[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
.Blood covered the victim s chest,pushed from the victim s body with the last beats of his heart.The slash of a sharp-forceinjury gaped in his neck.He had numerous stab wounds visible in the bloody mass thathad been his chest, some of which hadn t bled very much, which told Jake they hadoccurred postmortem.Blood covered the man s shirt, pants and face.It was possible thecause of death was loss of blood, but he could have died from the neck wound alone.Hard to breathe when the air doesn t make it from mouth to lungs.Jake noted the basics on the victim.Black hair, about six feet tall, maybe one-ninety.In shape but not a weight lifter.Nice clothes.Dockers and a buttoned-down shirt.Forty-dollar shoes.That could mean just about anything.Jake wore the same clothes when hisaunt made him come over for Sunday dinner once a month, although he spent more onhis shoes than this guy had. Repeated sharp-force trauma.Bleeding out would be my first guess, Kay toldGordon.Gordon was one of the few cops she liked, so if he was in the room, she tendedto speak directly to him. No livor, no rigor, so death within the last two hours.We llfind out more once we get him to the morgue. With that, she turned and marched out ofthe room, leading the body.The Crime Scene techs went through the motions of taking prints from the table,washers and dryers, but if the murderer lived in the building, proving they had been in thebasement would mean nothing.Still, they could get lucky and identify someone with arecord who wandered in off the street to kill this guy.Yeah, right.Then again, it alwaysamazed Jake just how unintelligent criminals could be.He fixed the scene in his mind.All of the people here were leaving a little piece ofthemselves behind to contaminate the crime scene and mislead the detectives assigned tothis case.It was one of his pet peeves about his job.Gordon had told him a hundred timeshe needed to accept it and not get all riled up.But that advice had only encouraged Jaketo keep his thoughts to himself.It didn t stop him from thinking them.He wanted to telleveryone to haul ass out of here, but turned his concentration to the blood stain on thefloor instead.The victim had lost a lot of blood, to the point it had run off across the slightlysloped floor into the drain in the center of the room.All basements in Richmond haddrains, since hard rains usually led to water in belowground spaces.The sloped floor hadmade the blood stain oddly shaped, almost like a large teardrop.Gordon closed his notebook. A couple of neighbors coming down to do theirlaundry found him.We should go talk to them.Jake nodded and followed him up the two flights of stairs into apartment twenty-five.Pausing at the open door, he noted the basket of laundry spilled to the right-hand side ofthe entrance.He brushed his gaze across the room, studying the trendy furniture facingaway from the door into a little conversation area around the fireplace and the perfectlayout of the knickknacks on the end tables.He glanced over the witness, then stopped and did a double take.Susan Wright stoodnear the brown leather sofa, her beautiful face filled with fear and worry.His ownstomach twisted in sympathy, but he controlled the urge to rush to her side.Someone haddied and the woman of his dreams had found the body.Damn.Chapter FiveSusan s body language told him she was badly shaken.Her arms were folded acrossher chest, her brows lowered, her stance defensive.Jake wanted to cradle her close andkeep her safe, but someone had died.He needed to do his job, not act like a lovesick fool.He realized he d never known where she lived, although her apartment fit herperfectly.The room was all cool lines that were flawless on the outside but hid, he wassure, secrets in the drawers and out-of-sight places.She glanced up, straight at him, as if she d sensed his presence.He d wanted to seeher tonight and now he would.Of course, he didn t like the circumstances, but hecouldn t help the wash of pleasure he felt when his gaze met hers.Her eyes flared wide then narrowed, showing her quick slide into caut ion, then shedropped her head into her hands. Ms.Wright, Gordon said, causing her to raise her head. I m Detective MilesGordon.This is my partner, Detective Matherly.May we ask you a few questions?Susan swallowed and straightened her shoulders. I ll help you however I can,Detective Gordon.Gordon flipped out his notebook and began to fire off questions in his usual rapidmanner, writing down all her contact information before moving on to the events of theevening [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]