CHAPTER 51
Zoe trudged behind Tatum to the task force room, dispirited. As soon as she had begun to lay out the reasons why she suspected the killer was Glover, she had realized how dumb it sounded. It was like being a teenager again, trying to convince her mother and the cops. What she knew in her gut to be right came out as a string of dubious connections and half-assed theories once spoken aloud. Because essentially, it all came down to what she felt. When she had decided to break into Glover’s house, it was mostly because she had felt his behavior was strange and suspicious; she hadn’t had any tangible proof. Even after she knew what was in his room, it was still mostly the feeling that the items she found were mementos from victims. And now she felt Glover was telling her, via their one-sided creepy conversation, that he was the killer in Chicago as well.
But once those feeling were spoken aloud, it was easy to see how she sounded even more questionable than Dr. Bernstein. A fragment of a memory filled her mind, of her standing in the police station in Maynard, doing her best to hold it together, as the officer had told her, “I can think of other brown substances that might soil a pair of underwear.”
Never again. She had to build a stronger case this time.
As she passed by the meeting room on their way down the hall, she saw Martinez inside through the half-open door. Peeking in, she saw the entire team sitting around the table.
“Zoe,” Martinez called, noticing her. “Get in here. It’s a quick status meeting.”
She called Tatum back and walked into the room, sitting down. Tatum followed her, closing the door behind him.
“Okay,” Martinez said. “As I was saying, we now have the full autopsy report of Lily Ramos as well as a detailed report of the findings from the crime scene. We have very little to go on. Cause of death is strangulation, and the cut on the throat was performed postmortem. The cut was to the”—Martinez glanced at the paper in his hand—“common carotid artery, and we’ve found that embalmers use this as an entry point for embalming fluid. There were traces of what seems to be embalming fluid near the cut . . . we’ve sent those for testing to verify. The body didn’t have the postmortem sexual intercourse signs that we’ve found so far.”
Zoe tried to concentrate. That all indicated, as she had previously assumed, that the killer had tried to hurriedly embalm the victim, even skipping his sexual abuse of the body. She was satisfied, knowing they had prevented Lily’s body from being defiled that way.
Martinez glanced at his paper again. “There were scratches on the victim’s back, which have been attributed to her being dragged into the alley. Also, both of her heels were bruised.”
“Why?” Dana asked.
“I don’t know.”
“If she was dragged out of a vehicle’s trunk, that could cause it,” Tatum said.
Everyone looked at him.
“When people grab bodies, they mostly do so by grabbing under the armpits,” he said. “If the killer got her out of the trunk that way, assuming no one helped him, both her feet would hit the ground forcefully. She was barefoot, so it would cause a bruise.”
Martinez nodded slowly. “That sounds like a probable explanation,” he said. “Mangled wrists, as you all saw in the crime scene pictures. The victim was probably handcuffed, and she struggled against them. No results from the toxicology tests yet. That’s about it for the autopsy.” He looked around the room. “Questions?”
A second of silence followed.
“All right. Let’s talk about the crime scene. Some cigarette butts, a candy wrapper, and a piece of string found at the crime scene, all sent for testing. There were multiple tire marks from vehicles driving in reverse to the opening of the alley, at least two of them recent. The rain was unfortunate, but we still have some decent photos, and we’re trying to match them. Also, once we have a suspect, this will be useful as evidence. Both vehicles have wide tires and are probably vans of some sort. We’re trying to match the tire marks to the vehicles parked nearby, to eliminate them. There was also a smudged footprint—not really useful for the investigation, but again, might be useful for court. Right. Now . . . security cam footage. Tommy?”
Tommy cleared his throat. His eyes were red rimmed. “We’ve procured some footage from nearby establishments. Nothing in the immediate vicinity of the alley. I’m going over the footage, but without any indication of what I’m looking for, it’s like looking for . . .” He seemed to be searching for a fitting analogy.
“A needle in a haystack?” Scott suggested.
“No. If I had a haystack and a needle inside, I’d eventually find it. You just have to be methodical. This is more like finding hay in a haystack . . . except this hay I’m looking for is a bit different, but I don’t know what’s different about it.”
His brain was probably half-dead from staring at security cam footage for hours.
Martinez coughed. “An apt description. Right . . . we’re doing a door-to-door investigation of the entire segment of Huron Street where we suspect Lily Ramos was held. Dana?”
Dana nodded. “The relevant stretch of Huron Street is one point one miles long, and the search is conducted by me and three additional patrol officers. So far, no one has seen anything that pertains to the case. We’ll double back on doors where no one opened, and hopefully we might eventually find the place where Lily was kept. Though it’s like looking for hay in a haystack.”
Martinez raised an eyebrow. “See that, Tommy? You’ve coined a new phrase. I hope you’re pleased with yourself. Okay. Dr. Bentley, any progress with the profile?”
The question jolted her. Ever since the reporter had handed her the three envelopes, any attempt at profiling the killer had been forgotten. What was the use of creating a profile when she was almost certain she knew who the murderer was? She just had to tie the case together better. For now, she frowned, trying to remember her last notes.
“The fact that he decided to practice his preservation techniques on animals, and that he kept at it for a long time, indicates a methodical person. When he decides to pursue his fantasy, he doesn’t improvise. He plans ahead and then executes the plan patiently and carefully. This stems from the leading attribute of his personality . . .” She bit her lip.
“Which is?” Martinez prompted her after a second.
“An obsession with control. We can see it in everything he does. His victims are tied up. He preserves them in a way that enables him to pose them however he wants. He chooses high-risk, weak victims and takes them to a location where he has absolute control over them. Even his strangulation method has absolute control. A noose tightened by twisting it from behind, probably while his victims are tied. No messy blood, no physical contact with the victim, no chance for the victim to cry out . . . total control.”
The room was silent.
“I believe this is a man who had little to no control over his life as a child. When we finally catch him, we’ll find he had an abusive parent and an unstable childhood. He’s making up for it now.”
Zoe became silent, thinking over her own words. She’d pegged him completely.
“All right,” Martinez said. “Now, as most of you know, Dr. Bentley linked those murders to the murder of Veronika Murray in 2014. Dana is in charge of investigating that case with the new facts we have, once she’s done with the door to door. Scott is still in charge of the Susan Warner case, trying to establish suspects from her acquaintances. Tommy is on the security feeds, and Mel is checking the missing prostitutes—”
“What missing prostitutes?” Tatum asked.