Marcie's Murder (18 page)

“I’d
only go as far as to
say
that
the evidence would support
such a
hypothesis,” Bailey said.
“Those kinds of conclusion are up to you folk
s
.”

“Someone she knew,” Karen murmured.

“I couldn’t comment on
that supposition,” Bailey said.

There was silence for a moment
before
he resumed his dissertation.
“As far as other injuries are concerned
—related
to the cause of death, that is
—we
collected fibers and tissue from under her
fingernails
and in two cases from the jagged edges of broken fingernails, confirming a struggle with her assailant. The tissue may belong to her assailant
, who may have scratches on his hands or wrists,
or
it
may belong to herself, since her neck and jaw had scratches
which
would be consistent with her struggling to pry the attacker’s hands from around her neck. We’ve sent everything to the lab for testing.”

Hank thought about Askew’s hands around his throat while he was lying on the floor of his motel room
.
Then
his mind moved sideways and
he remembered the doctor examining his hands and wrists in the cell after being brought to the station
. He
felt a flash of anger.
Dr.
Justice
had been looking for evidence
on Hank
’s hands
to connect him to
Marcie’s
murder, not injuries connected to Askew’s beating.

“There was a very slight scratch just above her right breast
,” Bailey was saying,
“
that probably occurred when her dress was torn.”

“Was there sexual assault?”
Branham
asked.

“No,” Bailey replied. “No indication of recent sexual activity at all.”

“What about the time of death?”

“How familiar are you with the techniques used by pathologists, Deputy Chief?”

“Not very,” Branham
admitted
.

“There are six factors we examine when fixing time of death,” Bailey lectured. “I’ll take you through them now.
” He shuffled papers.

“First, body temperature
, or what’s referred to as
algor mortis
.
D
r.
Justice attended the victim at the scene. He notes that the temperature at the scene was 71 degrees Fahrenheit at 1:40 a.m., so it was a mild night.
He further notes that the body was located in a relatively sheltered spot, down the slope of a hill, and that it was still mostly clothed, all of which make the rate of cooling a somewhat more reliable measurement than it might
be
otherwise.

“
He took his first measurement of
body
temperature at 1:41 a.m. and noted a reading of
95.
7
degrees Fahrenheit.
He took readings every fifteen minutes and plotted a very precise curve.
If we assume a normal body temperature for the victim of 98.6, minimal body cooling in the first hour and a standard drop in temperature of one and a half degrees per hour thereafter,
we can estimate that the victim had been dead for approximately two hours, making time of death somewhere around 11:40 p.m.”

“How reliable is this estimate, Doctor?” Branham asked.

“Well, it’s not as reliable as having her watch broken by the assailant as he murder
ed
her, that’s for sure. But conditions were almost optim
al
,
and I think you could work with a window of between 11:
15
p.m.
and
12:15
a.m.
, based on body temperature.”

“I saw her alive at about 11:20
p.m.
,” Hank said.

“Did you now?”
Bailey coughed and his seat
creaked as he shifted his weight
.
“Very interesting, indeed.” He paused for a moment.
“There are five other factors, though, as I mentioned.”

They heard an odd noise, and then Bailey chuckled. “Sorry, just slurping my tea. Where was I? Um,
rigor mortis
, the stiffening of muscle tissue after death. Interesting process, I must say.
Normally there’s an interaction of myocin, actin and a substance called ATP within our muscle tissue when we move our bodies, bringing about the contraction and expansion of the muscle tissue.
When we move our arm, for example, myocin and actin bind together, causing the muscles to contract and
our arm to move
. The oxygen we breathe into our system creates the ATP that causes the myocin and actin to disengage, allowing our muscles to expand again. When we die, the supply of oxygen ends, so the production of ATP ends, so the myocin and actin in our muscle tissues remain bound together, so our muscles remain contracted. Hence, rigor. Anyway, you’re
probably
not interested in the biochemistry.
Dr. Justice noted very slight rigor in the jaw at the scene, which is where
rigor
mortis
normally starts. In the jaw, I mean.”

Bailey paused for another slurp. “Excuse me, I like to drink it while it’s still hot. Can’t stand lukewarm tea. Very slight rigor in the jaw suggests a very recent time of death,
less than
three hours. It can begin as early as fifteen minutes after death, depending on environmental conditions, but reliably you see very little in the first three hours. It will be accelerated somewhat if the victim struggled vigorously, because this depletes the amount of oxygen available to form ATP
immediately before
death, and there are indications that this victim did struggle. Anyway, to summarize, rigor is not a terribly accurate measurement for us to predict TOD but we
can
say that in this case
it doesn’t
contradict in any way what was observed with
algor mortis
.”

