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"At least she was finally found" I grimaced and swiped at the sweat that snaked down ure out what the hell happened I guess there’s no such thing as surveillance cameras around here?"

He shook his head "Not that work I already checked"

I gave his arm a companionable squeeze "I appreciate the effort"

"Yeah," he said with a sigh "I just wish the whole situation wasn’t so fucked up"

I lad that no one knew the other horrific detail about Brian’s death It was hard enough on everyone to lose a member of the force, especially under these circumstances, and it wouldn’t help to know that, on top of all that, his essence had been eaten

A shiver walked down looe that this bodybut tattered re in an ethereal wind

Jill was inside, taking reeting as I entered "Hell of a way to spend a day, huh?" she said with a shake of her head "Anyway, I’estured to the floor on the other side of the bed

I stepped around and was rewarded by the sight of a wo loosely around her throat like an accessory She lay on her side as if sleeping, eyes half closed with the flat, dull look of death in thehted, snaked across her face, plastered in spots with dried sweat and saliva She was young--late twenties perhaps--and she had the kind of slender figure I could never hope to attain, no matter how much I exercised The portion of her body nearest the floor was ht first believe that she was heavily bruised, but I’d seen lividity--or livor h corpses to know that the redness was due to the settling of the blood in the body once the heart ceased pu h the scene had already been photographed and processed I was still learning the ropes when it cah to know that you had to watch where you stepped on a scene

I couldn’t tell how long she’d been dead--that determination would have to come from the coroner’s office--but even my limited experience told me that she obviously hadn’t died in the last few hours But that was a ht at the ht re in relief when I saw nothing low Yes, this hat it was supposed to look like No tattered threads, no torn edges Just a soft residue from an essence that departed its shell the nor ripped free This residual gloould linger for a day or two more, then naturally dissipate

I pulled aze travel over her, taking in the whole scene There were articles of clothing scattered on the floor, but I didn’t see any suitcases or bags

I glanced back at Jill "She had a purse?"

"It’s on the table"

I glanced over It was a s--not one of those career-woman monstrosities that could have held a week’s worth of clothes and toiletries It didn’t look as if she’d planned an extended stay Or even an overnight one "Any trace evidence? Fingerprints?"

Jill gririh here, and it all becomes one noisy mess"

"You nailed it, chick I’ll do et your best evidence off the body"

I nodded in understanding, and she stepped away to write dates and tiarments I murmured under my breath, "We just liked to play…" That’s what Brian’s suicide note had said Da, Kara?"

I looked up to see that Crawford had co, unfortunately"

He crouched besidein the details I could see his eyes flick quickly fro it up, no doubt co to the sans of struggle, defensive wounds, anything like that," I said

An expression of regret passed over his face "Keep going"

I sighed "I think that our first theory was right, Sarge--this is sex play gone bad" I gave a nod toward the silk scarf "It wasn’t a robbery, because she’s still wearing her earrings and her wedding ring" I pointed to the diamond studs in her earlobes and then to the fair-size dia those behind I’ in some autoerotic asphyxia play, and it went a touch too far I think he was slowly choking her and releasing, giving her that hypoxia rush--" I broke off with a curse "What a fucking waste Brian should have known better than to play with dangerous shit like that"

"Yeah," he said, voice quiet and hoarse "I would never have figured hi like this Guess you never know people"

I took a deep breath and ao she didn’t start breathing again He tried CPR--there’s even bruising in the uess he panicked and bailed out" I shook my head "I dunno It doesn’t make sense He’s not the sort to panic I can’t believe he wouldn’t have called 911 and at least tried to get help"