Her Broken Wings by D.K. Hood
Twenty
“Feeling better?” Jenna turned to Kane as he pulled into the ME’s parking lot.
“Yeah, thanks.” Kane pulled his cap down over his ears and his hand went to the door handle.
Jenna rolled her eyes. She had a macho, ex-special forces deputy, who she believed resented her telling him how to care for his injury, but he often pushed himself way beyond the call of duty. As his superior and friend, it was her responsibility to make sure he took care of himself. “Wait up.”
“We’re late.” Kane flicked her a glance, his hand hovering over the door release.
She gave him a direct stare. “I’m not going to apologize for insisting you take your meds.” She took in his narrowed gaze and swallowed. “You should know better than to go out in this weather without a cap.”
“I was in kind of a hurry this morning.” Kane slid out the truck then reappeared at the rear door and unclipped Duke’s harness. “You see, I have this demanding boss who has me working before sunup. I removed my hat when I dashed in for a shower before making her breakfast and forgot to replace it before I left home. It was my bad.” He flashed her a smile and his eyes danced with amusement. “I do appreciate your concern, Jenna. It means a lot to me.”
She jumped down from the truck and met him at the front door. “Demanding? Moi?” She pushed open the glass doors and went inside. “Never.”
Jenna didn’t wait for Kane to secure Duke in Wolfe’s office and headed straight to the morgue. She removed her coat and hung it on one of the pegs in a row beside the door, grabbed a mask and gloves, flashed her card on the scanner, and moved inside. The smell of decayed flesh hit her as she glanced around the room. Monitors held X-rays and crime scene photographs in an array of horror. She stared at them, unable to recognize the location of a few of them. When Wolfe looked up and halted the recording device, she nodded to him. “Sorry we’re late. We had to attend a couple of accidents on Main. There’s a patch of black ice there. What have we got, and where is that crime scene? I don’t recognize it.”
“It’s not one of ours, but the Stanton Forest murders have a similarity to a case in Butte. Emily did a search last night to see if we could find a pattern. I have a gut feeling these cases are linked.” Wolfe glanced toward the door as Kane entered. “Two men gunned down and left to rot at the side of the road.”
Intrigued, Jenna studied the unfamiliar crime scene photographs. “Both shot in the back and then head.”
“You’d imagine the shooter dropped them and then came in to finish them at close range, but this isn’t the case.” Wolfe looked at Kane. “I believe this shooter has left his signature behind.”
“Are you referring to the feathers we found at both scenes?” Kane moved closer to peer at the body on the examination table.
“Nope. There wasn’t any mention of a feather. Maybe they missed it.” Wolfe used a remote control to zoom in on an autopsy image of another victim. “The angle of the shots isn’t consistent with that theory. These injuries are the same as Parker Louis and Tim Addams. What do you see, Kane?”
“From the trajectory of the bullet, I’d say shoulder shot, and as they fell a follow-up to the head, so he fired rapid shots at the same distance.” Kane moved his gaze to Jenna. “One victim might be a coincidence, but two identical ones that tie up to victims in another town is a signature method of killing to me. He could’ve easily taken them down with a headshot. It would’ve been a clean kill, and if he is a hitman, one shot and get the hell out of dodge is usual. This indicates to me he wanted to inflict maximum pain.” He pointed to the X-rays of the Stanton Forest victims. “To smash the clavicle like that takes precision. That injury is excruciatingly painful.”
Fascinated, Jenna examined the X-rays. “With the headshots coming so fast, the pain wouldn’t have lasted very long, seconds at best. It hardly seems satisfying enough for a psychopath.” She turned to Kane. “We’ve seen many who torture their victims, and a slow death feeds the thrill. What kind of crazy are we dealing with this time?”
“I’d like to hunt down any other matches to this case and maybe speak to the profilers involved before I make a decision. You see, these crimes cover both ends of the spectrum.” Kane rubbed the back of his neck. “We have what looks like a definite hit, likely paid. So, say we consider that’s the reason the killer is in town. The Robinson murder was almost clinical, but then we have these two.” He waved a hand toward the victims. “These aren’t hits. I figure it was their unlucky day. They pissed off a psychopath.”
