“I’m sorry, Doc.” Jake held up a hand. “Layman’s terms, please. It’s been a long night.”
“To remove the bones, you’d have to cut through layers of skin, soft tissue, and muscle, and you would have to use a certain amount of force to physically extract the bones from the body. This would result in massive damage and displacement of all the internal organs and the central nervous system. Now, here’s the weird part. All Adam’s internal organs were in perfect condition and still attached to his veins, arteries, and blood vessels. I can’t explain it. It’s as if his bones simply disappeared.”
“Jesus.” Jake raked his hand through his hair. “I guess that rules out animal attack then.”
“Definitely.” The doctor shook his head. “No bite or claw marks on the body. Which is strange when you think about it. I mean, he was found in the woods, where his remains had been for at least twenty-four hours. You would have expected scavengers to have a nibble, but I can find no evidence of that.”
“Do you have an official cause of death?” Jake asked as he stared at the corpse.
Dr. Hughes shook his head, shrugging helplessly. “Massive trauma, shock, exsanguination, take your pick. Any and all of the above could have killed him.”
“Was he still alive?” Jake whispered, his mouth dry. “Was he still alive when they cut him open?”
Dr. Hughes nodded. “We can only hope that he lost consciousness quickly due to shock.”
“I hope you’re right, Doc,” Jake replied quietly. “I knew Adam, and he was a good guy. He sure as hell didn’t deserve this.”
“There is one more thing.” Dr. Hughes pulled down the sheet further to reveal an ugly, blackened welt over Adam’s heart. It was a circle containing two coiled serpents entwined in the shape of an infinity symbol.
“What the hell is that?” Jake muttered, pulling out his phone and taking a picture. “Looks like a brand of some sort.”
“That would be my guess,” Dr. Hughes agreed as he covered Adam’s remains with the sheet. He slid the drawer back in and closed the door with a quiet click. Jake followed him back toward the office.
“I honestly never thought I’d see anything like that again.” Dr. Hughes dropped back into his desk chair heavily.
“Again?” Jake’s head snapped up so quickly, he almost gave himself whiplash.
“Didn’t the chief tell you?” he replied in confusion.
“No, he didn’t.” Jake’s eyes narrowed suspiciously.
“It was about twenty years ago.” Dr. Hughes settled back in his seat. “Late summer. There was a spate of murders, four in total I believe. I wasn’t the M.E. in charge at the time, as I’d taken a leave of absence to care for my wife after her cancer diagnosis. Dr. Newman was the M.E. on duty. I remember him telling me the victim had all his bones removed. He was absolutely baffled by it, and now, I can understand why.”
“You said there were other victims?” Jake pressed.
Dr. Hughes nodded as he thought back. “I don’t recall the details, but from what I remember, each victim had body parts removed.”
“Was anyone ever arrested?” Jake asked.
“Not that I know of.” He shook his head. “Chief Walcott was just a deputy at the time, so you’d have to ask him. He had more access to the case than I did, but from what I understand, the killings stopped as abruptly as they started.”
Jake stared at Dr. Hughes. “When did they stop?”
“Sometime in August,” he replied. “I remember because it was around the same time as all that unpleasantness with the Wests. Maryann was a friend of Isabel West. Even though she was still sick, Maryann insisted on attending the funeral. I still can’t believe Charlie was arrested for Isabel’s murder. I knew Charlie, and he loved Isabel and Olivia. I never thought he’d be capable of something like that.”
Dr. Hughes stood and offered Jake a sealed envelope to take back to Chief Walcott.
“Thanks, Doc.” Jake took it with a nod. “The chief will be in contact if he has any questions.”
Jake stepped out into the silent corridor and took a deep breath, allowing his head to fall back against the wall. God damn it. If the original murders had stopped right after Charles Connell had been arrested, it didn’t take a genius to figure out why Chief Walcott hadn’t mentioned it to him.
Jake scrubbed his hand over his face feeling unease churning in the pit of his stomach. He needed to get his hands on the original files from that case and see if Olivia’s father was ever a suspect. He also needed to check that Charles was still firmly behind bars.
A sudden ringing startled him from his thoughts, breaking the stillness of the corridor.
“Hey, Brody,” he muttered into his cell. “Did you get a good look at Olivia’s car? Was there any damage?”
“Not that I could see. The front end seems fine. I don’t think she hit anything. I did tell the chief that when I dropped the car off.”
