They looked down at a video screen mounted in a console in front of them. The screen was black at first, then an image took up the whole screen, blurry and full of motion. Scott glanced at Dr Bodell, who was manipulating a pen-sized tube around the body’s mouth. The autopsy assistant moved to the nearside of the table and immediately but unwittingly blocked Scott’s view. He looked back to the screen and saw teeth as the camera moved around the mouth.
Dr Bodell’s voice came through the speakers again. ‘There. You see the filling in the canine?’
They replied simultaneously, ‘No.’ Then Scott remembered to press the microphone button so the pathologist could hear them. He pressed it and repeated, ‘No.’
The pathologist chuckled and her assistant passed her an implement.
‘Look at your screen again.’
They watched as a dental pick came into view and traced an oval on the outside surface of the canine.
‘See how it’s slightly whiter there on the labial surface?’
They could barely discern it and said as much. Dr Bodell seemed to be enjoying herself.
‘A very expensive dentist somewhere would love the answers you two are giving.’ Her assistant laughed and the pathologist continued.
‘This is a high quality synthetic filling. Plus, there’s some bonding between the canine and the lateral incisor.’ She looked up at the two visitors. ‘That kind of work isn’t the norm for most of the Jane and John Does we get through here, so if she is in the system, the haystack just got smaller, gentlemen.’
She looked back down at the body. ‘I can see why such good work was done on a mouth like this. Look at the teeth, the smile.’
She was now running the camera slowly across the front teeth. Scott mentally agreed that the teeth seemed unusually uniform in size and color.
Dr Bodell said, ‘If you’ve got the money to preserve a smile like that, you spend it.’
Scott looked from the screen to the pathologist. At that moment, the autopsy assistant stepped to the side, affording him a view of the body again. Scott’s eyes automatically went to its mouth where metal clips now held back the corners of the upper lips. The dead woman appeared to be smiling.
Jayne came down the stairs and followed the voices to her mother’s kitchen. Marie was wrapping sandwiches in wax paper while Steelie sat on the counter.
Steelie looked up at her and said, ‘Your mom wants to help “cleanse” your apartment.’
‘Thank you.’ Jayne gave a slight shudder. ‘I’d love to paint it, actually. Just totally lose all trace that a prowler was there.’
‘Understood,’ Marie said as she put the wax parcels into a paper bag. She handed this to Jayne. ‘For the Agency lunch today. The vegetarian’s for Steelie of course and I want you to ask Carol how she likes my wasabi mayonnaise.’
Jayne gave her a hug that lasted so long, Marie looked over her shoulder at Steelie and raised her eyebrows. Then she kissed her daughter. ‘Does this mean you’ll stay here a few more days?’
Jayne smiled but only said, ‘Come on, Steelie. Carol’s going to beat us to the office at this rate.’
As they walked to Jayne’s truck, Steelie asked, ‘Did you try to call Scott again?’
‘Yes, and it went to voicemail again but this time I left a detailed message.’ She gave a shrug as she rolled down her window and started down Marie’s winding driveway. ‘Who knows what’s going on out there? For all we know, the stakeout turned into a shootout.’
Steelie glanced at her. ‘It may be Arizona but it’s not the Wild West.’ But she gauged Jayne’s mood and added: ‘Look, bad news travels fast, so if you haven’t heard anything, he’s fine.’
Eric and Scott had been questioning Wayne Spicer for two hours in an interview room at the Phoenix police station. Wayne had waived his right to a lawyer, so Scott had started by asking about the body in the freezer, her rigid smile coming into his mind as he looked at Wayne across the table. The suspect hadn’t spoken except to ask for a soda, which he was still nursing, wiping spills from his chin with the inside edge of the shirt he’d been given to wear when the police took his clothes as evidence.
‘She was a nice looking woman, Spicer.’ Scott leaned on his elbows and tilted his head at the man, whose eyes closed against his voice. ‘Where’d you meet her?’ He leaned back in his chair. ‘Were you watching her for a long time?’
Wayne’s eyelids flew open but he didn’t speak.
‘What’d you do with the rest of her clothes? You keep those? Hmm, Spicer? You wear ’em?’
Wayne cupped his large hand around the soda can, swigged quickly, and wiped his chin.
‘Not really your size, her clothes. She was just a tiny thing.’ Scott leaned back across the table. ‘What’d you do? Trick her to come with you?’
There was a flicker of a response in Wayne’s face but he still did not speak.
When Eric took over questioning ten minutes later, he began by repeating questions he’d asked earlier in a different form. ‘That really is a nice van you got, Wayne, with the cot in the back. Like going on road trips?’
No response.
‘You like going north? Need to get a taste of rain every now and then, eh?’ Eric chuckled and put his hands behind his head in a relaxed manner.
‘You like Portland? You’ve been up there, right, Wayne? How about Georgia? Savannah’s the real thing, isn’t it?’
Scott watched from the wall. There wasn’t even a flicker in Wayne’s eyes as he looked directly at Eric.
Scott spoke without lifting his head from the wall. ‘When were you going to cut her up?’
Wayne jumped up, sending his chair backwards to the floor. Eric got to his feet, preparing to fend off the big man but Wayne was stumbling backwards, toward the wall behind him and pointing his finger at Scott, who was standing at the ready across the room.
‘I would
Eric glanced back at Scott, who nodded. Eric asked, ‘Want another soda?’
Wayne contemplated this for a moment and then nodded mutely.
‘OK, we’ll get you a soda.’
The agents left the room together and asked the police officer standing outside to wait with the suspect. Once Scott closed the door, he stopped in the hallway, ran his hands through his hair, and then smoothed it all down again. Eric crossed his arms and leaned against the wall. Phoenix police officers and administrative staff passed but took no notice of them.
‘Well, at least you got a reaction,’ Eric began.
Scott puffed out his cheeks. ‘He doesn’t like talking about the dismemberment.’
‘Let’s push him on it, then.’
Scott nodded. ‘This guy has been under the radar according to NCIC. No criminal record, no voting record, no parking tickets. Where’s he been putting the bodies? And why go back and forth between Georgia and Arizona?’
‘I’ll get the soda.’ Eric went down the hallway and returned a few minutes later with a can. They re-entered the interview room and the police officer left.
This time, Scott sat at the table. He waited for Wayne to start the next soda before speaking.
‘Let’s talk about the cutting.’
Wayne’s eyes flashed but he didn’t speak.
Scott continued. ‘We know you like to cut them up.’
Wayne frowned but remained silent.
‘After all, that’s what you did with Eleanor Patterson. And the others.’
Wayne gripped the edge of the table.
‘Yep, we found your stuff on the side of the freeway. Thought you could hide Mrs Patterson by cutting her into pieces, didn’t ya?’
Wayne started breathing heavily and looked first at Scott, then at Eric, who was standing by the door, and then back at Scott.
‘Well, she’s getting her own back. Her finger’s pointing at you, Spicer. The others will too.’
