“It was nice to meet you, Agent Wells. I’ve read all your books. The photo on the back doesn’t do you justice.” Morrow indicated to the bookshelves. “The interviews with the psychopaths in prison are remarkable. You should come by sometime, and we can chat about them. Maybe over dinner?”
Carter noticed the disgust in Jo’s eyes as she turned to leave, but she said nothing until they slid back into the truck. He looked at her. “What a piece of work.”
“Manipulative, and dangerous.” Jo shook her head. “He recognized me the moment I walked in the door and was trying very hard to manipulate me. Unfortunately for him, I’ve dealt with people far more devious than him. I could see straight through him. I must admit the dinner invitation at the end was a nice touch. That was either intentional or a subconscious way of trying to deflect the blame onto one of the women in the group. The thing is, either he’s doing it to cover up his own crimes or he’s doing it because he knows one of the members of the self-defense group is murdering people.”
Thirty-Eight
That evening, Emily arrived at Jenna’s ranch with a copy of Sierra Lang’s autopsy. Jenna waited until both her boys were asleep before gathering everyone together in the family room. She opened her laptop and moments later Raven’s face appeared on the screen. Jenna smiled at him. “You are supposed to be resting. How do you feel?”
“Apart from a headache, I’m fine. Sitting here all day has given me time to think on the case. I’ll be interested to read Jo and Carter’s interview files.” Raven’s dark eyes searched her face. “I hope Jackson is feeling better—and you? How’s your shoulder?”
A long time ago, Jenna had made it her business not to complain to her team about problems with her health. Her shoulder hurt but it was easily controlled by taking Tylenol. “I’m fine and Jackson is doing really well. He’s spent most of his time sleeping but this evening he woke up and ate his dinner. He didn’t complain at all about his ear. His temperature has gone down and now he’s tucked up in bed. I believe he’s turned the corner and is on his way to a full recovery.”
“That’s good to know.” Raven chuckled. “How come you get Wolfe to make house calls? I thought I was the only one in town doing that and I restrict myself to the mountain folk.”
“As he’s Jackson’s godfather, if I didn’t call him, I don’t figure he’d speak to me again.” Kane grinned at him. “He’s been my close friend along with Carter since I arrived in Black Rock Falls. He was the best man at our wedding. If we took another physician for our kids, it would hurt his feelings.”
Jenna looked from one to the other. “Now we have three doctors as close friends. We’re covered from the cradle to the grave.” She looked up at Emily. “Are we ready to go?”
“Yeah.” Emily took the laptop from Jenna and stared at Raven. “I’ll put you on the coffee table. Let me know when you can see the screen clearly.”
“That’s good.” A disembodied voice came from the laptop as if Raven sat on the floor in front of Jenna.
Autopsies were never nice and Jenna had the usual uneasy feeling the moment the screen lit up with the scene inside Wolfe’s examination room. The familiar hum of the air conditioner and the bright lights were a stark reminder of what was going to happen next. Sierra Lang’s body lay on a stainless-steel examination table, her once beautiful face bloated and discolored. Lying face down in a tub full of water had made all the blood pool to her head and shoulders. The rest of her body was pale and her skin waxy.
“This is the body of Sierra Lang, twenty-eight years old of good health and condition prior to her death.” Wolfe looked into the camera and adjusted his gloves. He rolled the body to its left side. “During a preliminary examination we discovered a mid-cervical spine contusion roughly circular and about four inches in diameter. At first, I believed that blunt force trauma was due to a punch between the shoulder blades, to force the victim into the tub. The bruising indicates it was inflicted prior to death and I believe it was made by a knee.”
“We believe that whoever did this was practically in the tub with her.” Emily looked at the camera. “There is a contusion on Sierra’s forehead consistent with being pushed or forced into the bathtub. I believe she was pushed from behind, struck her head, and fell forward into the water. At this point someone may have had a hand on her back, holding her, but Sierra would have been fighting for her life and this is evident by the amount of water on the floor around the bathtub. Therefore, I imagine to keep her down in the water someone leaned over the tub, with one hand on her head, one hand on the side of the tub, and a knee in her back.” She held up one of Sierra’s hands. “The nails are broken and we found the nails in the bottom of the tub. We assume she broke them trying to push out of the water.”
“At the scene, I dusted everything for fingerprints, including the bathtub surrounds.” Wolfe’s gray eyes narrowed over the top of his face mask. “Whoever did this planned it ahead of time and wore gloves. During the preliminary examination, I took blood samples and tested them for any type of tranquilizer. I was able to expedite the tests because we only needed to run them for a very small number of drugs that are currently available on the streets. All the tests came back negative.”
“There is evidence that she was alive when she fell into the tub.” Emily supported the body as Wolfe turned it over.
“If I can get y’all to look here”—Wolfe gently moved the victim’s head to face the camera—“can y’all make out the burst blood vessels in the eyes? The petechial hemorrhages in the conjunctiva prove she died of asphyxia by drowning.”
“Also, the foam just inside the nostrils indicates that Sierra was breathing when she went under the water.” Emily’s eyes displayed sadness.
Jenna picked up the remote control as Wolfe reached for a scalpel to cut into the chest. “I’ll run this part forward unless anyone actually wants to watch it?”
“Fast-forward to his conclusions.” Carter looked away from the screen. “I knew that woman. It’s disturbing watching her being sliced up.”
Jenna nodded and they skipped over all the organ examinations. “Okay, he’s examined the lungs and stomach contents.”
“This is where it gets interesting.” Emily squeezed between Jenna and Carter on the sofa and smiled at Jenna.
After collecting the stomach contents, Emily syringed them into a glass container. “Is that lavender I can smell?” She waved the jar under Wolfe’s nose. “I don’t recall smelling lavender at the scene.”
“That would be because it’s not lavender oil she put in the water, but lavender water. The oil would be coating her body and it’s not”—Wolfe frowned—“unless it’s lavender oil soap, but we didn’t find any soap on-scene.”
Beside her, Emily smiled and Jenna’s mind went into overdrive. “The soap is a link to the killer.”
“Yeah.” Emily stopped the video. “That’s what I figured.”
“Hey, turn me around.” Raven’s voice broke through the chatter. “I smelled lavender at the defense classes at one time.”
Nodding, Jenna snapped her fingers as part of the puzzle fell into place. “Yes! I recall Jolene Hurst mentioning she’d purchased a ton of lavender gifts for Christmas.” She looked at Carter. “You mentioned lavender too. It’s another clue.”
“Yeah. When we visited Dr. Morrow”—Carter smiled around his toothpick—“his place stunk of lavender.”
