by Ross Homer
We were eventually allowed to leave. Sorcha drove us to the ME’s office and Adam was there to meet us.
He said, “We’ve cleaned her up and I’ll say it again: whatever was used for this was sharp in a way that almost shouldn’t exist.”
We followed him down to the morgue. His morgue was almost too cold and smelled of alcohol and formaldehyde. It was enough to make me want to change my mind, but I’d seen the Satos and I wanted to see this Pelletier woman.
There were several covered bodies on steel tables, but he led us to the far side of the wide room.
“She was quite pretty,” he said as he looked down at her covered form. “Gaelle Pelletier was forty, never had children and in excellent physical shape.” Then he carefully pulled the sheet down to her knees.
She had been shapely, too.
For some reason, I felt the need to cry, looking at her. She was so pretty and not a hell of a lot older than Nissa, Elsa, or me. I looked around at the other tables and wondered if those dead people were as young as Gaelle or younger. Why are they were lying on cold steel tables and not out doing things? It angered me.
I reached over and gently touched her face. Her head rolled to her right, leaving a gaping, bloody hole in the lower half of her neck. I almost lost it…Elsa did. She barely made it to the morgue sink before she lost her apple fritter and the coffee she’d had.
Adam was right. She’d been beheaded and whatever was used on her was incredibly sharp. The cut was so smooth I couldn’t tell she’d been beheaded when I saw her at the hospital. All I’d seen there was blood gushing from a thin slit.
He pulled a large magnifying glass down from an arm mounted to the ceiling. “You guys want to see what I’m talking about?” he asked us.
Nodding, I took a breath and made myself look closely at the wound. He was right. There were no jagged edges that would indicate that someone had sawed through the skin, muscle, and bone. The cut was that smooth. She hadn’t struggled, either. That may have been because she was still half sedated when this happened. Or, I swallowed hard, so quick she just wasn’t aware of it being done.
Adam said, “This was so smooth and fast that her heart kept beating well after her head was severed. It kept beating until it and her body ran out of oxygen. Could have been several minutes.”
I said, “That’s interesting because when we came in, I saw blood pumping out of the, uhh, wound.” I had to swallow a couple of times again.
He gently picked her head up and turned it so that we could see into her neck. “Yes, that happens. The heart continuing to pump after the head is severed is one of the reasons history has it that streets of Paris ran with blood during the French Revolution. The guillotine was fast and efficient. You ought to read up on what observers witnessed back then. It’s pretty amazing reading. But to continue. Let’s for the moment assume she was awake. This cut was so quick and neat that had she been aware, it would have felt like a momentary sting on her throat or neck. She would have reached up to swat at whatever she thought was there except her arms wouldn’t move.”
He stared at Gaelle’s dead face for a moment. “She would be able to see but then she’d realize that she was paralyzed. Opening her mouth to call or scream, nothing would happen because there’d be no oxygen for her vocal cords. Now she’d be frightened for another moment or two and then she’d pass out from lack of oxygen and then her brain would die. All in up to a minute or two.
“But the rest of her, from her neck down? Like you saw, her heart would keep pumping automatically, unaware that there was no brain guiding things now. It could go on for three or four minutes until the same thing happened…no oxygen because most of the blood to carry it to her heart is now pumped out of the body.”
He continued to look at her neck. “I’ve seen people cut up using almost anything you can think of.” He pointed at her neck. “What did this is unexplainable at the moment. The weapon was not an axe or machete and definitely not a chainsaw. Any of those would show on the wound. See how her spine was severed here?” He indicated the smooth edges of the bone. “Even a scalpel would leave a bit of a rough edge here. There is none. It’s like the edges have been sanded smooth. But there are no marks in the bone to indicate that, either. Even the finest sandpaper would leave grooves in the bone.” He looked at us. Even Elsa was watching.
Sorcha asked, “A very thin wire?”
He shrugged. “Could be. Whatever was used to do this was thinner than the smallest piano string at .85 millimeters. If a single strand of spider web were strong enough, then it would be something like that. Then you’d need someone strong enough to instantly snap it through the tissue and bone of her neck because that’s how quickly it was done. It was not sawed. One stroke and it was done. Like I said, all she’d have felt initially was a slight sting. At the moment though, your guess is as good as mine as to what was used.”
I knew what it was and so did Elsa and Nissa. A nightwalker had done this. There was no other explanation. I wondered why she wasn’t torn up the way Reiko or the others were. Not enough time? Or because that’s how the person controlling them wanted it. Instantly deadly.
We didn’t say anything to Adam as he continued, “She wasn’t raped although she’d had sex several hours before this happened. Oral and vaginal. It was consensual and unprotected. We have a DNA sample from that.” He tenderly repositioned her head to her body so that it was facing properly.
Pushed together like that you almost couldn’t tell it had been cut from her body. The wound looked like a thin red line that could have been made by a super-fine-point pen.
“As you can see, there was no other assault other than that bullet in her chest and this. Had this not happened, she most likely would have recovered from the shooting. We’ll see if her fingerprints can help locate family, if she has any.”
