Jacobs looked at him curiously, then said, “You saw the blood trail on the stair runner when you came in, and on the hardwood floor leading out of here.”
“Hard to miss with your little cones set out. But it was really the bloody palm print on the wall next to the stairs. I assume that must be the judge’s, since two shots to the chest means Draymont wouldn’t have made it out of this room under his own power.”
Jacobs said, “I think she was stabbed once down here and the killing took place upstairs in her bedroom.”
“Let’s go,” said Decker, not liking the two wordsI think.
They avoided the evidentiary trail on the carpeted steps and reached the second-floor landing, where Andrews led them into the bedroom.
“Killer didn’t step in the blood from downstairs?” asked White.
“No, he was careful about that,” said Jacobs.
Judge Julia Cummins was lying on her bed wearing a short white terrycloth robe. The robe was open, revealing the woman’s black underpants and a white camisole. Someone had put a blindfold over her eyes, but then cut out holes in the cloth where the eyes were. There was blood all over her clothing, and on the bedspread and also on her hands, the bottoms of her feet, and her knees.
“She’s been stabbed repeatedly,” said Jacobs. “Ten times by my unofficial count, not counting defensive wounds. COD was blood loss due to the stabbings.”
“So she was downstairs where she was attacked, ran up here, and the intruder came up and finished her off,” said White.
“Appears to be that way,” said Jacobs cautiously.
“Stabbing someone that many times is personal,” noted Decker.
Andrews interjected, “But we have a ways to go. It’s a complicated crime scene.”
Decker eyed the twisted covers and took in the fact that the mattress was out of alignment with the box springs.
White must have been reading his mind. “Looks like a struggle took place there.”
“You mentioned defensive wounds?” asked Decker, noting the cuts on the woman’s forearms.
Jacobs said, “Yes. It’s natural for a person getting attacked with a knife or blunt instrument to use their arms to block the blows. Multiple slashes. However, the wound to her lower sternum was probably the fatal one. From the location and depth, it likely cut right through her aorta. I’ll know for certain when I do the post.”
“Any trace under her fingernails?” asked White.
“None that I could find on a preliminary exam. I’ll look closer when I do the post.”
“Blood on her hands, knees, the bottoms of her feet?” noted Decker.
Andrews said, “Explained by the fact that she was attacked downstairs, stepped in her own blood, maybe fell, and got blood on her knees. Ran up here. Mark on the wall by the stairs where she no doubt put her hand to steady herself, and spatter on the stair runner.”
“Any signs of sexual assault?” asked Decker, who did not look convinced by this theory as the blood spatter images from the stairs and the study marched across his mind’s eye.
Jacobs replied, “I did a prelim. No signs of that. I’ll know more once I get her on the slab. But I don’t think she’s been sexually assaulted.”
Decker looked at the blindfold. “Nice of the killers to leave us this little symbol.”
Andrews stepped forward. “Why blindfold her but then cut the holes so her eyes are showing?”
“The blindfold was most likely put on postmortem,” noted Jacobs.
“Of course it was,” said Decker abruptly.
“You said symbolic?” said White, looking at the blindfold.
Decker said, “The lady was a judge. Justice is supposed to be blind. Only with her, I guess it wasn’t, or at least in the opinion of her killer, since they made sure she was seeing clearly, or as clearly as the dead can.”
Andrews sucked in a sharp breath. “Shit, that could be true.”