The Body Farm ks-5

by Patricia Cornwell

  "Please." The shuttle was a van, and the chatty young driver asked all about a football game I never saw as I thought how easy it would be to find yourself helped by a stranger who was a Bundy or a Gault. That was how Eddie Heath had died. His mother sent him to a nearby convenience store for a can of soup, and hours later he was naked and maimed with a bullet in his head. Tape was used in his case, too. It could have been any color because we never saw it.

  Gault's weird little game had included taping Eddie's wrists after he was shot, and then removing the tape before dumping the body. We were never clear on why he had done this. Rarely were we clear on so many things that were manifestations of aberrant fantasies. Why a hangman's noose versus a simple, safer slip knot? Why a duct tape that was blaze orange? I wondered if that bright orange tape was something Gault would use, and felt it was. He certainly was flamboyant. He certainly loved bondage.

  Killing Ferguson and placing Emily's skin in the freezer also sounded like him. But sexually molesting her did not, and that had continued to nag at me. Gault had killed two women and had shown no sexual interest in them. It was the boy he had stripped and bitten. It was Eddie he had impulsively snatched so he could have his perverted fun. It was another boy in England, or so it seemed now.

  Back at the hotel, the bar was jammed and there were many lively people in the lobby. I heard much laughter on my floor as I quietly returned to my room, and I was contemplating turning on a movie when my pager began to vibrate on the dresser. I thought Dorothy was trying to get hold of me, or perhaps Wesley was. But the number displayed began with 704, which was the area code for western North Carolina. Marino, I thought, and I was both startled and thrilled. I sat on the bed and returned the call.

  "Hello?" a woman's soft voice asked. For a moment, I was too confused to speak.

  "Hello?"

  "I'm returning a page," I said.

  "Uh, this number was on my pager."

  "Oh. Is this Dr. Scarpetta?"

  "Who is this?" I demanded, but I already knew. I had heard the voice before in Judge Begley's chambers and in Denesa Steiner's house.

  "This is Denesa Steiner," she said.

  "I apologize for calling so late. But I'm just so glad I got you. "

  "How did you get my pager number?" I did not have it on my business card because I would be bothered all the time. In fact, I did not let many people have it.

  "I got it from Pete. From Captain Marino. I've been having just such a hard time and I told him I thought it would help if I could talk to you. I'm so sorry to bother you."

  I was shocked that Marino would have done such a thing, and it was just one more example of how much he had changed. I wondered if he was with her now.

  I wondered what could be so important that she would page me at this hour.

  "Mrs. Steiner, what can I help you with?" I asked, for I could not be ungracious to this woman who had lost so much.

  "Well, I heard about your car wreck."

  "Excuse me?"

  "I'm just so grateful you're all right."

  "I wasn't the person in the accident," I said, perplexed and unsettled.

  "Someone else was driving my car."

  "I'm so glad. The Lord is looking after you. But I had a thought that I wanted to pass on" - "Mrs. Steiner," I interrupted her, "how did you know about the accident?"

  "There was a mention of it in the paper here and my neighbors were talking about it. People know you've been here helping Pete. You and that man from the FBI, Mr. Wesley."

  "What exactly did the article say?" Mrs. Steiner hesitated as if embarrassed.

  "Well, I'm afraid it indicated that you were arrested for being under the influence, and that you'd run off the road."

  "This was in the Asheville paper?"

  "And then it ended up in the Black Mountain News and someone heard it on the radio, too. But I'm just so relieved you're okay. You know, accidents are terribly traumatic, and unless you've been in one yourself, you can't imagine how it feels. I was in a very bad one when I lived in California, and I still have nightmares about it."

  "I'm sorry to hear that," I told her, because I did not know what else to say. I was finding this entire conversation bizarre.

  "It was at night and this man changed lanes and I guess I was in his blind spot. He hit me from behind and I lost control of the car. I ended up cutting across the other lanes and hitting another car. That person was killed instantly. A poor old woman in a Volkswagen. I've never gotten over it. Memories like that certainly can scar you."

