Chapter 39
“Lynn, yes, I am anxious to hear what you found,” said Diane. “Thank you for doing this. I’m sure you had to do a lot of rearranging of your schedule and I appreciate it.”
“Just a little changing. I didn’t mind,” Lynn said. “I have to tell you, Hector and Scott are so precious. And such a hoot. They even made Grover laugh, and you know how hard that is.”
Diane smiled. Grover was Lynn’s very solemn diener in the morgue.
“They can be very entertaining,” agreed Diane.
“I was very interested in the research they are doing. They gave me a bang-up proposal,” said Lynn.
Hector and Scott were interested in taphonomy. Their particular interest at the moment was the postmortem interval-the length of time between death and whenever the body was discovered. Knowing when a murder victim died was one of the main pieces of information authorities needed in order to help find and convict the perpetrator.
Taphonomy for forensic scientists was the study of what happened to a body from the time of death to discovery. Mike, Diane’s geology curator, also used the word in his discipline. For him it meant the study of the movement of an organism from the biosphere to the lithosphere-from organism to fossil. Forensic scientists didn’t have that long to wait.
When a person died-unless normal decomposition was prevented by embalming, freezing, dehydration, or a few other rare circumstances-bacteria began to liquefy the organs, muscles, and skin. Chemicals found in the various organs and soft tissue during this process showed predictable changes over time. If you knew the temperature surrounding the body during the decomposition process, you could determine postmortem interval to within hours-certainly days. David called it an elegant use of data and mathematical formulas.
Hector and Scott wanted to wind the clock a little tighter. They proposed that Lynn Webber and other area medical examiners allow them to collect tissue samples from cadavers that came to the MEs for autopsy, and compare data from the samples to known times of death-or nearly known.
Their research would not help Diane determine precisely when the Barres were killed, but she hoped it would help in future cases. The current standard procedure of sampling the potassium concentration in the vitreous humor of the eye might help in the Barre case, but Diane feared that too much time had passed since their deaths. Moreover, the standard error of two hours for that indicator still wasn’t what she needed. She needed a tighter time line.
Diane wanted to know what the time interval was between Ozella Barre’s death and the death of her husband, Roy. She was equally anxious to know whether there was a similar time difference between the deaths of Joe and Ella Watson.
That was one of the things that bothered her, the time difference between the two Barres. Why? What was the killer doing after he killed Ozella Barre? Did he get interrupted by someone or something after Ozella’s death? Was the killer trying to get information, and thought Roy would be more forthcoming if he knew up close and personal what the stakes were? Did he think Roy would tell him anything after seeing the woman he had devoted his life to killed in such a terrible way?
“Hector and Scott share Jin’s and David’s love of research,” said Diane. “We’ve converted one of the museum basement rooms to house their project.”
“Well, I’m going to study their proposal. I’m very interested in their ideas,” said Lynn. “Now, about the autopsies. I know you were interested in the time intervals for the Barres, but I’m not going to be able to help you much.”
“I was afraid too much time had passed for a close estimate,” said Diane.
“They didn’t do a liver temp at the scene for them,” said Lynn. “I’m afraid we’re going to have to go with your photographs of the crime scene. You know, I’ve never worked with Rendell County. Which is just as well; I don’t think I would get along with them.”
“I’ve been barred from entering the county,” said Diane.
“What? Why?” asked Lynn.
“I offended Sheriff Conrad,” said Diane. “He thinks I’m stepping on his authority, and in a way, I am. But the Barre children want me to investigate. And besides, I found the Barres and I feel like I owe them.”
“I understand,” said Lynn. “I don’t blame you. I wouldn’t let it go either.”
“What can you tell me about the Watsons?” asked Diane.
“Well, at least a liver temp was done at the scene. It indicates both died within minutes of each other,” said Lynn.
“That’s interesting,” said Diane. “A departure from the Barres.”
“It looks that way,” said Lynn.
Diane was waiting for Lynn to drop the other shoe. So far she hadn’t added anything that Dr. Linden didn’t notice, and she knew that wouldn’t do for Lynn. Diane also heard something in Lynn’s voice. She had a surprise. Diane didn’t spoil it by asking, but let Lynn draw it out.
“There is one thing I found,” Lynn said.
“Oh?” said Diane.
“They were all killed by the same person.”
Diane was speechless for a moment. Not because of the revelation that they were killed by the same person; she suspected it. She didn’t think the Watsons were killed by a copycat. What surprised her was that Lynn had evidence of it.
“Are you still there?” asked Lynn.
Diane could hear in her voice that she was pleased. Lynn loved to show off.
“Yes, I’m here. I’m just speechless,” said Diane. “Tell me about it.”
“I spent a great deal of time examining the neck wounds. Same angle, same depth. All four of their throats were cut down to the vertebra with one slice of the knife,” said Lynn. She paused.
Diane knew what it meant. A strong arm with a long and very sharp knife-as sharp as a scalpel. An expensive knife. Only the highest-quality blades could be as sharp as needed for what Lynn described. Diane had learned all about blade quality when she herself was stabbed. But Diane didn’t offer that conclusion. She knew from experience that Lynn hated to be upstaged in the middle of a story. Diane catered to Lynn’s personality because she used her expertise a lot. Lynn, however high-maintenance a friend she was, was very good at her job.
“It would take a very expensive sharp knife,” she began, and told Diane all the things she already knew about what kind of knife it had to be and the kind of strength it took to cut through muscle and tendons in one slice.
“I made molds of the cuts in the vertebrae,” she said. “Same cut on all of them.”
“Excellent,” said Diane. “Excellent. This is the first real clue I can use.”
“I thought you would like that,” said Lynn. “I sent the report to your e-mail.”
“I can always depend on you to do good work,” said Diane, wondering if she was laying it on a little thick. If she was, Lynn didn’t seem to notice. She took the praise with delight and hung up after they agreed to meet for lunch sometime in the near future.
Diane left her office about the same time Andie was closing up her office. Andie had chosen a vase of roses to take home with her.
“You know, you may get home and discover roses, violets, and daisies all over your front porch,” said Diane.
Andie grinned. “That would be fun.”
“I’ll see you on Monday,” said Diane.
“Nope,” said Andie. “I’ll see you at church on Sunday. Liam asked me to go with him and I agreed.”
Diane raised her eyebrows. That made Frank, Izzy and his wife, and now Andie and Liam. Well, at least she would be surrounded by people she knew. All this was probably arranged by David. She was also sure he would be up to something himself. She thought David was perhaps being a bit too paranoid in this instance. Sheriff Conrad wouldn’t arrest her at church, even a rival church.
