The Crucifix Killer - Chris Carter [66]
‘That’s the second slide we looked at, the green round things?’
Doctor Winston nodded.
‘I remember that story,’ Hunter said. ‘It didn’t really get the attention of the media. Just a sideline in the papers.’
Doctor Winston stood up and walked over to the autopsy table. Garcia and Hunter followed him with their eyes.
‘The way the disease works is as follows – the bacterium enters the body and reproduces itself. The more bacteria there are, the more toxins they release. The more toxins they release, the quicker and more painful the death. Unfortunately for our victim, these little bastards reproduce like crazed rabbits. They can double their number in the space of a few hours.’
‘Can it be treated?’ Garcia this time.
‘Yes, if found early enough, but that rarely happens due to how fast the bacteria spread.’
‘And how do you get it? How does the bacterium enter the body?’
‘Funnily enough, the bacterium is frequently found living on the skin or inside the nose of a healthy person.’
Garcia placed both of his hands over his nose as if he was about to blow it. Hunter couldn’t help but laugh.
‘It’s in a dormant state,’ Doctor Winston said with a smile. ‘But the bacterium can easily infect an open flesh wound. Sometimes it’s picked up in hospitals from infected surgery incisions.’
‘Wow, that’s reassuring,’ Garcia joked.
‘Necrotizing fasciitis is one of the fastest-spreading infections known to man. In regular cases it takes only three to five days for a patient to go from early symptoms to death. In the case of our victim, and I’m sure you both have probably guessed it, the killer has injected him with the staphylococcus aureus bacterium.’
A morbid silence took over the room. What else could this killer come up with?
‘But the dog race was only two days ago, how can a disease have such a quick reaction time?’ Garcia asked shaking his head.
‘Dog race?’ Doctor Winston frowned.
Garcia waved his hand in a dismissive gesture. ‘Too complicated to explain it now, doc.’
‘Anyway, as I’ve said, the bacterium multiplies fast and the more there is the more damage it causes. Our victim was injected with a phenomenal amount of it and straight into the bloodstream. Within ten to twelve hours he would’ve gone from healthy to knocking on death’s door.’
Doctor Winston approached the organ tray. ‘His liver and kidneys were thirty-five percent destroyed. There was also great deterioration of the heart, the intestines and esophagus, and that would explain the blood when he coughed, he was hemorrhaging internally very badly when we got to him at the park. It was probably his body’s last struggle before death.’
Garcia contorted his face remembering the images from the park.
‘And there’s one more thing,’ the doctor continued.
‘And what’s that?’
‘The victim’s nails on both hands are all broken, as if he’d tried to scrape his way out of somewhere. A wooden box probably.’
‘Wood splinters under the nails?’ Hunter concluded.
‘Yep. Under what’s left of them and on his fingertips.’
‘Wood analysis?’ Garcia asked excitedly.
‘Common pine wood. Very easy to come across. The killer could’ve nailed him shut inside a regular wardrobe.’
‘Why would the killer do that if he’d already injected the victim with the bacteria and death was a certainty?’ Garcia asked intrigued.
‘To speed up the process as much as possible,’ Hunter answered first.
Garcia frowned.
‘The heart speeds up when a person panics. Blood is pumped faster, so the bacteria spread faster.’
‘Correct,’ Doctor Winston said with a nod.
‘And what easier way to make someone panic than nailing him shut inside a wooden coffin.’
‘This killer knows the business of killing better than anyone I’ve ever encountered,’ the doctor said staring back at the body.
‘So if we’d gotten to the park earlier?’ Garcia asked.
‘It would’ve made no difference. Our victim’s fate was sealed the moment the killer injected him with the bacteria,