Allison Brennan - See No Evil

“What did you touch?”

“Other than Emily Montgomery-we pulled a blanket from her bed to keep her warm-we didn’t touch anything else. There was blood in the girl’s room, but no visible wounds on her.”

Gage said, “I’ll send one of my people over to the hospital to collect evidence.”

“Where’s Mrs. Montgomery now?” Will asked.

“In the living room.”

“Thanks, Diaz.”

After Will and Gage entered the house, Gage instructed a tech to inspect every entrance and window. Another tech followed Will and Gage with a camera to photograph the crime scene.

Judge Montgomery had a large, high-ceilinged home office, dark and distinguished. Just the sort of understated elegance you’d expect from a respected jurist. A pen set, small clock, and a picture of his wife decorated a large desk otherwise devoid of clutter.

The thick white carpet was spattered with blood. Arterial spray covered Judge Montgomery’s chest, but there was no visible evidence of a wound. His eyes were open, glassy, unfocused. Dried blood coated his swollen mouth and face, dotted his full head of graying blond hair, and peppered the bookshelves behind him.

Gage walked behind the desk and stopped short, staring down. Will looked over his shoulder and the blood drained from his face.

Montgomery’s pants and boxers were pushed down to his ankles. His legs were spread, his groin a bloody mess. His penis had been removed in a brutal manner, resulting in severe muscle and tissue damage.

Gage said, “I’ll send one of my people over to the hospital to collect evidence.”

“Holy shit.” Will instinctively put a hand over his crotch.

“Don’t worry, dude, your package is still there,” Gage said with a half smile. “It’s only the judge who’s missing his.” Gage looked closer, motioning for the tech to take pictures from specific angles. “Look here. See this striation?”

Will swallowed uneasily and focused on the area Gage indicated.

“No.” All Will saw was pulp.

“It looks like something sharp,” said Gage. “Double edged, like heavy-duty scissors.”

“Can you cut off a dick with scissors?” Will asked, incredulous.

“If they’re sharp enough. But it looks like it took several cuts to remove it.”

That was more information than Will wanted to know, especially staring at the result of the killer’s handiwork.

Will looked around for the missing organ. “Did the killer take it with him?”

“Look in his mouth.”

Montgomery’s penis was shoved partly down his throat. His mouth wasn’t swollen, it was filled.

“See the arterial spray?” Gage pointed out the long lines of blood that had splattered across the desk, floor, and victim. “To get the spatter this far indicates that blood was pumping. He was alive during the amputation. This is the kind of spray we’d see from a partial decapitation or a stabbing where a major artery was pierced.”

“But he didn’t have his throat slit or his heart stabbed.”

“Right. I’d guess Judge Montgomery was in the act of sex or fellatio when someone snipped him. We’ll know for sure during the autopsy-a flaccid penis would be cut like rubber-multiple incisions until the scissors tore through the muscle. An erect penis would show different marks.”

Will could handle the most brutal of crime scenes with professionalism, but this one was particularly gruesome and unusual. He was glad his partner wasn’t here to see it. Not because she couldn’t handle the gore, but because she would be full of penis jokes for months.

“No guy is going to sit still while someone slices off his dick,” Will said. The judge was physically fit, tall. There was no visible means of restraint.

Gage walked carefully around the back of the chair and looked at the bookshelves. “Blair,” he ordered his assistant, who was still taking pictures, “grab my kit from the hall and get the black light and slow film out of the van. I’m going to Luminol this place. I think I know what happened.”

“And?” Will prompted. “What do you think happened?”

“Come here.”

Gage stood on the other side of the vic’s chair. “Do you see what’s different about the blood spatter on this side and the blood spatter on your side?”

“There’s no blood on this side. Like someone was standing here.”

“Exactly. And look at Montgomery’s shirt.”

It was open at the collar, which was virtually bloodless. “I see.” Will stood behind the chair. “Someone was restraining the judge by wrapping his arms around the neck while another someone did the dirty deed.”

“That’s why we have this pattern. But why would he get aroused? If your life is on the line, sex is the furthest thing from it.” Gage thought. “Maybe they restrained him, then pulled down his pants.”

“Or maybe he was in the act of oral sex when the killer came in.” Will frowned. “Then where’s the woman? The killer wouldn’t just let a potential witness go. She’s either dead or an accomplice.”

Gage didn’t say anything but glanced at the ceiling. “Let’s see how much blood is upstairs.”

“The daughter? That’s sick.”

“ Step daughter.”

“It’s still sick.”

“Time of death?”

Gage inspected the body. “Less than seven hours, more than four.”

“Three-thirty to six-thirty. That’s a big window.”

“The coroner is on his way. He’ll narrow it down. We’re still in the twelve-hour window.” The sooner a body was discovered, the better the time-of-death estimate.

“Santos was sentenced last week,” Will said. Just saying this cop-killer’s name made him tense.

“I was thinking about that. Santos has enough people on his payroll to pull off something like this.”

“But why the theatrics? Wouldn’t a bullet in the back of the skull be more his style?”

“That’s beyond my expertise. I’ll collect the evidence, you figure out who did it. But,” Gage continued, glancing at Will, “Santos might be sending a message of some sort.”

“I’ll talk to some beat cops and see if there’s something personal in the delivery.” Will frowned. “But I still don’t see him going to this trouble.”

When Gage’s assistant came back, he instructed her to finish the photographs and start mapping out the crime scene. They had purchased a state-of-the-art forensics program last year when they had a onetime budget increase. It was amazing that the lab pinched pennies when ordering common supplies and couldn’t hand out more than nominal pay raises, but could purchase a multimillion-dollar computer system simply on the whim of state politicians.

“I’ll be back to work with the black light after we finish upstairs.”

Gage and Will left, both carefully looking for potential evidence on the floors. “Where are the drops of blood?” Gage asked. “Being that close, the killer would have been slick with it.”

“Maybe they had an extra layer of clothing and removed it.”

“That would take planning.”

“Premeditated murder makes for a much longer sentence,” Will said.

At the base of the stairs, on the bleached wood railing, a bloody handprint stood out.

Will and Gage proceeded upstairs to Emily Montgomery’s bedroom. They walked slowly, carefully observing. The marble stairs were carpeted with sea blue Berber, keeping with the ocean theme of the mansion. Where the carpet met the marble were several drops of dried blood. Two more drops were closer to the top. Another faint, dark red handprint was pressed into the carpet, left of center, this one smeared.

“There doesn’t seem to be a lot of blood,” Will said, “which holds with the idea that maybe the weapon and clothing were put in a bag or disposed of.”