Page 33 of What’s Left of Us (What Left #3)
“I’m not guilty,” Porscha says, looking between us.
There’s no sadness, guilt, or humility in her gaze.
She looks mad, like she’s waiting for us to come to our senses and let her go.
“Do you know how inconvenient it is to do these meetings all the time? If you’re not going to admit you’re wrong, stop coming here. I never killed anyone.”
Blowing out a breath, I have to resist the urge to slam my head into the table.
Her whole spiel started after we showed her the photograph Beverly provided, and the fact that she isn’t helping us right now is telling.
She mentally collapsed when she saw it, so it means something to her.
I think the photograph surprised her enough to throw her off her game.
“We spoke with the Medical Examiner again,” I say, and Porscha gives me a bored look.
“He confirmed that the markings left on the bodies of both James and Diana Nunes match the markings made on the victims of the CGS. In fact he did a whole analysis on the bodies and found some new information for us.”
Porscha sits forward, and it’s hard to tell if she’s amused or stressed. The restraints keep her from getting close, and after a moment she stops struggling with them. “And, pray tell, what do you think you found?”
“The bodies have markings on the bones that match the CGS case,” Dr. Briggs says excitedly, and I’ve never seen an ME so thrilled to share news like this.
“Stab wounds. There were several spots on the remains where little striations were left on the bones of both Mr. and Mrs. Nunes. The killer used a knife, determined by the small v-shaped grooves left behind on the bones, and there were many stab wounds. Specific to the areas stabbed, COD would be massive blood loss and multiple stab wounds..”
“Striations,” Tyler says, looking between us. I brought her with me when Briggs called, and she wanted to see the bodies for herself since we’re stuck on where to go with the case. “Like most of Porscha and Constantine’s victims.”
“Something else to note,” Briggs says, fiddling with his glasses again.
“I don’t know how Dr. Whitmore tracked the wound pattern in 2010.
But what I’ve noticed are several details left out of the preliminary findings of his notes.
In reviewing them more thoroughly as well as images of the remains of the fourteen victims, I noticed some of the markings indicated a small triangular shape while others leave behind more obvious vertical lines, like a stab wound looks on skin.
Instead of the triangular striations it’s more of a vertical marker. ”
“Two types of blades,” I say. “That’s not something Whitmore would be held accountable for if he was alive.”
“The markings on both James and Diana match the wounds inflicted on the CGS victims,” Gabe says. “Dr. Briggs matched the more triangular marks found on every victim from the original CGS case, the new eight victims, and the Nunes. If it wasn’t the same exact blade used, but it was the same type.”
“Coincidental,” Porscha snaps, looking between us. Her attorney tries to lean over and whisper something in her ear again, and she shrugs him off. “No, Matt. They’re wrong.”
Glancing at Gabe, I lean into that. This is bothering her.
“There were two unique signature patterns on the bodies found across the entire CGS case. The vertical scars like the ones your daughter has are on all of the CGS victims. But there were two different types of blades used, one that left the triangular marks that Agent Lapin mentioned and one that left straight lines only. Those lines? That type of scarring was only found on four of the original victims, none on Jo or the Nunes, and none on the new eight.”
Porscha’s jaw clenches, but she doesn’t respond right away.
When Briggs told me this, that traitorous thing called hope fluttered in my chest. The Nunes’ are not part of Alastair’s kill list, because their deaths happened when he was an infant.
If Porscha is tied into them though, and she’s the only one using the same sort of blade across every case, we have something to connect her to every death. We just need to find the actual blades.
The weapon recovered near James' skeleton on the Nunes property was extremely old and rusted. Comparing the blade, we know it was used to kill James and more than likely to sever Diana’s hands.
We have an idea of the blade used back then, but it’s not the same knife from future murders.
That blade was only used for the Nunes, and after speaking to the DA, he’s confident he can get Porscha for those two murders even if the rest are still processing evidence.
Porscha doesn’t know that yet. The DA is scheduled to speak with her later in the week, giving her time to decide if she wants to cut a deal.
I already know the DA isn’t interested in that; he’s going for life in prison at the minimum, and Death Row if the evidence lines up.
Right now Porscha can help decide what kind of future she faces.
The silence stretches for too long, and I worry Porscha’s going to shut down. We’ve given her a hint to the charges she’s looking at, keeping her in the dark as much as possible because we don’t owe Porscha anything. The DA can play nice with her if he wants to, but I just want answers.
