Read Online Wolfman - Art Bourgeau by Art Bourgeau - Free Book Online

before you found the body," Sloan said,
glancing in Mercanto's direction.
    "What about the mutilation, his hand?"
Mercanto asked.
    "According to the M.E. that happened after
death. He said he could tell by the destruction of the arteries and
the coagulation of the blood."
    Mercanto nodded, remembering the peaceful look on the
victim’s face. That’s what he'd thought, too. "How was it
done?"
    "The M.E. identified bite marks on the hand . .
. human bite marks . . ."
    "Human?" There was shock in the captain's
voice.
    "Yes," said Sloan, keeping it clinical as
he could. "The M.E. couldn't make a cast of them because of the
destruction to the hand, but he says they were definitely human
bites."
    Nobody said anything, and after a moment Sloan
continued.
    "Robbery was the apparent motive. The victim’s
wallet was gone. We made the identification through motor vehicles."
    "No, definitely not robbery," the captain
said. "Nobody does something like this for a robbery. There’s
a helluva lot more here than that. Any ideas?"
    Sloan closed the file. "We’ve some
possibilities. The simplest first — it could have been a robbery, a
sex-related one. He was divorced. Maybe he picked up the wrong
person, a prostitute, took her out there to park and she killed him."
    The captain nodded. "It’s true, the
sex-related ones are always the most gruesome. What do you think,
Mercanto?"
    "I wouldn’t rule it out, still with AIDS
everywhere why would a guy like him risk going to a prostitute? He'd
have no trouble getting girls. Of course he could have been kinky, or
maybe it wasn't a prostitute. Maybe it was just someone he picked up.
Or maybe he was gay and picked up a basher. Is there anything in the
M.E.'s report about it?"
    "They ran an AIDS test and he was clean. There
were no traces of semen, so he hadn’t come before he died, which
doesn't prove anything one way or the other. If it was like we just
said, it would have happened before he had a chance to."
    Sloan paused. "Another possibility is his
ex-wife. Maybe she did it, maybe she hired it done, or had a
boyfriend do it and was there for it. Next to sex crimes, domestic
murders are the roughest." He paused again. "When she came
to identify the body we showed her everything, including the
mutilation, and she didn't bat an eyelash."
    "She either hated him, or that’s one tough
woman," said the captain.
    Nobody disputed it. "Our third possibility is
drugs. The M.E. found traces of cocaine in Hightower’s body. We
have the pro-type hit. Maybe he was a white-collar dealer who got out
of line, and his wallet was taken to confirm the hit. The mutilation
could have been to put the fear of God into others involved, or it
may even have been part of some damn ritual. He wouldn't be the
first. You know how the Jamaicans have been raising hell around town
lately. Remember what they did to those kids — "
    "That was in the section of the park near the
zoo. We haven't had that problem up here," the captain said
quickly.
    "There’s always a first time. . ."
    Mercanto had to agree with him. Drugs were big
business, crossed all ethnic and social lines, and the Jamaicans had
been responsible for a number of recent murders, each more
sensational than the last.
    "Well, that's what we have so far," Sloan
said. "We released Hightower’s death to the newspapers this
morning. There's no way we could keep it out. But we held back the
mutilation angle."
    "Good, that's not the sort of thing we want the
public to hear about," the captain said.
    Sloan turned to Mercanto. "The ball, like they
say, is in your court now. You think you can handle it?"
    Mercanto just looked at him.
    "Do you have any thoughts on it? Something we
might have missed. After all, you found the body," the captain
said. He looked at her, then at Sloan. "You left out one
possibility."
    "What's that?" Sloan said.
    "That it was a random killing, and we have a
psycho loose in the park."
 
 
    CHAPTER 5
    LORING WEATHERBY ignored the view from