puking into the St. John's, garnering laughter from men who had not viewed the body. Bierdsley invited the others aboard to have a closer look. Soon there were several men joining Lamar Plummer in polluting the river.
Word had spread, and next came the sheriff of Duval County, Lorena Combs. She stood tall and sleek in her uniform among the men, and even after looking over the corpse, she held in her dinner. “On the quick, I want this crime scene secured. No one on the boat or near the body until I say otherwise.”
“ But, Sheriff,” complained Captain Abrams, “the harbormaster wants me outta this slip. Me, I gotta get my boat back out to sea. Can't lose another day. Can't you just take the dear little thing off my boat and off my hands?”
“ Take some time off, my friend. Your boat is a crime scene, Captain, and it could be a while. FBI's going to want to see this.”
“ But… but…”
“ Until I say otherwise.”
He scrunched his face up at her and gnawed on his pipe. She simply walked back to her squad car and asked dispatch to put her through to Quantico-FBI Headquarters. As she did so, she saw the harbormaster and a fellow on his arm trying desperately to get closer to the crime scene, rubber-necking as they approached.
“ Christ, do we sell tickets next?” She shouted orders to her men to get all civilians, including journalists, back.
Quantico, Virginia The same night
JESSICA Coran downed her cup of coffee as she worked late into the night, pushing through her office door with her free hand, and thinking about the telephone call she'd had from Richard. He had called from the plane, still en route to China. She smiled with the memory of his voice in her ear.
Stepping into her office, pushing errant curls from her eyes, she instantly realized someone was seated in the semi-darkened room, deep in shadow. She looked up to see Eriq Santiva, her boss. For a long moment they glared at one another like adversaries in a duel. Her highlighted auburn hair contrasted sharply with the white lab coat she wore over her clothes. She pushed past the dark-featured Cuban-American to take a seat behind her desk. She was angry with him for having sent her live-in lover, Richard Sharpe, on another overseas assignment. Somehow Richard's impeccable credentials were always at the center of Eriq's decisionmaking lately.
Eriq stood and paced the room before he again settled into a chair, this time opposite her. She'd just come from an autopsy, her hazel eyes tired and weary. She hadn't expected to find her superior waiting here in her office, impatient for the results of the autopsy, but here he was.
“ Aren't you getting tired of playing gofer for Senator Lowenthal?” she bluntly asked him.
“ I resent that, Jess.”
“ I resent my office being used this way, Eriq. If Lowenthal were not a senator, this case would have never crossed my desk, let alone yours.”
“ Sometimes, Jess, you have to play ball with these guys. Like it or not, the FBI is mired in politics.”
Politics has no business in decisions regarding scientific investigation. We established that years and years ago.”
“ Politics aside, the man is a friend of mine, and he's distraught over his daughter's death, after all, and he wanted the best-you.”
“ Eriq, it's an easy spot. Any pathologist in any hospital in the country could have-”
“ But they didn't at Bethesda! They took it on the doctor's word that his wife had developed complications from some sort of food poisoning.”
“ Yeah, right, food poisoning by strychnine. Something her husband doctor would know all about.”
“ Then you found the murder weapon?”
“ My protocol will be complete by tomorrow. You can fetch it for the senator then.”
“ That'll be fine, Jess.”
“ The wife was killed by person or persons unknown, by use of ingested strychnine poisoning. Not very creative on the husband's part if he did it. Hair and fiber aren't much use since they shared the same space before their estrangement. With no struggle, she left us little to work with.”
“ At least we know it wasn't some mysterious disease or food poisoning that killed her.”
“ The senator will have to pursue it with local police now.”
“ Of course, you're right.”
“ Appears a fairly straightforward murder of one's spouse, as the senator suspected.”
“ I suspected as much, too. If you'd ever met this creep…”
“ Just, please, next time someone puts the screws to you, Eriq, at least talk to me first and level with me. Maybe put someone else on it. I have a backlog of work that would sink an elephant.” “You always told me that any murder is worth your time.”
She took in a deep breath, realizing he was right but not wishing to give in. “That was a long time ago, before the rash of maniacs out there crossing jurisdictions and filleting people, and those crimes need our attention and expertise. Hell… some new psycho every other week, Eriq. Out there raping, torturing and now cutting open people's heads for their gray matter…”
“ I'm afraid there's been a third, Jess.”
“ When? Where?”
“ In Jacksonville, Florida.”
“ Right on the Georgia-Florida line, just as we predicted.”
“ Just got the call. It's the real reason I'm here.”
“ Christ, when did you get the news?”
“ Just got the call while you were in autopsy. I called down; they said you were nearly finished, so I let you finish. I know how you hate to be interrupted during an autopsy.”
“ Yeah, especially one involving pol-a-tics!”
Ignoring her dig, Eriq said, “As you know, we put a call out on the law-enforcement hotline for anything to do with victims missing any or all of their brains in a surgical manner?”
“ Yes, go on.”
“ And we suspected he'd show up in South Georgia or North Florida.”
“ I guess you want me down there?”
“ You're our logical choice, along with J.T.” Jessica had visited the Richmond authorities to get a firsthand account of what they thought of the Brain Thief, as their local papers painted the killer. J.T. had done likewise in Winston-Salem. J.T. had also interviewed a young woman nearly abducted in Fayetteville, learning only that the would-be offender there drove a dark blue van. Little had come of their efforts to find patterns or evidence that might help form conclusions about the killer.
“ Bring back as much photographic evidence as you did on the previous cases. Jess, higher-ups think that you should be devoting all your time to this case.”
“ Figures.” Fatigue whispered in her ear, saying, Run away!
“ And, by the way, your telephone is going to ring right about now.” Eriq looked at his watch and pointed to the phone.
The telephone indeed interrupted them, and Jessica answered. “Dr. Coran. Can I help you?”
“ I certainly hope so,” replied a female voice at the other end. “I'm Sheriff Combs of Jacksonville. I guess your Chief Santiva's informed you of our situation here. I had just seen your request in passing yesterday, and now this… sad business here, and sad to say you people were right. The Skull-digger has come to the Sunshine State.”
“ Skull-digger? Is that what he's being called now?”
“ That's what Winston-Salem's calling him.”
“ Guess I'm out of the loop. Has the body there in Florida been disturbed?”
“ Secured at this point, and if you can come right away, we'll hold off disturbing it any further than it's already been disturbed by my officers. They turned the body for some unaccountable reason; I guess to see if there was any other violence done to the back of the skull.”
“ Was there?”
“ No, the only other notable item was the restraint marks.”
“ Hands, feet, throat and temples?”
“ Hands and feet certainly. Throat and temples… I'm not so sure. How does he restrain the victim by her
