Consumed by E. H. Reinhard Read Free Book Online Page B

white undershirt stained in blood. Covering the lower half of her torso was the hot pink skirt that Chief Deputy Whissell had spoken of. The arms were removed at the shoulders, the legs removed in a straight line across below the buttocks. The throat cut was almost ear to ear and deep, allowing me to actually see the inner workings of her throat. Breakfast spun in my stomach a bit more. I could see her hair was blond from the parts not stained brown from blood. Her bangs looked to be cut straight right across her eyebrows. Something caught my eye behind her right ear through a gap in her hair.
    “Doctor Nehls?” I asked. “Can you move her hair a bit here? She has something behind her ear. Looks like it might be a tattoo.”
    “Sure. One second.” He stepped around the table to my side and brushed the hair away with his fingertip.
    I got a better view. It was indeed a tattoo in the shape of a crescent moon with a couple of stars.
    “Mean anything to you?” he asked.
    I shook my head and let out a breath. “I’m going to need a photo of the woman’s face and tattoo. We may need it before you have the autopsy completed.”
    “Sure.”
    I quickly snapped two photos with my phone.
    He let her hair drop and walked back to the other side of the table.
    “When are you doing the autopsy?” Agent Clifford asked.
    “I should be able to take care of it tomorrow morning,” Nehls said. “I was done for the evening when I got the call that you guys were heading over. We have staff here twenty-four seven, but something like this I’d prefer to take care of myself.”
    “Anything standing out at you?” I asked.
    “Well, we have over a dozen knife wounds, the deepest penetrating from the chest straight out of the back. Pretty good guess would say our killer has some power, I doubt you’re looking for a little guy or woman. Aside from that, the throat injury looks consistent with the females that came through like this earlier. As far as definitively matching up the knife wounds and what I would bet to be saw marks on the bones, I’ll have to wait until I conduct the autopsy.”
    “As far as getting us an ID?” Beth asked.
    “I’ll do the usual: DNA, dental records, photographs of birthmarks, tattoos, and the like. That, with approximate height, weight, and age, should give us a decent profile. Once that is done, we’ll make it available to distribute to missing persons, et cetera.”
    “No personal belongings came in with the body?” I asked.
    “Nope,” Nehls said. “What you see is what you get. No pockets on the skirt she’s wearing, either. No jewelry, no nothing.”
    “Can you get a hold of us with the autopsy results as soon as they are set?” I asked.
    “The profile of everything as well,” Beth added.
    “Sure,” Nehls answered. “It will be morning, like I said. It might be pushing afternoon by the time I have everything complete.”
    “That’s fine.” I glanced down at my watch—almost six thirty. “We’ll let you get out of here. I appreciate you sticking around for us.”
    “No problem,” he said.
    Doctor Nehls showed us out. Beth, Clifford, and I stood in the parking lot next to our cars, talking.
    “I’m going to have to be hitting the road in a bit here. It will be seven thirty by the time I get home,” Agent Clifford said.
    “No problem. You can head out. It’s getting late, and we’ll probably be heading back to our hotel,” Beth said. “We’ll touch base in the morning.”
    “Sure. Are you guys coming out to the office?” Clifford asked.
    “Um, we’ll see,” Beth said “We need to meet with the Nashville Police yet. We’ll give you a call and figure it out from there.”

CHAPTER NINE
    I leaned back on the lime-colored desk chair and put my feet up on the edge of the hotel bed. The phone rang in my ear as I waited for Karen to answer.
    I heard a click, followed by faint screaming and moaning and more screaming. The background noise stopped.
    “Hey, hon,” Karen