going to be suffocation. Only, they had things missing from their bodies.”
She waited.
“Both of the women had their nipples removed, with almost surgical precision, and their clitoris taken. Again, I almost missed the clitoris being removed, that’s how well the removal was. It was clean and efficient.”
She pondered that.
With this new territory, she only hoped Ethan was taking this all into consideration once he was given the information. For her, she was concerned.
Escalation was never good.
Even if it was for shock and awe purposes or to goad her into a game.
“Why do you think he did that?” Doctor Monroe asked.
Elizabeth was vague because she needed more information first.
“It’s likely because both women were hookers. He’s drawing a drastic difference between them. Anything else?” she asked, moving this along.
The man looked horrified.
Yeah, welcome to her world.
“Their bodies were cut open, but nothing was missing from them. They were a mess, but I found all of their organs. Oh, except their appendixes. They were missing. I got their medical records, and neither had them removed.”
Elizabeth said nothing.
At first.
“Were they sexually assaulted too?” she asked.
He nodded.
“Yeah, they both were, and to use a word I’m not thrilled to use, enthusiastically.
I found major damage. In fact, I’d take a guess and say that they were assaulted with an object because there is NO way sexual intercourse could damage the cervix that badly—unless the person doing it was well-endowed and angry. ”
Well, she didn’t know about one part of that, but she could guarantee he was pissed.
She took away his collection and shut his bullshit down in Holladay.
On the other side of that, she knew that Devon couldn’t get it up with anyone who was alive, but that might have changed.
Since he was escalating, who knew what was going on in his head?
What they did know was that his father poisoned him toward his mother, and she was likely the one he was killing each time he did the deed.
With two victims missing their nipples and clitorises, there was no doubt he was picking up new collections. He liked taking the eyes, but he also liked leaving them behind to make a statement.
This dude was cuckoo.
Elizabeth kept asking questions.
“Were they also bound, and cut apart while alive?” she asked, making notes.
He nodded.
“Unfortunately. They also had pinkening of the skin, around the incisions.”
Elizabeth sighed.