“Hmm.” Jenna turned to Emily. “How far did you extend the search?”
“Montana. I used the newspaper archives and followed up with a call to Butte to obtain the files.” Emily shot a haughty look at Wolfe. “I don’t have clearance to search the other databases.”
Jenna smiled behind her mask. “Don’t worry, it’s our job to hunt down similar crimes.” She turned back to Kane. “So how far would a hitman travel?”
“That would depend on several factors: is he a freelancer or does he work for a boss?” Kane raised both eyebrows. “He could be a cartel heavy, but unless Mr. Robinson was into drugs, gambling, or people-smuggling, which I doubt, or has been subpoenaed to testify against someone, I’d say he’s a freelancer.”
The enormity of the problem rested heavily on Jenna’s shoulders. “If we find similar murders, we’ll need to liaise with other law enforcement departments and speak to the officers on those cases.”
She could think of nothing worse. Dealing with different filing systems was one thing, but people had their own way of investigating crimes; sure, they followed procedure, but only a few could match her team, and sometimes it was the small things that people missed in an investigation that could solve the case.
“Any other questions or shall I continue?” Wolfe’s voice jolted her out of her thoughts.
Jenna shook her head. “No, what else did you discover?”
“I’ll send you a full report once the toxicology results are available, but as far as I can determine, both Louis and Addams were healthy men for their age. Cause of death in both was a gunshot wound to the head. Again, by the small entry wound, the permanent cavity exit wound, and brain matter spatter at the scene, we can safely say hollow-points, and from the damage sustained, I’d say the weapon was a rifle.”
Jenna peered at the body of Tim Addams. “Why do the shoulder exit wounds differ from the headshots? Would this indicate two shooters?”
“No.” Wolfe cleared his throat as if to get Emily’s and Webber’s attention. “We’re talking about kinetic energy, or the size of a bullet and how fast it travels before it hits the target. The damage inflicted depends on the type of tissue it hits. Soft tissue absorbs less energy from the projectile so allows it to pass through, causing less damage. Hard areas, like skulls or bones, often absorb most of the energy and result in the bullet causing massive damage.”
“But all we found were fragments at the scene. Is there nothing we can use to do a ballistics test?” Jenna glanced at Kane, worried they’d missed vital evidence. “Surely if the bullets went through soft tissue, as you say, we’d have found at least one of the bullets inside the victim.”
“I’m afraid not. The bullet hit bone before exiting. Soft tissue absorbs the kinetic energy and slows down the bullet, so they often remain inside the body. If a hollow point hits bone, it increases the kinetic energy, which mushrooms the bullet, spreading the damage and causing a permanent cavity exit wound. I have fragments from the Robinson case and what we found at the Stanton Forest crime scene. Wolfe looked at her. “I’ll examine them to see if they’re from the same weapon, but I doubt it. The shooter wouldn’t have used a rifle for the Robinson murder, and from the damage to the two in the forest, he used a rifle to make the distance at that velocity. Find me the killer’s weapons, and I’ll conduct a test and see if we have a match.”
Easier said than done.Jenna turned to Emily. “Can you send me the Butte casefiles? We’ll head back to the office and see what else we can hunt down.”
“I’ll do it now.” Emily moved to the computer and tapped away at the keyboard. “Done.”
“Okay.” Wolfe turned to Webber. “You can close up Mr. Louis for me. Emily, I’ll leave Mr. Addams to you. When you’re done, take the tissue samples to the lab.” He pulled off his gloves and headed for the door. “I need to speak to Dave and Jenna in my office.”
Jenna followed him into the hallway with Kane on her heels. “Is something wrong?”
“I have a very bad feeling about this killer.” Wolfe waved a hand toward the morgue door. “I’ve seen this MO before and read about similar cases in other states.” He led the way toward his office. “I have a contact in the FBI who worked on cases in Baltimore involving the killer leaving a black feather, and I think you should talk to her. With these last two and the ones I uncovered, there has to be more. We’re talking about an extremely dangerous and active serial killer moving from state to state. If this is the same person, we’ll need all the help we can get.”