Free Unspeakable by Sandra Brown

purplish mark with the tip of a Bic.
    "Strangulation?"
    "Maybe."
    "Was she raped?"
    "Possibly. That residue there on her thighs looks like semen."
    "Jesus."
    "Yeah."
    The photographer arrived, eager as a beaver to take his pictures until confronted with the grim reality of the girl's corpse. He lost his breakfast Honeybun in the bushes, then, sitting with his head between his knees, repeatedly assured them that this wasn't the first time he'd seen a naked woman—only the first time he'd seen one dead. It took a while before he had recovered sufficiently to take Stroud's required photos.
    Parked a short distance away from the body was a car registered to Patsy. Near it Ezzy found a pile of clothes. Using a pair of tweezers to pick up each article, he examined it before carefully placing it in a labeled plastic bag. There were a blouse and skirt, a brassiere, and a pair of panties. They were rain-soaked, but from what Ezzy could tell there were no rips in the cloth or missing buttons, which would indicate that the garments had been forcibly removed. They warranted further examination, of course.
    Both the driver and passenger doors of the car were standing open. From that he deduced that someone had accompanied her here. The empty liquor bottles, one on the floorboard of the car, one lying in the mud nearby, suggested a party atmosphere.
    "How're her fingernails, Harvey?"
    "Polished red. None broken, torn, or bleeding. Doesn't appear to be any tissue under them.
    'Course I'll clean them in the lab." The coroner also pointed out that there was no bruising on her wrists or ankles, nothing to indicate that she had been bound or gagged, or that a struggle had taken place.
    Clearly Patsy McCorkle had felt comfortable about coming here with her companion and hadn't expected to die.
    Hearing his radio activate, Ezzy immediately returned to his patrol car and spoke into the hand mike. "Yeah, Jim?"
    "The McCorkle girl was at the Wagon Wheel last night," Deputy Jim Clark reported. Cora and her group of teetotalers had been trying to vote the county dry for years, but that was one election that brought out the drinkers. Their proposed ordinance always failed miserably. They had, however, succeeded in prohibiting the sale of liquor within the township proper. Consequently, package stores and taverns lined both sides of the state highway just outside the city limits. The Wagon Wheel was one such club.
    "Who'd you talk to there?"
    "The guy who owns it, name of Parker Gee. He was tending bar last night. Says Patsy McCorkle was there for several hours and left around midnight."
    "Alone?"
    "With the Herbold brothers."
    CHAPTER NINE

    E mory Lomax's desk phone rang. Vexed over the interruption, he depressed the intercom button. "Who is it, Mrs. Presley?"
    "EastPark Development."
    That quickly changed his attitude. "I'll take it."
    He was buried in paperwork, but it could wait. His future wasn't dependent on this job at the bank. This bank was laughably small-time when compared to the business deals EPD out of Houston pulled together. They could buy this chickenshit operation a hundred times over and it would still be pocket change to them.
    "Hello, Glen," he said smoothly. "How're things in—"
    "Hold for Mr. Connaught."
    Emory frowned, disliking the secretary's brusque dismissal and the fact that his call had been relegated to an underling and hadn't come directly from Connaught himself. He was left on hold with Kenny G. music for almost three minutes before Connaught came on the line. Without any preliminary statements or pleasantries, he asked, "Lomax, did you receive the syllabus we sent you?"
    "Yesterday. It looks fantasti—"
    "What was Corbett's reaction?"
    "I... well, I haven't shared it with him yet. As I said, I just received it myself yesterday. I haven't had time to study it." The silence on the other end of the line sent chills up Emory's spine. "But I spoke with his daughter-in-law. She's agreed to a meeting. I intend to go over