Tangled

CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE

  Jay turned left straight out of the lift, he marched down

  the corridor and up to the reception desk. The secretary

  looked up at him and smiled her usual glamorous smile.

  “Hi, Detective Marnotti. I didn’t know you had another

  autopsy scheduled in for today,” she said, flicking through

  her appointment book.

  “Nah, not today, beautiful. I’m here to see Augie. He called

  me and said he had some results for me. He about?”

  Jay’s head turned and looked towards the rooms further

  down the hall.

  Her smile grew bigger and she laughed, “Well that’s sure

  better than a nasty autopsy any day, isn’t it? I’ll just page

  him now for you.” She picked up the phone on the

  counter in front of her and hit a small green button. Jay

  heard her mumble a few words before she replaced the

  receiver and looked back at him. “You can go on through.

  He’s in Suite 3.”

  “Thanks,” he said, heading off in the direction of the

  Suites. Jay scanned the numbers on each door as he

  walked down the hallway, there were so many doors and

  they weren’t numbered in sequence, which he thought

  was odd. He had been in Suite 2 before and yet it was not

  next to Suite 3, not even close. He continued down the

  aisle, looking left and right until he came to another

  corridor that ran across his path, he took a chance and

  made a left. A few steps further down on his right was a

  plain grey door, marked Suite 3. Jay knocked and waited

  to be allowed in.

  “Ahh, Jay… Good to see you. Come on through.” Augie

  stepped aside, holding the door open for him and he

  walked through, stopping just inside.

  Jay extended his hand and Augie accepted it, giving it a

  firm shake.

  “I hope you don’t mind chatting while I finish up with a

  few samples I’ve been working with?” Augie asked,

  motioning to the washtub.

  “Not at all. The mood I am in today Augie, we could talk

  on a volcano for all I care.” A huge smile beamed from his

  face.

  The two walked deeper inside the room and washed their

  hands at the sinks before entering the autopsy suite.

  “So why the happy face?” enquired Augie, pulling on a pair

  of latex gloves. “Not that you shouldn’t be happy. You just

  haven’t had a lot to smile about of late.”

  “Seems like our luck is changing my friend,” he blurted

  out. “We got Tessa’s killer!”

  Augie stood so still he looked almost frozen to the spot.

  “You what? Are you serious?” he looked at the excitement

  on Jays face.

  “Serious as they come!”

  “When? Where? How? Why?” He stuttered and tripped over

  his words with anxious anticipation for the details. “Who?”

  Jay laughed heartily and walked to a tall stool sitting a

  few feet away. He picked it up and brought it back to

  where he had been standing and sat it down. “Her name

  was Dr. Rose-Marie Sugars. Seems she was not quite as

  professional as she should have been” He cocked one leg

  up and half leant against the stool. Augie’s expression

  turned to shock.

  “Rose-Marie Sugars?”

  “Yup. What? Do you know her?”

  “Sure,” he replied, sealing a plastic bag and placing it on a

  pile with several others. “The mother of our last mutilation

  victim. Marla Andrews.” his eyes fell to the floor. “She

  came in to identify the body and make arrangements to

  send her to the funeral home.” He paused. “She seemed

  so nice. Why, why did she do it?”

  “It’s a long and twisted story Augie, trust me. The long

  and short of it is that she killed Tessa and she is going to

  jail!”

  Augie appeared to be lost in a trance momentarily. Jay

  snapped his fingers in front of him and said, “Earth to

  Augie. You still with me?”

  Blinking his eyelids a few times, his gaze returned to Jay

  and they continued their conversation. “So if she killed

  Tessa, did she kill the others? Her own daughter too?”

  “Apparently not, and that’s the bad news. We still have a

  monster out there stalking and mutilating women. We

  need to get the freak Augie.” He steadied himself against

  the chair.

  “So it looks like this is a copy-cat killer then?”

  “That sure is how it’s looking,” replied Jay. “I can’t figure

  it out though, specific details weren’t released to the

  press, so it must be someone who knows the nature of

  the murders in their entirety.”

  Augie rubbed his hands over his face, “Could there be a

  leak in the department, Jayy?”

  “There’s always that possibility, plenty of insiders with

  access to this sort of information who just can’t resist

  making a quick buck by selling it to the nearest weirdo off

  the street. The press love the leaky cops!”

  “There is another possibility, Jay.” Augie lowered his eyes

  to the floor.

  “What are you thinking?” Jay’s brow rose.

  “Maybe our killer is an insider! That would explain a lot.

  What are your thoughts?”

  “Oh, hell I hope not, I work with cops everyday, I don’t

  wanna wake up one day knowing that one of them is

  capable of doing this.” Jay thought for a moment. “But it

  does make a lot of sense though, doesn’t it?”

  “It’s just one possibility. It could even be someone with a

  passion for forensics and police procedures…” Augie tried

  to reach another conclusion.

  “Could be, I think it might be time to start taking an

  inside look though. That makes more sense to me. Damn

  it!” Jay slammed the stool against the bench beside

  him. The thought of the killer being a fellow cop churned

  his stomach. He worked beside a lot of officers, all good

  men and he didn’t even want to consider the possibility

  that any one of them could be capable of these murders.

  He turned to Augie and asked, “How did Marla’s tox

  results come out? Anything that can help us?”

  Augie sighed and turned in the direction of a small door

  off the main suite. ”Ed, can you bring me Marla Andre’s

  tox results please?”

  A voice echoed back, “No problem, Dr. August.”

  Augie turned back to Jay and said, “U-fortunately there’s

  nothing ground breaking in there. I was hoping for your

  sake that we’d find something, but alas… It wasn’t to be.”

  He held out his hand, awaiting Ed to pass the folder to

  him.

  “There you are, Dr. August,” Ed said quietly when he

  handed him the results.

  “Thank you, Ed,” he said.

  Ed hung around in front of him for a few seconds before

  Augie asked, ”Is there something else, Ed?”

  “I’m sorry to bother you, but I was wondering if you had

  thought about what I had asked you this morning?”

  “Oh. Yes, that’s right. Of course, it’s fine with me but just

  make sure you have s
tored all the chemicals back on the

  shelf before you leave, please.”

  “No problem and thanks, Dr. August.” he stepped back

  and raced back into the small room he had come from.

  Augie returned to the file. His fingers parted the covers of

  the folder and pulled out the sheet of paper inside. His

  eyes scanned it carefully before handing it over to Jay.

  “It’s almost like reading the results from Kylie-Anne’s

  autopsy all over again. Nothing new I’m afraid.”

  Jay stared at him, his frustration building within him.

  “She had Halothane in her swabs, just like Kylie-Anne. No

  other drugs or inhibitants in her system. Also just like

  Kylie-Anne, her rape kit was positive for spermicide.”

  “Christ! Why can’t we find something new?” Jay cried,

  more of a statement than a question.

  “I know exactly how you feel Jay, I do.” Augie assured

  him. “Look, why don’t you go home Jay, the day’s nearly

  done. Take an early mark like Ed and go enjoy yourself.

  You need a break.”

  “You’re right, I could use some time out.” Jay looked at

  his watch, four-fifteen. “At least we have one small reason

  to celebrate Tessa’s murderer is in custody and that’s

  better than what we had yesterday.”

  “That’s the way to think,” smiled Augie. “Now you get out

  of here and let me finish bagging my goodies here.” He

  nodded towards the multitude of slides, fibres and foliage

  all placed in separate containers in front of him.

  “Looks like riveting stuff,” he laughed. “I’ll see ya round.”