through that X-ray machine of yours.’
‘Not in this state, no,’ the doctor agreed.
‘And what in God’s creation does that mean?’
Doctor Hove moved back to the other side of the autopsy table, putting some distance between herself and the other three.
‘What this is, is a weapon like I’ve never seen before. Here we have a stack of twelve quarter-inch-wide razor blades held together by a very strong and potent spring mechanism. These blades are laser sharp. And when I say laser sharp, I mean a Samurai sword cuts like a baseball bat when compared to these.’
Hunter rubbed his eyes and shifted uncomfortably.
‘I don’t get it,’ Garcia said, shaking his head. ‘As the captain said, that isn’t what we saw. So what did you mean when you said not in this state, Doc?’
‘You obviously remember what we saw inside her body when we used the X-ray machine, right?’ Doctor Hove clarified. ‘Big, triangular shape with a rounded base? Something like a large protractor?’ She didn’t wait for a reply. ‘OK, how do you suppose the killer managed to get that inside her? You’ll have to agree that its rounded base was way too wide for it to be simply inserted into her body.’
Hunter let out a deep, heavy breath, his eyes back on the object in the doctor’s hands. ‘Some sort of spreading knife.’
Captain Blake’s attention swung to Hunter. ‘Some sort of what?’
‘That’s exactly it,’ the doctor confirmed, showing everyone the long and thin metal object again. ‘In this closed format, the killer would’ve had no problems inserting this thing into her before sewing her shut.’
The shiver Garcia had fought off as he entered the building returned, and this time he was powerless against it.
‘Once inside,’ the doctor continued, ‘this happened.’ She held the object by one of its tips using only her thumb and index finger. With her other hand’s forefinger she clicked an almost invisible button at the top of it.
WHACK.
Forty-Eight
Caught completely by surprise, everyone jumped back.
‘Shit!’ Captain Blake let out in a high-pitched voice, bringing a hand to her mouth.
‘Holy crap, what the fuck?’ Garcia’s hands shot up towards his face in a protective reflex.
In a fraction of a second, with a loud metallic thwack, the blades on the object in Doctor Hove’s hands had snapped open exactly like a Chinese hand fan. Every shocked eye in the room was on it, and though their mouths were half-open, not a word was uttered. Doctor Hove carefully placed the object down on Kelly’s stomach, its narrower tip just touching her pubic bone.
‘This is about the position this thing was found inside her,’ she finally said, her voice quieter, her tone darker than before. ‘As you can see, the area it covers is almost the entire width of her abdomen.’
Captain Blake let go of the breath she had been holding for the past minute.
‘As I said,’ the doctor moved on, ‘these blades are laser sharp on both edges. The springs that were used to smack them open are small but very powerful. Able to generate several pounds of pressure. Probably the equivalent to someone hatching down with a meat cleaver. This thing sliced through everything in its path.’
She indicated a large female body organ diagram on the wall behind her.
‘Her urethra, bladder, cervix, uterus, ovary, vaginal cavity, everything in her reproductive system was mutilated instantly. The blades also managed to rip through muscle, her appendix and part of her large intestine. Her pelvic bone was chipped. There was no way she could’ve survived this. The internal hemorrhage she suffered was. . unthinkable, but death wouldn’t have been instantaneous. The pain she went through is something that even Satan would’ve had trouble imagining.’
Hunter ran a hand over his mouth. ‘How long?’
‘How long did she suffer for?’ The doctor shrugged. ‘Depends on how strong she was. A matter of minutes, probably. But to her I’m sure it felt like days.’
All eyes returned to the object the doctor had placed on Kelly’s stomach.
‘So how does this thing work again?’ Captain Blake asked.
‘Simple,’ the doctor said, picking it up. ‘The blades are way too sharp for anyone to touch them, so moving them back to their starting position could pose a problem, but there’s a retracting mechanism built into it.’ She indicated a round screw just a couple of centimeters from the object’s base — the side that held one of the ends of the blades together. Using a screwdriver she retrieved from a glass-fronted cabinet, Doctor Hove began to turn it slowly. As she did, the blades started retracting behind each other, closing the fan-like knife. Less than a minute later they were all stacked up like a deck of cards just like before.
‘The trigger is this button,’ the doctor indicated it with her finger, ‘very similar to the ones you see in click pens.’
They all moved closer to have a better look.
‘So if this thing went off inside her, who clicked it on?’ the captain asked.
‘Well, I said the trigger is very similar to a clicking pen mechanism, but not identical. The difference is that this one is much more sensitive. I also said this was an ingenious piece of work. Check this out.’ She stepped back, holding the strange knife just as she had moments earlier. This time, instead of clicking the trigger with her finger, she simply jerked it down about four inches, as if shaking a cocktail shaker, but only once.
WHACK. The knife fanned out with a metallic thud once again.
‘It activates itself,’ the doctor said. ‘All it needs is a little bump.’
Hunter’s mind went into overdrive. ‘Fuck! The table. . and the counter. . that’s why. . the impact.’
Captain Blake gave him a slight headshake, still not with him.
‘Do you think a clicking trigger mechanism just like that one could’ve been used to activate the bomb that was placed inside Laura Mitchell?’ Hunter faced the doctor.
She thought about it for a second and her face transformed as realization dawned. ‘It could’ve been easily adapted, yes. It’s such a sensitive mechanism that Doctor Winston could’ve activated it by mistake as he pulled the bomb out of the victim without even noticing it.’
‘How tall was she?’ Hunter asked, nodding at Kelly Jensen’s body.
‘Five six,’ the doctor replied.
Hunter turned to Captain Blake. ‘The table inside the old preschool, and the butcher’s counter in East LA had both been raised off the ground about a foot by wooden blocks or bricks. Neither of the victims was very tall. Laura Mitchell was five seven. The killer was making sure that his victims wouldn’t just climb down from where they were once they woke up. They had to
‘Oh God!’ Doctor Hove’s eyes returned to the knife. ‘The impact as their feet hit the ground would’ve jerked the object inside them.’
‘Enough to activate the trigger mechanism?’ Captain Blake asked.
‘Easily,’ Doctor Hove replied. A moment later she brought a hand to her mouth as she realized what it all meant. ‘Jesus! The killer wanted to make them kill themselves without them knowing it.’
Forty-Nine
‘OK,’ Captain Blake said closing the door to Hunter and Garcia’s office just minutes after getting back to Parker Center. ‘What the hell is going on? I can almost get my head around a psycho being obsessed with painters. Both of them brunettes. Both of them somewhere in their thirties. Both of them attractive. In this city, that kind of obsession is
