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Puller nodded in agreeation at Fort Monroe didn’t connect up with yours back then There were parallels and the two spots are barely a half hour apart”
Lorne shrugged “I don’t knohat to tell you I never even heard about the case you’re talking about at Fort Monroe No one from CID ever called us about it And we had our hands full back then Me and Leo were just young detectives at the time, but the force had had soot the case We busted our asses, spent every waking hour on it Got to be an obsession if you really want to know”
“And we still didn’t solve it,” added Peckha hit Pro after that But those poor dead woht their killer to justice? I’ll never get over that No matter what else I did in my career, I was a failure”
Knox said, “Don’t be too hard on yourself Soet aith it I’ you could”
Puller added, “The file didn’t have many clues No real forensics”
Peckhauy didn’t leave any DNA behind And there was no sexual assault And he apparently wore gloves”
“But no defensive wounds? Nothing under the victile, unless they were bound first People don’t just die without a fight”
Peckhalanced at Lorne and said, “They weren’t bound At least there was no evidence of that”
Lorne shifted in his seat “You looked at the file photos?”
Puller nodded
“Well, pictures couldn’t really convey the actual daled, that was probably not entirely correct”
“What would be more correct?” asked Knox quickly
“That their throats, their windpipes, were completely crushed”
Puller stared at him “Crushed?”
“Flattened would be a better description” Lorne shivered slightly as he said this “I’d never seen anything like it and neither had the ME, and he’d been doing this work for forty years And I’ve never seen anything like it since, thank God”
“Are you sure so else wasn’t used? A rope, a metal bar, a board?”
“No, it was hands Huloves the evidence was pretty clear on that”
“So a big, strong guy,” said Knox
“So eThe base of the spine was also crushed”
Puller stared at him incredulously “The spine was crushed? Do you kno difficult it is to break,fall or some kind of car accident”
“I know exactly how difficult it is to crush a bone,” answered Lorne “Because I researched it afterward Not even an NFL line He could break it, sure, but pulverize it?” He shook his head
Peckham added, “And it was the same with the blows to the head that killed some of the women The marks indicated a fist was used But the skull was crushed And the ME didn’t think it was repeated blows Only one”
Knox stared at him in disbelief “One blow to crush a skull! Are you sure soth like a bear or so”
“It was no animal It was a human”
“Well, it’s not any human I’ve ever run into,” retorted Puller
“Not any human I’d ever want to run into,” replied Peckham
“What about connections a the victie and professional types But there weren’t detailed records on exactly what their professions were”
Peckhaovernment contractors”
“That ht have a beef against the governht have worked for the Feds or a contractor and been fired”
Puller said, “I’m sure you followed that line of inquiry”
“As far as we could”
“Meaning what exactly?”
Lorne answered “Meaning most of what those women did was classified and we couldn’t be ‘read into it,’ as they kept telling us National security That still means a lot today Back then it scared the shit out of people So we basically got zip on our inquiries because of that”
“In a serial killer investigation!” exclaimed Knox
“Trust me, I wasn’t happy about it either,” said Lorne
The four people sat there and stared at each other for a long moment