“All right,” Branham said, trying not to sound confused.

“Lividity is next on our list,” Bailey went on, almost cheerfully. “
Livor mortis
.
Rumpole
’s favorite
. N
ext to blood spatter, of course.”

“Pardon me?” Branham said, now completely confused.

“Sorry, don’t mind me. Lividity refers to the coloration of the skin after death when
hypostasis
occurs. In other words, blood circulation stops and the blood settles in the body according to gravity. In this case there’s not too much to say, as I believe the body was moved immediately upon death to the location where it was found. In any event, D
r.
Justice notes that the victim’s skin blanched when he applied pressure to it, confirming a time of death under four hours
from that moment
. Not precise, again, but not contradicting
other findings.

“
Putrefaction
is the next factor,” he continued, “the breakdown of the tissue caused by bacteria and endogenous enzymes.”

“Endogenous
enzymes
?” Karen asked.

Hank saw that she had
her
notebook out on her lap and was
writing in it
. He caught her eye and let his jaw drop.

She shrugged.
“In case there’s an exam at the end
.
”

“Sorry, Detective,” Bailey said. “I was referring to enzymes already present within the body. The temperature at the scene was optimal for putrefaction—”

“Dr. Bailey,” Branham interrupted, “did you find anything
here
to change your mind about the time of death?”

Bailey laughed self-consciously. “Well, putrefaction was not terribly advanced, again, given the relatively short time between TOD and discovery
. W
e’re going to run a few tests to try to get more accurate data but these will take at least a week to get back.”

“Okay,” Branham said, “that’s all right. Anything else?”

“
Well
, the last factor to mention is stomach contents, and there was very little to mention. Some fragments of pork and vegetable matter, potatoes and some corn, suggesting that her last meal was consumed about five hours before death and that nothing else was consumed after that. Bottom line? I think you’re safe to conduct your investigation on the assumption that TOD was between 11:
2
0
, when you say you saw her, Lieutenant,
and midnight,
which Dr. Justice’s work suggests and my findings tend to confirm. I
f any further evidence comes up to change that, you’ll be informed right away.”

“We really appreciate this, Dr. Bailey,” Branham said.

“Not at all. Beyond time of death, there are other findings that may impact your investigation.”

“Oh?”

Bailey shifted in his chair and shuffled more paper. “I’ve already mentioned the scratches on her neck and chest area. There was a large bruise just above the elbow on her right arm, suggesting she was grabbed
firmly
by the arm before death. But there were older injuries you may need to know about.”

“Oh?” Branham
leaned
forward.

“I found evidence of a broken wrist, about six months old, and a separated shoulder, about three months old. Also a small hairline crack on the left side of her jaw and two loose teeth on either side of the crack.”

“Oh oh,” Karen said.

“Yes, Detective?” Bailey prompted.

“I’ve worked a lot of domestic violence cases in my time,” Karen said. “Those are thre
e of the most common injuries.”

“Correct,” Bailey said. “I’ve seen a fair share of it in my time, as well, and I agree
that
your hypothesis
is valid
.”

“Not good,” Hall said.

“One more thing, and then I’ll let you get back to your investigation,” Bailey said.

“Yes?” Branham said.

“The victim was three months pregnant.”

Branham hit the mute button on the telephone and looked at Hank. “This is a problem,” he said.

“Why is that?”

Branham
grimaced
.
“Billy Askew’s sterile.”

1
4

As
Branham ended the call with Dr. Bailey
t
hey heard noise out in the main office. Heavy footsteps went into the office next to Branham’s. The door closed loudly.

“
L
ooks bad
,”
Karen
said
,
glancing
at the wall that separated Branham’s office from Askew’s
.

Branham put his foot up on one corner of his desk and stared at the ceiling.

“He was a legitimate suspect right from the start,”
Karen
went on, “but everybody just tiptoed around him because he’s
c
hief.”

“
B
ullshit,” Hall said.

“
I
t’s not
bullshit
,” Karen retorted. “Six out of seven strangulations of women are committed by men, and overwhelmingly husbands are primary suspects in the murder of their wi
fe
.”

Hall made a face.

“She’s right, Hall, isn’t she?” Branham asked.

He took a while, mouth working, but finally he threw up his hands. “I’m not an illiterate hillbilly,
Stainer.
I’ve read the same studies you have. In cases of s
pousal homicide
,
women are more likely t
o be assaulted or murdered by their husband or boyfriend
than by all other
attackers
combined. Women
murdered
in pregnancy
are killed
most often by
the
biological father of the child, or
else
by
a
jealous
husband or boyfriend.
The
murderer
has some kind of
a
temporary psychotic break and kills the one
person
he
claim
s
to love
the most
.
”