Never Together Nor Apart

[Chapter 63]

Emily's POV:

"The cause of death was nicotine poisoning," the M.E. recalls.

"Was it something in the white face makeup?" Morgan takes a guess.

"No. No, the makeup's harmless. It was applied postmortem, the gown that she was wearing however, was soaked in nicotine-based pesticide, so it was absorbed through her skin," he explains.

"Was it a quick death?" I wonder.

"At high doses, people can die immediately, but based on the levels in her bloodstream, she probably died in about an hour, within minutes she was probably sweating and then experiencing shortness of breath, and possibly seizures," He continues.

"So she didn't have the wherewithal to remove the dress," I infer.

"Well, even if she did, she couldn't. That corset was laced so tightly, it left lucidity marks on her chest. Plus, someone sewed the dress shut over the closure," He leaves out no details.

"I'm guessing she wasn't seen in by choice," Morgan states grimly.

"Nope. Take a look over here," he moves to her feet.

"Is that more nicotine poisoning?" I ask.

"Well, you would think so. But the clothing wasn't tight on her skin here. See, the epidermis is thickened and has signs of abscess formations? She was submerged in water for some time before she was killed," The M.E. somehow adds to her already horrible death.

"So we were right. He held her and tortured her first. The question is, why?" Morgan turns to me.

*time skip*

"Fount of Wisdom," Garcia answers.

"Penelope, how many patients were in the female ward of the asylum?" Rossi asks.

"Uh, 32. 6 died in the fire that broke out in the kitchen next to the ward, the rest were transferred to other facilities when that hospital shut down," she explains.

"Anyone recently released?" I hear Aaron question.

"The last female patient that got out was five years ago when she was 80. It was a compassionate release," Garcia explains.

"Thanks Garcia," Rossi hangs up.

"Hey guys," I call the over to where I stand, looking at the graffiti lining the walls.

They begin to walk over.

"What do you think about this?" I point to one of the artworks.

"Batty. That's kind of in the nose," Rossi says confused.

"Oh, no, not that's. Uh, Rick can you zoom in here?" I ask.

He does, showing numbers next to three women's names. They each list out as Catherine, Emma, and Sarah.

"Emma's the name of the victim," I point out.

"It could also be completely unrelated to the case," An older man walks up.

I give him a scowl and ignore his sentence.

"What would the numbers mean?" Rossi questions.

"My guess— patient I.D.s," the older man speaks again.

"Has the paint analysis come back yet?" I ask no one in particular.

"Uh, this particular sample... was written no more than a week ago," the man looks up at me surprised.

"We'll check these names against missing women in Oregon," Aaron begins to dial a number.

"If this is a list of victims, it means there are more he hasn't chosen yet," I point out the empty spaces next to the numbers.