The Crucifix Killer - Chris Carter [8]
‘That’s what it looks like,’ Doctor Winston agreed. ‘She probably spent her last living hours staring at her disfigured reflection in the mirror – mental torture as well as physical.’
‘This mirror doesn’t belong on this door . . .’ Hunter said looking around, ‘ . . . or in this room. It looks brand new.’
‘Exactly, the mirror and those wooden posts were placed in here for a reason – to increase her suffering,’ Doctor Winston confirmed.
The bedroom door swung open in front of Hunter breaking his stare from the mirror. Garcia walked in holding a cup of coffee. ‘Here you go,’ he said handing it to Hunter.
‘I think I’ll pass, rookie, my stomach has seen better days and I’m very much wide awake now,’ Hunter replied with a dismissive gesture.
Captain Bolter and Doctor Winston both shook their heads indicating they didn’t want any either. Garcia reopened the door.
‘Here you go,’ he said to the young officer standing outside. ‘You look like you could use a drink.’
‘Uh! Thank you sir.’ The officer looked surprised.
‘Don’t mention it.’ Garcia closed the door and approached the victim with Hunter. A pungent smell filled their nostrils forcing Hunter to place a hand over his nose. The woman had been kneeling in a pool of urine and faeces.
‘She was kept tied to those posts for several hours, maybe even an entire day. That was her toilet,’ Doctor Winston explained pointing to the floor.
Garcia grimaced in disgust.
‘How long has she been dead for, doc?’ Hunter questioned.
‘It’s hard to be precise at this moment. The human body drops approximately 1.5 degrees in temperature every hour after death. Her body has dropped around twelve degrees which could mean that she’s been dead for eight hours, but that depends on the circumstances. The summer heat would’ve no doubt slowed the process down and during the day I’m sure this room feels like a sauna. I’ll have a better idea of the time of death once I get her into my autopsy room.’
‘There are no cuts, no bullet wounds, no strangulation marks. Did she die from her facial injuries?’ Hunter asked, looking at the woman’s torso and waving his hands to get rid of some of the flies.
‘Again, without an autopsy I can’t be certain, but my guess would be heart failure induced by pure pain and exhaustion. Whoever did this to her, kept her in this position inflicting more and more pain until she was gone. The killer wanted her to suffer as much as possible, and suffer she did.’
Hunter looked around the room as if searching for something. ‘What’s this other smell? I can smell something else, something like vinegar.’
‘You’ve got a good nose, Hunter,’ Doctor Winston said pointing to one of the corners of the room. ‘That jar over there, it was full of vinegar. You can also smell it over her body, predominantly on the top half. It looks like the killer poured it over her skinless face at set time intervals.’
‘Vinegar also works as a fly repellent,’ Hunter said.
‘That’s correct,’ Doctor Winston confirmed. ‘Now just imagine the sort of pain she had to go through. All the nerves around her face were completely exposed. Even a small gust of wind would’ve caused unbearable pain. She probably passed out several times, or at least tried to. Remember, she had no eye lids – no way of keeping the light away, no way of resting her eyes. Every time she regained consciousness, the first image she’d see would be her disfigured naked body. I’m not even gonna go into what sort of pain the acidity of vinegar poured over open flesh causes.’
‘Jesus!’ Garcia said taking a few steps back. ‘Poor woman!’
‘Was she conscious when she was skinned?’ Hunter asked.
‘Not without being anesthetized, but I don’t think she was. I’d say she was drugged, knocked unconscious for several hours while this psycho went to work on her face. After he was done, she was brought up to this house, tied to the posts and tortured some more until she died.’
‘What? You don’t think she was skinned in this house?’ Garcia asked, looking confused.
‘No,’ Hunter