“Someone murdered four people then threw pooch blood on them.”
“I wouldn’t describe it as a lusty throw, Milo. That would have created more spatter. This appears to be more of a careful pouring. By the amount of blood, perhaps from a sizable receptacle.”
“Bucket of blood.”
“The phrase did come to mind,” she said. “As to what it means, perhaps you’ve got something psychopathological that Alex could help you with.”
“Alex is right here.”
Basia said, “Oh. Hello. Anything come to mind?”
I said, “First for me, too, Basia.”
“This is a strange one, guys. Including variety in cause of death. The driver and Mr. Alvarez were shot by the same.22 but turns out Mr. Gurnsey was stabbed three times in the upper torso with a thin, double-edged bladed instrument. It wasn’t spotted until we disrobed him because there were no defects in his clothing. So he was cut either while wearing something else or while naked. Either way, he was re-dressed postmortem.”
I said, “Costumed.”
“Hmm... interesting thought, yes, there is a theatrical quality to it, the ostentatious car, the sexual posing.”
Milo said, “What killed the woman?”
“That remains undetermined though I’m leaning toward asphyxiation. I’ll be doing more tissue dissection and microscope work but so far all I’ve found are a few ocular hemorrhages. That’s suggestive but not definitive, a small quantity of burst blood vessels can be caused by all sorts of things, including lifestyle issues. And this body gives up plenty of evidence of that: congested lungs, boggy hypertrophied heart. Both are present with asphyxia but also in chronic drug use and alcoholism. She certainly presents as a likely longtime abuser: that outdoor skin you see on the homeless, liver almost completely cirrhotic, gallbladder dangerously enlarged, both kidneys are disasters. There are also changes that could be compounded by age and/or substance abuse: vascular deterioration of the brain, her thyroid gland isn’t much to speak of, and her esophagus displays several highly erosive splotches, probably cancerous.”
Milo said, “Not a paragon of health.”
“An orthodox conclusion would be she didn’t have long to live,” said Basia. “But who knows? I’ve seen people with brains like Swiss cheese and hearts enlarged to the size of a bull’s who survive far beyond expectation.”
I said, “Would her brain damage affect her consciousness and make her easy prey?”
“Her being intoxicated obviously would and I suppose if she had chronic brain damage that wouldn’t help. If nothing shows up on the tox, Dr. Krishnamurti agrees asphyxia will be the ruling by process of elimination. One more thing: We haven’t been able to identify her because her fingerprint ridges are abraded and shallow. You see that with various skin diseases but some people just don’t have good ridges, especially as they age. On top of that several of her fingertips are scarred — old wounds, most likely burns. The computerized system failed so I inked her by hand and that produced a bit more definition. But not enough for AFIS. I’ll try moisturizing and if that doesn’t bring up the ridges, we can slice off the skin, plump it up with saline, make a glove, and see if that works.”
“Thanks for everything, Basia. Any idea how long the bodies sat in the car?”
“I was told no blowflies were spotted outside because the car was a closed environment. Still, if the car had been sitting in sunlight for a prolonged period, even with temperate spring weather, I’d expect more tissue deterioration. So probably no sooner than Saturday night.”
Milo said, “Makes sense, it’s a conspicuous vehicle, why risk being seen during the day? What about time of death?”
“That’s a bit trickier,” she said. “Rigor had come and gone and I didn’t find any evidence of freezing or refrigeration. But again, the lack of decomp suggests the victims were killed and stored in a well-insulated space before being transferred to the limousine. A naturally cool environment — a cellar, say — or strong air-conditioning could’ve been enough. Also, moving bodies can disrupt rigor. The most I can tell you is twelve to thirty-six hours prior to discovery. But if we’re assuming the bodies sat there for around twelve hours and we factor in time to clean them up, dress them, put them in the car, we need to tack on additional time. The big problem is drive-time. We have no idea where they came from.”
“No freezing. So not long-term storage.”
“Most probably not.”
I said, “Basia, could we go back to the causes of death for a sec? Like you said, four victims and three separate methods is unusual for a mass murder. So maybe we should be thinking about this as individual killings grouped together, methods tailored to each victim.”
“Tailored how?”
“Smothering someone’s harder than shooting them. The woman’s compromised health might’ve made her more suitable than the men.”
“Hmm. It’s a thought, Alex. She was carrying plenty of weight — one hundred eighty-one pounds on five foot four. But the muscles of all four limbs were extremely atrophied, meaning a good deal of her bulk was nonfunctional fat. So, yes, she could have been overpowered fairly easily. What about knife rather than gun for the fittest victim, Gurnsey?”
I said, “A more personal death. The way he was posed fits that.”
“I’ll say. Personal and demeaning. But the woman was demeaned as well.”
I said, “She could’ve been a player in his scene.”
“Hmm... you could be right. They certainly don’t present as a likely couple.”
Milo said, “Any defensive wounds on Gurnsey?”
“As I said, I’m not doing him but I don’t believe there were.”
“A sneaky knife attack also fits up close and personal, Basia. One thing we’ve learned about Gurnsey is he lived for sex. Guy like that, gets in a compromising position, lowers his guard, the killer slips in the blade.”
“Cuddle turns to cutting,” said Basia. “Okay, gentlemen, time to sift through more marine sludge but I promise not to forget you. When I finally get home tonight, I will drink Tokaji and search the literature for cases where animal blood was used as a supplement to a human homicide. There’s a ritualistic feel to it, no?”
Milo said, “Satanic ghouls prowling the Westside? God forbid, Basia.”
“My, you are getting religious.”
“Parochial school memories never die.”
“How true,” she said. “Sometimes I still dream of nuns. And I won’t tell you the content of those dreams. Good luck, gentlemen.”
Milo said, “One more thing, Basia. Can we get quick DNA on the dog blood, at least find out the breed? I get hold of a suspect, he’s got a black Lab, whatever, it’s another brick in the wall.”
“We’re not talking a live animal, Milo. The amount of blood, survival would be out of the question. But sure, once I have multiple samples I’ll send them out. Now back to my gas mask.”
Milo said, “Too bad the governor wants to be president.”
“Doesn’t everybody?”
“Not the people I want to hang out with.”
She laughed. “Yes, that would be a grim soiree.”
He put the phone down and faced me. “Like you always say, kiddie psychopaths practice on animals. Maybe this one never stopped.”
I said, “This feels different from a practice run. All performance, no rehearsal.”