Page 20 of Girl, Reformed

Ella's gaze flicked to Luca, gauging hisreaction. He stumbled back a step, then another, until his perfectly sculptedbackside collided with a table.

Ella couldn't blame him. It was one thingto see a body in crime scene photos, another to be up close and personal withthe reality of death.

But to his credit, Luca didn't bolt. Hestood his ground, even as the color drained from his face, leaving him as pastyas the corpse in front of them.

Dr. Patel, seemingly oblivious to Luca'sdistress, launched into his litany. ‘As you can see, external damage isminimal. A few superficial cuts and bruises, nothing that would have been fatalon its own. But I did find a significant contusion on the occipital region ofthe skull.’ He gestured to the back of his own head. ‘And some abrasions aroundthe throat.’

Ella leaned in, studying the bruised andabraded flesh. ‘Strangulation,’ she said flatly. ‘That's our COD?’

Patel nodded. ‘Most likely, yes. Buthere's where it gets interesting.’ He pointed to Georgia’s neck with a glovedfinger. ‘Do you see those marks? The bruising pattern?’

Ella squinted, nose wrinkling at thesickly-sweet stench of decay that wafted up from the body. Patel was right. Themarks around Georgia's throat weren't the usual thumb-shaped impressions you'dexpect to see in a strangulation case. Instead, it was a perfect ring thatencircled the whole neck.

‘Ligature marks?’ Ella asked, though shealready knew the answer.

Patel shook his head. ‘Nope. The abrasionis consistent with a garrote, but in such cases, I usually find fibers of ropeor string. I found no such thing here.’

Ella straightened up. That was weird.Killers who strangled their victims almost always left telltale signs of howthey'd done the deed. Thumb impressions on either side of the windpipe, acrisscross pattern from a ligature, fingernail gouges from the victim trying toclaw their way free.

Luca, who seemed to have recoveredsomewhat from his initial bout of corpse-shock, sidled up next to her. ‘Whatabout a garrote made of leather?’ he asked, voice only slightly strangled.‘Could that account for the circular marks?’

Patel pursed his lips. ‘It's possible.Whatever your perp used was thin. Most offenders who use ligatures go forsomething thicker, like a rope or a belt. Easier to grip, more leverage.’

Ella's mind raced, trying to conjure up ascenario that fit the evidence. A garrote made of what, piano wire? Fishingline? It seemed unnecessarily fiddly for your average murdering psychopath. Butthen, when had serial killers ever done anything the easy way?

She shook her head, shelving thatparticular puzzle piece for later. ‘What about victim number one? Same COD?’

He moved to the second table, pulling backthe sheet to reveal the wan, lifeless face of Archie Newman. Patel noddedgravely. ‘Almost identical. Blunt force trauma to the occipital region,followed by strangulation with the same unusual bruising pattern.’

Ella stared down at Archie's slackfeatures, trying to imagine the terror he must have felt in his final moments.The helplessness, the fear, the dawning realization that this was it. That hewas going to die at the hands of a monster for no reason other than being inthe wrong place at the wrong time.

Ella was about to turn away from Archie'scorpse, ready to file his death under the depressingly thick 'senselesstragedy' tab in her mental Rolodex, when Dr. Patel cleared his throat.

‘There is one more thing,’ he said, in thetone of a man who knew he was about to drop a bombshell. ‘The strangulationmarks on Mr. Newman were more pronounced than on Ms. Bolton. And I found tracesof PVC in the bruising.’

Ella's head snapped up, eyebrows climbingtowards her hairline. ‘PVC? Like, the plastic?’

Patel nodded, looking insufferably pleasedwith himself. ‘The very same. It may be unrelated to the strangulation itself,but it's definitely present in the wounds.’

Ella frowned, leaning in to get a closerlook. Patel was right. The bruising around Archie's throat was dark purple inplaces.

Her mind whirred like a well-oiledmachine, trying to slot this new piece of information into the puzzle. PVC inthe strangulation marks. What the hell did that mean? Did the unsub use somekind of plastic cord as a garrote? But why bother, when good old-fashioned ropeor piano wire was deadlier?

She chewed on her lower lip, worrying atthe chapped skin with her teeth. Beside her, Luca shifted from foot to foot,clearly buzzing with theories of his own.

‘Hawkins?’ she prodded.

‘Could just be a difference in strength,’Luca mused. He still looked like he was one or two heaves away from losing thebattle with his gag reflex. ‘Archie was our unsub’s first kill, so hisadrenaline would be pumping harder on the first go-round.’

‘Good thought,’ Ella said. ‘Stands to reasonthe marks would be more pronounced on Archie. Unsub was probably still workingout the kinks, figuring out how much pressure to apply, how long to hold it.’

‘He wanted to make sure his first kill wasa success,’ Luca added.

‘What about time of death?’ she asked,turning back to Patel.

The coroner flipped through his notes.‘Based on liver temp and rigor, I'd estimate both victims had been deceasedapproximately six to eight hours before they ended up on my table.’

Six hours. The gears in Ella's head spunfaster, greased by the thrill of the hunt. So, the killer was on a tightschedule. Snatch, kill, pose, dump, all in the span of a few short hours. Whichmeant he was organized, efficient, and driven by a compulsion that wouldn't lethim rest until his grisly work was done.

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