Free A Carnival of Killing by Glenn Ickler

Wednesday night, also in costume. He said he didn’t go with the bunch to O’Halloran’s, but people have been known to lie.”
    “Not to a reporter,” Brownie said, feigning utter shock.
    “Even to a reporter,” I said.
    “Thanks for the lead, Mitch. I’ll have a little chat with Mr. Carlson. Have a good day.” Brownie was gone before I could ask another question. I put down the phone realizing that I’d received nothing useful in exchange for my tidbit of intelligence. I could only hope that the ME’s report was more than routine.
     
     
    The ME’s report was presented to a milling cluster of Twin Cities newspaper, television and radio reporters, along with their associated photographers and cameramen, by Police Chief Casey O’Malley. The report began with the customary facts about the cause of death, which in this case was strangulation. No surprise there.
    This mundane beginning was followed by the equally stunning revelation that marks on the victim’s neck indicated the use of some sort of rope as a garrote. This drew an appropriate silent response.
    Next came the word that the victim’s coat, hat, and scarf had been found in O’Halloran’s cloakroom, which meant she’d been taken outside in below-zero weather without them. I raised my hand at this, and was told to hold my question until the chief was finished.
    The time of death was estimated at between 11:00 p.m. and midnight. This was the time a witness had reported seeing her leaving through the backdoor, which led to an adjacent parking ramp, with a male companion. The fact that the companion was dressed in a Vulcan costume was not mentioned by the chief.
    “Tests showed that the alcohol level in the victim’s blood was .10,” the chief continued. “This, of course, is above the level of legal intoxication, which is .08.”
    Next we were told that the victim showed signs of “vaginal bruising” but that no semen was found. If rape had been attempted, the act was not completed. Finally, the chief called for questions.
    Again my hand shot up. “Does the fact that she wasn’t wearing her coat indicate that she was killed immediately after leaving the building?” I asked.
    “That’s a possibility,” said Chief O’Malley.
    I followed up. “How about inside the building? Could she have been dead when the witness saw her leave with the man?” That brought a burst of verbal response from the crowd and I heard Trish Valentine say, “Gross!”
    “That’s also a possibility,” the chief said. More groans from the masses.
    “Can you identify the witness who saw her leave?” the Channel 5 reporter asked.
    “The witness will not be identified at this time,” Chief O’Malley said.
    “Do you think the fact that the victim was legally drunk had anything to do with her death?” Trish Valentine asked.
    “It may’ve been a factor,” the chief said. “The witness who saw her leave stated that she was leaning heavily on her companion.”
    “What happened to her car?” asked the man holding a Channel 7 microphone. “Was she driving that night?”
    “She was not driving,” Chief O’Malley replied. “She lived in an apartment downtown and walked to both the dance and the party in O’Halloran’s. Her car was found in her designated space in the building’s parking ramp.”
    The chief answered a couple more questions, and when no more queries were forthcoming he said, “Oh, there is one more thing. The victim was approximately three months pregnant.”
    Well, didn’t that start the questions and answers flying? No, the police didn’t know who the father was. Yes, the fetus’s DNA would be analyzed. No, neither the victim’s parents nor any of her friends who police had questioned knew who she’d been seeing. Yes, the police were calling for the father to come forward voluntarily.
    When the hubbub had ended and Al and I were back on the sidewalk, where the temperature was a balmy five below, I saw a woman ahead of us wearing a