Free Past Will Haunt by Morgan Kelley Page B

need a babysitter.
    “Look in her vagina. You know, that thing all women have, and all men like to be in?”
    Chris looked up. Was he really going to have to dig inside a woman while Elizabeth watched?
    Fate hated him.
    “Uh, okay. What am I looking for exactly?”
    “I don’t know maybe Santa fucking Claus? What do you think? You’re looking for evidence, son!”
    Chris nervously put down the woman’s stomach and moved to the bottom of the table. With gentle fingers, he searched for anything out of place. As his fingers sought anything out, he couldn’t look at Elizabeth. Already, he was feeling the heat flush up his body. It was incredibly awkward to have his hands in a dead woman’s vagina when he was thinking about her.
    Shit!
    This sucked.
    Elizabeth knew why Gabe made him do it. He was trying to teach him toughness, but still…it bothered her. This wasn’t how she’d break her staff in, and she never would. Elizabeth hoped, one day, she’d be a gentler boss.
    “I found something,” he said, pulling it from her body with two fingers.
    In his hand, there sat a medallion. It was shiny and embossed with a four leaf clover.
    “Shit,” muttered Gabe. “It’s him. We don’t have a copycat after all.”
    They all understood the magnitude of Chris’s discovery.
    Livy stared up at him. “It’ll be okay, Gabriel. We’ll find him. Elizabeth and I are pretty good at working a case. You can trust us to do it right.”
    He felt a million times worse.
    Now that they had proof that this was the lunatic, they were going to be risking a lot to catch him.
    Mainly, Olivia Spencer.
    “Well, that answers our most pressing question,” stated Elizabeth. “We have the ‘Irish Butcher’ and he’s opted to make DC his next playground.”
    Great.
    This was horrible news.
    “What else do we have on the woman?” Elizabeth asked, taking over for Gabe. He was standing there staring at Livy, and she figured she should cover for him too.
    The look on his face said it all, and she was pretty sure he was getting ready to do something detrimental for his career.
    “She was sexually assaulted. That I noted before finding the hidden medallion,” he stated. “Would you like me to show you how I knew?” he asked, smiling at Elizabeth.
    “Uh, no, Doc, I think we can forget that.”
    “Well, I wasn’t going to offer up show and tell,” he said, then realizing what he said. “Wait! I didn't mean…I wasn’t implying…”
    He went red.
    Then he went sheet white.
    “Oh, shit.”
    She laughed. “Tell me how you know, Christopher. You don’t have to show me. I’m a fast learner. Before long, I’ll be able to read your mind.”
    He opened his mouth and blushed. “I’m so sorry, Elizabeth.”
    “Are you two done?” Gabe asked, getting irritated. He needed the details and didn't have time for this mess.
    Elizabeth lifted a brow and then glanced over at her partner. She was staring up at the man and crowding him. Gabe should talk. He wasn’t exactly moving away from her.
    “Glass houses, Gabe,” she said, cluing him in.
    He cleared his throat. “You know what I meant.”
    “Anyway,” Chris said, opting to continue, “she was sexually assaulted. There are tears inside her body and blood. The fact that she bled during the assault is proof that she was alive at the time. Considering how spread out her skin and flesh was, and that it wasn’t damaged, I’d postulate that he started with rape and then moved on to the mutilation.”
    “Thanks, Doctor,” Livy said, making notes.
    She was trying to piece this murder to the case file Gabe had given them. Everything pointed to one person. It was likely the butcher had indeed found a new place to hunt.
    “Doctor, I’m going to need a copy of your report for the director. Make sure it’s complete, all the t’s are crossed and I’s are dotted. If he calls me on it, I’m going to call you on it, and trust me, you don’t want that.”
    He nodded. That was the very last