DONE GONE WRONG by Cathy Pickens

Author:Cathy Pickens
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
ISBN: 9780312937478
Publisher: St. Martin’s Paperbacks

17

SATURDAY AFTERNOON

Cas Kirkland tends to bark, the short, staccato delivery of someone used to giving orders. Ex-military? Probably. But now, his tone was subdued and solicitous. Probably as close as he gets to a tender moment.

“She’s been there a while, but one of the guys who used to work Vice recognized her. It’s Tunisia Johnson.”

I didn’t quite trust my voice. “What happened?”

“Looks like something kinky went wrong.” He wasn’t going to bother being sensitive.

“Where?”

“Upstairs. In that abandoned store building.”

I didn’t say anything so he would fill in the blanks.

“The place is a regular Grand Central for scum. Folks looking for privacy, a place to hide, shoot up, get laid, take a crap. They pried the boards loose on a back window and used that as the secret entrance.”

“What happened?” I repeated.

He took so long to answer, I thought our connection had broken. “Apparently she’d learned some new tricks. Or she found a John into something new. Seen guys do this to themselves, but never seen anyone do it to a woman. She sure didn’t do this to herself.” His tone was clinical. I didn’t think he intended the undercurrent of anger for me. “You heard of autoerotic asphyxiation?”

“Yeah.” In law school, one of the peripheral benefits of a forensic medicine class. “A guy puts a noose around his neck while—stimulating himself. The brain panics at the loss of oxygen and the panic intensifies his sexual pleasure.” I wanted Cas to know I too could be clinical.

“Sometimes the jerk ends up dead,” he said. “Great way for your mom or wife to find you, trussed to a chair with your dick in your hand and your eyes and tongue bulging out.”

Whoever walks in on such a scene often thinks the guy has been tortured and murdered. City cops aren’t usually fooled, especially if they’ve seen it before. Or they’ve at least heard about it; apparently investigating one is so memorable that it’s a favorite topic with forensics guys, hence my law school education.

“So what’s this? An accident?” My stomach lurched as I pictured this woman I’d never met but about whom I knew too many intimate details. Now the cops and crime scene guys and the medical examiner knew even more intimate details. The thought embarrassed me. And made me sad.

Cas hesitated before answering. “Something’s funny about this one. She was spread on a mattress on the floor, the rope around her neck, arms, and feet. The way the thing was rigged, any—activity—would have slowly strangled her.”

He talked more to himself than to me. “But something’s not right. Hard to tell on black skin, though she’s light-complected, but my guess is someone moved her after she was dead. Lividity looks like the scene might have been staged. We’ll know more when the ME finishes.”

I swallowed to keep from gagging, glad we were talking by phone. “After she was dead?” I croaked when Cas didn’t say anything for a while.

“The rope left no visible bruising. Hard to be sure until the autopsy, but I’m not believing this was an accident.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.