Chris Carter - The Executioner

‘It’s not on you, Carlos,’ Hunter said without going into details.

‘And then came the tossing and turning in bed,’ Garcia continued. ‘It was like her melted face and burned body were hiding behind my eyelids. I couldn’t close them. Not only did I get no sleep, but I kept Anna up all night. I know I’m starting to scare her again, Robert. She ain’t exactly over what happened during the Crucifix Killer’s case, you know.’

They reached the main building and were allowed in by the security guard, who told them Doctor Winston was waiting for them in autopsy room 2A. They suited up and Garcia popped two anti-acid tablets in his mouth before making his way to the room on the far end of the corridor. The doctor was sitting at the microscope counter, flipping through some result sheets. His shoulders were hunched forward, his hair in a mess.

‘Did you pull an “all-nighter”, doc?’ Hunter asked, closing the door behind them.

Doctor Winston looked up slowly. ‘Almost.’ He gave them a faint smile before approaching the stainless-steel table where the woman’s body lay. Hunter and Garcia pulled their surgical masks over their noses and mouths and followed.

‘What we have here is-’ Doctor Winston paused and shook his head, as if words weren’t enough to explain ‘-a masterpiece of evil. Whoever this killer is, he must’ve hated this woman with every fiber in his body.’

With the woman’s body stretched over the autopsy table, Hunter could see the extent of her injuries more clearly. The blisters on her torso had all burst open, and the edges of the scabs were black and curled up. The exposed flesh had dehydrated from the intense heat, but some of it still kept a deep pink, sunburned-type color. Her lower legs and hands were crusty and charcoaled. Some bone parts were now visible. But still, the injuries to her face mesmerized Hunter. Mike Brindle was right. It looked like the skin had melted into clumps, just like a candle.

‘My guess is that she was probably unconscious when she was tied to the armchair,’ Doctor Winston explained. ‘But there are no bumps on her head.’

‘Drugged?’

‘That’s the logical conclusion. I’m still waiting for the results from the lab, but I’m certain the killer didn’t use a hard intravenous drug.’

‘Why not?’ Garcia questioned.

‘It’d be overkill. The killer needed only to knock her out for a few minutes so he could undress her and tie her down. Any longer than that and he’d be losing precious time.’

‘The killer wanted her to be conscious so she could suffer,’ Hunter concluded, walking around to her left side.

‘It all points that way,’ the doctor agreed. ‘The killer knew that by Monday he had to be out of that house. He knew exactly how long he had to torture her, and I bet he used every second of it.’

‘Drugged cloth over the nose and mouth?’ Hunter asked.

‘Most probably.’ The answer came with a sequence of quick nods. ‘A common volatile agent, almost certainly ether based.’

‘Any names?’

‘Huh,’ Doctor Winston chuckled. ‘Anything like Enflurane, Desflurane, Sevoflurane, Insoflurane. I can get you a list if you like.’

‘That easy to come by?’ Garcia this time.

‘Easy enough. And those are the most common, non-irritant when inhaled ones. I don’t think the killer was really concerned if the skin around her mouth got little acid burns from the wet cloth. He could’ve used almost anything.’

‘Great!’

‘Due to the state her body’s in, we won’t be able to tell if she was sexually assaulted, but I don’t believe she was.’

‘Neither do I,’ Hunter agreed. ‘Whatever satisfaction this killer is after, it isn’t sexual.’

‘The main torture here is unseen, Robert,’ the doctor said, lifting his eyebrows.

‘What do you mean?’ Garcia looked intrigued.

‘She suffered a lot from the skin and subsequent flesh burns, but what the killer was really doing was roasting her alive.’ Doctor Winston paused, allowing the full extent of what he was saying to be absorbed. ‘If you put someone in front of an intense fire for long enough without allowing them to move, without giving them water, consequently their internal organs will start to cook.’

‘Oh Jesus Christ.’ Garcia ran both hands through his hair and interlaced his fingers at the back of his head.

‘That’s right. Liver, kidneys, pancreas, stomach, lungs, heart, every organ in her body would’ve responded to dehydration and the constant increase in temperature.’ The doctor bit his lip and shook his head in disgust. ‘Her blood literally boiled.’

Hunter closed his eyes for an instant.

‘Her liver and kidneys were still hot when I pulled them out of her body during the autopsy. And every organ I looked at had some severe damage caused by heat and dehydration. It was like a race to see which organ would give in and burst first.’

Silence settled, and Hunter allowed his eyes to drift back to the woman’s face.

‘Now that was ingenious,’ Doctor Winston said, following Hunter’s stare. ‘Evil, but ingenious nonetheless.’

‘You mean, causing her face to melt?’ Garcia asked and felt his stomach go rigid again.

‘Achieving that effect, really. Skin won’t melt.’

‘Yeah, I was told.’ Garcia nodded. ‘So how the hell did the killer get her face to look like that?’

‘He used an accelerant.’ Doctor Winston paused and raised his right index finger to emphasize a point. ‘Actually, it looks like he used a combination. And that’s where the ingenious part comes from.’

Hunter made a face, as if he couldn’t wait to hear it.

‘Again, I need confirmation from the lab, but a quick first test showed the killer could’ve used something as common as lard.’

‘You’re kidding?’

‘Nope. Your everyday supermarket lard.’

‘That would’ve…’

‘Fried her face.’ The doctor completed Hunter’s sentence.

‘OK, but that wouldn’t have caused the melting effect.’ Hunter bent over to get a closer look at her disfigured face.

‘No, it wouldn’t.’

‘So?’ He stood back up as the stinging smell made his eyes water.

‘So we definitely need the lab to confirm it, but it looks like the killer could’ve used a combination of something like lard together with a rubber compound.’

‘Rubber?’ Garcia repeated, frowning.

A confident nod from the doctor. ‘Maybe even foam latex prosthetics. Just like they use in films. It’s actually quite clever. The rubber compound attaches itself to the skin like glue.’ The doctor ran the tips of his fingers down his face as if applying a moisturizing cream. ‘With the heat, it melts, running down the victim’s face, creating the desired candle wax clump effect. The skin just behind the rubber compound is covered in the accelerant, which would’ve drastically sped up the burning process, completely destroying the skin on her face, causing unimaginable pain. The final effect…’ He pointed to the body, ‘… the melted face.’ Doctor Winston took a step back and faced both detectives. ‘And that’s not all.’

Hunter braced himself. What else could this killer have done?

‘I have indications that the injuries to her face were caused while she was still alive,’ Doctor Winston continued. ‘He tortured her by melting her face first.’

Hunter frowned. ‘How?’

‘A guess – heat lamps. The victim was tied to an armchair, right? Now imagine the killer had one or even two heat lamps mounted onto a pedestal or a tripod or something, very close to and pointing directly at her face – old interrogation style.’