Free Legacy of the Ripper by kindels Page A

sure she had no way of crying out for help. All that would be coming out of her mouth would have been blood and gurgles as she gasped her life out."
    "Oh, great, thanks, doc," said Wright. "You certainly know how to paint a pretty picture for us, don't you?"
    "Sorry, sergeant," Murdoch grinned sheepishly, "but I thought you'd like to know just how he could have done it so silently."
    "Yeah, but, there's something I don't get about that theory," said a quizzical Wright.
    "And that is?"
    "Why would she turn her back on him? The only reason I can think of for her doing that in a dark street in the middle of the night would be if she was about&"
    "To have sex with him! If she was a prostitute, like Laura Kane, she would possibly have turned around, hitched up her skirt for him to do it from behind, and that's when he struck." Holland finished Wright's theory for him.
    "Exactly, boss. Which means that we might have a serial killer on the loose, one who's targeting prostitutes."
    "If that's the case, then this could possibly be just the start, sergeant. He's killed twice already. Why should he stop now? We're going to have to work hard to catch this bastard before he does it again. Chas, can you get those autopsy results to us as soon as you can, please?"
    "No problem," said Murdoch. "Now that I've confirmed death and made my preliminary examination, the body can be removed. We'll leave the Scenes of Crime team to search for trace evidence at the scene and I'll get straight on with the autopsy as soon as I get her back to the lab."
    "Let me know if you find anything to suggest she was working the streets will you?"
    "Apart from her clothes you mean?" Murdoch gestured towards the body, now lying on a black plastic sheet, ready to be lifted into the equally black body bag that was being removed from the back of the waiting ambulance.
    "She does look a bit obvious, doesn't she?" said Wright, looking at the girl's short black min-skirt, black patent high heels, and the almost see- through white nylon blouse that left very little to the imagination. The skimpy red thong she'd been wearing had been cut or torn from her body by the killer and had been found beside her body. Her lips were also painted in a vivid shade of red lip gloss that gave her mouth even in death, a lascivious and provocative appearance.
    At that moment, a uniformed constable approached the scene, carrying what appeared to be a woman's purse. He'd sensibly picked it up using the end of his notebook pencil, thereby not eliminating any fingerprints or other trace evidence.
    "Sir, look what I found in one of the litter bins at the end of the street," he almost shouted in his excitement at making his discovery.
    He held it out towards Holland, who stood back without touching the bag, until he'd removed a pair of plastic gloves from his pocket.
    "Is it hers, sir?" said Wright as Holland tentatively opened the small black clutch bag with his gloved fingers.
    Holland was silent for a few seconds as he examined the interior of the potentially crucial piece of evidence. There were six unused condoms, confirmation perhaps of the girl's line of work. Any money and credit cards she may have possessed were gone, and the purse appeared other wise empty. He looked again, probing the interior with his well trained eyes. In a small plastic window section at the side of the purse's interior, he saw something that caught his eye. Borrowing a pair of tweezers from one of the nearby forensic technicians he carefully removed the small photograph contained within the window.
    "It's hers all right," he said solemnly as he held the photo out for Wright to see.
    The smiling face that peered out from the photo was that of the dead girl, and on either side of the teenager were the faces of what most probably were her parents. The happy smiles belied the stark appearance of the dead girl now lying before them, lifeless and unfeeling. Holland felt a pang of sadness as he gazed at the happy family