When You’re Dead You’re Done!
Pamela Ebel
“I figured the chief
would put someone low in seniority on this one. You’re the new detective,
right? I’m Dr. Daniel Gravois, Chief Coroner.”
He looked up
briefly from the body lying on the steel table in front of him. The woman
entering the autopsy room pulled her turtleneck sweater up higher.
“Yeah, it gets
pretty cold in here. Takes a long time to get used to it. Of course, it also
cuts down on the various odors.”
The new arrival
moved to the table and looked at the corpse of a young woman with chestnut hair
framing an angular face. Though her thin body was now almost devoid of color her
neck still bore the purple-bluish marks of the fingers that had ended her life.
Blues eyes stared up
into the void the dead pass through. Always wishing she could enter there, sure
the person who had taken this life would be seen, Corla Cross continued to
study the young woman as she answered.
“It’s nice to meet
you too, Dr. Gravois. I am Corla Cross. special agent of the State’s Bureau of
Investigation. I am here at the request of Chief of Police Patterson. Is there
a reason the chief wouldn’t want someone with substantial experience on this
case?”
“You are
definitely from out of town if you have to ask that question. Do you know how
many murders we have in this city each week, Detective Cross?”
“Special Agent
Cross, and at the moment, doctor, you are averaging about four to five murders
a week.”
“Correct, and with
limited personnel in the Homicide Division, our seasoned staff are assigned to
high profile cases. Dandria Capple here, was just another young woman roaming
the streets she knew were dangerous at night. That being said, I am surprised
the Chief would ask for help on such a low-profile case.”
Corla looked up
from Dandria Capple into the coroner’s face. His eyes were almost as devoid of
life as those of the young woman on the table that separated them.
A danger of being on the job to long? She
hoped that explained his attitude.
“Dr. Gravois, my
file on this murder indicates that it is one of six over an eight- month period;
that all of the victims were young women; that they died in the same general location
and lived in the same general neighborhood. My report further shows that it was
your conclusion that the previous five victims died of asphyxia due to
strangulation. And when I met with Chief Patterson earlier this morning, he
stated you concluded that the bruising on Ms. Capple’s neck appears consistent
with strangulation in the same manner?”
“Oh! Now I get it.
The Chief is responding to the media pushing the suggestion that these killings
are the same as that spate of murders twenty years ago. I pointed out to him
that ‘similar’ is not the same as ‘exactly’ when looking at the methodology of
the perpetrator. Also, what something
appears to be, is not always the actual cause of a death. The killer wears
gloves so, no traceable DNA samples. He also appears to surprise the victims from
behind and subdue them. We never found any tissues or bodily fluids under the victim’s
finger nails or other body parts or on their clothes. He was a clever
killer. But really! You seriously think
that person would appear after twenty years?”
“Eighteen young
women died over a two-year period and the killer was never identified or
apprehended. I see no reason not to consider that the same person is possibly
active again. At any rate, the Chief has
asked the bureau for help and I’m it. That means Dandria Capple will join the
other twenty-four young women and their families who are waiting for justice. They’re
part of my world now. If you will excuse me, I need to meet with Ms. Capple’s
family.”
“I’m just about to
start on the autopsy, detective, uh Special Agent. Don’t you want to
stay for the exciting part of a murder case? Or don’t you have the stomach for
it?”
Corla paused
briefly to look at Gravois before continuing to the exit door. Chief of Police Eric
Patterson stood in the shadows. They nodded to each other and as she left the chief
walked over to his coroner.
“Eric, I’m
surprised to see you down here. Keeping an eye on the Special Agent? I
don’t know if she will be of any help if she can’t watch an autopsy.”
“Dan, it is a damn
good thing your patients are all dead because you wouldn’t have a practice with
live ones with that bedside manner. I wanted to look at the victim and then I
will be joining Agent Cross and the family. And there is something else you
should know. Corla Cross would not be a bit bothered by observing or even
conducting an autopsy. Harvard’s School of Medicine, from which she graduated
with honors, requires all doctors to conduct autopsies before getting a degree.
She also has a specialty in psychiatric forensic investigations with an
emphasis on cases involving sequential killings. She volunteered her services
and we are lucky to have her. Perhaps she’ll join you another day, but as she
noted, we has twenty-five victims waiting for justice and a killer that needs
to be stopped. Have a good day, Dan.”
Chief Patterson
exited the autopsy room with Dr. Dan Gravois staring after him, scalpel raised
and mouth open.
# # #
Corla looked into
the swollen face of Dandria Capple’s sister, Patricia, who held her two-year-old
niece, Krista. They had the same chestnut hair and blue eyes as the dead girl.
