Free The Beholder, a Maddie Richards Mystery by David Bishop

long enough to remark, “depending upon the size of her partner perhaps the intercourse and the shrimp were one and the same.” Steve joined his boss in a good laugh. Maddie thought it a cute remark, but could not in this setting bring herself to laugh. Rip reengaged the recorder and said, “A good guess would be that she ate the meal about two to four hours before death, and the intercourse came before the shrimp cocktail.”
    So, Maddie thought, Abigail Knight had eaten the shrimp with someone other than her sex partner because we all know that guys rarely take us out to eat after they’ve gotten what they want. Those animals, God love ‘em.
    Maddie moved closer without thinking and got a snoot full of the odor of Abby’s refrigerated innards.
    Some people believe the last thing a person sees before death is etched onto the retina of the eye like the negative of a photo. If that were true there would be a snapshot of the last thing Abby saw—the maniacal face of her killer. But Maddie saw only sad eyes clouded by the nothingness of death.
    “The thoracic area is a mess,” Ripley announced. “There are significant bruises and lacerations on the ventral surface. They all appear related to the attacker’s amputation of her mammary glands. The angle, depth, and manner of the cuttings suggest a left-handed attacker possessing little if any surgical skills.”
    Bill Molitor had told Maddie the killer was likely left-handed by the way the knots had been tied, now Rip says left handed because of the attributes of the cuts while amputating the breasts.
    The click of Steve’s camera startled Maddie back from her thoughts.
    “The victim’s upper and lower lips have been removed along the lines where the lips meet the face.” Rip was now speaking in monotone. “The facial skin also has been removed. The depth of the peeling varies. In some areas only the dermis has been removed. On other portions of the face the removal went deep enough to include the Malpighian layer of the epidermis. A doctor would have started at the scalp, not the lips. This indicates the killer lacked both anatomical and surgical knowledge.”
    Ripley raised his arm and, much as a cat uses a licked paw to wash its face, used the back of his fist to scratch the side of his nose through his mask.
    Maddie watched Rip make an incision from behind one of Abby’s ears over the top of the head to the other ear. She had to force herself to watch as Rip pulled the scalp down over the front of Abigail’s brutalized face. The oscillating saw, sounding similar to a dentist’s drill, whined as it cut through the bone forcing Abby’s skull to surrender what even in death it fought to protect. Maddie flinched at the sucking sound when Ripley pulled up releasing the front quadrant of the skull before removing Abby’s brain. Several minutes later he stepped on the foot control and spoke.
    “Examination of the skull and brain does not reveal any trauma other than the Contrecoup injury on the opposite side from the incapacitating blow. There are no signs of disease or congenital abnormalities.”
    Over the next ten minutes, Doctor Ripley stayed mostly silent. Then he caressed the skull cap back into place by aligning it with the front notch he had made for that purpose, and rolled the scalp back over the skull. Maddie looked away momentarily as Abby’s torn face came back into view.
    Most of Abby’s organs were placed back inside her body, and Ripley closed the cavity using a thick glistening suture. He then pulled down an overhead hose and sprayed her off.
    Maddie watched the circulating water carry tiny scraps of Abigail Knight down the corner spout. Ever since her first autopsy she had been unable to view the workings of the rain gutters on her home in quite the same way.
    Steve handed Rip the other end of the first of three precut lengths of antiseptic-looking rope. They used the bindings to secure Abby’s legs together and to tie her arms against her