The Dead Room by Ellis Robert

Author:Ellis, Robert [Ellis, Robert]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Tags: Mystery & Detective, Philadelphia (Pa.), General, Fiction, Serial Murder Investigation, Women Sleuths, Serial Murderers
ISBN: 9780786014545
Publisher: Pinnacle
Published: 2002-07-01T04:00:00+00:00

THIRTY-FOUR

Teddy slid a disk into Nash’s computer, copied the file onto his hard drive and clicked on the image of Darlene Lewis masturbating on the couch. Nash found the black and white print of the girl’s corpse on the dining room table and held it up to the monitor. Teddy didn’t need to compare the images to know what the killer had done.

The patches of missing skin found on her body matched the placement of her tattoos perfectly. The killer had removed her tattoos with his knife and taken them.

Nash gazed at the nude photo for a long time. “The tattoo artist wasn’t very talented, was he?” he said. “I can’t say much for the photographer either.”

“Her boyfriend, Russell Moss.”

“Has he spoken with the police?” Nash asked.

“No. Not about this anyway. They came to the house and asked about his relationship with Lewis. He answered their questions, but that’s it.”

“How’s he doing?”

“When I left, he was tearing the Web site down.”

“I’m always fascinated by how people spend their free time,” Nash said as he finally looked away from the monitor. “What do you think this means?”

“That we’re on the right track,” Teddy said. “Darlene Lewis heard someone at the door. She thought it was Holmes, delivering the mail. But it was someone else. Someone who saw the tattoos on her body and rejected her.”

Nash swiveled his chair around to the window behind his desk. It was dusk, and the windows in the houses and buildings that made up West Philadelphia were glowing a deep yellow-red in the blue of early night. But Teddy knew the man wasn’t really looking at the view outside his window. The man’s eyes were turned inward again, and he appeared deep in thought.

“He came to her house,” Nash said quietly. “He saw the tattoos and took them away with him. It sounds like he got something in return to me. Why do you say he rejected her?”

“Because he didn’t take her. Valerie Kram was in good shape. When she went into the water and then washed up on shore, she wasn’t. The man kept her and did things to her. She may have been cut down the middle, but her skin was intact. I saw her body. She didn’t have any tattoos. I’ll bet it’s the same with those pictures on your wall. I’ll bet not one of them has a tattoo on their entire body. If they did, the bulletins would’ve said so.”

“Tell me about the wound you saw on Valerie Kram,” Nash said.

“You saw a picture of it just a few minutes ago.”

“Describe it for me anyway.”

Teddy wondered what Nash was up to. The photos Carolyn Powell had sent over in the manila envelope were lying on Nash’s desk beside the murder book.

“It was a single cut,” Teddy said. “The kind you’d make if you were gutting an animal in the field.”

“Have you gutted an animal in the field?”

“I’m not much of a hunter. I used to shoot though. I’ve seen it done before.

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