The Soul Catcher - Alex Kava [70]
Maggie stood up to stretch her legs and automatically began her ritual pacing. The real meeting hadn’t begun until the senator was safely in his limousine and on his way back to the District. Now the uncensored reports and photos were strewn across the conference room’s table alongside coffee mugs, cans of Pepsi, bottles of water and sandwiches Cunningham had ordered up from the cafeteria.
The old easel-backed chalkboard Cunningham liked to use was almost filled. On one side were the words:
duct tape
cyanide capsule
semen residue
handcuff marks: none found on the victim
ligature tracks: possible cord with glittery residue
possible DNA under nails
scene posed/staged
unidentified circular marks in dirt
On the other side under the heading Unsub was a shorter list, the beginning of a profile:
left-handed
organized, although a risk-taker
knows police procedure
prepared: brought weapon to scene
may interact well with society, but no regard for others
draws satisfaction from seeing his victim suffer
strong sense of grandiosity and entitlement
Cunningham had peeled off his jacket and gotten down to work as soon as Senator Brier had left the conference room, yet he still hadn’t explained why they had gathered out here at Quantico instead of at FBI headquarters. Nor had he bothered to explain why he had been chosen to head the task force rather than the Special Agent in Charge (SAC) of the District’s field office or why BSU had even been called in to take a look at the scene before they knew the victim was a daughter of a United States senator. He hadn’t bothered to explain any of it, and neither Maggie, nor the rest of them, seemed willing to call him on it.
There was plenty he wasn’t telling them. Yet, what he had told them, at least three times, was that all information was to remain shared with only the six members of the task force and with absolutely no exceptions. Redundant, really. They were all professionals. They knew the rules. Well, maybe all of them except Racine. Maggie wondered if perhaps Cunningham didn’t trust Racine, either. Could that be why he was holding back on an explanation? Of course, he had no choice about including Racine. The task force had to have someone from the District PD, and since Racine had already been assigned to the case, it made sense she would continue as liaison.
“According to Wenhoff, cause of death was asphyxiation due to manual strangulation,” Keith Ganza said with his usual monotone, continuing their list.
Cunningham found the word ligature on the chalkboard and scrawled underneath manual strangulation—COD.
“Manual strangulation? What about all the ligature marks?” Tully pointed them out in the autopsy photos of the young woman’s neck.
Keith reached for several of the photos, pulled one out and slid it back to Tully. “See that bruising and the vertical crescent marks? The bruising was made by the pressure of his thumbs. The vertical crescentic abrasions were made by his fingernails. The horizontal ones are all hers. The bruising and the abrasions are in the perfect position to break the hyoid bone. That’s the curved bone at the base of the tongue.” He indicated the area in one of the photos. “There were also fractures to the cartilage of the windpipe and the larynx. All are signs of excessive force and signs of manual strangulation.”
“The guy obviously had been using some kind of cord, over and over again.” Racine stood now to look over Tully’s shoulder at the photos. “Why the hell would he suddenly decide to use his hands?”
Maggie noticed that Racine was leaning close enough into Tully to brush her breasts against his back. She looked away and caught Gwen watching. Gwen’s eyes told her she knew exactly what she was thinking, and Gwen’s sudden frown warned Maggie to be careful and keep any sarcasm to herself.
“Maybe he used his hands when he was finished with whatever little game of pass out and wake up he was playing with her. He may have felt like he had more control with his hands to complete the job,” Maggie said, then turned away from them and stared