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Carson shuffled the next photo to the top of the stack
The first two victi Saville had been molested
When the third victim was a man, the killer established his bona fides as an equal-opportunitybartender froiers--had been found with the right kidney surgically rein wasn’t troubling--an urge to collect feet and ears was no less disturbing than a fancy for kidneys--but it was curious
Chemical traces of chloroform were found, but this time peptide profiles showed that Walden had been alive and awake for the surgery Had the chloroform worn off too soon? Or had the killer intentionally let the ony, his s and sealed with duct tape to muffle his screams
The fourth victim, Caroline Beaufort, Loyola University student, had been discovered with both legs , her torso propped on an ornate bench at a trolley-car stop in the upscale Garden District She had been chloroformed and unconscious when eon dispensed with the anesthetic He murdered another man, Alphonse Chaterie, a dry cleaner He collected Chaterie’s liver while the victim was alive and fully awake: not a trace of chloroforoon wasboth hands
Four women, two men Four with chlorofor Each victi one or more body parts The first three women were killed before the trophies were reery Apparently none of the victims had known any of the others Thus far no ht, either
"He doesn’t like to see woony are okay with him," Carson said, and not for the first tiht "Maybe the killer’s a woht How many serial killers have ever been women?"
"There’ve been a few," he said "But, I am proud to say, men have been a lot more successful at it"
Carson wondered, "Is there a funda off feans?"
"We’ve been down this road Two serial killers collecting body parts in the same city in the saical, Mr Spock?’ ‘Coincidence, Jim, is just a word superstitious people use to describe complex events that in truth are the mathematically inevitable consequences of a priruesome and more tolerable, but sometimes she wanted to thump hied "I never did understand Spock"
Appearing as if conjured into a pentagram,
Harker dropped an envelope on Carson’s desk "ME’s report on the floater Delivered to my doc box by mistake"
Carson didn’t want a push-and-shove with Harker, but she could not let obvious interference pass unremarked "One more time your foot’s on mine, I’ll file a complaint with the chief of detectives"
"I’listened with a sheen of sweat "No ID on the floater yet, but it looks pretty much like she was chloroformed, taken someplace private, and killed with a stiletto to the heart before her hands were taken"
When Harker continued to stand there, the day’s sun bottled in his glassy face, Michael said, ‘And?"
"You’ve checked out everyone with easy access to chlorofor animal experimentation, employees at medical supply companies … But two sites on the Internet offer for it in the kitchen sink, out of stuff you can buy at the super this case doesn’t fit in any standard box You’re looking for soot to go to a weirder place--one level below Hell"
Harker turned from them and walked away across the squad room
Carson and Michael watched him leave Then Michael said, "What was that? It alenuine concern for the public"
"He was once a good cop Maybe a part of him still is"
Michael shook his head "I liked him better as an asole"
CHAPTER 8
out OF THE LAST of the twilight came Deucalion with a suitcase, in clothes too heavy for the sultry night
This neighborhood offered lamour than the French Quarter Seedy bars, pawn shops, liquor stores, head shops
Once a grand movie house, the Luxe Theater had beco in revivals On the marquee, unevenly spaced loose plastic letters spelled out the current double feature:
THURS THRU SUNDAY DON SIEGEL REVIVAL INVASION OF THE BODY SNATCHERS HELL IS FOR HEROES The ht or per Approaching the Luxe, Deucalion found a route of shadows
He passed a few pedestrians, averting his face without seeht
He slipped into a service walk beside the movie palace For more than two centuries, he had used back doors or even more arcane entrances
Behind the theater, a bare bulb in a wire cage above the back door shed light as drab and gray as this litter-strewn alleyway Sporting multiple layers of cracked and chipped paint, the door was a scab in the brick wall Deucalion studied the latch, the lock … and decided to use the bell
He pushed the button, and a loud buzz vibrated through the door Inside the quiet theater, it must have echoed like a fire alarm
Moments later, he heard heavy h the fish-eye security lens
The lock rattled, and the door opened to reveal a sweet face andout of a prison of flesh At five feet seven and perhaps three hundred pounds, this guy ice the s?" Deucalion asked
"Do I look like I’h"
"When I was a star in the ten-in-one, I weighed almost three hundred more I’m half the man I used to be"
"Ben sent for ured In the old days, a face like yours was gold in the carnival"
"We’re both blessed, aren’t we?"
Stepping back, s said, "Ben told me a lot about you He didn’t mention the tattoo"
"It’s new"
"They’re fashionable these days," said Jelly Biggs