Chapter Four
The morgue reminded Kate a lot of Boston in the winter, old and uncomfortably cold. Kate knew Dr. Melvin Murphy well from other cases. Although Kate and the good doctor weren’t related, they shared the same last name. She asked when they entered the room, “What have you got for us?”
Dr. Murphy replied, “Kate, you probably already know most of what I am going to tell you, but I guess this will make it official. You know the identity so I will skip all of the age and weight stuff. Linda Miles was strangled with a ligature hard enough to leave marks on her neck. The marks were slick without any fibers, suggesting something like an extension cord or phone cable. Because of the size and shape I think it is a phone cable, it was small and flat.”
Kate wrote the information down while Dr. Murphy continued to give it to her. Kate asked, “Would there be anything on such a cable that would link it to the murder?”
Dr Murphy answered in a sarcastic tone, “Of course, assuming the killer was stupid and left the ligature where he committed the crime and was dumb enough to not clean it off afterwards. Do you think that is likely?”
Kate smiled with understanding before asking if there was anything else.
Dr. Murphy said, “She didn’t see it coming. He put the ligature around her neck from behind and pulled upward. She was sitting and he was standing behind her. There are signs he had to straighten out the body to transport it. The legs had to be unbent. She did try to pull at the cord, there are marks across her fingers where she tried to pull it away.”
Kate responded, “You said he put the ligature around her neck, are you confident it was a male killer?”
Dr Murphy smiled before he answered, “It was either a man or a woman from the Amazon. It takes a lot of hand strength to strangle someone, especially noting how deep the marks went into the skin. Her trachea was crushed severely as well.”
Kate replied, “I have noted that damage. Somebody was really unhappy with her.”
Dr Murphy said, “There were abrasions on the back of her body showing she was dragged after being placed on the ground. There were fibers on her body from what looked like a carpet from the trunk of a car. I sent those to the lab for examination. Those could possibly tie the body to a vehicle if you found the vehicle.”
Kate asked, “What color are the fibers?”
The coroner answered, “It looked like maybe navy blue. The lab can probably narrow it down to a particular make. You will have to give them a chance to work on that. There was also a fluid residue on the body from the trunk, maybe power steering, the lab should be able to identify that too, in time.”
Kate and Sean left the morgue with a folder full of photos and an autopsy report. Kate said, “We now need the results from the lab. That might help identify the car.”
When they arrived at the station, Sean said, “I will stop by the lab on the way and see if they have anything and then meet you at your desk.”
Sean wasn’t far behind her when she got settled into her desk. Kate saw him walk in and asked, “Did they have anything?”
Sean replied, “The fibers come from General Motors lower end SUVs, Chevy and GMC mostly. They use a different grade for the Buick and Cadillac. Also noted, the fluid residue was power steering fluid. So our killer probably has some steering issues with his vehicle.”
Kate responded, “The doc said that was what he thought. He knew what he was talking about. It wasn’t hubby’s vehicle, he drives a Lexus.”
Sean said, “Wow, you already knew that.”
Kate said, “I checked that out first thing, I still have to work on his alibi to see what checks out.”
Sean handed Kate the lab report to add to her ever expanding folder. She told him she was going to take it home and study it, after she made dinner for her daughter. Sean said he would have to go home to his loving family, but it was the sarcastic way he said it that told her his true meaning.
It had been a long day, but they had recovered some information and it would take time to process all of it. Sean was the first to leave, telling Kate goodbye as he exited out the door. Kate finished gathering up her folder, photos and reports before she also disappeared out the front door of the station.
Megan was home when Kate arrived, but she was in her room with the door closed. Kate knew she was there by the loud vibrations of the music she was playing. Kate laid her folder on an end table by the chair she resided in when she was home. She took her shoulder holster and Glock and laid it on top, knowing Megan’s fear of guns would keep her away from anything under it.
Kate went to the kitchen. She knew her way around in the kitchen. It was just that they ate out a lot because of her schedule. She decided on a traditional Irish dish, bacon and cabbage. It used Irish boiling bacon which takes on a ham-like quality boiled with the cabbage.
When Megan came in from her bedroom and smelled the cabbage she knew what was being prepared.
Megan said, “Gee mom, why can’t we just order pizza like normal people?”
Kate replied, “Normal people cook meals at home.”
Megan said, “I’m not hungry.” She stormed off in a huff.
Kate yelled after her, “Suit yourself.”
Kate heard the loud footsteps and the unmistakable sound of her door slamming behind her. Kate was used to the way things were. She knew Megan blamed her for the divorce. Megan didn’t know her dad was seeing the woman he wound up marrying while he was still married to Kate. It wasn’t something she particularly wanted to air in public. She knew things between her and Connor were bad long before that.
Kate finished her dinner and ate by herself seated at a corner of her dining room table. Bacon and cabbage was one meal that reminded her of sitting at her mother’s table as a little girl. It was comfort food and reminded her of a simpler time. Her mother had survived a long battle with cancer and was still living out her days with Kate’s father on a farm in Nebraska. Megan was young when her grandmother was so sick but even now rarely got to visit. Connor’s parents were still alive as well but Megan didn’t see them often either.
After she ate dinner and put dishes away, she settled in her chair with reading glasses on, going through the folder she had brought for that purpose. She knew she would look at Richard Miles’ alibi carefully tomorrow to make sure it didn’t have any holes in it. Richard had been gone to Vegas for a week and Linda Miles’ body had only been dead a few hours before it was found. About six hours according to the coroner. Richard had just come home.
Kate was in deep concentration looking at the photos scattered across the end table and didn’t hear Megan come out of her room and head to the kitchen. Megan saw the photos as she walked through and startled Kate when she asked, “Who is that?”
Kate looked up and saw Megan and instinctively tried to cover the photos up. She tried to keep her job away from her family life.
Megan was irritated that her question had received no response and said, “There is no point in hiding those photos now, I already saw them. Who is it?”
Kate replied, “It is the wife of a wealthy businessman. She has been strangled with a ligature.”
Megan asked, “You mean like a rope or cord?”
Kate replied, “It wasn’t a rope, there were no fibers found in the wounds. It had to be something smooth like a phone cable, in fact that is our best guess due to the shape and size.”
Megan said, “I am guessing it is her husband, it is always the rich husband.”
Kate replied, “Her husband has an alibi, he was in Las Vegas for the whole week and didn’t return till after we found the body. I will be carefully verifying that alibi.”
Megan replied, “The rich guys would have hired it done, they wouldn’t get their hands dirty.”
Kate responded, “I have already looked at his bank account to see if there were any withdrawals that could have been used for that purpose.”
Megan said, “Those rich guys have a safe full of cash in their home, hidden somewhere. Ten bucks says he has a safe in the house.”
Kate didn’t normally like to talk about cases with her daughter but she was so happy they were talking she would gladly share info about the case. Kate said, “I figure you are probably correct. We would have to get a warrant to see if there is a safe and we don’t have any evidence to get a warrant with.”
