Read Online The Sinner by Tess Gerritsen - Free Book Online Page B

of blood.
    “Fresh pad,” noted Rizzoli. “Looks like she’d
just
changed it.”
    But Maura was not looking at the pad; her gaze was focused on the
toneless
abdomen, sagging and loose between jutting hipbones. Silvery streaks marred the
pale
skin. For a moment she said nothing, silently absorbing the significance of
those
streaks. She was thinking, too, of the tightly wrapped breasts.
    Maura turned to the tray, where she had left the bundle of Ace
wrap,
and slowly unrolled it, inspecting the fabric.
    “What’re you looking for?” asked Rizzoli.
    “Stains,” said Maura.
    “You can already see the blood.”
    “Not bloodstains . . .” Maura paused, the Ace wrap
spread
across the tray to reveal dark rings where fluid had dried. My god, she thought.
How can this be possible?
    She looked at Yoshima. “Let’s set her up for a
pelvic.”
    He frowned at her. “Break rigor mortis?”
    “She doesn’t have a lot of muscle mass.” Camille
was
a slender woman; it would make their task easier.
    Yoshima moved to the foot of the table. While Maura held down the
pelvis,
he slid his hands under the left thigh and strained to flex the hip. Breaking
rigor
mortis was as brutal as it sounded—the forcible rupture of rigid muscle
fibers.
Never a pleasant procedure, it clearly horrified Frost, who stepped back from
the
table, his face paling. Yoshima gave a firm shove, and Maura felt, transmitted
through
the pelvis, the snap of tearing muscle.
    “Oh man,” said Frost, turning away.
    But it was Rizzoli who moved unsteadily toward the chair near the
sink,
and sank into it, dropping her head in her hands. Rizzoli the stoic, who never
complained
of the sights or the smells of the autopsy suite, now seemed unable to stomach
even
these preliminaries.
    Maura circled to the other side of the table, and again held down
the
pelvis while Yoshima worked on the right thigh. Even she had a twinge of nausea
as
they strained to break the rigidity. Of all the ordeals she’d known during
her
medical training, it was her rotation in orthopedic surgery that had most
appalled
her. The drilling and sawing into bone, the brute force needed to disarticulate
hips.
She felt that same abhorrence now as she felt the snap of muscle. The right hip
suddenly
flexed, and even Yoshima’s normally bland expression betrayed a flash of
distaste.
But there was no other way to fully visualize the genitals, and she felt some
urgency
about confirming her suspicions as quickly as possible.
    They rotated both thighs outward, and Yoshima aimed a light
directly
on the perineum. Blood had pooled in the vaginal canal—normal menstrual
blood,
Maura would have assumed earlier. Now she stared, stunned by what she was
seeing.
She reached for gauze and gently wiped away the blood to reveal the mucosa
beneath
it.
    “There’s a second degree vaginal tear at six
o’clock,”
she said.
    “You want to take swabs?”
    “Yes. And we’ll need to do a bloc removal.”
    “What’s going on?” asked Frost.
    Maura looked at him. “I don’t do this very often, but
I’m
going to remove the pelvic organs in one mass. Cut through the pubic bone and
lift
it all out.”
    “You think she was sexually assaulted?”
    Maura didn’t answer him. She circled to the instrument tray
and
picked up a scalpel. Moved to the torso to begin her Y incision.
    The intercom buzzed. “Dr. Isles?” Louise said over the
speakerphone.
    “Yes?”
    “There’s a call for you on line one. It’s Dr.
Victor
Banks again, from that organization, One Earth.”
    Maura froze, hand gripping the scalpel. The tip just touching the
skin.
    “Dr. Isles?” said Louise.
    “I’m unavailable.”
    “Shall I tell him you’ll return his call?”
    “No.”
    “It’s the third time he’s called today. He asked if
he could reach you at home.”
    “Do not give him my home phone number.” Her answer
came out more harshly than she’d intended, and she saw Yoshima turn to look
at her. She felt Frost and Rizzoli