“We will,” she replied, a note of confidence in her voice.
He looked at her and rolled his eyes. “Preferablybeforehe kills again.”
She winced at that. “Depending on the motive, that could be a little tough. Do you have a cause of death?”
“At first glance it’ll be strangulation,” he stated, “but they were also sprayed in the face with something.”
She nodded. “That’s what I heard, and I did see something there at the neck. Plus, their faces looked very contorted.”
“Well, that would go along with the strangulation,” the coroner confirmed. “Something else I don’t quite understand and will definitely have to take a better look at, but I don’t think how we found them is how they were left.”
“What do you mean?” she asked.
“The same ligature was wrapped around both necks.”
“At the same time?”
He nodded. “As if they were both down on the ground and rolled over, kneeling or something,” he suggested. “We found them side by side, but there was only one ligature mark on the front of one woman. And there’s no mark around the back of her neck. So, both heads were together and yet slightly apart.” Smidge demonstrated, cocking his head off to the side. “And just one rope wrapped around both necks.”
“That sounds strange.” Kate thought about it and asked, “It would take them longer to die, wouldn’t it?”
“It’s almost a garrote, so not necessarily,” he countered. “It cut through the skin in places. I’ll let you know more when I get through the autopsies.”
She shoved her hands in her pockets again, as she watched the medical team load up the bodies. “Any idea what would have been sprayed in their faces?”
“From the look of it,” Dr. Smidge replied, “I’d say it’s probably bear spray, but again I’ll have to test it.”
“So, that would have immediately caused them to panic and to become disoriented. As they fought the burn, the rope was likely thrown around both of them. But it’s not likely they were being cooperative,” she commented, as she took in the scene. “They’ll be freaking out, clawing at their eyes, definitely not standing still. It would be almost impossible to get a rope around both of their necks at the same time.”
“There is bruising on one of the women,” Smidge added.
“So, it’s possible they were hit somehow and stunned, and then, after they were dead, they were separated?”
He nodded. “They were lying next to each other, and the rope was off to the side.”
“And it’s an actual rope?”
“I said a rope, did I not?” he stated in a testy voice. “But I also said that it was more of a garrote as well.”
“Whoa, whoa, hang on a minute. So, you’re saying that he killed them and then came back with another weapon and killed them again?”
“I’m not sure,” he admitted, “unless the rope has some wire through it.”
She frowned. “I really want to see that rope.”
“And you will, whenever forensics is done with it,” he snapped.
She glared at him, and he glared right back. “Fine.… Answers as soon as you can.”
“AnswerswhenI can,” he corrected.
And probably more as a matter of form as anything, he generally didn’t get along with very many people. The fact thathe spoke to her at all, even in a testy voice, was a testament to the relationship she’d slowly been working on.
Yet he remained standing by her and the crime scene.
“I wonder if the rope didn’t quite do the job or something,” she muttered, her mind still caught on that one fact. “Particularly given the angles, with the two of them tied together.”
“That’s quite possible,” the coroner agreed. “In which case it makes sense that the rope was left behind because it would have been deemed a failure.”