Page 12 of So Twisted

“Now these have swollen a little bit, so they weren’t that big to begin with,” Cuthbert said, “but they were far too big and spread apart to have come from a mamba.”

“You a snake expert?” Michael asked.

“I am not. But I watch Animal Planet. And Animal Planet taught me that mambas are elapids. Means they’re related to cobras. Cobras have very thin, narrow fangs, like needles. They’re also not spread very far apart. If this was a mamba bite, we’d be looking at much smaller marks. Now vipers like adders and rattlesnakes, they have big fangs spaced more widely apart. Those would absolutely make the kind of marks we see here.”

“You’re sure a rattlesnake didn’t just escape on its own?” Michael asked.

“The mamba was the only uncaged animal we found here,” Cuthbert said, “Now if I were being pedantic, I would say that it’s possible that a snake escaped earlier, then escaped the house after doing in Chen. But considering the death of Marcus Reeves two nights ago, I’m thinking it’s not very likely.”

Faith and Michael shared a look.

“So you think that we have a killer who’s killing people in disguise as different animals and trying to pass the blame to said animals?” Faith summarized.

Cuthbert nodded slowly. “Yes. I’m afraid I do.”

Turk sniffed around Chen’s body while Faith and Michael processed that information. The small part of Faith that wondered if Saul was only defending his precious cats was convinced now. This was the work of a human hand.

“You get anything, boy?”

Turk whined mournfully and stepped away from the body.

“I feel you, boy,” Cuthbert sympathized.” It’s horrible.”

“Did you see the other crime scene?” Michael asked.

“Yeah, I’m the detective assigned to the case.” He shook his head. “I didn’t believe it until now, though. I kind of wish I’d called you guys sooner.”

“It probably wouldn’t have made a difference,” Michael said. “We work fast, but…”

He left the sentence unfinished, but the words echoed in Faith’s mind.Killers like this work faster.

“The manager of the zoo said that he thinks the killer used some sort of tool to mimic a cat’s bite. He said the bite marks on the throat looked like it had been torn out by something with several flat blades like incisors.

Cuthbert took a deep breath. He seemed to be steadying himself to confront the image in his mind. "Yeah. That's… well, it was hard for me to tell, but he told me the same thing. We're waiting for the autopsy report. But…" He lifted his hands and let them drop against his pant legs. "This one, I know for sure. The killer used something to mimic a snakebite. I would say a barbecue fork, but the tips are too far apart. The point is, I'm on Saul's side now. That means I'm on your side."

A hissing noise behind them pulled their eyes away from the body. Two animal control officers carried a cage with a large black-and-white lizard. The lizard glared at the officers and whipped its tail at the bars of its crate.

One of the officers noticed the stares. “Tegu. Real pretty lizards. Not this aggressive if you take care of them.” He pointed at Chen. “She didn’t take care of them.”

The three officers and their K9 watched in silence as animal control took the tegu outside. When the door closed behind them, Cuthbert said. “So that leads us to a question I’m sure youwere going to ask at some point: who would want to kill Alison Chen? Well, we don’t have a name yet, but Chen here had a history of animal abuse.”

Faith raised an eyebrow. “Is that so?”

“That is so. She was indicted ten years ago for owning nine German Shepherds in a studio apartment in Omaha. Animal control over there said when they arrived, the dogs were in appalling condition. They had to put five of them down that day and a sixth one a week later.”

Turk gave Chen’s body a fishy look and stepped away. Faith couldn’t blame him, but she still felt a pang of guilt. Good person or not, she was a person, and someone had murdered her. It was their job to find out who.

“So she switched from dogs to reptiles.”

“Birds before that. Six years ago, she was living in another apartment in Omaha, and neighbors complained of a smell. Turns out the smell was a thick veneer of bird shit all over her apartment.

Michael groaned. “Ugh.”

“Oh yeah. Almost makes you thankful for the reptile shit we’re smelling now. Anyway, last year there were fish tanks with a bunch of rotting goldfish and now it’s reptiles.”

“Jesus. Who kept selling her animals?”

"I keep saying there should be a background check for pet owners," Cuthbert says, "and animal cruelty should be a felony every time. You're in law enforcement, so you know. Serial killers start with animals and move on to people. We'd catch a lot more of them before that point if there was proper policing of animal rights violations." He looked at Chen. "Although I guess she was on the wrong end of that equation."

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