Ivy moved, positioning her body in front of Bennett’s as she remembered that terrible scene. “They were like this when I first saw them.” She pushed her back against Bennett. She took his left arm, wrapped it around her body, and then with his right… “A lover’s pose. She probably thought she was totally safe, until the blade went into her the first time.”
Bennett’s hold tightened on Ivy.
“Then it was too late,” she said sadly. “All she had time to do was scream for help.” Help that Ivy hadn’t given to her.
Harvey nodded. “I have started an exam on Councilman Crenshaw.”
Ivy flinched and moved away from Bennett. She’d heard that the councilman hadn’t survived long enough to reach the hospital.
“He had defensive wounds. And his stab wounds were centered close to his heart. A chest attack.”
“Shouldn’t there have been spatter from that kind of attack?” Bennett demanded.
Ivy stared down at the woman on that exam table. She was only a year younger than Ivy. Their hair was the same. Their bone structure even similar…
“There should have been,” Harvey agreed, “but you said your perp had on a tux, right? Maybe when he was leaving, he just ditched his jacket. The blood could have been on it, and nothing else he wore.”
“Maybe that jacket is still at the convention center,” Bennett mused. “I’ll get the crime scene team to search again. We can’t afford to miss something like that.”
No, they couldn’t.
Ivy inched closer to the exam table.
“Have there been more?” Bennett asked quietly.
Ivy’s gaze cut to him.
“Any other victims brought in like her?” Bennett pressed. “With stab wounds like hers? Knives are intimate weapons. The weapons that killers use when they like to get up close and feel their victims die. A power rush.”
Okay…He was creeping her out a bit. Sounding a bit too much like he understood the killer.
Harvey rubbed his chin, seeming to think about it. “I’ll have to pull my records, but I seem to recall a Jane Doe with similar wounds who was discovered down here, right about Mardi Gras…about two years ago.”
Two years.
“And there might have been one more.” Harvey headed toward the exam table. He stared down at the woman—at Evette—but Ivy felt as if he weren’t actually seeing her. “A younger victim, about four years ago. Nineteen years old, twenty? She was stabbed, too, but actually…she was killed in New Orleans. A colleague told me about her. Her story stuck with me because…” Now his attention shifted back to Bennett. “Because she was found during Mardi Gras, too. And I remember he said finding her killer was going to be damn near impossible because the Big Easy goes mad during the Mardi Gras party.”
Three potential victims. Four, counting the councilman. Ivy knew this was big. Scary big.
“I want to see all of those case files,” Bennett instructed. “Right away. Give me what you’ve got on the local victims, and I’d really appreciate you putting in a call to your friend in New Orleans, too.”
Harvey nodded. “Of course.”
I need to see those files, too. But she couldn’t very well say that, not with Bennett standing there and glowering.
“Thanks for your time,” she told the doctor even as she made a mental note to call him later. Harvey would give her the info she needed. After all, he was practically family.
Bennett took her elbow and rather hurriedly escorted her from the ME’s office. As soon as they were in the hallway and that door closed behind them…
“What in the hell!” Bennett exclaimed. “You aren’t supposed to be here!”
She squinted up at him. “Where should I be?”
“Getting a security system installed!” He threw up his hands.
“Oh, yes, Hugh is supervising that for me. No worries.” She gave him a bright smile. “A little bird told me about your meeting with the ME, and I figured it was important for me to attend.”
“Important?” The word seemed strangled.
“Since we’re partners and all—”
“We are not partners!”
She sighed. “Fine. We’re two independent investigators who happen to be working the same case.”
Jaw locked, he gritted out, “I’m the homicide detective in charge and you are a witness and a potential victim. You aren’t investigating the case.”
“Um, I kind of…am, investigating, that is.”
His lips parted, but he didn’t speak. Maybe he couldn’t. Ivy would consider that a win for her. “There’s no point fighting this,” Ivy told him bluntly. “I’ve got more connections in this town than you can count. I’ll get the info that I need and we can either share things, or, well, I can get ahead of you.”
His eyes squeezed closed. She felt as if he did that a lot.
“Are we going back to the convention center now?” Ivy asked him. “Because I think we need to be there when the crime scene techs sweep again for that jacket. They won’t have a whole lot of time, you know. Another ball is scheduled to occur there tonight, and there’s no way the mayor will let that place stay a crime scene. Too much rides on Mardi Gras, and you know it.”
His eyes cracked open. “I’m going to the convention center.”
Uh…
“You are staying away from my case. You’re a civilian.”