Finally, she twitches and looks at the photograph on our half of the table. Her lip curls and she points vaguely towards the picture. “I didn’t kill James. Ask Diana.”
“Diana’s dead,” Gabe reminds her. “No more games if you want credit for cooperating with us, Porscha.”
“The dead have a lot to say,” she says, smirking as she looks between us.
“You just have to listen. You’ve laid all your pretty pictures out for me to analyze, talking about the eight new CGS victims, plus the Nunes’, and last time I spoke to the team you wanted to know about old man Whitmore too. That’s right, isn’t it, Matt?”
Her attorney frowns, eyes darting between all of us. “That’s correct.”
Porscha grins then, sitting back in her chair. “If that’s everything you have, you haven’t even found them all.”
Her laughter echoes around the room, and I truly don’t know if she’s kidding or not.
With Porscha, it’s always something. Snatching the photograph off the table, I stand.
“If you’re going to just mess with us, we’re done here.
You can plead to the DA from this point forward, but I warn you, Porscha.
He’s going to aim for life in prison. That’s the fate your future holds.
You’re not working with us anymore, so we’re done working with you. ”
She’s still laughing as Gabe stands. “You think prison is the worst punishment there is? Everything I am, it’s already on the news.
Go watch the reports! While you struggle to find evidence that isn’t there and convict me of something you can’t prove, I’m busy getting famous.
The DA can try and accuse me of anything but without evidence to back it up, is a jury really going to convict someone like me? ”
She flutters her lashes, and I take a step back before I snap on her. “The jury will see what you’ve done and base a decision off that.”
“I didn’t do anything,” she says, backtracking on what she’s already claimed before.
I guess until she can’t lie anymore, she’s just going to keep doing it.
“A jury of my peers will see a woman who struggled to control her own life, working hard jobs to raise my daughter. I was confused by my daughters decisions, afraid she might follow in my footsteps-”
“Ms. Surwright,” Matt warns.
She shrugs, smirking at us. “It doesn’t matter though, does it?
Keep trying to nail me with convictions.
What do you have again? Keys and old, grainy pictures and witnesses who are all dead?
You’re wasting your time, Agents. Even if you convict me, no one’s going to forget me.
While you struggle to remember the names of the victims, everyone will know my name. I’m never going to be forgotten.”
My eyes narrow. “Is that why you did it then, Porscha? Fame? You think brutalizing people, manipulating your way through life, that’s what you’re going to be remembered for?”
“You might be remembered for killing people,” Gabe says, shrugging. “But you’re just another killer, aren’t you?”
“Your five minutes of fame will be over soon,” I say, forcing the conviction into my words. I need to believe them too. “Then, when no one cares who Porscha Surwright was, will forever in prison really be worth it?”
She shrugs, eyes dancing between us. “I’m not admitting to killing any of these people, Agents.
I’m innocent until proven otherwise. Pretty picture you paint though.
Fame…” She closes her eyes, like the word itself gives her a rush.
After a few seconds, she opens her eyes, wide, staring directly at me.
“It’s secondary. Fame comes with the acts of murder, doesn’t it?
If you can prove it’s me, fame is what I’ll end up with. That’s my forever.”
Shaking my head, I turn away from her and move across the room, banging on the door. She’s not going to reason with us, whether or not it might help. She’s completely convinced that her claim to fame will work, and anyone who died along the way is just collateral.
Once we’re free of the visitation room and outside the prison, stepping into the sun, Gabe blows out a breath. “She’s not going to make this easy, is she?”
“The longer the case is in the courts, the longer she has before she’s convicted,” I sigh. “She’ll keep doing this until she can’t. The attention is important to her.”
Gabe sighs. “We weren’t ever going to get her to admit guilt before we left Florida, were we?”
I shake my head. I seriously doubt it. We have evidence, and I know in my gut that Porscha killed these people. Hell, at some point in time, Dad makes it sound like even Lance Wallsburg was tricked by her charms in the past. She’s good at manipulating things to work in her favor.
But she’s in lockup now, and she won’t be able to change things on the inside.
We can continue collecting evidence, running interviews, and stacking the facts against her for the DA to bring to her trial.
Alastair never had this issue, because he accepted fault for crimes that weren’t even his.
And he still sat on Death Row for almost sixteen years without being executed.
Thinking about it that way, I worry how long it’ll take to get Porscha tried and convicted. At this point, she’s going to drag the case out for as long as she possibly can.