The Night Stalker Read Free Page B

few seconds.
    ‘Jonathan is performing a regular external examination of the body,’ Doctor Hove confirmed. ‘All the victim’s physical characteristics are listed, including first impressions of their wounds, if any. He’d also be looking for any physical marks that could help identify the victim – she was brought in as a Jane Doe.’
    On the screen, Doctor Winston paused and an intrigued look passed across his face. They all watched as his assistant handed him a small flashlight. Bending over, he focused the light directly on the stitches applied to the victim’s lower body, moving the light up and down and from side to side. He seemed baffled by something.
    ‘What is he doing?’ Garcia instinctively tipped his head to one side, trying to get a better view.
    The video played on and they all watched as Doctor Winston used a metallic pointer to probe through the stitches and into the victim’s body. The doctor’s lips moved and they all looked at Hunter.
    ‘ It’s something metallic, ’ Hunter translated, ‘ but I still can’t say for certain what it could be. Pass me the stitch-cutting scissors and the forceps, will you? ’
    ‘There was something inside her?’ Doctor Hove frowned.
    On the screen, Doctor Winston turned away from the camera again and proceeded to use a pair of scissors to slice through the stitches. Hunter noticed there were five in total. The doctor inserted his right hand into the victim.
    Moments later, Doctor Winston managed to retrieve an object. When he turned, only its edge flashed past the camera.
    ‘What was that?’ Garcia asked. ‘What was left inside the victim? Did anyone see?’
    ‘Not sure,’ Hunter replied. ‘Let’s wait, he might turn and face the camera again.’
    But he never did.
    Within seconds there was a blast and the whole image was substituted by static. The words – Room 4. Signal fail – flashed across the center of the screen.

 
Six
     
    Absolute silence filled the room for several seconds. Doctor Hove was the first to speak.
    ‘A bomb? Someone put a bomb inside a murder victim? What the hell . . . ?’
    There was no reply. Hunter took over at the computer and was already clicking away, rewinding the images. He pressed play again, and the video resumed from just a couple of moments before Doctor Winston pulled his hand from inside the victim’s body, gripping the unidentified metallic object. All eyes reverted back to the screen.
    ‘I can’t make it out exactly,’ Garcia said. ‘It moves past the camera too fast. Can you slow it down?’
    ‘It doesn’t matter what it looks like,’ Doctor Hove said almost catatonically. ‘It was a bomb. Who the hell puts a bomb inside a victim, and why?’ She took a step back and massaged her temples. ‘Terrorist?’
    Hunter shook his head. ‘The location of the attack alone defeats the very essence of terrorism. Terrorists want to cause as much damage as possible with as much loss of life as possible. I hate to state the obvious, Doc, but this is a morgue, not a shopping mall. And the blast wasn’t even powerful enough to destroy a whole medium-sized room.’
    ‘Besides,’ Garcia said, with no sarcasm in his voice, ‘most bodies in here are already dead.’
    ‘So why would someone place a bomb inside a dead body? It doesn’t make any sense.’
    Hunter held the doctor’s gaze. ‘I can’t tell you the answer to that question right now.’ He paused for a moment. ‘We need to stay focused here. I’m assuming that no one else has seen this footage?’
    Doctor Hove nodded.
    ‘We need to keep it this way for now,’ Hunter said. ‘If news gets out that a killer has placed a bomb inside a victim, the press will turn this into a carnival. We’ll spend more time giving pointless interviews and answering stupid questions than investigating anything. And we can’t afford to lose any more time. Despite our emotions on this, what we have here is someone who is crazy enough to kill a young woman, place an