Dr. Maryann Chow was waiting when they walked into her office. A thin woman with high cheekbones and glossy black hair pulled into a tight knot at the back of her neck greeted them.
“You’re Jason Maddox?” she asked.
“That’s right. This is Kate Gallagher.”
“It’s nice to meet you.” The woman extended a smooth, long-fingered hand. “Dr. Maxwell gave me both your names and a little background on the case you’re working. He also sent me the autopsy file of the first victim. Since the cases may be connected, I’ve been expecting to hear from the Dallas police.”
“They’re pretty busy right now,” Jase said, giving the cops an excuse that also explained why the ME should cooperate with him. “That’s the reason we’re following up.”
“Jerry said you would probably want to take a look at the victim.”
Jase didn’t glance at Kate. He was making an executive decision. He knew the pain she would suffer when she saw that dead girl and thought of her sister. He could protect her from that. If she didn’t like it, too bad.
“I’d like to see her, yes. Ms. Gallagher is going to wait here.”
Kate looked up at him but, amazingly, didn’t argue.Smart girl. This was one argument she wasn’t going to win.
“We’ll go over the file after we’re finished,” Dr. Chow said kindly to Kate.
Jase followed the doctor out of the office, down to the morgue. Inside the sterile, white-walled chamber, the woman walked over to a bank of stainless refrigerator doors, found the one she was looking for, and pulled it open.
Rolling out a stainless-steel table, she drew back a sterile white sheet to reveal a waxy, doll-like figure with plain brown, shoulder-length hair. There were bruises on her neck and torso.
“There was no DNA match,” the doctor said. “At this point, we haven’t been able to identify the victim. We’re running facial recognition but nothing has popped so far.”
“Cause of death?”
“Strangulation.”
His gaze went to the bruises on her neck and the ligature marks on her hands and wrists. The doctor moved the head so he could see the lipstick tattoo.
“Same as the other victim?” Dr. Chow asked.
“The tat’s the same, location’s the same, behind her left ear. Ligature marks on both victims. Different cause of death.”
She nodded. “Yes, I saw that in the file Dr. Maxwell sent.” She pulled the sheet back up, covering the ghostly face and thin body, and rolled the drawer closed. It latched with a sharp click that sent chills down Jase’s spine.
“We’ll go over the details when we’re back in my office.”
He nodded. Kate would want to hear, and the cold, antiseptic room made his skin crawl.
When the doctor opened the door to her office, Kate stood up from the chair she perched on in front of the desk. “Was it...was she another victim?”
“Looks like it,” Jase said, closing the door behind him. Dr. Chow sat down, and Jase sat down next to Kate.
The doctor studied the file on her computer screen. “Our Jane Doe was approximately nineteen years old. As I said, cause of death was strangulation, in this case by compression with an object, something like a metal rod or a length of wood pressed across the throat.”
His interest stirred. “The cause of death in the first homicide was blunt force trauma, not strangulation, but the killer used a wooden bat of some kind.”
Dr. Chow nodded. “Yes, it could have been some kind of bat or club.”
“So there could be a connection between the cause of death of both victims,” Kate said.
“It’s possible. It’s certainly something the police will be interested to know.”
And so was Jase. Two dead women. Two bat-like weapons used to kill them. Or the same weapon used two different ways.
“From what I noted in the Dallas case file,” the doctor continued, “there were ligature marks on the wrists and ankles of both victims and evidence of repeated sexual assault.”
