Like Clockwork Read Free Page B

now. He told Riaan, and the photographer packed his bags and was circling Rita Mkhize before Mouton could close his clipboard.
    ‘She wasn’t killed here, Riedwaan. I’ll check during the postmortem but I would say she was killed somewhere else and dumped here.’
    ‘How long has she been dead, Doc?’
    Mouton put his head on one side. The girl was cold and stiff. ‘Hard to say until I do the temp with a body probe. But at a guess I’d say between eight and thirty-six hours. I don’t think more than that. Once I start with the post-mortem, I’ll also be able to give you a better idea about when she was moved.’
    Mouton picked up the girl’s hand and took a scrape from under her fingernails. He did a vaginal swab, too, bagging both of these and handing them to Riedwaan.
    ‘Did you have to do that here, Doc?’
    Mouton pulled the girl’s short skirt down. ‘Man, you are getting soft. It’s hard to argue with evidence that’s gatheredbefore the body has been moved. Whoever did this to her took her dignity with her life. Don’t you lose those, you fucker. You take that straight to the lab at Delft. And make them sign for it in their own blood.’
    Riedwaan did not answer. He had seen enough rapists laugh into their victim’s faces as they walked free. It just took one break in the chain of evidence – be it specimen or statement – and a clever defence lawyer would have a paedophile waiting for his little girl of choice by tea break. There was no way that this evidence would be out of his sight for one second.
    Mouton leaned in close and looked at the slash across her throat. ‘This is very high up,’ he said. ‘It’s like he was trying to cut out her tongue. Like he wanted to do a Colombian Necktie, but didn’t have the strength. Very sharp blade that he used, very sharp. Maybe a scalpel.’
    ‘Look at her eyes, Doc. Surely she hasn’t been dead long enough for that to happen,’ said Riedwaan. The girl’s eyes had sunken in. Mouton reached over and lifted an eyelid.
    ‘
Ja
,’ he said, ‘he cut her.’ He pointed to the incisions that formed a cross on the cornea. ‘The eyeball is just a ball of gel. Make a hole in it like this guy did, and the eyeball will collapse.’
    ‘When was she mutilated?’
    ‘The hand while she was alive. You can see it from the crusted blood. Her throat – that was done after she died. Look here, there is no blood to speak of.’
    ‘The eyes?’ asked Riedwaan.
    ‘Just before she died. Maybe as he killed her.’
    Riedwaan shivered. ‘I hate to imagine what she saw that needed to be removed so viciously.’
    The mortuary van arrived. The mortuary technicians brought their stretcher around to pick her up. ‘You ready, Doc?’ asked the driver. Mouton nodded. The assistant washardly older than the murdered girl. The boy struggled to stop his hands from shaking as he lifted her body. Mouton looked at the place where she had lain, but it had not been there long enough for any fluids to seep out.
    ‘You coming to the post-mortem?’ asked Mouton.
    ‘You’re doing it right now?’ asked Riedwaan.
    ‘
Ja
,’ said Mouton. ‘I’ve got a feeling this is going to get hot.’ He looked back at the van. ‘I don’t think she’s going to be your last either. I worked on the PMs when they were looking for that killer who was into bondage in KwaZulu-Natal. That girl didn’t look like a once-off to me.’
    ‘Don’t jump to conclusions, Doc. They can lead you astray.’
    The pathologist gave him a withering look. ‘Are you coming or not?’
    ‘
Ja
, I’ll be there. I’ve just got to drop this stuff off at the lab. I’ll be with you in an hour.’ Riedwaan walked with Mouton to his car. ‘Can I bring someone?’
    ‘Who?’ asked Mouton.
    ‘Clare Hart. I’m thinking of getting her to do the profile for me. If you’re right then we’ll need one. She’s worked with me before.’
    Mouton put his hand on Riedwaan’s shoulder. ‘That’s a strange way to pull