Geometry

Chapter 4

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Monday afternoon, Ray beat out a tune on the GTO's steering wheel and looked forward to the first bright spot of the day as they drove over to Sheridan's Wharf. He and Fraser got to take Dief and visit the wolf's girlfriend, with genuine case-related business, and Ray had high hopes of parlaying it into an invitation to spend the evening with the attractive and intriguing Doctor MacLeod.

He and Fraser had spent the weekend watching security tapes -endlessly- and come up with exactly nothing, but the security tapes ran on a two-week rotation, so they were barely halfway through the backlog.

The autopsy and toxicology reports had come back with more nothing as far as leads went. The victim hadn't been smoking, drinking, or on anything. Dental records were a loss with no head, and save for an indistinguishable wrist tattoo and a couple of relatively commonplace surgical scars, there were no identifying marks on the body. But the victim had been brutalized; beaten with appalling thoroughness over his entire body, a total of eighty-eight separate slashes slicing the victim's skin to bloody ribbons. The autopsy report detailed ruptured internal organs, massive blood loss and internal hemorrhaging and multiple bone fractures- most not merely broken but shattered, even before the body was dismembered.

After reading it, Welsh ordered the autopsy report sealed to everyone but Mort, Ray, Fraser and himself- the situation was bad enough without that kind of information getting leaked to the press or the public.

Interpol had nothing on a saber matching their description, but a couple of agents passed along contact numbers in case they turned up anything else. Likewise the Smithsonian, the description matched nothing they knew of, but call us if you find anything else, any time day or night, thank you, detective...

But that notion of Marina's about Lloyd's of London had paid off. While the polite British representative was very circumspect, he confirmed Lloyd's knew of three sabers that matched the description and picture Fraser faxed over; one owned by a museum and two by private collectors, and while he made it plain he would not release their private clients' names without a court order, the fellow offered to contact the two personally and make sure they were not victims of foul play. He assured Fraser of full cooperation if it turned out one of their clients had been robbed, or worse yet, might be the unidentified body in the City's homicide morgue.

The first saber on Lloyd's list was a Crown Treasure of the British Empire and on permanent exhibition at the Tower Museum, confirmed intact by Museum staff half an hour after Fraser called the curator and explained the situation.

The second saber was accounted for when the first private collector, a Belgian Viscount, contacted Ray directly confirming his saber was safe and asking bluntly about the fate of the other saber if it was not claimed over the course of the investigation. Ray took down his name and personal number with a promise to call if the saber went up for police auction.

The third saber owner was unaccounted for, and it nagged at Ray like a toothache as he and Fraser banged their heads on what to do next and Dief suffered loudly from the oppressive heat. A visit with the Doc ought to improve everyone's disposition...

* * *

For her part, Marina was having so much fun she sang along with Meatloaf on the radio as she wired up the ceiling fan and light in the west bedroom. Renovating the next-door apartment for Dief, Ben and Ray had taken over her energy to such an extent -and turned out to be such a blast- she'd turned over her teaching classes at the University to her graduate assistant for the rest of the week, salving her conscience with the knowledge Janey had been pestering her for the practice for a month.