  "Yes," I said.

  "They can."

  "And when I think about what happened to Socks. I suppose that's really why I called."

  "Socks?"

  "You remember. The kitten he killed."

  I was silent.

  "You see, he did that to me and as you know I've gotten phone calls."

  "Are you still getting them, Mrs. Steiner?"

  "I've gotten a few. Pete wants me to get Caller I.D."

  "Maybe you should."

  "What I'm trying to say is these things have been happening to me, and then to Detective Ferguson, and Socks, and then you have the accident. So I'm worried it's all connected. I've certainly been telling Pete to look over his shoulder, too, especially after he tripped yesterday.

  I'd just mopped the kitchen floor and his feet went right out from under him. It's like some kind of curse straight out of the Old Testament. "

  "Is Marino all right?"

  "He's a little bruised. But it could have been bad since he usually has that big gun stuck in the back of his pants. He's such a fine man.

  I don't know what I'd do without him these days. "

  "Where is he?"

  "I imagine he's asleep," she said, and I was beginning to see how skillful she was at evading questions.

  "I'll be glad to tell him to call you if you'll tell me where he can reach you."

  "He has my pager number," I said, and I sensed in her pause that she knew I did not trust her.

  "Well, that's right. Of course he does."

  I did not sleep well after that conversation, and finally called Marino's pager. My phone rang minutes later and immediately stopped before I could pick it up. I dialed the front desk.

  "Did you just try to put a call through for me?"

  "Yes, ma'am. I guess the person hung up."

  "Do you know who it was?"

  "No, ma'am. I'm sorry, but I wouldn't have any idea."

  "Was it a man or a woman?"

  "It was a woman who asked for you."

  "Thank you."

  Fright jolted me wide awake as I realized what had happened. I thought of Marino asleep in her bed with the pager on a table, and the hand I saw reach for it in the dark was hers. She had read the number displayed and gone into another room to call it. When she had discovered it was for the Hyatt in Knoxville, she asked for me to see if I were a guest. Then she hung up as the desk rang my room, because she did not want to talk to me. She simply wanted to know where I was, and now she did. Damn! Knoxville was a two-hour drive from Black Mountain. Well, she wouldn't come here, I reasoned. But I could not shake how unsettled I felt, and I was afraid to follow my thoughts into the dark places they were trying to creep.

  I started making calls as soon as the sun rose. The first was to Investigator McKee with the Virginia State Police, and I could tell by his voice that I had awakened him from a deep sleep.

  "It's Dr. Scarpetta. I'm sorry to call so early," I said.

  "Oh. Hold on a minute." He cleared his throat.

  "Good morning. Listen, it's a good thing you called. I've got some information for you."

  "That's wonderful," I said, enormously relieved.

  "I was hoping you would."

  "Okay. The taillight is made out of methyl acrylate like most of them are these days, but we were able to fracture-match pieces back to the single unit you removed from your Mercedes. Plus there was a logo on one of these pieces that identified it as being fr
om a Mercedes."

  "Good," I said.

  "That's what we suspected. What about the headlight glass?"

  "It's a little trickier, but we got lucky. They analyzed the headlight glass you recovered, and based on its refraction index, density, design, logo, and so on, we know it came from an Infiniti J30. And that helped us narrow down possibilities for the origin of the paint. When we started looking at Infiniti J30s, there's a model painted a pale green called Bamboo Mist. To make a long story short. Dr. Scarpetta, you got hit by a '93 Infiniti J30 painted Bamboo Mist green. "

  I was shocked and confused.

  "My God," I muttered as chills swept up my body.

  "Is that familiar?" He sounded surprised.

  "This can't be right." I had blamed Carrie Grethen and had threatened her. I had been so sure.

  "You know someone who has a car like that?" he asked.

  "Yes."

  "Who?"

  "The mother of the eleven-year-old girl who was murdered in western North Carolina," I answered.

