Slaughter Read Free Page A

eviscerated, her intestines coiled next to her body. And there was something about how she lay. A strange awkwardness. Quinn and Pearl moved closer.
    And suddenly understood. The corpse’s limbs had been neatly sawed through at the joints. Her wrists were a quarter of an inch short of her hands. Her arms had been severed at the elbows and shoulders. Same kind of sawing with her legs, at the ankles, knees, and hips. Quinn had assumed her throat had been cut. He saw now that her head had been sawn off and replaced slightly crookedly on the stump of her neck. There was, oddly enough, not a lot of blood.
    â€œThe injuries are postmortem,” Nift said. “If her heart hadn’t stopped first there’d be blood all over the place. But as you can see, there isn’t.”
    â€œThank God for that,” Pearl said.
    â€œDid the killer have medical knowledge?” Quinn asked.
    Nift shook his head. “Some. He isn’t a surgeon, but he has a basic knowledge of the human body.”
    â€œMed-school dropout?” Pearl asked.
    â€œDoubtful. A med-school student would have done this a bit differently, and with different instruments.”
    â€œStill . . .” Quinn said
    Nift shook his head. “Not part of the curriculum. Though my guess is that he’s done this kind of thing before.”
    They all glanced at Lois Graham. Her corpse reminded Quinn of a marionette that had been carefully laid out because its strings had been removed. Unlike some of the recently dead they had seen, she didn’t look as if she might surprise them by getting up and walking away. Something about the detached but related parts. Then there was the compactly coiled length of intestine. Quinn regarded the incision from her sternum to pubis.
    â€œWhat do you think made the cuts?” he asked.
    Nift shot a look at Renz, who had already asked him some of these questions. Renz said nothing. Nift sighed and knew he’d better answer again. He winked at Pearl, who stood stone-faced.
    â€œNot a surgical tool that I could identify,” Nift said. “Some kind of sharp, agile saw with a narrow blade. It cut cleanly through bone and gristle, along with flesh.”
    â€œElectrical?”
    â€œYou mean battery powered?” Nift smoothed his tie. “I doubt it. Not because a portable saw wouldn’t do this. It looks to me that the instrument was sharp enough that an electrical or fuel-powered saw wouldn’t have been needed. And I’m sure the cutting was done right here. She wasn’t sectioned off like this and then moved here and so neatly reassembled.”
    â€œBut it’s possible?” Pearl said.
    â€œPossible,” Nift conceded. “More like the work of a jigsaw in the hands of a reasonably strong man.”
    â€œOr woman?” Pearl asked.
    Nift shrugged. “I doubt it, but I wouldn’t rule it out.”
    â€œThis was . . . sex to him,” Pearl said.
    â€œUnderstandable,” Nift said.
    Pearl looked at him as if he were the most loathsome thing on the planet.
    â€œControl’s what it’s all about,” he explained. “That’s why victims die such slow deaths.”
    Pearl said, “It’s almost as if she was a doll and he took her apart to see how she worked.”
    Quinn thought it was exactly like that. “Jigsaw,” he said. “Do you really suppose that’s how he killed them?”
    â€œThat’s how I’d do it.” Nift winked at Pearl. “If I wanted these same results. Of course, I’m a professional. I’d do a cleaner, neater job.” He waved a hand to take in the death scene. “This guy was a butcher, but not one without promise.”
    â€œAs a surgeon,” Pearl said.
    Nift smiled at her. “No, as a serial killer.”
    Renz looked at his watch. “I’ve got important meetings this morning.”
    And we don’t. Pearl considered Renz and Nift.