Free The Immortals by J.T. Ellison Page A

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    â€œWhat caused this?” Taylor asked.
    â€œHonestly?” Sam pursed her lips, a piece of her too-long bangs caught in her lip gloss. She brushed her hair away impatiently. “I think he was whipped.”
    â€œWhipped?”
    â€œYeah. Remember Todd Wolff’s basement? He had all that sex paraphernalia down there?”
    Did she remember? That wasn’t a case she’d soon forget. She nodded, eyes veiled.
    â€œThere’s an S&M tool called a cat-o’-nine-tails. Most are made of leather and not intended to inflict more than pain, but some have sharp, barbed tips on the ends of the separatewhips. I’ve seen this before, in another case several years ago. Guy in East Nashville took one to his boyfriend. Got carried away, the guy ended up on my table. He was covered head to toe in slashes like this.”
    â€œJesus.”
    The ’gator laid Scott back, gently. Taylor took in the fury, the anger, the sheer rage. She could feel the intense hatred.
    â€œHe’s got defensive wounds, Sam. Look at his hands. They’re all scratched up. That’s different from our other victims too, isn’t it?”
    â€œYes. The other bodies look like the carvings were done postmortem, and they were stripped completely. Two of them I assume were already naked—the couple. But the rest were probably undressed after they died, before the cutting began.”
    â€œWere there signs of sexual assault on any of the victims?”
    Sam shook her head. “Nothing that jumped out and bit me, but I won’t know for sure until I take swabs.”
    â€œIt’s not the easiest thing to get the clothes off a dead body. If there wasn’t a sexual assault, why do you think the killer removed the victims’ clothes? Maybe they were already naked.”
    â€œFaulty logic. Think about it, Taylor. How many kids do you know sit around naked in their rooms? Other than the couple, who were obviously interrupted. Plus, if you’re pressed for time and you need your victim to ingest something against their will, are you going to make them take off their clothes first?”
    â€œIf you want to humiliate them, yes. I don’t think we can rule it out just yet.”
    â€œBut was there time for humiliation? These killings were sandwiched into a pretty tight window. I’m betting the killer removed their clothing after they were dead. But this is different.” She waved her hand toward the victim. “These wounds were infected while the victim was alive, stilldressed, and he fought hard. See the bruise on his right shoulder?”
    Taylor looked closer. There was the slightest discoloration from the boy’s collarbone to the top of his shoulder, an elongated oval mark.
    â€œA knee?”
    â€œI’d say so. He was held down.”
    â€œWould it take someone very big to leave that kind of mark? He looks like he’s in pretty good shape.”
    â€œNot necessarily. There was a violent struggle, but anyone can be overcome under the right circumstances. There are also marks around his neck—maybe an attempt at strangulation.”
    â€œHopefully our killer left something of himself behind. Your new ’gator, Barclay Iles, collected a few black hairs off the body of Xander Norwood. Maybe there’s more to be had here.”
    â€œMaybe. You know I’ll look carefully.”
    â€œThanks, Sam. I know you will. What I’d like to know is why this one wasn’t drugged, since all the others were. Especially if he needed to be subdued.”
    â€œI won’t be able to answer that until I do the post. He’s a big boy, bigger than all the rest. There may be something interesting in his tox screen, I just don’t know. Speaking of which, I need to get back to Gass Street, supervise all of these bodies coming in.” Sam was retreating into medical examiner mode, the cool facade closing in again.
    Taylor let her. She needed