In His Way by Kate Bold

Author:Kate Bold [Bold, Kate]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Kate Bold
Published: 2023-05-17T00:00:00+00:00

***

Melborn and the City Coroner stood opposite each other across the body of Harold Laity. Both men were gazing down with stoney expressions at the dead man. The lawyer’s size and gravity must have commanded respect and awe in the court room, but in death he wore a pitiful mask of a shock and horror.

“How did he die?” Melborn asked. The coroner reached out with a gloved hand, indicating the wound to the neck.

“Laceration to the jugular vein,” he replied with the nasal wheeze of somebody who lives with Vaseline under his nose. “Somebody cut his throat. He would have bled out in very few minutes.”

“What about defensive wounds? Were there any other cuts on the body?”

“No other wounds, but the strike to the neck is surprisingly deep, more consistent with a jab than a slash.” The coroner stabbed and slashed the air with his pen to illustrate his point.

“So it would have come quickly,” Melborn mused. “Cutting someone’s throat is an arcing motion – you’d see that coming. A jab, on the other hand, could come out of nowhere.”

The agent bowed his head, his droopy gray eyes still trained on the deceased lawyer’s face. The lifetime of heavy, expensive secrets had etched deep care lines in the man’s face. All that worry, brought to such a quick, violent stop.

“Can you tell me anything about the weapon?” Melborn grunted the question.

“The victim, as you probably already know, was found with a straight razor in his hand. The wound to his neck, however, was definitely caused by a sharp, pointed, double-sided blade.”

“In other words, not the razor.”

“Correct,” the coroner replied, looking up with a knowing expression on his face.

“Double-sided?” Melborn repeated.

“Like a stiletto or a butterfly knife,” clarified the coroner. “Razor sharp on both sides and coming to an even point at the tip of the blade, based on the nick to his vertebrae.

“Butterfly knife?” The tired agent had the conversational value of a depressed parrot, but his mind was active. Butterfly knife? What distant bell did that ring? A dozen cases scattered over the last ten years flashed through the agent’s mind at once. He let it go, refocusing his eyes on the coroner with a complimentary leer.

“Do you think he used the straight razor to defend himself?” Melborn inquired.

“Hard to say. The lack of defensive wounds on the victim would suggest not, but there was some blood on the razor. The tests show that it did not belong to the victim, but it’s too early to tell if it belongs to the killer. It’s being processed through the DNA testing lab now.”

“It’s kind of an unlikely weapon,” Melborn commented, thinking out loud.

“My specialty is bodies,” the coroner said with a shrug, “and this one received a single, masterfully placed stab in the neck. If you want my opinion, I’d say the straight razor was planted on the body afterwards. Maybe the blood was already on it, or maybe the killer put it there to try throw the authorities off the trail.

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