Page 74 of Vengeance of Childhood Proportions

Knocking on the glass door had us both turning to see Dr. Robinson enter. Since he worked in the City Building on Seward Street, it was rare to see him in our offices.

“Welcome to the Saunders Building,” I said sarcastically. “And what brings you to our neck of the woods?”

The coroner put two file folders on the conference room table. “I identified the body found at the hourly motel this morning. Now that we have a checklist that we’re working off, it makes IDing a body a little too easy.” He handed the first to me. “Samuel Keene.”

“Fuck,” I murmured as I accepted the folder. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Mira walk up to the whiteboard and move Keene’s photo from theMissingcolumn to theVictimscolumn. “We’ve increased patrols in the area. The entire town is on edge waiting for the next body to drop. How is this guy getting around unnoticed?”

Dr. Robinson caught sight of Mira moving, too, and then his eyes flicked to the right. “Is this her?” I turned as he approached my whiteboard. “Holly?”

I leaned my ass back against the edge of the table, crossing my arms over my chest. I was still holding Keene’s file, though I hadn’t opened it yet. “Yeah, Holly Marteen.”

“So young,” Dr. Robinson’s voice was filled with sorrow. I’d overheard an intern once ask Dr. Robinson how he didn’t cry at every body.“I am the voice for the dead,”he’d replied.“And I won’t be able to speak clearly if I cried for the dead.”

Mira put her hands in her suit jacket pockets. “She was fourteen in that picture. We couldn’t find a picture in the next year’s yearbook, though she was still registered as a student. She was sixteen when she committed suicide in 2011.”

Dr. Robinson nodded slowly, still studying her picture. “You were right that she’s the cause of all this.”

I knew he was speaking to me, even though his back was to me. “What makes you say that?”

Other investigators had taken the body at the motel this morning so I could stay and deliver Roberts’ confession to the ADA.

“Open the folder.”

I did. “Oh shit.” Picture after picture of writing etched into Sam Keene’s skin, and it was all the same name. Over and over. It wasn’t done cleanly either. Even though I had no doubt the instrument used had been sharp, this was very sloppy. “Holly,” I murmured as Mira approached. I handed her a handful of the pictures so she could see too. “This is rage.”

Dr. Robinson nodded, turning to face us. “The body was frozen, making it nearly impossible to determine time of death.”

“Frozen?” I repeated, confused. Looking at Mira, I asked, “Did we have anything on Keene being afraid of the cold or snow or something?”

She shook her head. “He’s the one with the long list of mistresses. His wife wasn’t exactly forthcoming withinformation. Basically said ‘good riddance’ and wiped her hands of him.”

I snorted when I came across the next picture. “Well, that explains the ‘A’ then.” I held up the picture of the brand to show her.

“Jesus.” She bent closer to take a better look. “It’s like that book,The Scarlet Letter.”

I closed the file folder. I would look at it more thoroughly later. “He’s turning their fears against them. Every single one of them. This took time, knowledge. Who knew these people so well that they could use their deepest fear against them?”

“How is ‘Holly’ being etched into his skin a fear?” Mira asked, holding out the photos in her hands as if in example.

I shook my head. “This is different. Off pattern. Look at that writing. He died bloody and in pain. This wasn’t control, this was wrath.”

“Something happened with Keene then. Maybe something personal? Should we look into his mistresses as suspects?”

I rolled my shoulders, shaking my head. “This isn’t about Keene. Unless he was sleeping with a relative of Holly’s, it doesn’t fit.”

Mira’s icy blue eyes glared at me. “You can’t throw out evidence because it doesn’t fit your theory that Holly is the cause of all this, Mal.”

I did not raise my voice as I said, “You’re more than welcome to follow that line of thought, Mira. Just be prepared for it to lead nowhere.”

“God! You are such an asshole sometimes!” She slammed the pictures down on the table. “I’m going to get lunch.”

I said nothing as she walked out the door. Dr. Robinson looked between the two of us before asking, “Are Mommy and Daddy fighting again?”

I snorted. “More like Big Partner is about to kick Little Partner’s stubborn ass.” I did not like the implication that Mira and I were more than coworkers.

“I looked into Holly Marteen’s death as you asked.” Dr. Robinson walked back over to the conference table and picked up the second folder. “I don’t know the coroner who did the autopsy personally, but based on the records he sent over, it was a simple fracture of the hyoid bone.”

I swapped folders with him. The top picture was a copy of an x-ray with fractures indicated. Next was the police report, interviews with the parents, and photos of her bedroom. But none of her. I don’t know why I was so grateful for that. I’d seen a lot of dead bodies before and some of them were children. It was hard when it was kids, but seeing their pictures made me a better cop.

---