I See You (Criminal Profiler #2)(55)

Both showed identification to the night guard, who called down to Baldwin. Minutes passed before the elevator doors opened and Baldwin stepped off. Dressed in scrubs, Baldwin was a tall man in his late thirties with wide-set shoulders and thick dark hair. A five-o’clock shadow blanketed his square jaw.

His athletic shoes squeaked slightly as he crossed the lobby. He extended his hand. “Vaughan. It’s been a while since we’ve seen you in the cycling group.”

“Launching Nate has been all-consuming for the last few weeks,” Vaughan said.

“He has been delivered to college?” Baldwin asked.

“Thirty-six hours ago.”

“I’d ask you if you missed him, but judging by the news, I’d say you’ve not had time.”

Vaughan knew life would slow, and he would have real time to miss Nate. He dreaded it. “This is Special Agent Zoe Spencer.”

“I believe we spoke on the phone over the summer,” she said, extending her hand.

“The Jane Doe skull, a.k.a. Marsha Prince. I saw the pictures of your facial reconstruction work,” he said. “Nice job.”

“Thank you.”

“As you know, I did examine the bones and found knife marks on one of the ribs.”

“Can you inspect the bones again?” Spencer asked. “Look at the neck vertebrae especially.”

“You think the same killer?” Baldwin asked.

“I don’t want to rule it out,” she said.

Baldwin nodded, letting out a sigh. “I can tell you how Jane Doe died. Come on down to the autopsy suite, and I’ll brief you.” They rode the elevators down a couple of floors. The doors opened to a long white hallway lit by high-wattage fixtures. Vents blasted cool air as they made their way to the storage room.

They each donned latex gloves as Baldwin crossed to a bank of drawers reserved for the dead. He opened number 202 and pulled out a slab that held a sheet-clad body.

Baldwin carefully drew back the sheet to expose a drawn face that was blackening due to decomposition. The chest was marked with a sutured Y incision.

“She’s a Caucasian female in her mid-to late thirties,” Baldwin said. “Judging by her teeth and bones, she enjoyed reasonably good health and nutrition. She was approximately five foot three inches tall, and she died as a result of multiple stab wounds. The lethal cut was across her neck, severing the carotid artery.”

“Like Galina Grant?” Vaughan asked.

“Almost identical, and judging by the jagged marks on the wounds found on both women, I’d say a similar knife was used. The wounds were also deep. There were no minor stab wounds, which would have suggested hesitation.”

“Which would suggest worry or inexperience,” Spencer said. “This guy is comfortable with killing.”

“I would agree,” Baldwin said.

“Were you able to get fingerprints from Jane Doe?” Vaughan asked.

“Yes, we were able to get an impression of the right index finger and roll a print. It’s with AFIS now, so we should know something within a few hours. And we also found a parking pass in the back pocket of her pants. Decomposition fluids made it tough to read, but one of my techs was able to confirm it was issued at the deck on the five hundred block of King Street.”

“King Street?” Vaughan asked.

“Near Old Town,” Baldwin said.

“And one block away from the gym where Hadley Foster worked.”

Spencer’s eyes darkened with interest. She dropped her gaze to her phone and pulled up the location on a map. “Was there a date on the pass?”

“We think the first week of August of this year, but the numbers are hard to read. Forensic is putting the paper under the microscope. Based on the insect activity found on the body and the body’s state of decay, which would have been accelerated in this heat wave, I’d say she’s been dead about seven to ten days.”

“That matches with the parking pass,” Spencer said.

“Yes,” replied Baldwin.

“Anything else?” Vaughan asked.

“We found nothing else in her pockets or on her body. Hard to say at this point if she’d been sexually active or assaulted. We did pull some black hair fibers from her body, and they have been sent to the lab.”

“Do you still have Galina Grant’s body?” Vaughan asked.

“Yes.” He carefully covered the body with a sheet and closed the drawer before moving to drawer 205. “We did locate Galina Grant’s mother. She lives in Kansas but can’t afford to travel here to claim the body, nor can she afford to bury her.” He opened the drawer and peeled back the sheet to reveal Galina Grant.

Vaughan studied the young girl’s still, drawn face, already blotchy with decomposition. Anger burned in him. No kid deserved to die like this.

“Jane Doe had good dental care, while Grant had a half dozen cavities,” Baldwin said. “Radiology also revealed she’d suffered several broken bones, including her nose. That injury appeared to be within the last couple of months.”

“There was a pizza box at the crime scene, and it contained only discarded onions and pepperoni.”

“There was a partial slice of pizza in her stomach.”

“Any pepperoni?” Vaughan asked.

“Yes, as a matter of fact.”