He covered her again and we thanked him and left the morgue. Despite Adam’s obvious happiness at having us there, the outside air was fresh and wonderful after that cold, dreadful place we’d just been in.
As we drove back to Seattle, Sorcha said, “I don’t ever want to meet the person who did that.”
Nissa shook her head. “It wasn’t a person, Sorcha. I’m going out on a limb here and say it was a thing. Cerna nokisas. The same thing that killed the Sato family.”
Sorcha whipped her head to her right and gasped, “No!”
“Yes, I think so. The clues strongly hint at them. This comes right on the heels of the Sato murders and we know they are what killed the family. Those creatures are unbelievably strong and are capable of doing about anything. That instant cut severing her head and nobody lurking on the floor that we could see is another clue. A man, doubtful it was a woman, would certainly have to be big and muscular. He’d be hard to hide. Nobody got past us that we saw in those few seconds. Remember: she was still alive but dying when we ran into her cubicle. Only a few seconds passed after her assault. You and I stood there and watched the blood drain out of her. That took a couple more minutes.”
Nissa turned and looked at me. “Jo? Did anyone pass you out in the hall?”
I shook my head, “No. It was just us before people came running in, not out.”
Nodding, she finished, “And these nightwalkers can fade in and out of our realm at will. This case is linked to Sato. We need to figure this one out before we can do much more.”
“You’re right,” Sorcha said. “When we get back, we’ll run Ms. Pelletier through the database and see what turns up.”
We fell mostly silent after that because really, what can you do to catch an uncatchable killer? We talked a little more about it but had no answers at that time.
With nothing else to talk about or a direction to go, we parted company at the office. Elsa, Nissa, and I went to my place where I carefully checked my wards. Still safe…I hoped.
Inside there was no sign of anything having come in. I was still frightened though. “Look, Nissa. You seem to know more about these creatures than anyo
ne else. I have to ask: can they get past a normally fatal ward?”
Before answering me, she went to my liquor cabinet and took out a bottle of tequila. She didn’t ask about us or permission as she filled one of my highball glasses half full and drank it all in one shot. Then she refilled it and asked, “You guys?”
Elsa and I nodded.
Elsa sat on the couch and said, “We’ll need some food before we do much more than this.”
In another minute we had Chinese coming.
I wasn’t going to sit there in my so-called work clothes so before we talked further, I went up to our bedroom and stripped out of them and put on a t-shirt and a pair of cutoff jeans. If nothing else, I was far more comfortable this way.
As I left the room, Elsa came in, kissed me with enough blatant desire to make my toes curl and then said, “I’m changing too. See you downstairs.”
Nissa watched me return to the living room and my tequila.
“Pretty casual at home, are you?” She asked, smiling as she looked at me.
I nodded, “Yeah. I’ll be honest. I like the freedom of no bra or panties. About half the time, until all this happened, I’d be naked right now.”
It was nice to hear her laugh. “You practically are, you know.”
“True. But a modicum of decorum, don’t you think? We do have food being delivered in a bit.”
“Thank the gods for that! I can’t believe how hungry I am all of a sudden.”
Elsa came in just then and said, “You and me both, sister.”
She wore a loose, thin, white cammy and a pair of olive cargo shorts. She may as well have been topless. There were times over the years I’d known her that her beauty tended to take my breath away. This was one of them.
Nissa laughed loudly this time. “Girl, you better hide when the delivery guy gets here.” She stood and said, “Well hell. I think I’ll join you.” She disappeared upstairs, too.
“Oh, I will,” Elsa replied and swallowed her tequila. To me, she said, “Baby, we’re gonna need more of this.”
Another phone call and we had a case of Canadian beer, three bottles of Washington Merlot, and two liters of tequila coming. No, we weren’t going to drink all of it that night but when I looked at my supply of alcohol, I saw I was getting low.
When Nissa returned, not much had changed. She wore faded blue jeans and some kind of English soccer league t-shirt.
Looking at my companions, I sat beside Elsa and said, “Now that we’re all comfortable, we need to catch some kind of break here. I think another trip to Sato’s is in order but not tonight! No fucking way. We’ll go tomorrow morning. I want to really take that place apart. There has to be something there that’ll lead to who did this to them and Gaelle Pelletier.”
“I agree,” said Nissa. “Tonight, we forget about this shit for a while.”
Later, full of excellent Chinese food, and about half drunk, I lay in the arms of my lover. I don’t know how we managed it, given our height difference, but Elsa managed to fill the spaces between us with her warm, naked body. Meanwhile, I was wrapped around her delicious curves like an octopus.
“I love you, Elsa,” I whispered in her ear.
“And I love you, Jo. If you lick my ear like that again, well, Nissa’s going to think there’s an orgy going on at this end of the house.”
I did anyway and, yeah. I thought to cast a silencing spell before we continued. It was too late because I forgot to earlier.
The exciting and wonderful sex with Elsa helped me sleep but before I dozed off, I offered up a soft prayer to the Goddess who protected us all. Elsa was dead asleep in my arms and I kissed the top of her head.
A voice whispered in my ear, at least I thought it did, saying ‘So? What’s the problem? Here you are, now, with the woman you love. Enjoy it.’
