Page 15 of So Smitten

“Looks like he put up a fight,” Michael said.

“Oh yeah. We believe it took the killer some time to subdue him.”

“This seems silly to ask given the photographs,” Faith asked, “but what was the cause of death?”

“Not silly to ask at all,” Garvey reassured her. “Check the last photo.”

Faith flipped to the last photo and gasped. The photo was a closeup of Harvey Harris’s neck. A blackened and blistered mark ran all the way around as though he had been strangled by a noose of fire.

“Jesus,” Michael whispered. “What am I looking at?”

“Electrical burn,” Garvey replied, “a really bad one. That is the cause of death for both victims.”

“Both victims?”

"Yes. It looks like a very large shock collar was slipped over their heads, and they were shocked to death with it."

“I didn’t think they made shock collars that powerful,” Faith replied.

“They don’t.” Garvey confirmed. “This would have to have been modified by the killer to push through far more amps than legally allowed. It wouldn’t take all that much, to be honest. He’d just have to pull out the electrodes from the collar and shove in something more powerful, like a cattle prod magnet or something. Either way, the coroner thinks we’re looking at anywhere from a quarter-amp to a full-amp of current at at least a thousand volts but probably more.”

Michael whistled. “This wasn’t a murder,” he said, “this was a message.”

“That’s what we believe,” Garvey said seriously. “We’re looking into other criminal gangs.”

“Top suspects?” Faith replied.

Garvey chuckled. “For something like this? I wish I could say this narrows the list down, but even the least powerful street gangs get creative when they’re sending a message. It could be anything from the Hansen Hellraisers to the Sinaloa Cartel.”

“Besides the body and the blood spatter,” Faith asked, “what evidence have you uncovered?”

“That’s it so far. The killer entered through the bedroom window, caught Harris smoking a bong in the living room and attacked him. Harris fought back hard, hence the destruction of his living room. At one point, he tried to escape. We found fingerprints on the front door and scuff marks from size fourteen work boots on the ground where the killer grabbed him and dragged him away.”

“Size fourteen?” Faith said.

“Lovely,” Michael added, “another freak of nature.”

Garvey grinned. “You didn’t think this job would be easy, did you?”

“Have you interviewed the neighbors?” Faith asked.

“There’s no point,” Garvey replied. “The answer is yes, we did, but all we got were variations on the theme of didn’t see anything. Frankly, agents, Harvey could have been executed in the middle of the street while the killer broadcasted his name and street address via megaphone, and no one would have admitted to seeing anything. People who talk to cops get killed out here.”

Faith looked again at the photos. She knew that Harvey Harris was far from a good man, but the image of his destroyed living room and the knowledge that he had fought for his life the way he did, only to succumb to a crazed killer, elicited a bout of sympathy for the man.

Gordon had died the same way.

Faith put the photos in her pocket and said, “What about the second crime scene?”

“That one’s a little easier,” Garvey replied. “That’s Grant Street out past Maplewood. It’s a poor neighborhood there, and I wouldn’t expect anyone there to offer any more help than the people there, but it’s not full of gangsters, and people keep their dogs on a leash. There’s not much as far as evidence either, other than the cut fence and some bootprints, but I’ll save you time on the boots. Size fourteen Doc Marten knockoffs, sold for thirty bucks in every warehouse store in the United States.”

“They don’t sell size fourteens in stores,” Faith corrected.

Garvey shrugged. “They do here. You’ll get the full report, of course, if you want to check my work. Between you and me, I think the gang connection is our best bet.”

“Was Vinny connected to the Georgia Syndicate?” Faith asked.

“We haven’t established a connection yet, but considering his past, I’m guessing it’s more likely than not that he was working for them as a procurer.”

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