“Sounds good. Come on, Aeneas.” He opened the back door to release the animal.
Laurel carefully picked her way across the still-icy ground and entered the cabin, removed her jacket and boots, and then started a fire. Once again, Huck had placed paper, kindling, and wood in a perfect formation, so all she had to do was light the match. Starting a fire was easy for her, because she could visualize the geometric proportions necessary, but it was nice that Huck took care of the preparations.
Her phone buzzed, and she lifted it to her ear, walking over to the sofa. “Agent Snow.”
“Hi, Agent Snow. It’s Dr. Ortega.”
“Hi.” She sat on the sofa and tucked one leg under her. “How are you?”
He coughed. “Tired. But I have the autopsy results for both of your recent victims.”
Laurel watched the fire. “Thank you for calling. What did you find?”
“Starting with Delta Rivers, I found multiple contusions and abrasions on the upper limbs and right side of the head.”
“Okay,” Laurel said. “Somebody grabbed her arms and her head.”
“Yes,” Dr. Ortega affirmed. “Specifically, there are clusters of bruises on both forearms consistent with being forcefully gripped, and also an abrasion on the right cheekbone, maybe from blunt force trauma.”
That made sense with Laurel’s theory of the case. “So somebody grabbed her arms and her head, and either hit her in the face or smashed her face into a hard surface such as ice.”
“That’s what I surmise. No internal injuries or fractures noted, and the skin around the wrists was damaged. I collected fiber samples that look like rope and sent them to the lab”
So the killing was more about restraint than inflicting bodily injury. “What about cause of death?”
“Petechial hemorrhage is present in the conjunctiva of both eyes, indicative of asphyxia.”
“What about her lungs?” Laurel asked.
He cleared his throat and then coughed several times, sounding as if he was coming down with a cold. The man had probably been working around the clock. “The lungs are edematous and congested, with foam present in the airways consistent with drowning.”
Laurel clicked through what she remembered about the victim. “What about a microscopic examination?”
Keys tapped across the line. “The presence of diatoms was confirmed in lung tissue samples supporting the diagnosis of drowning.”
Laurel had figured that would be the case, but one never knew. “Any additional findings?”
“Yes, the toxicology report is pending, but blood analysis shows signs consistent with hypothermia, including elevated levels of cold-induced enzymes.”
Laurel nodded. “That makes sense because the river is freezing. Please give me the conclusion.”
Dr. Ortega cleared his throat. “Cause of death is determined to be drowning with evidence of premortem physical altercation, including bruising consistent with forceful restraint and signs of blunt force trauma to the head. The manner of death is classified as homicide.”
Laurel leaned back and rubbed a hand over her eye. “What do you think? It sounds like she fought with somebody, and then they shoved her head down into the freezing water until she drowned.”
“Unfortunately,” Dr. Ortega said, “that’s exactly what it sounds like. The thing is, especially at the Iceberg River, they would’ve had to cut a hole in that ice, even on the edge, to be able to do this. There was scraping on the top of her scalp as if her head was actually shoved beneath the ice.”
“That’s a very brutal killing,” Laurel murmured. “What about Teri Bearing’s autopsy?”
The doctor clicked keys again. “Everything’s pretty much the same as the first victim except for height and weight. Same manner of death—definite drowning.”
“Any other injuries?”
“Affirmative. Contusions on the body and same on the skull that might’ve caused loss of consciousness, as well as damage from the probable ropes around the wrists,” he said.
Laurel looked up at the ceiling. “It would take a perpetrator with impressive strength to be able to hold a victim down like that.”
“Maybe,” Dr. Ortega said, sounding exhausted. “It would depend on leverage.”
