Read Online Two Graves (A Kesle City Homicide Novel) by D.A. Graystone - Free Book Online Page A

shook her head. “And Garnham was right, they’re wimps.”
    “And this is definitely right up there on the violence meter,” Mann said, flipping through the crime scene photos. “Makes the bashing that Gabel got look like he got bitch slapped and sent home to bed. What about the severed tongue? Could this be some sort of warning? We need to look into her business contacts. Could she have been blackmailing her way up the ladder? Was she some kind of a whistleblower?”
    “ME says the tongue was partially severed by her teeth,” Tetrault said. “Then the job was finished with a sharp object, likely the knife.”
    “She bit her tongue while she was being strangled? That doesn’t sound right,” Mann said.
    “No, it was post. Looks like a blow to the chin. A kick would have done it.”
    “Does this get any worse? Any physical evidence?”
    Tetrault flipped open the file in his hand. “No prints but CSU found another footprint in the blood. We are working on a match for the print in the garden. But the garden print was useless. This one is for a Hush Puppy. Who the hell wears Hush Puppies, for Christ’s sake? They got some blood, type O positive, off the strap he used on the girl. It is definitely not her blood so we might get a hit on the DNA.”
    Mann looked at his own hands. “Make sure you ask the boyfriend for a swab. Make sure he knows about the blood. If he says no, we’ll turn up the heat on him. Check his hands for cuts. It would be good to clear him. So, our boy didn’t wear gloves but he did take the time to wipe everything. What about this yellow strap?”
    “They use them to bundle the Daily . There is a drop between here and Jake’s. There are a bunch of them in the gutter and next to the building. He likely picked it up on the way.”
    “No gloves and he used a piece of garbage for his weapon? It looks very spontaneous with not much planning. Any signs of rape?”
    “No rape. And that doesn’t make sense,” said Kydd.
    Mann motioned her to continue and Kydd shrugged. “I saw her picture – the before picture. She wasn’t gorgeous but good looking. If this was a gang, they would have done her for sure. Pretty, white, twenty-something. She would be pretty hard to resist. They took time for everything else; they would have taken time for that. Especially if they were trying to leave a message for the boyfriend.”
    “She’s got a point,” Mann said. He turned to Tetrault. “What makes you so sure that it’s a gang hit?”
    “What else could it be with the knife, the kid and the sign?”
    Mann had saved the sign for last. He flipped the file open and looked carefully at the design carved into the back of the girl. On the next sheet, the ME had sketched a rough version of the circle with a half circle intersecting the top. “You’ve ran this?”
    “First thing Central did. Nothing. Not related to any gang in the country.”
    “Why wasn’t it on the kid?” Mann stared at the ceiling again. “What’s your theory, Shane?”
    “No gang, sir. Except for the fact that Gabel was part of an insignificant gang, there is no other connection. Yeck had no connection at all with street gangs. My guess, she hardly even knew gangs existed. Except for what she saw on the news, gangs wouldn’t even be in her world. Even this neighborhood isn’t really gang banger turf.”
    Sensing her hesitancy, Mann prodded her. “And?”
    “A psycho, sir.”
    Mann wasn’t surprised, just worried.
    “That, I don’t need. I hope you’re wrong but we need to consider the idea. For now, I want that design, whatever it is, kept quiet. I don’t want to read about it in the papers. I’m not saying we do – and I don’t want this repeated – but if we do have a psycho on our hands, we’re going to get another body. I’ll get on to Central and make sure it stays quiet. Too many have already seen it and it might be too late. But if we can contain it, let’s do it. I want to be able to identify our