Dangerous Attachments (Dr. Sylvia Strange Book 1) by Sarah Lovett Read Free Book Online

while Sylvia worked defense.
    Rosie's suddenly edgy tone brought Sylvia back from her thoughts.
    Rosie said, "Matt, you were around during the riot. We've had an incident—maybe more than one—with a missing body part." Now Rosie had his full professional attention. "You'll love this, but I can't talk now, so I'm going to have a packet delivered to your office." Rosie shot Sylvia a quizzical glance. "I promise I'll get back toyou, Matthew," she said as she hung up. "Why were you making such a face? Do you know Matt?"
    "We were on opposite sides of the fence in court."
    "Aha," Rosie tipped her dark eyebrows. "Your gain, his loss." She shrugged. "Sorry about the interruption."
    "What's this about a body part?"
    "I'm getting to that." In one easy motion Rosie was off the desk, sinking into the chair. "Since we're both dealing with issues of confidentiality, I'll ask you something generic. What kind of guy gets his rocks off cutting up bodies?"
    "Dead bodies, I hope?"
    "Actually, no."
    Sylvia frowned. "You want a profile of a Mr. X who dissects living victims?"
    "Dead and living," Rosie interrupted. "I don't know if he just preys on the living, if he just scavenges, or if he kills, too."
    Sylvia raised her eyebrows. "Come on, Rosie, you can do better than that."
    "Last night, we had some unscheduled surgery—an inmate's finger was removed without his consent."
    Sylvia eased back against the chair. "Well, shit," she said softly. "I guess the surgeon wasn't Dr. Kildare?"
    "This thing may go back as far as the riot," Rosie shrugged. "Arms and legs disappeared, not to mention entire bodies. There were murders that were never pinned on anyone." It took her ten seconds to continue. "About a year ago, an inmate lost most of his nose in a gang fight. We figured it was kept as a trophy by his rivals. I still think it was. But then a hand was cut off in a metal shop accident three months ago. When the doc wanted to stitch it back on, it never turned up." Rosieswiveled in her chair and stared out at bleak daylight through wire grid. "The natives are getting restless; all of our facilities are pushing their legal capacity, and we've got inmates sleeping in the dayrooms. If we don't find the bad guy soon, we may have another riot."
    "Are you sure it's an inmate: Could it be a C.O.?"
    Rosie looked askance. "That's possible."
    "Could it just be a gang revenge thing?"
    "That's very possible, but, for the moment, let's assume we've got a weirdo on our hands."
    "In that case . . . a paranoid schizophrenic, a dissociative disorder, a borderline personality, any antisocial type with a game plan—take your pick." Sylvia spread her fingers, palms up. "Without more to go on, a profile would be as useful as a Ouija board. On second thought, a Ouija board would be better." She tipped her head. "Maybe you've got an anthropophagite on your hands."
    "Anthro what?"
    "A cannibal. Albert Fish—you remember
The
Cannibal—allegedly ate fifteen children. He killed them, cut them up, and one he even stewed with carrots and onions."
    "You're having fun." Rosie stuck out her tongue and silently gagged.
    Sylvia touched her fingertips together, lost in thought. "There are rumors all over China that the bodies of 'cultural enemies' were devoured in remote villages, and the Khmer Rouge—well, you get the picture."
    Rosie pulled open her drawer, found an open package of sunflower seeds, and popped a handful in her mouth. She said, "Tell me more."
    Sylvia continued, "In various cultures, primitive manprobably consumed the body of an alien or enemy as part of some religious rites. You'd eat part of your kin's corpse to absorb magical powers. It was a form of tribute, always about the transfer of life energy, always about power."
    Rosie picked up one sunflower with two fingernails and placed it on her tongue. "You think that's what Jeffrey Dahmer was after? Power?"
    Sylvia said, "And it's one way to be really intimate with somebody else."
    Rosie made another face.