Carnal Innocence

say left to right, indicating a right-handed assailant. In layman's terms, ladies and gentlemen, her throat was slit from ear to ear, probably by a knife with a…' He whistled as he measured. 'Six- to seven-inch blade. Anybody out there see Crocodile Dundee?' He tried on a heavy Aussie accent. 'Now, that's a knife! On examination of other traumas, this throat wound was probable cause of death. It would do the job, believe me. I'm a doctor.'

He whistled 'Theme from A Summer Place' as he continued his exam. 'A blow to the base of the skull by a heavy, rough-textured instrument.' Delicately, he tweezered out fragments. 'Bagging fragments that appear to be wood or tree bark for forensic. I think we'll agree that victim was clubbed with a tree branch. Blow issued prior to death. If you detectives out there conclude that the blow rendered the victim unconscious, you win a free trip for two to Barbados and a complete set of Samsonite luggage.'

He glanced up as the door opened. Burns nodded at him. Teddy smiled. 'Let the record show that Special Agent Matthew Burns has arrived to watch the master at work. How's it hanging, Burnsie?'

'Your progress?'

'Oh, Edda Lou and I are getting to know each other. Thought we'd go dancing later.'

Inside Burns's clenched jaw his teeth ground together. 'As always, Rubenstein, your humor is revolting and pathetic.'

'Edda Lou appreciates it, don't you, dear?' He patted her hand. 'Bruises and broken skin at wrists and ankles.' Using his tools, he located and removed tiny white fibers, bagged them while he continued to detail, cheerfully, his findings.

Burns suffered through another fifteen minutes. 'Was she sexually assaulted?'

'Pretty hard to tell,' Teddy said through pursed lips. 'I'm going to take tissue samples.' Burns averted his eyes as Teddy did so. 'I put her in the water for twelve to fifteen hours. A rough guess before I run the tests puts time of death between eleven and three on the night of June sixteenth.'

'I want those results asap.'

Teddy continued taking his scrapings. 'God, I love it when you talk in acronyms.'

Burns ignored him. 'I want to know everything there is to know about her. What she ate, when she ate it. If she was drugged or had used alcohol. If she had sexual relations. She was supposed to be pregnant. I want to know how many weeks.'

'I'll take a look.' Teddy turned, ostensibly to exchange instruments. 'You might want to check out her left molar. I found it very interesting.'

'Her teeth?'

'That's right. I've never seen anything like it.'

Intrigued, Burns leaned over. He opened Edda Lou's mouth, narrowed his eyes.

'Kiss me, you fool,' she demanded. Burns yelped and stumbled back.

'Jesus. Jesus Christ.'

As laughter doubled him over, Teddy had to sit down or fall down. He'd spent months studying ventriloquism for just such a moment. The wild-eyed panic on Burn's face had made it all worthwhile.

'You've got some style, Burnsie. Even dead women fall for you.'

Fighting for control, Burns clenched his fists at his sides. If he took a swipe at Rubenstein, he'd have no choice but to put himself on report. 'You're fucking crazy.'

Teddy only pointed at Burns's white face, pointed at Edda Lou's gray one, and whooped.

There wasn't any use threatening, Burns knew. Any official complaint he made would be duly noted, then ignored. Rubenstein was the best. A known lunatic, but the best.

'I want the results of your tests by the end of the day, Rubenstein. You may find it all highly amusing, but I have a psychopath to stop.'

Unable to speak, Teddy just nodded and held his aching ribs.

When Burns swung out the door, Teddy wiped his teary eyes and slid off the stool. 'Edda Lou, honey,' he said in a voice still breathless with mirth. 'I can't thank you enough for your cooperation. Believe me, you're going down in the annals of history for this one. The boys back in D.C. are going to love it.'

Whistling, he picked up his scalpel and went back to work.

Chapter Eight

Darleen Fuller Talbot listened to the sounds of the Truesdale barbecue drifting through her bedroom window. She thought it was a damn shame that uppity Susie Truesdale hadn't even invited her own next-door neighbor to the party.

Darleen would've liked a party to take her mind off her troubles.

Of course Susie didn't socialize with Darleen. She preferred the Longstreets, or the Shayses, or the nose-in- the-air Cunninghams from across the street. And didn't she know for certain that high-and-mighty John Cunningham had cheated on his prissy wife with Josie Longstreet?'

It seemed to Darleen that Susie had forgotten she'd had to get married and had waited tables at the Chat 'N Chew while her belly was bulging. Maybe her husband had come from rich, but he hadn't ended up that way. Everybody knew Burke's daddy had killed himself because all he had left was a pile of debts.

The Truesdales were no better than she was, and neither were the Longstreets. Maybe her daddy made his way working at a cotton gin instead of owning one, but he wasn't a drunk. And he wasn't dead.

Darleen thought it was downright unfriendly that Susie would give a party right out in the backyard where the smell of grilling meat and spicy sauce could make someone feel lonely. Why, even her own brother was down there-not that Bobby Lee ever gave his sister's feelings any thought.

The hell with him, the tight-assed Truesdales, and everybody else. She didn't want to go to any damn party anyhow. Even if Junior was working four to midnight down at the gas station. How could she laugh and lick barbecue sauce off her fingers when her very best friend in all the world was going to be set in the ground come Tuesday?

She sighed, and Billy T., who was sucking for all his worth on her rosy breasts, took that to mean she was finally going to start putting some effort into it.

He shifted so he could stick his tongue in her ear. 'Come on, baby, you get on top.'

'Okay.' That perked her interest. Junior not only liked it only in bed these days, but he liked it only in one position.

When they were finished, Billy T. lay puffing contentedly on a Marlboro. Darleen stared at the ceiling, listening to the music from the Truesdales'.

'Billy T.,' she said, her mouth moving into a pout. 'Don't you figure it's rude to give a party and not ask your next-door neighbors?'

'Shit, Darleen, will you stop worrying about them people?'

'It just ain't right.' Piqued by his lack of sympathy, Darleen rose to fetch her rose-scented talcum powder. If she was going to pick up Scooter from her ma's in an hour, it was the quickest way to soak up the scent of sweat and sex. 'I mean she thinks she's better'n me. Her snotty Marvella, too. Just 'cause they're friends with the Longstreets.' She tugged on her T-shirt and shorts, forgoing underwear as a concession to the heat. Her breasts, high and full and round, bulged against the cotton, distorting the faded picture of Elvis. 'That Tucker's down there right now, cozying up to the Waverly woman. Why, Edda Lou ain't even buried yet.'

'Tucker's a shithead. Always was.'

'Well, Edda Lou loved him to distraction. He brought her perfume.' She sent a hopeful look toward Billy T., but he was too busy blowing smoke rings. Darleen turned back to frown out the window. 'I just hate them. Hate them all. Why, if Burke Truesdale wasn't Tucker's best friend, that boy would be locked up, same as Austin Hatinger.'

'Hell.' Billy T. rubbed his damp belly and wondered if they could get in one more poke. 'Tucker's a shithead, but he ain't no killer. Everybody knows it was a black that done it. Them blacks the one's who like to carve up white women.'

'He broke her heart just the same. It just seems he ought to pay somehow.' She looked back at Billy T., one