‘What do you mean?’ A slight head shake.
‘I called Anna to let her know I’d be home late yesterday, but she decided to wait for me so we could have dinner together.’
‘That’s nice.’ Hunter sipped his coffee and pulled a bitter face.
‘When I got home, Anna was in the kitchen.’ Garcia buttoned up his coat. ‘As soon as she heard me walk in, she threw two steaks onto the grilling pan. The sizzling noise, together with the smell of cooking meat, hit me like a ton of bricks. I puked right there on the kitchen floor.’
‘Oh shit! That can’t be good.’ They started walking towards the LACDC building.
‘Obviously, I didn’t tell her about the investigation and the real reason why, all of a sudden, a sizzling steak was making me throw up.’ He paused and pulled his longish hair away from his eyes. ‘I was born in Brazil, Robert. I was practically brought up on steak. It’s my favorite food.’
‘What did you tell her?’
Garcia laughed tensely. ‘I came up with some bullshit about a stomach bug going around at the station.’
‘Did she buy that?’ Hunter’s eyebrows arched.
‘Hell no. Anna’s too smart for that kind of crap. But she pretended she did.’
Hunter gave Garcia an understanding smile.
‘That’s not all. I needed to have a shower. That godforsaken smell was all over me like zits on a teenager, and I was sure Anna could smell it too. I passed on dinner and locked myself in the bathroom for about an hour. My skin was red-raw from all the scrubbing, but the smell just won’t go away.’ He brought his right wrist to his nose.
‘It’s not on you, Carlos,’ Hunter said without going into details.
‘And then came the tossing and turning in bed,’ Garcia continued. ‘It was like her melted face and burned body were hiding behind my eyelids. I couldn’t close them. Not only did I get no sleep, but I kept Anna up all night. I know I’m starting to scare her again, Robert. She ain’t exactly over what happened during the Crucifix Killer’s case, you know.’
They reached the main building and were allowed in by the security guard, who told them Doctor Winston was waiting for them in autopsy room 2A. They suited up and Garcia popped two anti-acid tablets in his mouth before making his way to the room on the far end of the corridor. The doctor was sitting at the microscope counter, flipping through some result sheets. His shoulders were hunched forward, his hair in a mess.
‘Did you pull an “all-nighter”, doc?’ Hunter asked, closing the door behind them.
Doctor Winston looked up slowly. ‘Almost.’ He gave them a faint smile before approaching the stainless-steel table where the woman’s body lay. Hunter and Garcia pulled their surgical masks over their noses and mouths and followed.
‘What we have here is—’ Doctor Winston paused and shook his head, as if words weren’t enough to explain ‘—a masterpiece of evil. Whoever this killer is, he must’ve hated this woman with every fiber in his body.’
Forty-Seven
With the woman’s body stretched over the autopsy table, Hunter could see the extent of her injuries more clearly. The blisters on her torso had all burst open, and the edges of the scabs were black and curled up. The exposed flesh had dehydrated from the intense heat, but some of it still kept a deep pink, sunburned-type color. Her lower legs and hands were crusty and charcoaled. Some bone parts were now visible. But still, the injuries to her face mesmerized Hunter. Mike Brindle was right. It looked like the skin had melted into clumps, just like a candle.
‘My guess is that she was probably unconscious when she was tied to the armchair,’ Doctor Winston explained. ‘But there are no bumps on her head.’
‘Drugged?’
‘That’s the logical conclusion. I’m still waiting for the results from the lab, but I’m certain the killer didn’t use a hard intravenous drug.’
‘Why not?’ Garcia questioned.
‘It’d be overkill. The killer needed only to knock her out for a few minutes so he could undress her and tie her down. Any longer than that and he’d be losing precious time.’
‘The killer wanted her to be conscious so she could suffer,’ Hunter concluded, walking around to her left side.
‘It all points that way,’ the doctor agreed. ‘The killer knew that by Monday he had to be out of that house. He knew exactly how long he had to torture her, and I bet he used every second of it.’
‘Drugged cloth over the nose and mouth?’ Hunter asked.
‘Most probably.’ The answer came with a sequence of quick nods. ‘A common volatile agent, almost certainly ether based.’
‘Any names?’
‘Huh,’ Doctor Winston chuckled. ‘Anything like Enflurane, Desflurane, Sevoflurane, Insoflurane. I can get you a list if you like.’
‘That easy to come by?’ Garcia this time.
‘Easy enough. And those are the most common, non-irritant when inhaled ones. I don’t think the killer was really concerned if the skin around her mouth got little acid burns from the wet cloth. He could’ve used almost anything.’
‘Great!’
‘Due to the state her body’s in, we won’t be able to tell if she was sexually assaulted, but I don’t believe she was.’
‘Neither do I,’ Hunter agreed. ‘Whatever satisfaction this killer is after, it isn’t sexual.’
‘The main torture here is unseen, Robert,’ the doctor said, lifting his eyebrows.
‘What do you mean?’ Garcia looked intrigued.
‘She suffered a lot from the skin and subsequent flesh burns, but what the killer was really doing was roasting her alive.’ Doctor Winston paused, allowing the full extent of what he was saying to be absorbed. ‘If you put someone in front of an intense fire for long enough without allowing them to move, without giving them water, consequently their internal organs will start to cook.’
‘Oh Jesus Christ.’ Garcia ran both hands through his hair and interlaced his fingers at the back of his head.
‘That’s right. Liver, kidneys, pancreas, stomach, lungs, heart, every organ in her body would’ve responded to dehydration and the constant increase in temperature.’ The doctor bit his lip and shook his head in disgust. ‘Her blood literally boiled.’
Hunter closed his eyes for an instant.
‘Her liver and kidneys were still hot when I pulled them out of her body during the autopsy. And every organ I looked at had some severe damage caused by heat and dehydration. It was like a race to see which organ would give in and burst first.’
Silence settled, and Hunter allowed his eyes to drift back to the woman’s face.
‘Now that was ingenious,’ Doctor Winston said, following Hunter’s stare. ‘Evil, but ingenious nonetheless.’
‘You mean, causing her face to melt?’ Garcia asked and felt his stomach go rigid again.
‘Achieving that effect, really. Skin won’t melt.’
‘Yeah, I was told.’ Garcia nodded. ‘So how the hell did the killer get her face to look like that?’
‘He used an accelerant.’ Doctor Winston paused and raised his right index finger to emphasize a point. ‘Actually, it looks like he used a combination. And that’s where the ingenious part comes from.’
Hunter made a face, as if he couldn’t wait to hear it.
‘Again, I need confirmation from the lab, but a quick first test showed the killer could’ve used something as common as lard.’
‘You’re kidding?’
