Page 34 of Forever Dead

Arnold nodded. “Blethan said it’s probably a man.”

“I’d agree with that.”

Selena shifted to another close-up. The angle showed Eleanor’s head turned relative to the shoulders.

“Did Blethan say anything about handedness?”

“No.”

“Don’t put this down as fact, then.”

Arnold stopped writing.

Selena studied the image. “If the attacker was behind or partly beside her and used the dominant hand to drive the rotation, the direction can sometimes suggest which side was doing most of the work. From this position, I’d lean right-handed.”

“Lean?”

“Strongly enough to keep it in mind. Not strongly enough to put it in a warrant affidavit.”

Arnold wrote that down anyway. “Right-handed, tentative.”

“Good.”

She moved to the photographs of the broken rocking chair. One showed the curved runner split near the center. Another showed broken spindles across Eleanor’s torso and legs.

Selena frowned.

“What?” Arnold asked.

“Blethan thinks this happened after death?”

“Yeah. No vital bruising pattern under the pieces. He thinks the chair was smashed and put over her after.”

“That changes things.”

“How?”

Selena laid three photographs side by side. “Because if the chair broke during the struggle, it might have been accidental. If the killer broke it after she died, hit her with it, or arranged it over her, that was deliberate. We need to work out why.”

Arnold leaned over the bed.

“The chair came from the living room,” Selena said. “So, after breaking her neck, the killer either went back for it or had already moved it before the attack. Then he broke it and left it over her.”

“There were impact marks on the body, but Blethan thinks they’re postmortem.”

"Exactly. Not bruising from living circulation, but contact damage. Whoever did this kept attacking after Eleanor was dead."

Arnold stared at the image. “Hatred.”

“That’s what I see. Rage.”

Selena picked up another photograph. “This wasn’t somebody panicking after a burglary went wrong. The phone line was cut before entry. The back door was forced. Nothing obvious was taken. Then after killing her, the attacker desecrated the body with something from her own home.”

“So it could be personal?”

“Very.” She smiled. “You’re learning, Arnold.”

“You’ve worn off on me.” Arnold finished the note and flipped to the next page. “Any other insights?”