“I can’t believe
she’s gone. Who would want to hurt her? To strangle her to death? Danny loved
everyone and she took such good care of Krista. Even though there was just the
two of them, she was a good mother. Who is going to take care of Krista now?”
“What about
Krista’s father or his family? Can’t they help?”
“Right. Mr.
Wonderful. He disappeared as soon as he heard Danny was pregnant. She hasn’t
seen him since. He joined the army and is out of the country somewhere and
Danny never heard from his family. Our parents are both dead. We had to go into
foster care when we were little. Danny swore that would never happen to Krista.
Now! Now what?”
“You said that
Dandria worked six days a week and went to college classes three nights a week.
Who took care of her at those times?”
“I took care of
Krista at night when Danny went to school. She just got her associate’s degree
and signed up to finish the bachelor’s degree to become an RN. She works for a
firm that has their own day care. I have three kids of my own and I don’t know
how I am going to be able to keep Krista all the time.”
Krista turned her
blue eyes on Corla as she patted her aunt’s shoulder. No tears there. Just a
look of concern and determination.
As Chief Patterson
appeared and sat next to her, Corla leaned forward and slid a set of papers
across the table.
“These are the
forms that you will need to complete to give you temporary custody of Krista.
It will allow you to care for her needs while Child Protective Services works
through a plan for her future. In the meantime, I intend to find the person who
took Dandria away from both of you. That’s a promise.”
“Mrs. Tucci, I’m
Chief Patterson. I know this is a bad time but we need a positive
identification of your sister. We have a special room with a glass partition.
All you will see is her face.”
He rose and held out
his hand.
“Krista. I can’t
take her in there.”
Tears rolled down
her face and the child touched them and kissed her aunt.
“I’ll take care of
her.”
Corla stood, walked around the table, and held
out her arms and smiled.
“How would you
like to get a coke, Krista? And maybe a doughnut?”
The child gave
Corla a serious look, checked with her aunt who nodded yes, and then rose into the
special agent’s arms.
# # #
A week later Corla
had a detailed chronological chart of the original eighteen murders. The cold
case file notes brought those victims into the present. Their photos and those
of the six recent victims, including Dandria Capple, sat front and center on the
bulletin board facing her desk. Chief Patterson sat across from her as she ran
down the facts.
“The first
eighteen were in their late teens or early twenties. All of them worked full-time
jobs, were taking classes at the local junior college, lived in the same
geographical location and knew each other in a casual fashion. They rode the same
bus that dropped them off near the site where their bodies were found, and all
were single mothers. They left behind a total of twenty-two children. Fifteen
of them ended up in foster care. The four babies were all placed in adoptive
homes and the other three children seemed to have fallen off the radar screen
soon after their mothers died.”
“That’s a heavy
burden, isn’t it? Not just the women’s deaths but all of those children losing
their family unit.”
Chief Patterson stood and stared out the
window. Corla joined him as they quietly considered the facts.
“What about our
newest victims. Any similarities to the first group?”
“The current six
victims appear to be more diverse. They did live near each other, in an area
near the riverbank where they died, and used the public transit to go to and
from their homes. However, the first three had dropped out of junior college
and did not work because they were single mothers and had no childcare options.
The other three, including Dandria Capple, were single mothers who both worked
and were attending the local JC. They had a network of family and friends to
help them.”
They moved to the
bulletin board where photos provided by family or friends were displayed. They
showed young women smiling, their worlds filled with possibilities and futures still
ahead of them.
“Chief, I see the
obvious similarities between these victims, but there is something else
underneath. I know it. I just need a few more days to line things up.”
“That’s fine. I
think our victims can wait a bit longer for an answer.”
“What happened to
the nineteenth victim, the one that survived twenty years ago? I didn’t find
much paperwork on her in the files.”
“I was just a
rookie back then. My partner and I took that call. A cab driver had just
dropped off a ride and was headed back to the main road. He called in to the
dispatcher that a woman with no top on was wandering around the riverbank but
ran away when he called out to her. We responded and found her under the
bridge. She had the bruises on her neck consistent with being strangled. She
told us she was walking home from the bus and didn’t see the man because he
attacked her from behind. The cab apparently scared him away. We took her to
the emergency room and parked. When we went into the waiting room she was gone.
We never could find her. She just vanished.”
“What about the
security guard at the junior college that was a suspect. What happened to him?”
“Chris Green. We
were never able to build a solid case against him. Most of the information was
hearsay and many of the ‘informants’ wouldn’t make formal statements. He was
placed on administrative leave for six months after the last attack. He went
back to work at the college but said he couldn’t deal with the attitudes of
everyone on campus. He moved and there were no further attacks until recently.
