you, Dr. Desinor, from your pictures, and you, little Jessica, how you've grown.”
“Dr. Shockley and my father worked in the military together for a time,” Jessica told the others.
“Well, this is like old home week for you, then, isn't it, Dr. Coran?” asked Sturtevante, letting on that she knew about Jessica and Parry's past involvement. No doubt Jim had told her, but why? Did he have some burning need to confide in another woman, someone safe? Or did he feel he owed it to Leanne Sturtevante to give her this deep background knowledge, for the good of her case?
Shockley continued, oblivious to these undercurrents. “I remember seeing you in L.A., too, at the convention, but then you disappeared. I learned only later that you'd gone off after yet another maniacal killer.”
“Yes, a sociopath whose murder weapon was a blowtorch,” said Kim.
“Not near so subtle in his MO as this fiend you're dealing with here,” Jessica told Shockley.
“Yes, we have one hell of a subtle monster roaming our streets, Jessica. A most perspicacious SOB, to say the least, one too swift for local authorities to net. The newsies are having a field day with Sturtevante's supposedly inept handling of the case. Right, Leanne?”
“Go to hell, Shockley,” replied Sturtevante.
“All right, then let's talk about Las Vegas, dear Jessica, shall we?”
“Vegas?”
Shockley guided her away from the others. “It was so very disappointing to learn that your session at the conference on rebuilding the crime from a single desiccated forearm-as you managed to do in Hawaii-had been turned over to Cyril Hanley.”
“I heard that Hanley did a first-rate job,” Jessica protested.
“Hartley's a good forensics man, yes, but he lacks something… hasn't the fire you have, Jessica, not even a spark of it. Besides, you're a good deal easier on the eye than Cyril, even in his best plaid shirt and bow tie.” He finished with a hearty laugh, his impish face inviting them all to laugh with him, but no one did.
“Cyril has had problems with the fashion police before. Thank you, Dr. Shockley. I'm sorry you were disappointed at missing me in Vegas.”
“Never you mind. There will be other conferences. Besides, who else could have put an end to that madman you trailed all across the west?” He turned to Sturtevante, adding, “The vile maniac turned perfectly good people into toast, using a torch! Yes, we are most certainly fortunate to have Dr. Coran and Dr. Desinor here, on this far more beguiling case.”
Sturtevante remained impassive, simply saying, “Yes, we are indeed fortunate, and in the meantime-”
“In the meantime,” Shockley repeated with a leering smile. “Yes, yes, yes… in the meantime, we have our own peculiar murder to deal with. One wonders if the killer does it tongue in cheek.”
“Really? I sense no humor in the poems he leaves behind,” countered Kim.
“I refer to his method! Such flare is usually reserved for the magicians of story-mystery writers. Imagine it.”
Jessica did so; she imagined the panache, the flamboyance, the staging and the theater that went into the murders. She imagined the care with which the killer must procure his victims, while Shockley's words mirrored her thoughts. Shockley finished with, “Yes, he's a showman, this fellow, and he likely thinks long and hard about his deeds, rationalizing them away. Still, I suspect he spends at least as much time with his chemistry set, mixing his poisonous concoction, which we're still in the dark about.”
Kim, hands behind her back, said, “I understand that the poison was taken in at the cuts created by the pen on their backs.”
“What could be simpler?” Shockley asked with a grin. “Come, come this way. You'll find our first victim in good repair, all the autopsy protocol in shape as well. You two suit up. You'll find everything you need through there.” He pointed to a door marked ladies.
After quickly donning blue medical garb, masks, booties, and surgical gloves, Jessica and Kim returned. They then followed Leonard Shockley toward a second autopsy room where the body lay.
Shockley spoke as they walked. “I suppose you're curious about the victim type?”
“I do have some concerns along those lines,” said Jessica.
“The detectives have surmised that the victims willingly submitted to the killer's pen, but it's unlikely they knew what they were in for. What's unusual is the absolute care the killer took with each victim to preserve their environment and their bodies.”
Jessica nodded. “No hacking, no mutilation, no disarray of the rooms, I've heard.”
“Exactly. Rather the opposite. He is meticulous with his victims.”
“Lovingly meticulous, I understand.”
“For God's sake, Jessica, the bastard provides a pillow, a blanket, a careful placement of the arms and legs. Comfort is key. The body is not only given a gentle send-off, but the condition of the body is near perfect.”
“Perfect health, you mean?”
“No sign of anything whatsoever to check out, no.”
“So, although he's giving them this peaceful kind send-off-”
“He has certain standards.”
She squinted at the old ME. “Standards?”
“None of the victims were in pain or suffering or ill health, no.”
“What about mental state, depression?”
“Every kid this side of the Mississippi is depressed.”
“Any history of depression in the victims?” she persisted.
“None that I know of, but it may be a viable line of inquiry,” agreed Shockley, opening the door to the room where the cadaver awaited her inspection. He stopped her before the sheet-covered corpse. “But, Jess, I'm talking about the killer's victim type-someone in perfect physical and I suspect mental condition. Perfectly healthy and young. That's what our killer wants.”
Jessica stared down at the prone figure below the sheet. She then tore the shroud away for a complete view, the fabric spiraling away like a fleeing specter.
Below her gaze lay the body of a thin, shapeless woman, not a blemish of any kind save the stitching done by Shockley and his team. Even the woman's nipples, the areola, appeared white and an extension of her breast skin. Her breasts formed two perfect and symmetrical buttons, so small as to make her appear genderless. A gaze into the woman's face, and Jessica felt she must be the most pure-skinned white woman she had ever encountered, dead or alive. Even given the purplish hue from the postmortem pooling of blood as tissues had broken down, even with the bruises caused most likely by the rough handling of the body by so-called professionals, this corpse appeared nearly flawless. “Not so much as a single freckle,” she whispered.
“How were the bodies discovered?” Jessica asked Sturtevante, who, along with James Parry and Kim Desinor, had joined them in the autopsy room. Everyone wore blue surgical masks.
“In every case, the body has been discovered by a friend who'd come looking for the deceased.”
“No, I'm asking in what posture were the bodies found? Facedown, faceup?”
“Facedown, on their stomachs, resting comfortably. Placed in bed or on pillows. Whoever the killer is, he wants the poems seen immediately, so in walks the hapless friend to discover first the poem, then their dead friend-or at least the two simultaneously.”
“She looks like a beautiful young boy,” Kim said matter-of-factly.
“I hadn't noticed,” jested the old coroner at Jessica's side. “Of course! Fact struck me immediately, a thunderbolt in the ass. I mean, how often do you see the human body without a single blemish?” Shockley darted a glance at Sturtevante. 'Tried to tell our lieutenant in charge of the case, but she didn't think it important.”
“I doubt there's a person within an eight-mile radius whose body is without some sort of blemish,” replied Jessica, thinking of her own physical imperfections.
“No such thing as true alabaster skin, they say, and yet here it is,” added James Parry. “Wouldn't you say, Jess- uh, Dr. Coran?”
Other than the brief acknowledgment at their meeting and businesslike exchange in the elevator, these were James's only words to Jessica. Kim Desinor looked like she was about to answer, but she hesitated, allowing Jessica a moment to gather her thoughts.
“As pure as pure gets, it would appear. Not so much as a mole or a birthmark anywhere,” Jessica replied. 'Tell me, Jim, is this true of the other two victims as well?”
