Page 57 of An Evil Heart
“Sexual assault?” Rasmussen asks.
“I’ll get to that in a minute.” The doc indicates the victim’s throat. “We’ve got marks here. Bruising. So I took an X-ray, which revealed the hyoid bone was fractured.”
“She was strangled?” I ask.
“Yes, but I don’t know if that’s what killed her. Kate, she also had aplastic bag over her head. It was sealed with tape at the base of her neck. She also had adhesive around her mouth.”
“From tape?”
“I don’t know, but that is a likely scenario,” he tells me. “I won’t know cause of death until after I get her on the table.”
The horror of that takes some of the breath from my lungs. “Any other injuries?” I ask.
“There is evidence of sexual assault. A multitude of lacerations and bruising, both vaginal and anal. Enough injury to cause hemorrhage. I suspect foreign-object rape as well. Not causal of death, but there may be additional internal injuries as well.”
I stare at the victim, aware that my heart is pounding, my face hot with anger, my mouth so dry I can’t swallow, can’t speak. The heat of outrage almost overcomes me.
“Did you find the object?” Rasmussen asks.
“No.”
I look at the sheriff. “We need to get someone back out to the scene to look.”
He nods. “Road is still blocked. I’ll get a deputy out there.” His mouth tightens into a snarl. “Semen?”
“We expedited samples of everything to the lab,” Han tells us.
The doc looks down at the victim and grimaces. Over the top of his mask, through the goggles, he looks tired and… angry. It’s the first time in all the years I’ve worked with him that I’ve seen any sign of emotion. I wonder if in the past he’s been better at hiding it or if something about this particular case got under his skin.
“At least one bite mark on her left breast.” Using the swab, he indicates the left breast. “Possibly the buttock, too.”
“Forensic odontologist will be here later this morning,” Han adds.
“She went through a lot,” I hear myself say.
“Yes, she did,” Doc replies.
“Was this done by one person?” I ask. “More than one?”
“I don’t know,” Doc tells me.
“This took some time,” Rasmussen says slowly. “The rape. The bag over the head. Wrapping the body in plastic with tape. It required some privacy.”
I look at Rasmussen. “It didn’t happen at the scene,” I say. “She was raped and murdered elsewhere and dumped in that creek.”
“I agree,” the sheriff replies.
“When we canvassed, did we check for security or game cams?” I ask.
“We got nothing.”
I look at Doc. “We need photos of everything you have.”
“I’ll send them as soon as humanly possible,” he tells me.
“How soon can you do the autopsy?” I ask.
“I’ll cancel everything on my schedule. We’ll do it today. Probably this afternoon or evening.” He looks down at the victim and sighs. “I figure we owe this poor young lady that much.”
