Page 46 of Girl Between (Dana Gray FBI Mystery Thriller #5)

Dana shifted uncomfortably, knowing her response would reveal how much time she spent around the dead, but omitting it seemed more of a betrayal. “I smelled the formaldehyde.”

Dr. Cruz’s perfectly shaped eyebrows lifted. “Truly?”

Dana nodded.

“Impressive,” the coroner said to herself while adding a note to her clipboard.

“Alright,” George drawled. “What we know so far is that our vic had her organs removed, died, then had her blood removed via transnasal craniotomy. Based on the rarity of that process combined with the crudeness of the organ removal, we might be looking for more than one suspect.”

“I concur,” Dr. Cruz said.

“What about the missing organs?” Dana asked, unable to stop herself.

George turned to face her. “What about them?”

“The first cemetery body was missing organs as well, right?”

“Yes,” Dr. Cruz said. “The liver and both kidneys.”

“Harvesting those organs would fetch a lot of money on the black market,” Dana said .

Dr. Cruz and George exchanged a strange look.

“What?” asked Dana.

“She’s not wrong,” Dr. Cruz admitted. “Could this be another Harvest Girls situation?”

George shook his head. “That was different and a long time ago.”

“That’s the thing about history,” Dr. Cruz said. “It repeats itself, whether we want it to or not.”

“Not if I can help it,” George muttered.

Unsure what they were referring to, Dana asked, “Have there been other bodies missing organs?”

“No,” George said quickly.

But Dr. Cruz disagreed. “What about the body you brought in from the bayou?”

“She was missing more than organs,” George replied.

When he saw Dana’s puzzled look he elaborated.

“We pulled a Jane Doe from the bayou at the Barataria Preserve. Gators and the bayou can do a number on a body …” he paused.

“It’s the worst kind of crime scene. Makes our job impossible.

” He directed his next comment to Dr. Cruz.

“That body might’ve been missing organs, but the MO doesn’t fit. No white dress. No mask. No TNC.”

“Who knows what she was wearing before she ended up in the bayou. And I didn’t know to look for TNC yet,” Dr. Cruz pressed.

“Yeah, she also came in missing the lower half of her torso,” George clarified.

“Gators and the bayou could be to blame for that,” Dr. Cruz argued. “Like you said, nature can be a crime scene’s worst nightmare.”

“Your point?” George asked.

“I’m just saying, there’s no telling what she was wearing.” Dr. Cruz shrugged. “Coulda been a white dress and a mask.”

“Okay,” George said, not dismissing her completely. “But if we’re talking about the same killer or killers, why dump a body in the bayou then switch to displaying them in cemeteries? Those are two very different MO’s.”

“Serial killers all start somewhere,” Dana interjected.

“The bayou body could be our unsubs’ early work.

Historically, serial killers adapt their earlier work for months before establishing a pattern that becomes their signature.

They advance, getting more confident and skilled with each kill, chasing the high, which often makes them take more risks, such as moving from bayou dumps to displaying corpses in public places like popular cemeteries. ”

“It’d be easy enough to look for connections,” Dr. Cruz said. “I’ve still got our Jane Doe from the bayou on ice.”

“You should check any other recent homicide victims as well,” Dana suggested.

“I can do that,” Dr. Cruz replied. “Unclaimed or unidentified bodies stay at the morgue for 30 days before being interred in a potter’s field at Resthaven Memorial.”

Dana fought the shiver crawling up her spine. She’d always hated that term. It tarnished her love of pottery.

Potter’s fields were common burial grounds for paupers, unknown, unclaimed, or indigent people. It was a sad, yet necessary, fact of life. Yet somehow, the simple term didn’t seem to convey the true despondency of the situation, though she wasn’t sure any word could.

The many graves she’d spent time at flashed through her mind, including Meredith’s, though Dana hadn’t stuck around long enough to visit.

Ignoring the guilt strangling her chest, she pressed on, focusing on the matter at hand.

“You should check the other bodies for evidence of TNC. If you find any, we can link them to the two Casquette Girl victims.”

“I’m not sure I want more victims,” George muttered.

“No one does,” Dr. Cruz assured him. “But it makes it easier to start painting a picture of the killer.”