Roberts began talking into his voice recorder, then stopped for a moment and pointed at Kirkland.
'What's your name?'
Kirkland felt a leap in his heart, and his voice faltered for a moment. 'Michael Kirkland, San Francisco, homicide.'
'Case number 5622, Amanda Marie Carlyle, 22-year-old female, victim of apparent homicide, Lawrence Roberts pathologist, witnesses Inspector Thomas James and Detective Michael Kirkland of San Francisco, homicide.'
As Roberts delved into recording the details of the case, Stillwell finished printing the old man and quietly packed up his kit and started for the door.
James stopped him and whispered. 'You gonna run those prints through the system?'
'I hadn't planned to. It was just routine,' said Stillwell who froze as Roberts looked up from his recorder and in their direction. James pushed Stillwell out of the autopsy room and into the foyer of the morgue, 'Run them anyway, I'd just feel better if you did.'
Stillwell nodded to James and departed as quickly—and silently—as he could. James returned to the autopsy of Amanda Carlyle. As was the protocol, Stevens began to slowly remove each item of Amanda's clothing once Roberts was satisfied there was no further evidence to be gathered. Soon the young woman lay naked before the four men.
'She's got herself a tramp stamp,' noted Roberts pointing to her freshly shaved pubic area.
James looked closer. 'Looks new too.'
Roberts and James leaned in to get a better view. Kirkland stepped away from the table.
'Think I'll skip this show guys.'
James furrowed his brow as he attempted to read the tattoo. 'It looks like a drawing of a pig. What does that say?'
Roberts clicked his recorder on. 'Decedent has a single color tattoo on the mons pubis. Pictured is a cartooned design of a pig facing towards the left side of the body, with the words on the side of it reading:
Roberts looked at James for a reaction. James shrugged his shoulders. He then returned to the wall next to Kirkland. Roberts resumed talking into his recorder once again dictating the current state of the body. Stopping he placed his hand on her chin. Slowly turning her head left and then repeating the ritual by turning it to the right. Confused both James and Kirkland watched him.
'This girl has had a cerebral hemorrhage,' said Roberts.
James pulled himself away from the wall.
'Really?'
Roberts motioned for James to come join him.
'Look there, the eye on the right. See how the pupil is all the way open and the eye on the left appears to be normal?'
James nodded his understanding.
'Her brain has been blown out. I guarantee once we get inside the skull there will be blood, this may not be a homicide boys.'
James was suddenly confounded.
'Wait a second, this girl was alive last night at a club with another girl. I know it's odd she ended up in a funeral home ahead of schedule, but how can you say it might not be a homicide?'
'Come on, Tom, this sort of thing can be congenital, weak arteries, high blood pressure, habitual cocaine abuse. How do you know she's not a junkie?'
'So she just brings a life sized portrait of herself to the local mortuary, finds a casket she fancies, shoots a little smack and hops in?' James asked. 'Come on Larry, look at her, she's beautiful. I admit that she's dead, but does she look like a junkie?'
Roberts put his recorder down. 'Remember your first case, the 10-year-old girl? Same thing, her grandfather said she slept all weekend long, he thought she had the flu, when he finally came in to wake her up she had been dead two days.'
'I remember.'
Kirkland cut into the conversation. 'So what was it?'
Roberts turned to him. 'We couldn't figure out what had happened based on the history. Then I saw the overly dilated pupil. Examined her arms for signs of shooting up, nothing. Then I remembered a colleague of mine had dealt with a similar case. You remember what I did Tom?' asked the doctor.
'Yeah, you looked between her fingers with a magnifying glass.'
'Exactly, and that's where we found the needle marks.'
Kirkland was stunned. 'You're kidding me. A 10-year-old was shooting cocaine?'
'Wayne, get my magnifying glass,' ordered Roberts.
In moments the doctor was checking Amanda's hands. From his expression James could tell he wasn't finding anything. Roberts then moved down to the girl's feet and spread her toes. His expression changed once again to one of triumph.
'Bingo,' said Roberts.
Kirkland shook his head in denial.
'She actually shot up between her toes?'
'That means she's hiding her drug use from someone,' said James.
'Is it possible, Dr. Roberts, she didn't inject herself?' asked Kirkland.
'You're suggesting perhaps that her injections were forced?' quizzed the pathologist.
'Yeah.'
'Sure it's possible, but I don't see any signs that her feet or ankles had been bound or held down.'
Their attention was suddenly taken to the swinging doors. Stillwell stood out of breath. His faced covered in sweat and his complexion pale.
'Tom, you're not going to believe this! You're old guy, 84-year-old Richard Skylar. He's not Richard Skylar at all. He's 95-year-old, Hermann Kritzler.'
'Okay, so the old guy lied about his age and changed his name. Big deal,' said Kirkland.
'Who the hell is Hermann Kritzler?' asked James as he saw Roberts face go white.
'Reinhard's rapist,' said the doctor in a hollow tone.
'Reinhard's what? What are you guys talking about?' asked James.
'Reinhard Heydrich was Himmler's number one man. He ran the Belzek death camp. Kritzler, was chosen to organize transportation of Poles and Jews to Belzek,' said Roberts.
'This guy is a Nazi?' asked Kirkland
'He's not just any Nazi, he's a Nazi who actually begged and bribed Heydrich for his position at Belzek. A position that gave him total control over deciding which women would go immediately to the gas chambers and which would be selected for his special project.'
'Special project?' asked Kirkland.
'Women began learning that they could avoid the gas chamber if they begged him for sex which he eagerly indulged in. He still had them killed anyway. Along with the ones who didn't offer him sex, usually the younger girls. Those were the ones he took special pleasure in raping.' Roberts paused for a moment. 'Later, when he came to Auschwitz the raping didn't stop, he continued at the same time having an affair with one of the women guards, Irma Grese. She took revenge by strangling the girls with their own hair.' Roberts sounded as if he was reciting a biography, James thought.
'If I'm not mistaken, wasn't it against the law for Germans to have sex with Jews?' asked Kirkland.
Roberts nodded.
'Then why would a Nazi want to have sex with a race of women he hated?'
'Rape is a act of violence, not affection detective,' said Roberts.
'This frail old man?' quizzed James.
'This frail old man is a sadistic fiend!' said Roberts pointedly.
'He's been on the Mossad's most wanted list for the last 60 years. His fingerprints came up instantly when I