  "I'm involved in that case and have had several contacts with the woman." McKee did not respond. I knew what I was saying sounded crazy.

  "She also was not in Black Mountain when the accident occurred," I went on.

  "She supposedly had headed north to visit a sick sister."

  "Her car should be damaged," he said.

  "And if she's the one who did this, you can bet she's already getting it fixed. In fact, it may already be fixed."

  "Even if it is, the paint left on my car could be matched back to it," I said.

  "We'll hope so."

  "You sound doubtful."

  "If the paint job on her car is original and has never been touched up since it came off the assembly line, we could have a problem. Paint technology's changed. Most car manufacturers have gone to a clear base coat, which is a polyurethane enamel. Even though it's cheaper, it looks really rich. But it's not as many layers, and what's unique in vehicle paint identification is the layer sequence."

  "So if ten thousand Bamboo Mist Infinitis came off the assembly line at the same time, we're screwed."

  "Big-time screwed. A defense attorney will say you can't prove the paint came from her car, especially since the accident occurred on an interstate that's used by people from all over the country. So it won't even do any good to try to find out how many Infinitis painted that color were shipped to certain regions. And she's not from the area where the accident occurred, anyway."

  "What about the Nine-one-one tape?" I asked.

  "I've listened to it. The call was made at eight forty-seven p.m." and your niece said, "This is an emergency." That's as much as she got out before she was cut off by a lot of noise and static. She sounded like she was in a panic. "

  The story was awful, and I felt no better when I called Wesley at home and his wife answered.

  "Hold on, and I'll get him to the phone." She was as friendly and gracious as she had always been.

  I had weird thoughts while I waited. I wondered if they slept in separate bedrooms, or if she simply had gotten up earlier than he had and this was why she had to go someplace to tell him I was on the phone. Of course, she might be in their bed and he was in the bathroom. My mind spun on, and I was unnerved by what I was feeling. I liked Wesley's wife, and yet I did not want her to be his wife. I did not want anyone to be his wife. When he got on the phone, I tried to talk calmly but did not succeed.

  "Kay, wait a minute," he said, and he sounded as if I had awakened him, too.

  "Have you been up all night?"

  "More or less. You've got to get back out there. We can't rely on Marino. If we even try to contact him, she'll know."

  "You can't be certain it was her who called your pager."

  "Who else could it have been? No one knows I'm here, and I'd just left the hotel number on Marino's pager. It was only minutes before I got called back."

  "Maybe it was Marino who called."

  "The clerk said it was a woman's voice."

  "Dammit," Wesley said.

  "Today ismichele's birthday."

  "I'm sorry." I was about to cry and didn't know why.

  "We've got to find out if Denesa Steiner's car has been damaged. Someone's got to go look. I've got to know why she was after Lucy."

  "Why would she go after Lucy? How could she have known where Lucy was going to be that night and what kind of car she would be in?"

  I recalled Lucy telling me that Marino had advised her on her gun purchase. It may have been that Mrs. Steiner overheard their telephone conversation, and I voiced this theory to Wesley.

  "Did Lucy have a time when she was going to be there, or did she impulsively stop there on her way back from Quantico?" he asked.

  "I don't know, but I'll find out." I began to shake with rage.

  "The bitch. Lucy could have been killed."

  "Christ, you could have been killed."

  "The goddam bitch."

  "Kay, be still and listen to me." He said the words slowly and in a way that was meant to soothe. "} will get back down to North Carolina and see what the hell's going on. We'll get to the bottom of this. I promise. But I want you to get out of that hotel as soon as you can. How long are you supposed to be in Knoxville? "

  "I can leave after I meet Katz and Dr. Shade at the Farm. Katz is picking me up at eight. God, I hope it isn't still raining. I haven't even looked out the window yet."

  "It's sunny here," he said as if that meant it had to be sunny in Knoxville.

  "If something comes up and you decide not to leave, then change hotels."

  "I will."

