Alex Kava Bundle - Alex Kava [609]
“So it was literally a hatchet job, huh?” Racine laughed at her own joke.
Bonzado didn’t. But he did smile even though he went on to point out gashes on what was left of this victim’s split vertebrae. “Usually when a body’s dismembered, the joints and bones are sawn or cut with a blade. A sharp, blunt object like a hatchet or ax—or he could have even used a machete—leaves gashes in the bone from the attempts that didn’t quite slice through. That probably explains the rips and tears you were seeing in the skin and tissues, too.”
“There’s one thing that bothers me,” Maggie said as she watched Bonzado add some cleaning solvent to the bone. The liquid seemed to highlight the chop marks. “This guy has to be disciplined and organized enough to plan not only the murders, but the drop sites. And yet, it’s almost as if he completely loses it after he’s killed them. The last victim showed signs of being strangled and hit over the head with a ball-peen hammer. A hatchet or machete just contributes to this idea that he sort of loses it.”
“Yeah, and what about that? Why not a saw or knife?” Racine asked. “Is it poor planning? Does he use whatever is handy?” Racine asked, but she was directing her question to Maggie, the FBI profiler, instead of Bonzado.
“He has to take them someplace safe to cut them up,” Maggie said. “Where could he go that just happens to have a hatchet or machete handy?”
“My dad keeps a machete in his garden shed,” Bonzado offered. “He claims it works for anything from hacking off tree branches to plucking up dandelions. As for the hatchet, someone who camps a lot might actually carry one around in his trunk with other camping supplies.”
“Even if he keeps it in his car, where the hell does he take them?” Racine wanted to know. “Cutting off someone’s head is a messy job. And it’s not like there’s a whole lot of gardening sheds in the District.”
“We can’t assume he kills them in the District,” Maggie said. “Just because their heads are dumped there.”
“Fair enough,” Racine said with no argument. Maggie thought she was awfully agreeable this trip. “So he could possibly have access to a cabin or toolshed, but he probably lives in the District, right? From what I know about serial killers, they don’t usually display their handiwork too far from where they live or work.”
“Excuse me, ladies.” Bonzado now had forceps and was bent over a patch of loose flesh, pulling it away from the base of the skull. “I might have something here. Mind if I pluck this off?”
“Whatever you need to do.”
Maggie came in close over Bonzado’s shoulder, but she wasn’t sure what had gotten his attention. The flesh was so decomposed it had turned gray and black in the areas where it remained attached. Even the cleaning solvent couldn’t help here.
“What is it?” Maggie finally asked, thinking something had been embedded in the flesh.
Bonzado carefully ripped off a piece of tissue about two inches in diameter. He held it up in the sunlight, but Maggie still couldn’t tell what it was that had gotten his attention.
“The epidermis is gone and I need to clean this up.” He was grinning now and it reminded Maggie of a proud schoolboy with a show-and-tell project. “If I’m not mistaken, I think this may be a tattoo from the back of her neck. The killer may have thought he removed it when it ripped off the top layer, but tattoos actually show up better deep under where the ink settles.”
“You think there’s enough to figure out what it is?”
“Hard to tell.” And now he was holding it up under a fluorescent desk light. “But if there is enough, tattoos can be pretty unique. We’ve identified victims by their tattoos in other instances.”
“So maybe the killer slipped up.” Racine sounded hopeful.
“Oh, yeah. I’d say he may have made a big-time boo-boo.”
CHAPTER 28
Omaha, Nebraska
Tommy Pakula left Clare and the girls outside under the canopy in their backyard. They eagerly excused him so they could discuss plans for the big Fourth of July bash later