3am

Chapter 14

It takes us about thirty minutes before I am finally wheeled out of the hospital and helped into the car by Liam. We head over to the police department to get some work in, dropping off my prescription at the pharmacy as we do. That reminds me to check in with Graham about the toxicology reports on the first two victims and see if I can begin tracing a muscle relaxer to someone.

When we arrive at the office, Sergeant Easmon and Lieutenant Daniels are waiting. "Where have you two been?!" Easmon barks.

"Sorry Sarge," I say. "I had a bit of an accident this morning. Almost got run over by a maniac driver. But we are here now."

"Yeah well, we need updates on how the investigation is going. I have a press release in an hour. So let's get to it!"

Liam and I follow Sarge and Daniels into the small conference room where we bring them up to speed on what we have. Which is to say isn't much. Lieutenant Daniels growls when we are finished and threatens to take the investigation from us if we don't start producing results. We promise him we are doing the best we can, but as Liam so elegantly put it, "This guy is a crafty bastard."

"It doesn't matter if he is crafty or not!" thunders Lieutenant Daniels. "I want his ass caught!"

"We might have a lead," I venture slowly. "I think the killer is drugging his victim before killing them and Graham says it could be muscle relaxers. So when tox comes back on Joe Saldenas and Leonard Mitcham, we might be able to trace the killer through a prescription..."

"What about victim #3?" Easmon asks. "Any leads on who he is?"

"No, not yet," I concede. "But he looks young enough that I would be willing to bet someone has missed him and will file a report soon. We just have to give it a little time."

Easmon and Daniels grumble a little more about the progress before turning us loose to pursue our leads. Back at our desks, I call Graham on the phone to ask about the toxicology reports. By the grace of God, he answers and confirms that the first victim's tox report is back. And he tells us he has just finished the preliminary autopsy on victim #3. Liam and I make our way over to the ME's office to pick up the report, and to listen to Graham's findings on the third victim.

At Graham's office, Liam and I wait in the tiny waiting room of his main office while he finishes up some paperwork. Then we are escorted back to the morgue where John Doe-or should I say Johnny Doe-is laid out on the examination table. The first thing I notice is the raw Y-lines transecting the chest. Liam and I wait patiently for Graham to begin his discourse.

"As you can see, this young man was strangled in a manner that is very similar to the first two victims. The adolescent man has just begun cutting his wisdom teeth, which puts his age at roughly seventeen years old. The body is very fresh, for lack of better wording, which means he was most likely killed within two hours of the body being discovered." Graham gets an assistant to help roll John Doe over, and the assistant holds the body up as Graham continues his discourse. "As you can see, livor mortis has set in, but when I collected the body out at the scene, it wasn't set. Rigor mortis had begun to set in at the scene, but it was localized to the facial features. And most interesting of all..."

The assistant slowly lowers the body to the table. Graham leads Liam and me around to the other side of the table. There he points out his most interesting find. "A 'man in the moon' carving. Done by a very sharp instrument and based on lack of redness, mostly likely added post-mortem." I gaze up at the poor boy's face for a moment. I am still struck by how much he looks like my son James, just older. Graham asks if we have any questions, and I zone out as Liam asks for clarification on a few things. I am snapped back to the present by Liam resting a hand on my shoulder as he turns toward the door. I start to follow him out, but stop just in the doorway. "By the way, Graham, what about Joe Saldenas' tox report?"