Chapter 13

Dashiell was lost in thought and so he missed something Regina said.

“No nothing here. I can call around to some of the other local Coroners and see if they’ve had anything come through,” the Medical Examiner said.

“Hmmm?” Dashiell looked up.

“I was just asking if the M.E. had seen any other bodies come through with missing body parts,” Regina replied. “This looks like the work of a serial killer. Which means this probably isn’t his only kill. And if he’s taking trophies, that’ll link his kills.”

Dashiell nodded. “Makes sense. I never worked on serials, so I don’t know much about them, honestly. Good luck.”

“Thanks, Dash. I’m gonna call around to other precincts, from Baltimore to Richmond, and see if anyone else has seen anything like this. And to warn them to keep an eye out. We may have been the site of his first kill, but wherever we are in the order, we’re probably not the last. Unless I have something to say about it.” She got that hard look in her eye again. “I’ll call you later. I’ve gotta get on this.” She headed out the door, leaving Dashiell standing alone next to the zookeeper. Apparently, the M.E. had headed out to make those calls he mentioned.

Dashiell picked up the folder of notes the M.E. had left behind. He scanned over it quickly, skipping past all the details on stomache contents, weight of liver and such, to the notes about the cause of death. Nothing too detailed. Just a blunt object. No traces left in the wound, so it was probably a solid object. It was rounded, leaving an inwardly curving dent on the back of the skull. Apparently, death hadn’t been instantaneous.

Dashiell skipped ahead. He didn’t need the details of the poor man’s death. He turned the page and got to the section about trace evidence. Apparently a couple of dark fibers, inconsistent with the zookeeper’s clothing, had been found and sent to the lab. They appeared to be black or dark blue, made of a poly-cotton blend. Dashiell didn’t have much hope that they’d lead anywhere, but it was something.

Dashiell looked up as the door opened and the Medical Examiner walked back in.

“Is Detective Robins still here?” he asked.

“No, Doc. She took off to canvas surrounding precincts. What’s up? You find something?”

“Not really. Only corpse with missing digits from the last couple weeks was from that wreck out by Dulles. Body’s in the Fairfax Medical Examiner’s office.”

“What was missing?”

“Thumb on the left hand and part of the index finger. But it was a car accident, not a murder. Probably just got torn off during impact. People tend to grip the wheel pretty tight when they see the wall or another car coming. Does bad things to the thumbs.”

Dashiell nodded. It sounded like another dead end.

But something in the back of his mind was stirring.

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