Vendetta in Death (In Death #49)(50)

“Once more unto the breach, dear friends. This poor soul won’t fight another battle.”

“He didn’t get to fight the last one,” Eve pointed out.

“No, he didn’t. No defensive wounds though he suffered more trauma than our previous guest. I have no argument with your on-scene conclusions, Dallas. He hung by the wrists, from above, and his weight, his struggle eventually dislocated both shoulders. An electric prod—the same dimensions as the one used on McEnroy—was used to beat, burn, sodomize. I estimate at least four hours between the first burn and the last.”

“She’s … dedicated.”

“I’d say that’s an accurate term for it. It takes a kind of dedication to torture another human being for hours. There’s no sign of gagging, so he’d have screamed, likely have pleaded. COD would be severe blood loss from the amputation. He was, as was McEnroy, alive when she used the blade. The same blade, in my opinion, that was used on McEnroy.”

“Was he drugged?”

“As before I put a rush on the tox report. It’s the same mix. In this case, the first dose was administered into the palm of his hand.”

“Okay, okay, that’s how it’s done.” Nodding, Eve circled the body. “He comes to the door to let her in. She introduces herself, offers her hand. She’s got the syringe palmed. He wouldn’t even have time to react. She just leads him out to the waiting car, and she’s got him.”

“He ingested the second dose.”

“Probably in the car.” She could see it. Yes, she could see it very clearly.

“Puts him out,” she continued. “Whoever’s driving helps her get him inside once they get where they’re going, maybe helps her string him up.”

“Only one deviation I’ve found thus far,” Morris told her. “Have a look at his toes.”

He offered her, then Peabody, microgoggles. Peabody eased back a step.

“That’s okay. I can see fine from here.”

Eve adjusted hers, bent down with Morris. “With McEnroy, there were scrapes and bruises on the balls and heels of his feet. He’d swing, you see, when the prod struck, or jerk. And his feet would beat on the floor or ground. But in this case—”

“Yeah, yeah, I get it. She elevated him a little higher. He barely had his toes on the floor surface, so he’s digging in with them to stay up, to try to relieve the weight on his arms and shoulders. They’re scraping over the floor when he swings. Anything under the toenails?”

“Funny you should ask.” Smiling, Morris straightened. “Yes, I scraped substance from under them, sent it to the lab. It’s not fiber, so not a rug or carpet, not fabric. I don’t think it’s wood. Stone or concrete perhaps.”

“Good, that’s good. She didn’t think of that, did she? Wanted him to hurt so she didn’t think of that.”

“One can never overestimate a human being’s capacity for cruelty.” Morris drew off his goggles, met Eve’s eyes. “But this one runs wide and runs deep. I hope you’re closer to her than she is to the next.”

“We think she’s using a support group for women to pick her targets,” Peabody told him.

“That’s cruel in itself, isn’t it? To take that circle of compassion and outreach to inflict suffering. Ah well, we’ll do what we do. I’ll have the full report to you this afternoon.”

“Appreciate it.”

Eve dug credits out of her pocket as they walked out, then tossed them to Peabody. “Cold caffeine.”

Peabody went for two tubes of Pepsi—hers Diet. “You okay?” she asked when Eve rubbed the cold tube against her forehead.

“Yeah. Little headache.”

“I’ve got blockers.”

“No, it’ll pass.”

“Are you worried about Tibble?”

“No. We did our job. If he has to give us a smack for it, we take the smack, then go out and keep doing our job.”

“You said ‘we.’” Smug, Peabody bopped her shoulders. “Ass partners.”

Back in the car, Eve sat for a moment, then cracked the tube. “We’re going to tell a second woman the guy she lived with liked to have some strange when she wasn’t around. She may get her bitch on over that—and we’ll be the ones that falls on.”

“It’s hard to get bitchy about the bitch on when we had to tell her the guy’s dead, and now we’re going to tell her he’s dead because he went off with the strange.”

“Here’s the thing.” Eve drank. “He cheated—on his ex with the current. Why the current believes he wouldn’t cheat on her is beyond me, but that’s usually how it goes. But, thinking from the killer’s perspective, there’s no evidence this one drugged women, raped them, abused them. He hired them. We’re going to talk to the booker, see if he went for the violent end of things with LCs, but there was no sign of that in the bedroom setup. The toys were toys. No illegals, just aids. You add the money in—him maneuvering the ex with the company she started. But even with that, he doesn’t reach the level of McEnroy.”

“But she went at him harder.” Following, Peabody nodded. “The other way around would make more sense.”