Free Allison (A Kane Novel) by Steve Gannon

you never knew what evidence might turn up. 
    Kane approached the corpse slowly, careful not to miss details that might later prove important.  Looking like something a backhoe might have turned up, the bloated body of a female child lay in the sunlight a few feet from the waterline.  Areas of scum-coated skin had sloughed from long immersion; a tangle of hair was matted around her neck and face.  She rested on one side, an arm raised awkwardly above her head—presumably as result of the survey worker’s hauling her ashore.  Her position reminded Kane of a schoolchild raising a hand in class.  Frayed nylon cord still trailed from her wrist.
    A breeze drifted up from the water, carrying the odor of putrefaction.  Breathing shallowly to lessen the smell, Kane moved closer.  From the state of decomposition and abdominal distention caused by gases of decay, he estimated that the corpse had been immersed for at least a week, although the ambient water temperature could affect that time period considerably.  Typically a body floated facedown after surfacing, and a section of the child’s upper back that had been open to the air was cracked and darkened from exposure.  Kane noticed tiny blow-fly larvae on areas of skin that had been above water, concluding from the maggots’ size that the corpse had been floating for no more than twenty-four to thirty-six hours.
    Deciding to check with DWP about water temperatures at different depths, Kane leaned over the body, still not touching it.  Mottled purplish discolorations called postmortem lividity, a condition caused by blood settling under the effect of gravity, marked the grayish-white flesh of the child’s right side.  Because lividity “fixes” and becomes unchangeable within the first eight hours of death, the port-wine stains on the child’s right thigh, hip, and shoulder indicated that after her death she had lain on her right side for an extended period of time.  At some point after that she had been transported, weighted, and dumped into the reservoir, but the lividity still bore testament to the hours immediately following her death.
    Staring at the corpse, Kane felt a surge of anger, wondering how anyone could have done that to a child.  Fighting to pinch off his emotions, he forced himself to focus on the details of the investigation, a technique he had long ago adopted to shield himself from the horrors of his profession.  But as he resumed his inspection of the body, he made a silent vow, both to himself and to the dead girl at his feet.
    Continuing his examination, Kane noticed a faint lattice of marks on the visible portion of the girl’s lower back and buttocks.  As he made a mental note to have the coroner investigate those injuries, Kane also noticed that several areas of sodden skin on the body’s ankles had degloved from the underlying tissue.  Suspecting ligature wounds, he inspected the wrists, finding similar trauma.  The body rose when it bloated, sawing loose from whatever was holding it down, he thought grimly, glancing at the tag of rope still remaining on one wrist. He made another mental note to save the knots and get divers to locate whatever was used to anchor her down.
    Carefully, Kane shifted to the other side of the corpse.  Small aquatic animals had nibbled away much of the eyelids, lips, and portions of both eyes, but Kane could still recognize the face of Jordan French.  Following her disappearance, her picture had been featured in every newspaper and plastered on every Amber Alert notice in town.  Nevertheless, he decided to try for prints at autopsy to get a positive ID, and to have a sexual-assault team present, too.
    Leaning down, Kane noted a small gold ring on the index finger of the girl’s right hand.  Because of postmortem bloating, the band had cut deeply into her tissue, its heart-shaped body and filigreed “F” inscription nearly hidden within the swollen flesh.
    A moment later Kane saw the SID