Smiling, I kissed her again as I fell asleep more than happily satisfied.
Sunday morning, I slipped out of bed and smiled at Elsa who looked like a kid sleeping there. Kid she wasn’t, that’s for sure.
After a shower, I went downstairs and started the coffee. The wards were still good, and I wondered if I could actually make them stronger than what I had. A call to my mom was in order later. She was like me: do not disturb before at least nine a.m. My dad knew it and left her alone until she was up and drinking her morning coffee.
Nissa came down, smiled at me and poured a cup. “Good morning, Jo. I trust you slept well?”
Was that bitch winking at me? I thought I’d cast a soundproofing spell. “I slept great,” I replied.
She sipped her coffee and looked over the rim of her cup at me. There was a lascivious grin on her face.
I had to ask. “You heard?”
“Honey, half of Seattle can hear you two, soundproofing spell or not.”
“Shit. Nobody’s ever told me that. I’m sorry if we disturbed you.”
“Lord, don’t be! I may be down the hall for the duration but you two add a lot of zing to my own enjoyment. I’m also teasing.” She laughed at my discomfort. “You’re not that loud but I can tell you’re enjoying each other to the max.”
I often wondered how many shades of red I turned when she said that. Since I’m fairly light skinned, it must have been something to see.
“Easy, Jo. You’re in love and you have one hell of a lover. So…enjoy the hell out of it. Every single day is a gift and never forget that. We’re up against something that could take her…or you…out of life as easily as it took Gaelle Pelletier yesterday. Make love with her every single day you can and ignore me. I have my own lover who I do that with when he’s here.” Now she blushed, too, and pointed at her phone. “The camera here is pretty damn nice and, well, so’s his.”
She then quickly and neatly changed the subject. “When are you going running? I’d like to go with you.”
“Normally I’d go biking but for you? As soon as I drink my coffee and have some toast.”
“Great! I’m looking forward to running with you.”
Now it was my turn to be evil. “You’re kinda old. Think you can keep up?”
Nissa was feeling damn fine this morning. “Try me…kid.”
I kept forgetting that she was only six years older than me. Later, when we got back from our ten kilometers, I had learned a valuable lesson. Never pick on someone you don’t know very well. She ran my ass off!
Of course, Elsa wanted to wash my back, wink wink. I chased her back downstairs with a promise-filed kiss and then showered.
By the time I was out of the shower and dressed, Elsa had her wonderful waffles ready to go. She even made her own whipped cream to go with them that was perfectly sweet.
Nissa had talked to Sorcha while I was showering. She’d meet us at Sato’s house since she was lead on the case and could go in and out at will.
Rain had washed the blood from Sato’s driveway but not the veranda. The crime scene tape was still up on the door and it hadn’t been tampered with. Sorcha tore it off and, using a key, let us in.
I felt a sense of foreboding as we walked through the repaired door.
Sorcha added to it by saying, “This is still an active crime scene and as such, there has been no cleaning inside. And since we can’t contact any of Sato’s relatives, this will all fall to the state to take care of and the Goddess only knows how long that will take.”
Even though it was morning and sunny because the rain had moved on, it felt dark and gloomy inside the house. Cold. Dead. The blood on the stairs was still there and we’d see the rest as we moved around. I wasn’t looking forward to it and neither was Elsa.
We stood in the foyer waiting for Sorcha to tell us what she wanted. It wasn’t a long wait.
After a minute of just standing with her eyes closed, she said, “There is more here than meets the eyes. I can feel it. I’m surprised you guys can’t. I also get the feeling Sato knew who his killer was. That’s not from being Fae. That’s from being a cop for almost twenty years. From our Internet searches, w
e know that this is where he conducted his businesses. He had no office anywhere else. I’m guessing that’s because he hadn’t been here very long.” She looked frustrated. “It didn’t take him any time at all to begin capitalizing on his time here and since we know the results, we know he truly pissed someone else off. We are here to find out who that is if we can. I think we need to stay together, too, considering our, ahh, mix of people. Agreed?”
We nodded and began with the living room area. And came up empty. There were cabinets with drawers and closed panels, and I never met a lock I couldn’t open.
There was nothing to be found other than some expensive silverware in the locked drawers and rare books on the shelves.
The rest of the downstairs was the same way. Bare of any incriminating evidence. Kitchens were always good places to hide things but again, nothing.
We found a pantry but no secret panels like you see in movies.
Now came the dreaded second floor. We passed the dried brown bloodstains on the steps leading up and decided to give ourselves a break and start in the bedrooms before tackling the office.
The master bedroom was spacious and a suite, more than just a bedroom. The bed had to have been custom made because I’ve got a king and this one was half again as large. Sato could probably have rented out the walk-in closet to a family of five. I exaggerate but you get the picture. It was a huge space with a dressing table and chair as well as a three-way full-length mirror. It was filled with expensive clothes and shoes.
After seeing the bathroom, I decided to remodel mine after it. I know the guy was a world class criminal, but this bathroom was way cool. The whole thing was modeled after a South Seas lagoon.