  "Then go back to Richmond."

  "No," I said.

  "I can't do anything about this in Richmond. And Lucy's not there. At least I know she's safe. If you talk to Marino, don't tell him anything about me. Don't breathe a word about where Lucy is. Just assume he will tell Denesa Steiner. He's out of control, Benton. He's confiding in her now, I know it. "

  "I don't think it would be wise for you to come to North Carolina right now."

  "I've got to."

  "Why?"

  "I've got to find Emily Steiner's old medical records. I need to go through all of them. I also want you to find out for me every place Denesa Steiner has lived. I want to know about other children or husbands and siblings. There may be other deaths. There may be other exhumations we have to do."

  "What are you thinking?"

  "For one thing, I'll bet you'll find there is no sick sister who lives in Maryland. Her purpose in driving north was to run my car off the road and hope Lucy died." Wesley did not say anything. I sensed his equivocation and did not like it.

  I was afraid to say what was really on my mind, but I could not be silent.

  "And so far there's no record of the SIDS. Her first child. Vital Records can't find anything about that in California. I don't think the child ever existed, and that fits the pattern."

  "What pattern?"

  "Benton," I said, "we don't know that Denesa Steiner didn't kill her own daughter." He let out a deep breath.

  "You're right. We don't know that. We don't know much."

  "And Mote pointed out in the consultation that Emily was sickly."

  "What are you getting at?"

  "Munchausen's by proxy."

  "Kay, no one will want to believe that. I don't think I want to believe that." It is an almost unbelievable syndrome in which primary care givers-usually mothers-secretly and cleverly abuse their children to get attention. They cut their flesh and break their bones, poison and smother them almost to death. Then these women rush to doctors' offices and emergency rooms and tell teary tales of how their little one got sick or hurt, and the staff feels so sorry for Mother. She gets so much attention. She becomes a master at manipulating medical professionals and her child may eventually die.

  "Imagine the attention Mrs. Steiner has gotten because of her daughter's murder," I said.

  "I won't argue that. But how would Munchausen
's explain Ferguson's death or what you're alleging happened to Lucy?"

  "Any woman who could do what was done to Emily could do anything to anyone. Besides, maybe Mrs. Steiner is running out of relatives to kill. I'll be surprised if her husband really died of a heart attack.

  She probably killed him in some disguised, subtle manner, too. These women are pathological liars. They are incapable of remorse. "

  "What you're suggesting goes beyond Munchausen's. We're talking serial killings now."

  "Cases aren't always one thing, because people aren't always one thing, Benton. You know that. And women serial killers often murder husbands, relatives, significant others. Their methods are usually different from those of male serial killers. Women psychopaths don't rape and strangle people. They like poisons. They like to smother people who can't defend themselves because they're either too young or too old or incapacitated for some other reason. The fantasies are different because women are different from men."

  "No one around her is going to want to believe what you're proposing," Wesley said.

  "It will be hell to prove, if you're right."

  "Cases like this are always hell to prove."

  "Are you suggesting I present this possibility to Marino?"

  "I hope you won't. I certainly don't want Mrs. Steiner privy to what we're thinking. I need to ask her questions. I need her to cooperate."

  "I agree," he said, and I knew it had to be very hard for him when he added! "Truth is, we really can't have Marino working this case any longer. At the very least, he's personally involved with a potential suspect. He may be sleeping with the killer."

  "Just like the last investigator was," I reminded him. He did not respond. Our shared fear for Marino's safety did not need to be said. Max Ferguson had died, and Denesa Steiner's fingerprint was on an article of clothing he was wearing at the time. It would have been so simple to lure him into unusual sex play and then kick the stool out from under him.

  "I really hate for you to get more deeply into this, Kay," Wesley said.

  "One of the complications of our knowing each other so well," I said.

  "I hate it, too. I wish you weren't, either."

  "It's different. You're a woman and a doctor. If what you're thinking is right, you'll push her buttons. She's going to want to draw you into her game."