An Emblematic Woman ● S. Reid | ✓

7 - Acceleration

Russo

The farmers' market was filled with people, unaware that we were here for an entirely different reason besides fruits and vegetables. Elena Occuro worked serving roasted chestnuts and coffee at a small corner booth in the middle of the market.

"Do you wanna talk? Or should I?" I asked Reid.

"I'll start off, you follow up. She may not even have knowledge that these murders are going on," he replied.

"Mrs. Occuro?" we approached her. "I'm Dr. Reid, this is Detective Russo," he greeted her.

"Good morning," I said.

"This is about Mark, isn't it?" she asked. "Coffee?"

"No thank you," Reid replied.

"I'm sorry to say my son was with me. I know my boy belongs in prison," she said.

"Mrs. Occuro, do you know anything about these recent murders?" I asked.

"No," she replied. "Mark called out of the blue, wanting to come over,"

"Is that unusual?" Reid asked.

"Yes, he knows I don't like him. That's why I invited my bridge club over," she replied.

"He scares you?" he asked.

"He once tied a cat to a bus," she replied. "Another he dropped from a six story walk up. He's a mistake, I don't know who's; mine or God's,"

"Did he leave your apartment that day?" I asked.

"Not once, he stayed the whole damn day. I couldn't wait for him to leave," she replied.

"Alright, thank you," I said. I turned and noticed Reid looking at a bag of purple chips.

"You hungry?" I asked him. "They're kettle cooked in all natural corn oils," I said.

"They're purple," he said.

"They're urban. Put it down," I said. He did so and we started for the car lot.

"As thorough as Occuro is, no one's luck lasts forever," he said. "He planned this; he learns from every kill,"

"Yeah, we got him on a hair. If he walks, he's gonna shave his head and wax his package," I replied. "He reads the same books we do, he had to create this alibi,"

"Yeah, it's a perfect one. With his mother during the Brittany Kershaw murder," he said. I suddenly had an idea.

"Wait a minute, the only way we know when she died is based on the M.E's calculations on decomposition," I said. "He may've made a mistake,"

Reid

"Determining time of death isn't a perfect science. This tissue putrefaction is consistent with my findings. I could have been a few hours off. Not a whole day," the M.E showed me the report, and I skimmed through it. His findings were accurate

"Is there a way he could've accelerated decomp? You know, make it look like she was dead longer?" Kennedy asked.

"Extreme heat or water can affect decomp, but there was no evidence of either. In fact, the window was open," he replied.

"What if he turned the thermostat up while he was there, and then opened up the window to throw us off?" she asked.

"Residential heating doesn't have enough BTUs to cause that kind of rapid decay," he said. I suddenly had an idea. Brittany Kershaw made pots in her apartment...