Playing Dead_ A Novel of Suspense - Allison Brennan [157]
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SUDDEN DEATH
the first book in the new FBI trilogy
by
Allison Brennan
Coming from Ballantine Books
Available wherever books are sold
The murder had been ritualistic, brutal, and efficient.
There didn’t appear to be any signs of a struggle, but here in the decrepit underside of Sacramento, that was difficult to determine. While the city did a fairly good job at keeping most of the streets clean, on the north side of downtown—away from the Capitol building and closer to the soup kitchen—the grime and unwanted bred. Here, the homeless weed through the garbage for something edible. Cardboard boxes had been pulled from the trash to shield them from an early heat wave.
Based on the lack of blood spatter, the victim had been prone when shot. But the victim had the same outward injuries as the other two known victims. His hamstrings had been cut clean through, incapacitating him.
“What are you thinking?” Sacramento PD Detective Dave Kamanski asked. He’d been the one to contact the local FBI office about the like-crime, and Meg was pleased to be able to work with someone she already knew and respected.
“His hamstrings weren’t cut here. Not enough blood.”
Kamanski frowned. “If the killer sliced his hamstrings first to prevent him from running, then shot him in the head, would there still be pooling?”
“I’m not a forensic expert,” Meg said, “but my guess is that there would be some sort of spray or castoff.” Without touching the victim, she inspected the deep gash in the back of his legs. She mimicked a slicing motion with her hand and then said, “I need the coroner’s report, but it appears that the killer sliced right to left, cutting both legs with an even, fluid motion.” She stood and said, “Turn around.”
Kamanski did, looking over his shoulder at the tall blonde. She said, “I’m shorter than the killer and you’re taller than the victim, but my guess is that the victim was walking somewhere, and the killer came and slice, cut the hamstrings. The vic went down on his knees—that should be obvious at the autopsy with early bruising or physical evidence of a collapse—and then even if the killer immediately sheathed the knife, there would be blood on the ground and castoff”—she looked to the left—“over there.”
There was no noticeable blood on the ground or opposite brick wall. “But,” she continued, “you’ll want your crime scene unit to go over the area carefully.”
“They’re working it already,” Kamanski said. “So you don’t think he was killed here?”
He sounded skeptical, so Meg clarified. “No, he was definitely shot right here, as he lay prone—small caliber handgun is my guess, .22 caliber, behind the left ear. A .22 is very effective at close range.”
Megan had seen far too many execution-style murders while she was part of the national Evidence Response Team that went to Kosovo ten years ago. Which led to the question of why disable the victim first if only to shoot him?
Megan already had the answer, if the evidence held true to the first two known victims: between the time the killer cut the victim’s hamstrings to when he shot him, he’d received his sick pleasure from the torture. Debilitating the victim was simply to keep him from escaping.
“We need to find out where he was attacked and tortured.”
“So this is connected with the cases on the hot sheet?”
“I can’t say for sure, but the sliced hamstrings and the execution-style murder are two strong similarities. Neither detail was released to the media in either city of the first two killings, so I think it’s probably the same guy. If the victim was tortured, that won’t be obvious until the coroner strips the body.”
The two previous victims had no visible marks until their clothing was removed and dozens of tiny pinpricks were obvious.
First Austin, Texas, then Las Vegas, Nevada. Now Sacramento. The only thing those three places had in common—on the surface—was that they