Read Online Suspicion of Vengeance by Barbara Parker - Free Book Online Page A
Authors: Barbara Parker
Tags: Mystery
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wheels of the king-size bed had been knocked out of their casters, and the nightstand had overturned. Blood at the foot of the bed appeared to have been deliberately smeared. No clear shoe tread or footprint patterns could be seen.
The victim lay diagonally across the bed on rumpled sheets and a pale blue comforter. An electrical cord was tied around her neck. Her bare feet pointed toward the door. Her legs were parted, and red silk pajama panties hung from one ankle. It took Bryce a second to realize that her matching top was not pulled down, but pushed up over her breasts. Her torso was red from her own blood. The blood seemed to glow in the white flash of the crime scene camera.
The medical examiner would later testify that he counted twenty-seven separate stab wounds, but that the victim's chest and abdomen were so lacerated that not all of them could be counted. He would find under her collarbone a small gold crucifix driven there by the force of the blows. Despite the position of the panties, there was no evidence of recent sexual intercourse.
The pool of blood on the sheets had clotted, and the clear serum, which had separated out, made a ghostly brown outline. Lines of cast-off blood went over the pillow, up the maple headboard and the wall, and across the ceiling to the approximate limit of where a raised knife would have thrown them. Her face was bloody but without cuts except for a deep slash on her chin. There were defensive wounds on her hands and forearms but so few of them, four or five, that Kemp's first thought was that the killer had kept stabbing the victim after she had lost consciousness or was already dead.
Kemp drew Bryce's attention to the electrical cord, which was attached to a small white alarm clock. The cord went around the victim's neck twice and had been pulled tightly, indenting the flesh. That the cord extended across the wounds indicated post-mortem positioning. The alarm clock itself was not a digital model, but an older kind with hands, which had stopped at 10:23.
Bryce studied this awhile, then said it was time to get a statement from the victim's husband. Outside in the van he put his hand on Dodson's shoulder and assured him that they would not rest until they found the person responsible. Then the captain left the scene to Detective Kemp.
Kemp looked carefully at Dodson's hands and face. First apologizing that this was necessary, he asked Dodson to roll up the sleeves of his shirt. Dodson was cooperative. There were no scratches or bruises. His grief and shock appeared genuine but could have been caused by the death of his son. When told about the empty jewelry box on the dresser, Dodson confirmed that his wife had kept her jewelry in it. Kemp told him that no rings had been found on his wife's fingers, and Dodson said that she had worn two: an engagement ring and a wedding band that matched his. He began to cry.
A photograph taken outside the courthouse eleven months later shows Gary Dodson after his testimony. His parents walk on either side, and he appears to sag between them. He is a man of average height, perhaps a little too soft, his sedentary occupation taking its toll. At thirty-two, his hair is thinning. His cheeks are hollow, and his mouth is drawn inward. The reporter wrote that he broke down on the stand, blaming himself for leaving his wife and child at home that day.
The baby had kept them up most of the night with a stomachache, and Amber was so tired that Gary sent her back to bed and told her to sleep for a couple of hours. He called Amber's boss and the nursery to let them know. He left the house at 8:40 a.m. and arrived at his law office around 9:00 a.m., as usual, and just before 10:00 he called to check on the baby. The baby was finally resting, but Amber wanted to sleep till he woke up. Gary called her again at 12:30. There was no answer, and he assumed she had already taken the baby to the nursery and gone to work. It never occurred to him that anything
The victim lay diagonally across the bed on rumpled sheets and a pale blue comforter. An electrical cord was tied around her neck. Her bare feet pointed toward the door. Her legs were parted, and red silk pajama panties hung from one ankle. It took Bryce a second to realize that her matching top was not pulled down, but pushed up over her breasts. Her torso was red from her own blood. The blood seemed to glow in the white flash of the crime scene camera.
The medical examiner would later testify that he counted twenty-seven separate stab wounds, but that the victim's chest and abdomen were so lacerated that not all of them could be counted. He would find under her collarbone a small gold crucifix driven there by the force of the blows. Despite the position of the panties, there was no evidence of recent sexual intercourse.
The pool of blood on the sheets had clotted, and the clear serum, which had separated out, made a ghostly brown outline. Lines of cast-off blood went over the pillow, up the maple headboard and the wall, and across the ceiling to the approximate limit of where a raised knife would have thrown them. Her face was bloody but without cuts except for a deep slash on her chin. There were defensive wounds on her hands and forearms but so few of them, four or five, that Kemp's first thought was that the killer had kept stabbing the victim after she had lost consciousness or was already dead.
Kemp drew Bryce's attention to the electrical cord, which was attached to a small white alarm clock. The cord went around the victim's neck twice and had been pulled tightly, indenting the flesh. That the cord extended across the wounds indicated post-mortem positioning. The alarm clock itself was not a digital model, but an older kind with hands, which had stopped at 10:23.
Bryce studied this awhile, then said it was time to get a statement from the victim's husband. Outside in the van he put his hand on Dodson's shoulder and assured him that they would not rest until they found the person responsible. Then the captain left the scene to Detective Kemp.
Kemp looked carefully at Dodson's hands and face. First apologizing that this was necessary, he asked Dodson to roll up the sleeves of his shirt. Dodson was cooperative. There were no scratches or bruises. His grief and shock appeared genuine but could have been caused by the death of his son. When told about the empty jewelry box on the dresser, Dodson confirmed that his wife had kept her jewelry in it. Kemp told him that no rings had been found on his wife's fingers, and Dodson said that she had worn two: an engagement ring and a wedding band that matched his. He began to cry.
A photograph taken outside the courthouse eleven months later shows Gary Dodson after his testimony. His parents walk on either side, and he appears to sag between them. He is a man of average height, perhaps a little too soft, his sedentary occupation taking its toll. At thirty-two, his hair is thinning. His cheeks are hollow, and his mouth is drawn inward. The reporter wrote that he broke down on the stand, blaming himself for leaving his wife and child at home that day.
The baby had kept them up most of the night with a stomachache, and Amber was so tired that Gary sent her back to bed and told her to sleep for a couple of hours. He called Amber's boss and the nursery to let them know. He left the house at 8:40 a.m. and arrived at his law office around 9:00 a.m., as usual, and just before 10:00 he called to check on the baby. The baby was finally resting, but Amber wanted to sleep till he woke up. Gary called her again at 12:30. There was no answer, and he assumed she had already taken the baby to the nursery and gone to work. It never occurred to him that anything
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