Page 94 of Sharp Force

“I understand you found a crashed drone.” Marino asks Benton about it. “Dana Diletti’s, I assume.”

“Yes.”

“I was hoping the Slasher’s drone might have taken a nosedive.” Marino has his gloves off, typing a text on his phone.

“Unfortunately, not that we’ve found,” Benton says. “One of Dana Diletti’s drones is badly damaged, and the other went into the river and hasn’t been recovered.”

“What else have you been finding out?” I ask him.

“It would seem that Georgine or someone hides a key in a fake rock that was beneath boxwoods to the left of the front door,” he tells us. “The fake rock is empty. The key isn’t there. The question is when it disappeared.”

“That’s probably how the Slasher’s gotten into the other victims’ places,” Marino says. “It’s exactly what I thought. Except if Zain did it, he didn’t need a key this time, now did he? Maybe he removed the spare from the fake rock to make it appear the killer did it. Maybe he staged everything we’re seeing.”

“Not the residue we’re finding,” I reply. “I suspect the killer hasno idea he left that. Especially since we’ve not found it in the other murders. But for some reason, he was exposed to whatever this is, and transferred it here.”

We pull up our Tyvek hoods, looking like ghosts as we return to the bedroom. Flipping up my face shield, I put on the LED magnifiers. I begin examining the bite marks on the breasts and swabbing them for DNA.

“There’s very little tissue response, no bruising or swelling.” I explain what I’m seeing.

“The same was true in the earlier cases.” Benton looks on as Marino takes photographs.

I turn over the body, blood spilling from multiple stabs and slashes. I check her back, and she has three bite marks on her buttocks, one of them savage enough that a chunk of flesh is barely attached.

“As you’re likely aware, the basement here is below ground.” Benton picks up the bloody pajama top from the bed, holding it up, looking at it. “The locked door opens into an area about the size of a closet. Inside it is another door that leads out to the riverfront. But there’s also a tunnel.”

“How did you unlock the door leading to it?” Marino asks. “When I searched the basement, the door was deadbolted. I couldn’t open it.”

“While I was wandering around the house, I tried her keys that were in the kitchen.” Benton is looking at the pajama bottoms. “One of them opens the door leading to the tunnel.”

He explains that tunnels connect the former outbuildings to the hospital. All thirteen of them that are now expensive residences.

“You’re telling us there’s a tunnel connecting this house to the hospital.” Marino lets that sink in.

“Not only to the hospital but also the fitness center.” Benton returns the pajama bottoms to the bed. “I counted at least fifteen stab holes,” he says to me.

“More than that. Twenty-two on the pajama top alone,” I tell him.

“Christ,” Benton mutters.

He watches as I swab another bite wound for DNA. I’m not hopeful, the odor of bleach powerful.

“Are all thirteen of the houses connected to the fitness center, the original site of the cemetery that was dug up?” I ask Benton.

“No, only this one,” he explains. “And what that suggests is the tunnel originally led to some type of building on the cemetery.”

“Possibly a mortuary,” I suggest. “A lot of old cemeteries had buildings where bodies could be prepared for burial.”

I suggest that long ago if a patient died, the body might have started out here in the chapel for the service. Afterward, it could have been transported to the cemetery mortuary by way of the tunnel.

“That’s what the basement door is for,” Benton replies. “On the other side is the tunnel connecting this house with the hospital and the fitness center. Anybody staying here could visit both without ever stepping outside.”

“I wonder if that could explain the killer not realizing there were two people staying here?” I question. “Assuming that’s what happened.”

“Especially if Zain was borrowing Georgine’s car much of the time,” Benton suggests. “He might have thought he was surveilling Georgine coming and going in her Cadillac. When it was actually Zain driving it.”

“Adding to the confusion is that the two of them were about the same size,” Marino adds. “And Zain has long hair.”

“I don’t remember being told about the tunnel when we were shown this place five years ago,” I say to Benton. “But it was obvious we weren’t interested in buying.”