Page 19 of A Song for the Dead

“I can only offer you the facts. I figure you need to use Jo’s expertise on profiling this guy.” Wolfe shrugged. “The third girl’s phone was in Josephine’s grave. It belonged to Sadie Bonner out of Blackwater. I’m still waiting for dental records to confirm, but we figure she’s the third victim from the first gravesite.”

Shaking her head in dismay, Jenna swallowed hard. “Have you listened to the recordings?”

“Yeah, but only two of them so far and they’re the same MO. He names the women same as before. His voice is muffled.” Wolfe’s eyebrows met in a deep frown. “It’s a frenzied attack to cause pain and fear, and then when they turn to run from him, he cuts their throats. It’s like the same tape played over, apart from the victims. They are the only variation. It’s like being there watching the attack. Like I said, it’s very disturbing.” He sighed. “I’m heading over to speak to Norrell to see if what I heard matches the injuries sustained by the victims, like the first one.”

Jenna swallowed the bile creeping up her throat. “We want to be there too. I need to know more about the killer.”

“Do any of the victims act like they know this guy?” Kane leaned back against a counter. “I’m trying to figure out his motive and it sounds ritualistic to me. We need to find out more about this type of thing. It’s all through history. Maybe something this guy read or witnessed triggered something in his brain.” He looked at Jenna. “It’s unusual for a serial killer to only kill sets of three women at Halloween. There has to be more to this guy.”

As usual, Kane was covering every angle and Jenna nodded. “Yeah, if we can discover that part of the puzzle, we might be able to prevent him killing girl number two.” She looked from one to the other. “Don’t stonewall me, either of you. I know this is the Halloween Slasher, the details of the crime scenes have never been leaked. When I listened to the recording of Lydia’s death, I could have been there when Freya died. This maniac is following a pattern and I don’t believe for one second, he stopped killing for seven years. If we dig deeper, we’ll probably discover he’s been murdering women all over.”

“Maybe but he hasn’t been burying them in threes where anyone can find them, although I do recall cases where three sex workers went missing, but they were found dumped in the same area alongside a river.” Kane rubbed his chin. “Kalo could hunt down sets of three homicides around Halloween all over the US in the past seven years. I figure we should ask him.”

Jenna nodded. “I agree. We’ll call in the troops on this one. Six cold case files and one missing person is too much for us to handle. We’ll organize a conference call when we get back to the office.” She looked at Wolfe. “I’d appreciate your input, if you have time. Say, five-thirty?”

“Sure.” Wolfe stood. “Y’all coming to see what Norrell has found?”

“Before we go, can you upload the recordings on the server so I can listen to them?” Kane folded his arms across his chest. “I’d like to use them as a reference when we’re looking at the victims’ remains.”

“Already done.” Wolfe smiled at him. “I’ll upload everything I discover as I find it.” He led them from the lab.

“Thanks.” Kane glanced at Jenna. “I know you’ll want to listen, but I can give you a report.”

Knowing he was concerned the recordings would trigger her PTSD, she shook her head. “I’m fine, Dave. Listening only makes me more determined to catch this guy.”

TWENTY-FIVE

Norrell glanced up from the remains on the gurney as Wolfe entered her examination room. She’d decided to keep all the bodies together in the one place. Comparing the injuries sustained by each victim was crucial. She nodded to Jenna and Kane. “When I came to Black Rock Falls, Shane mentioned we’d have months of nothing and weeks of long hours. He wasn’t joking. I believe this is the first time I’ve had six sets of remains from the same case.”

“I know it’s early to be bothering you.” Wolfe gave her an apologetic look. “After listening to the recordings of the last two victims from the first burial site, I wanted to see if what I heard on the phone in Josephine Wade’s grave correlates to her injuries.”

Having only opened the wrappings of the second three bodies to extract the devices, Norrell gave Wolfe a direct stare. “Forensic anthropology takes time. I do understand the need for expedience, but against my better judgment, I’ve rushed the recovery of the remains.” She looked at Jenna and Kane. “You do understand I need to clean the bones so I can examine them to my satisfaction. Once that is done, I’ll analyze the remains and establish a biological profile of each individual before I can begin to interpret what trauma occurred. When this is completed, I’ll be able to establish the type and extent of the injuries.” She sighed. “So far, I’ve skipped all of the above to match dental records and it seems we’re using the phones in the graves to establish a time of death. It’s like working backward.”

