Read Online Beneath the Cracks by LS Sygnet - Free Book Online Page B

lying on the table. 
"He did not have a dissected diaphragm.  Mr. Cox died of an
overdose, the initial screen positive for methamphetamine."
    "I thought you said this guy was in perfect
health.  How the hell –"
    I shot Briscoe a warning glare.
    "Uh, what makes you think he ain't a meth
addict, on account of him bein' so healthy otherwise?"
    "No track marks."  Maya pointed to both
arms, the backs of his hands, his feet.  The telltale signs of
chronic drug injections caused by scarring of the veins which
resulted in dark "tracks" were glaringly absent.  Only two
puncture marks were visible near his left wrist, in what was once a
prominent vein.  "This guy does however have evidence of
ligature restraint on both wrists and ankles.  From the type
of abrasion, the width and depth of tissue damage, I'd say it is
consistent with shackles or handcuffs.  His overdose was not
accidental, nor was he an even casual user of drugs."
    "How can you tell that for sure?" Crevan
asked.
    "His heart muscle.  Methamphetamine
users can quickly damage the cardiac muscle.  While I have no
doubt that his specific dose of methamphetamine was high enough to
induce cardiac arrest, there were no signs of chronic damage we see
in habitual use in an addiction.  That aside, how many people
do you know who cuff themselves before shooting up,
detective?  Did you miss the part where he was forcibly
restrained shortly before he died?"
    "Could've been some sex thing," Briscoe
shrugged.  "I thought this was one of them drugs that makes
people uh…horny, I guess.  But you're sayin' this cause of
death don't link him to our other victims."
    I shook my head, followed exactly where Maya
had led us.  Maybe I'd rattled them a little more than I
intended and made them focus on the wrong thing.  "The case
files you sent me indicated that these previous murders were low
profile, Tony.  Which page in the papers were any details made
available to the press?"
    "They weren't in the papers," Crevan
said.  "Nobody inquired about dead homeless guys.  The
press wasn't interested."
    "And nobody knew about our dumpster boys
'cept for the people that put 'em there," Tony quickly
followed.  "Shit."
    My mind leapt back in time a little more
than twelve hours while my heart sank.  "Shit is right. 
Orion told me he has somebody undercover working this case."
    "Well hell's bells, Helen!  Why didn't
you say somethin' sooner?" Briscoe growled.  He had his phone
out, thumb dialing when I snatched it from his hand.  "What in
the hell did you do that for?"
    "Johnny told me the man's first name." 
I paused and glanced at the body on the table with Maya's neatly
closed Y incision.  "He called him Jake."
    Crevan's hands rested on his hips, face
uplifted toward the ceiling.  "You're saying that this is
Johnny's undercover, that this case just graduated from John Doe
victims nobody cared about enough to miss to a murdered cop."
    "We won't know that for sure 'til Dr.
Smarty-Pants gives me the phone so I can call Johnny."
    "I think we should contact Darnell," I
said.
    " What ?"  Three protests instead
of the two I expected.
    "I'm saying that we should contact Darnell
to confirm.  Very few people know about Johnny's status with
OSI.  If we really have a dead state detective, how do you
think he'll react?  He'll demand to be in the thick of this
case, just like he did when his friend Gwen Foster was
murdered.  Our case against Jerry Lowe is seriously hampered
because Orion still has to keep his identity with OSI
protected.  It'll be a hell of a lot easier to proceed if we
call Darnell and explain why Orion can't come near this case."
    "She makes a good point," Maya said. 
"I know how close you two are to Orion.  Hell, we all like the
guy, but this'll be a minefield with the press.  What if they
notice Orion is involved in the investigation?  He's a private
citizen as far as the rest of the world is concerned.  With
Foster, it was different.  She was an old