The Aftermath

17

"You made good time." Green told him as he came through the door.

"Thanks for the call. What do we have?" Roads asked, shaking the other detective's hand.

"See for yourself. I would like your untainted opinion." Green told him, and took a step back.

John Roads was a lot of things. He was overweight, balding, smoked all day, every day. He drank too much and exercised not at all. He was rude, told crude jokes, and believed women were for fucking. But he was a good detective. He had the instinct. Sometimes his instinct was wrong, but more often it was right. Batting 800. It was a good average. And what his instinct told him as soon as he saw the body, was that this was wrong. It wasn't Tom Blake. He didn't know why but it wasn't the same.

"Was the front door locked or open?" Roads asked as he approached the corpse of Beth Blake.

"Unlocked according to the security guard." Green answered.

That was strike one for pinning this on Tom Blake. It was a fact he never released to anyone, never put into the reports, and never mentioned, but always asked about. Tom Blake always locked up after himself. But he wasn't going to mention it here either.

Roads got to the body, "You done with the body?"

"Waiting on you to move her." Green replied.

Beth Blake was strapped down tight. There was no doubt about that. The killer used wide nylon belts to snitch her down. She was completely nude. The Y incision was as expected. It was actually a T, but the term in the profession was Y. She was split open from the top of her rib cage down to the top of her belly-button. The rib cage was split down the sternum and pulled apart exposing everything inside. The liver, the spleen and the kidneys were pulled out and set on the table beside her.

"What was taken?" Roads asked.

"Nothing that the med-tech could see." Green told him.

Strike two.

Tom Blake always took one of the organs. A liver, a kidney, a spleen. Once a heart. Something. Every time. It was Roads' theory that Blake was selling the organs, which is what lead him to check the border crossings for the prints they found which could be identified. Tom Blake was in the military, and he had a passport, so they had his prints in the computer. The print matched well over the required five points. So it was a positive ID. Roads' theory hit pay dirt. Tom Blake crossed the border within 24 hours of each of the murders. Bingo.

Then they checked his accounts, and he had large deposits made within a week of each of the murders. Bingo again. They arrested Tom at the border 18 hours after the last of the murders. He had his doctor bag with him, in the trunk of the car. There was blood on a surgery shirt in the truck as well. Also, they found and empty ice chest. One of the small but very good ones. The kind that made a vacuum seal. The kind you would need if you were transporting an organ across the border that you intended to sell. But the clincher was the $15k US he had in a money belt around his waist. May Brendon, the last victim, had a kidney removed and that was about what they went for on the black-market, $15k US. They had him.

And then that bitch of lawyer stepped in. Charlie Fucking Davis -- Attorney at Law. She took their case apart and made him look like some idiot playing dress up detective. Took the jury thirty minutes to make their decision. Thirty fucking minutes!

Roads suddenly realized what was wrong, what he noticed but didn't recognize when he first saw the body. Each of the victims lost bladder control at some point in the process of being cut open, and then sawed open. They lost it violently. The spray was always way off the table they were strapped to, but Mrs. Blake had a puddle. No spray. No violence. He looked at the straps that held her down, no major bruising. No tears in the skin from wrenching against them. He looked at Green, "Drugged?"

"We think so. Not sure what it was yet, but the tech said she would have to be very out of it if she didn't thrash around while this was happening to her." Green told him.

Yeah, no shit. Didn't need a med-tech to tell you that.

Strike three.

Ok, so what? It had to be Tom. Who else would do this to this woman?

This is his mom. So maybe he drugs her. A little kindness. Not unbelievable. Not at all. 

He doesn't take an organ. That's alright as well. She's old. And besides, this was for a different reason than the others. This was revenge. This was anger. 

And he didn't lock up? Hell he just killed and mutilated his mother! That had to affect him on some level. Had to. So he gets a little sloppy.

So, alright. Instincts take a hike for now. We are going with facts this time. Fact one, the MO is the same. Fact two: Tom has cause. The old lady was on national news telling the world that he was guilty. Ultimate betrayal.

"Find the taser marks?" Roads asked Green.

"Yeah, right on the chest." Green nodded.

Roads stepped back and took out a cigarette and put it between his lips. No one said anything to him so he lit it up. After a long exhale he looked at Green, "So we have a couple of discrepancies but the same MO."

"A couple?" Green asked, a little surprised.

Roads explained what he theorized about the drugs and the organs.

Green listened and nodded his head, "Alright, I can buy that. So, you aren't thinking copy-cat."

"No. Not at all. Look at the incision. No hesitation marks. Clear even cuts. Takes skill to do that, practice. All the medical examiners agreed on that point. And look at the bone saw cut of the sternum. Again, clean with no faltering or hesitations. Nearly a straight line down the middle. You don't learn to do this on your first time out. No way. There is skill to this, and very specialized skill at that. You don't learn this on a piece of wood in your garage." Roads explained. "No, this is the same guy."

"The same Coroner Killer." Green responded.

Roads hesitated, and then said, "Yeah, the same Coroner Killer. Not a copy-cat."

"Well your theory about it not being a copy-cat only holds if the Coroner Killer is Tom Blake. Tom Blake was acquitted of this." Green pointed out.

Detective Roads took a deep drag from his cigarette, "Yeah. He was. It was a mistake. There is your proof." He said, pointing at the mutilated body of Mrs. Blake.

Green watched Roads for a moment, and then nodded his head, "Alright, we'll start with Tom Blake. It's going to be hard with that shark he has for an attorney."

"Twenty bucks says he's planning on leaving town." Roads told him.

Green hesitated and then said, "You're on. I don't think he's that stupid."

"Every smart guy thinks he can't do stupid things." Roads said.