CHAPTER SIX
The coroner’s office was tiny, a small and low building right next to the precinct, looking like it had been built as an afterthought at a later date. Laura took it in with a sinking feeling, wondering if they were about to walk into something that was far from state of the art. Waters led them inside with a confident stride, only glancing once at the two cops who were standing outside the precinct door watching them. He even put on a little of a swagger. Showing off to his co-workers, Laura thought.
Once inside, the already cool temperature dropped noticeably. Laura had braced for it and didn’t react but Won shivered. Through another set of double doors, they walked right into the morgue – with no reception desk or any kind of security, Laura noted. Maybe not a good sign.
“Hey, Tone, you here?” Waters called out. Laura had a moment to glance around the small space: two metal trays which held draped sheets over bodies, with no room for a third. A wall at the far side equipped with metal drawers, the kind for storing more bodies, and a large sink on the right. The left held a small desk and an ancient-looking computer.
A door at the back of the room opened, and an elderly-looking woman with wiry gray hair sticking out around thick glasses appeared. She fixed sharp eyes on them that seemed owlishly large behind the lenses, squinting as she moved forwards.
“No need to yell so loudly, Scott,” she said, her voice as sharp as her eyes. Maybe she wasn’t as elderly as she’d first appeared – or at least, not as feeble. “I’m right here.”
“I’ve got the FBI agents with me,” Waters said, indicating Won and Laura with a thumb jerked over his shoulder. “They want to see the bodies.”
Laura glanced at Won at that moment, just in time to notice that his face was extremely pale. She narrowed her eyes.
“Have you done this before?” she asked, hissing it under her breath as Waters and the coroner exchanged a couple of pleasantries.
Won cleared his throat, darting a glance at her before putting his eyes forward again. “No,” he admitted. “I mean, yes. Of course. In training. Just not…”
Laura’s eyes almost bugged out of her skull. “Have you worked a live murder case before?”
“Well,” Won said, which was more than enough to set Laura’s blood pressure skyrocketing. “Not, like, live exactly. I mean, we did a lot of stuff at the Academy. And I’ve done some cases since then!”
Laura wanted to ask him what kind of cases, but she looked up to realize that the coroner was now fixing them both with that same sharp glance. Laura had no doubt that the woman had heard and understood everything, even when they were speaking under the cover of her own conversation with Waters.
“Toni Lisle,” she said, extending a hand with a quick and birdlike movement. Laura shook it, surprised to find how strong her grip was. “Let’s get this show on, then. You’ll be wanting to look at them in chronological order?”
Laura nodded once, appreciating the woman’s businesslike manner. “That would be ideal, thank you.”
Toni nodded sharply back, ambling over to the furthest table. She had that kind of rolling gait that older people often have, a constant compromise between aching muscles and bones. Still, it was clear that her body was the only thing about her that was aged – her mind was functioning as sharply as it ever might have been. She pulled back the sheet with one swift movement, revealing the body of Evelina Collins.
“This, here, is the fatal wound,” Toni said, indicating the gaping opening at the neck. “If you’ll look closely, you’ll see it was a fairly smooth cut. She was not struggling when it happened, and the hand of the killer did not falter.”
There was a gagging noise from behind her. Laura turned just in time to see Agent Won running for a trash can and emptying his stomach into it. Given that she knew what exactly was in his stomach – the same stodgy airplane breakfast she’d been subjected to – she couldn’t say it was much of a loss. It was disappointing, however. She’d figured he was green as soon as she looked at him. But this… he wasn’t just green. He was brand new.
“Get it all out, son,” Toni said, the only person in the room to acknowledge it. Waters was looking at the ground, like he didn’t want to shame another law enforcement officer. Laura realized she was glaring in Won’s direction and took the physical effort required to smooth out her features.
“You can wait outside,” she said, trying her hardest to sound sympathetic.
“No,” Won said, his voice rough, holding up a hand shakily. “No, I’m good.”
“Just make sure you don’t go again all over these ladies,” Toni said sternly. “Now, as I was saying, it’s a smooth cut. Judging by the lack of blood on the skin and the fact we only have lividity on the backs of the bodies, I would say there wasn’t a lot of movement just before or after the time of death.”
“In other words, they didn’t put up a fight,” Laura said. She refocused on the task at hand, trying not to keep thinking about the bucket full of Won’s sick even though she could smell it now. He would have to handle himself. She’d given him the option to leave, and if he wasn’t taking it, that was his choice.
