Daddy's Little Killer by LS Sygnet Read Free Book Online Page B

understand how I do what I do,
Detective Briscoe.  Victimology helps me determine the type of
person most likely to have committed a crime.  The more I know
about her, the better the chances are of figuring out why she was
targeted by a perpetrator.  How teenage was this victim from
the old case?"
    "Fifteen.  Is that important?"
    "It depends.  Was sexual assault part
of the crime?"
    "That was never determined.  Her body
was discovered in the water, so there wasn't a whole lot of
evidence left to collect if you know what I mean."
    I frowned.  Semen can remain present
inside the vagina for up to five days even if a woman bathes and
showers regularly.  It cannot be ruled out automatically
simply because of hygiene.  "Had she been in this river for a
long time?"
    "The medical examiner put the time of death
at 48-72 hours prior to the discovery of her body."
    "How long had she been missing before she
was found?" I asked.  The Prius guidance system told me to
turn left.  I signaled and glanced in the rearview
mirror.  Conall's turn signal matched mine.  So far so
good, little Prius.
    "Three days."
    I snorted softly.  "So the medical
examiner believed she might've been held for up to twenty-four
hours after the abduction, but he didn't bother to check for
evidence of sexual assault?"  Hadn't Hardy said something
about an incompetent ME?  That was why Maya Winslow was out
here.  My thoughts took a left turn with the car, long enough
to wonder if news of Rick's indictment had filtered through the
state coroner's office in Maryland before Maya moved to the left
coast.
    "Like I said, she was found in the
water."
    "But what about abrasions, tearing, other
evidence of trauma to sexual organs?"
    "You'd have to talk to the ME about that,
ma'am … er … Dr. Eriksson."
    "Will Dr. Winslow be at this new crime
scene?"
    Briscoe's eyes pierced the darkness. 
"You know her?"
    "We've met a few times.  Does that
matter?"
    "No, I guess she'll be happy to see you join
the team."
    "This turf war … "
    Briscoe cleared his throat and picked at his
thumbnail.  "It ain't gonna be pretty.  I'd imagine that
Rogers and Daltry are burnin' up the phone lines tryin' to get a
hold of Chief Lowe to have him override Hardy's order to hand this
case off to Downey."
    "Wait a minute.  The chief of police is
trying to outrank the commissioner?"
    "Chief of detectives," he clarified with a
dark scowl.  "Jerry Lowe is technically over all the
detectives in Darkwater Bay."
    "So he's your boss too."
    "I answer to Lieutenant Finkelstein."
    "And he reports to Lowe?"
    "She.  I guess."
    "Detective Briscoe, why are you so reluctant
to share your opinions with me?  I thought you planned to be
blunt."
    "About the case at hand, yes."
    "How was that case closed but not
closed?"  My temples started throbbing from playing twenty
questions with the reluctant detective.  If this was blunt,
evasive was going to be sheer hell.
    "The detectives on that case –"
    "Out of Central Division?"
    "Yeah, back before it had gone to complete
shit.  The detectives on that case had a suspect, gathered
evidence against him and arrested his sorry ass.  Then during
an evidentiary hearing, the judge threw out the bloody clothing
because there was evidence that the blood might've been
planted."
    "What evidence?"
    "I don't know.  Some chemical or some
such found in the vials used to collect blood evidence."
    Ethylene-diamene-tetra-acetic acid, or EDTA,
was a chemical added to laboratory vials to prevent blood from
clotting.  It had been infamously found in another case
wherein acquittal was the end result, in the prosecution of O.J.
Simpson.
    "The detectives at central, were they the
kind who would plant evidence to make sure their perp didn't
walk?"  I thought of Danny Datello and Hardy's opinion that
the detectives at central were a little too myopic where he was
concerned.
    "Flynn Myre, in my opinion, is too stupid to
plant his ass in a chair, let alone evidence.