“I understand completely.” Jenna pulled on surgical gloves with a snap. “In normal circumstances, we’d leave you to complete the examination without interruption, but as these cases directly reflect on a current case, we need information yesterday.” She glanced at Wolfe. “As Shane will explain, we believe the man who killed these six women is killing again. We found a bloody crime scene, no body, and the woman’s phone is missing. We’ve tried to track the phone, but without proof of death or probable cause, we can’t get a warrant.” She sighed. “If it’s the same killer, he plans to murder three women before Halloween.”

A cold chill slid down Norrell’s spine and she nodded. “I see.” She indicated to Matty, one of her assistants, to pull out the remains. “It’s normal after this time for the decomposition process to remove the flesh from the skeleton but as the bodies were wrapped and naked, the bones are relatively clean. I found remains of hair and jewelry, but apart from the phone, there was no other personal items.” She went to the second gurney. “These are the remains of Josephine Wade. The phone we found with her is owned by Sadie Bonner but has a recording of Josephine’s murder. We know this as the killer mentions her name. If we follow the pattern, we can presume Sadie Bonner is body number three. The phone we found with her belongs to Cora Griffin. Wolfe has yet to listen to that recording but it’s likely to be the murder of Sadie Bonner.”

“The first recording you heard before was Lydia Ellis’s murder.” Wolfe stared at Jenna. “I know it’s complicated, but as we go forward, the phones we’ve found appear to be owned by the previous victim.”

“Oh, I understand.” Jenna turned her attention to Norrell. “What I’d like to know is, when you examine the remains, do they fit with what you hear on the recordings?”

Wishing she could remove the recordings from her memory, Norrell nodded. “Yeah, it’s morbidly intriguing, but if you keep a professional, detached attitude while listening and viewing the remains, it’s easy to map out the injuries to the bones.” She looked at Wolfe. “Do you want to play the recording for Josephine and I’ll walk you through the damage to the bones?”

“That’s what I’m here to do.” Wolfe ran his gaze over Jenna and Kane. “Ready?”

“Yeah.” Jenna nodded and stepped closer.

The recording started and Norrell moved closer to the gurney. She lifted one of the scapulars from the skeleton laid out on the gurney and turned it over in her hand. “You can hear her gasp of fear and then this would have been the first strike. She had her back to him and we can clearly see sharp force trauma consistent with the tip of a hunting blade.” She replaced the bone and picked up a rib to display the nick in the bone. “Same here. He didn’t intend on killing her outright or the cuts through the bone would be deeper and executed with more force.”

“Why isn’t she screaming?” Jenna glanced at Kane. “Someone is stabbing her.”

“If she’d just stepped out of the shower and saw him behind her in the reflection in the mirror, the shock of being stabbed could have stopped her.” Kane shrugged. “He could also have his hand over her mouth. Both injuries Norrell described would be extremely painful. From the thumps on the recording, he’d gained control in seconds.”

Nodding, Norrell smiled at him. He was intelligent and from his comments had knowledge above and beyond that of a deputy. “Yes, so I’d say a powerful man who knows how to immobilize and cause pain. At this point, Josephine turned toward him, either he spins her to face him or she turns to fight back. We can hear her protests, no screams, but she wants him to stop. The defense marks on both the radius and ulna… ah, both of her forearms are considerable. Lacerations that cut deep into the bone I would say proves she’s protecting her chest. This is when he gets angry. He doesn’t like them fighting back. If you listen closely…” She glanced at Wolfe. “Rewind it one minute. He makes a growling sound, an impatient sound, like he’s finished playing with her. Then comes a frenzied attack and finally he tells her to look into the mirror. She’s still alive at this point. He attacks but knows how to keep them alive. He is aware of the lethal strike points on a body. Hear his voice now—satisfied, almost dreamlike. This must be the ultimate for him. He wants her to see him cutting her throat.”

“Sadistic.” Jenna had turned sheet-white. “I’ve heard enough.” She stepped away and leaned against the counter. “If it’s not bad enough finding bodies and discovering through autopsies the extent of the victim’s suffering, this takes murder to a whole new level.”

“These recordings were made to be found.” Kane moved to her side. “He wants to shock. He wants to share his experience. He’s saying,Look what I did right under your noses, and you couldn’t stop me.”

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