“Didn’t, or couldn’t,” Toni said smartly. She lifted up the arm of the body, letting it sit in the air in front of Laura’s face as if she was giving a demonstration. “There’s a lack of restraint marks. No marks at all on the rest of the body, in fact. But what I did find is traces of chloroform in the blood.”
“He knocks them out, lays them down somewhere, and cuts their throats. Then he carries them away from the blood – maybe washes them, first? And places them in a public spot for someone to find them,” Laura translated. Won made a noise in his throat from the foot of the table and retreated back towards the trash can a couple of steps, though this time he managed not to throw up.
“Then adds the candle,” Toni said, turning the hand in the other direction. Now Laura could see the back of it, the way it was crusted with dried white wax.
“This is very… gentle,” Laura said, though it felt admittedly strange to be saying it in regard to a murder. “They wouldn’t have suffered at all. They’d have felt the cloth over the mouths, or… do you think it was a cloth?”
Toni nodded, pointing to a few things around the nose and mouth area that didn’t look like anything at all to Laura. “Clear signs of inhalation here and here.”
“Alright. They’d have felt something go over their mouths, maybe a brief moment of fear, and then nothing. He kills them without hurting them. Quick and painless. Then he washes them clean, carries them and places them down gently. He finally puts the candle on the chest, almost like a memorial, and then calls someone to come and find them. He doesn’t even undress them. There’s a kind of respect here.”
“Respect?” Waters said, almost scoffing. “He killed them. What kind of respect is that?”
Laura looked up and met his eyes. “Believe me. I’ve seen a lot of killers. A lot of victims. This… well, it’s oddly reverential. It’s like a form of worship. Your average killer doesn’t take this much care – not even the ones who have their own rituals.”
“Maybe it is a ritual,” Won croaked. Laura looked up at him with some surprised. He looked a little steadier now, like he was getting a grip back on himself. “He might have some twisted way of doing it. Maybe it’s, like, a cult thing.”
Laura chose to ignore the mention of the word ‘cult.’ It was never a cult. That only happened in movies. And the second someone said that word to the press, they would have a field day – which wouldn’t be useful to anyone. “If it is a ritual, then it’s fairly advanced already,” Laura said. “Both women have the same hallmarks?”
Toni nodded. She pulled back the sheet over Ashley Christianson, revealing the same story told in a second body. Laura glanced between the two women quickly. There were similarities, yes – both were young women, after all. One blonde, one brunette. One a little shorter than the other. Ashley’s body appeared clean from here, while Evelina had a butterfly tattooed on the side of her stomach.
“Right,” Laura said, confirming it with her own eyes. “So, this feels almost like care. Like he’s recreating something that he’s done before or seen done before. A way of looking after someone. Washing the body – it puts you in mind of a funerary practice, doesn’t it? The candle, too.”
“I’d say so,” Waters nodded. Laura shot a brief smile at him, even though she hadn’t actually been asking. She was really just thinking out loud.
“What’s the connection between the two of them?” she asked. “Did they both attend your school?”
Waters shook his head. “Evelina was new in town a few years back. As far as we know, there’s no obvious connection. They both lived here, probably saw each other around, but that’s about all.”
“Their jobs?” Laura asked.
“Evelina worked at a coffee shop, and Ashley at a restaurant, right?” Won said, clearly keen to remind them that he was still in the room in order to recover from his earlier weakness.
“Yeah,” Waters said, casting him a look of pleased surprise. Laura almost wanted to roll her eyes. She’d read the briefing notes, too. She’d just wanted to check. “So, they didn’t work together at all. but like I said, they might have known each other. Just because most folks do, around here.”
Laura took a moment to appreciate the fact that she didn’t live in a place like Paradise Cove. It was bad enough when everyone at the office knew about your business. Having a whole town always aware of what you were up to, always talking about you, would have been unbearable.
Especially for someone with an ability like Laura’s, which was hard enough to hide when she had the excuse of being able to pass it off as investigative talent.
“Alright,” Laura said, taking a breath of the cold air inside the morgue and regretting it. It smelled like bleach, the faint scent of entrails, and Won’s vomit. “We’d better keep moving. I’d like to talk to the families, next. See if they can shed any light on this.” She turned, brushing her hands very deliberately over those of the women on the tables on either side of her: first Evelina, then Ashley. Just in case.
But there was no vision.
At least for now, Laura was on her own. But there was plenty she could manage with that real investigative talent that didn’t rely at all on her visions. And she was determined to bring all of it to bear before someone else had to die – especially given it was beginning to feel like she was the only person who wasn’t out of her depth on this case.
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