Last I heard he was working private security in Missouri and there had been no
cases like these there.”
“Do we keep tabs
on him?”
“I don’t think we
stayed on him after a couple of years. I’m not sure where he is.’
“Well, right now
he is here in the city and has been for five days.”
Corla and
Patterson turned to see Daniel Gravois standing in the doorway. She looked into
the coroner’s eyes and saw a challenge she couldn’t quite place.
“Since Green fled
the city and the killings stopped, I decided to keep my own investigation of
him going. I mean, it should be obvious that his departure and the end to the
murders are connected. And for your information Green started returning to the
city because his father is ill. The murders started again when he began
visiting regularly.”
“Dan, I can’t
believe what I am hearing. You had this information, and you didn’t tell me so
that we could put a tail on Green. How many more young women were you going to
let die before sharing this with me?”
“Eric, I was not
aware that my duties as coroner include doing the grunt work for your homicide
department. And I wasn’t sure that this wasn’t just coincidence and didn’t want
to get sued. I. . .”
Corla moved
swiftly until she was face to face with Gravois. She spoke in a strong whisper.
“Why are you
telling us now? Why did you suddenly decide to share your suspicions, Doctor?
Was it my presence that caused you to be concerned about Green now?”
She got the response she anticipated.
“I could care less
about your presence, detective. Oh, excuse me – Special Agent. You should be
thankful that I did my due diligence and have delivered your serial killer all wrapped
up in a bow right to your office.”
Gravois threw a
file on Corla’s desk.
“I have my own
work to do right now.”
“Yes, like finally
getting me Dandria Capple’s autopsy report!”
“I told you that I
am backed up with the detritus piling up downstairs.”
They watched him
stomp down the hall.
“Why the push on
Capple’s autopsy? Do you think there will be something to see that will
distinguish her death from the others?”
“It’s what I don’t
expect to see that I am interested in. You’ve heard of Locard’s Exchange
Principle in forensic evidence?”
“Yes, but I don’t
think we’ve ever used it”.
“Well Chief, the
basic tenet is that a criminal leaves something at the scene and takes
something from it. Either one or both exchanges become silent witnesses to the
crime, never forget and can’t be manipulated. I’ve looked at the reports from
all twenty-four women and there may be something that was overlooked,
particularly from those deaths that occurred before we had strong forensic
tools. Once I see Dandria’s report, I will let you know what I found.”
“I’ll pay Gravois a visit right now. You
can
pick that up this afternoon.”
Back at her
bulletin board Corla Cross moved down three rows of photos looking at each one
carefully and remembering their bios. She ended her review with Dandria Capple’s
smiling face in her mortarboard and gown at her graduation. She leaned in
studying the photo, straightened up, took her written bio chart, and drew lines
into a central bullseye circle. Turning to the computer she did a new search,
then sat back shaking her head.
The first thing
they teach in the study of the criminal mind is that the obvious answer is the
one usually missed. But not this time. This time will be the last time.
She placed an overseas
call, waited for the email to send the confirmed answer to her inquiry, then
grabbed her brief case, placed the new evidence in it and headed to the
coroner’s office.
# # #
The autopsy room
was empty, and Cross pulled her turtle neck sweater up around her neck as she
walked toward the main office.
“Well, if it isn’t
the Complainer to the Chief. I have already had a visit from Patterson. I’ll
tell you what I told him. I will have the Capple final report first thing in
the morning, and not a moment sooner.”
Dr. Dan Gravois
stared at Corla from behind his desk. She smiled, set her briefcase on the floor,
and looked around his office. There were the usual diplomas and professional
accolades. The only photos were of Gravois in groups from ‘Doctors Without
Borders’ and some of banquet events.
“That’s alright
doctor. As it turns out I have a new lead that I have to follow up on. Tomorrow
morning will be fine.”
“Don’t tell me
someone is finally going to check out Chris Green?”
“The chief and I
just talked about that. He is putting a team on it right now. I really have to
go. I need to get to the scene of the most recent murders before it gets to
dark. I think there may be some clues that have been overlooked. Thanks again.”
Leaving quickly,
she left her briefcase sitting on the floor.
# # #
Corla walked the
most recent killing fields as the sun began to set. She used a map that noted
where the six victims were found to look over the ground at each site, saving
Dandria’s for last. Her body had been found closest to the river and Corla
could smell the brackish water and hear the fast-moving current.
She closed her
eyes and summoned the pictures of the twenty-five women and pulled the turtleneck
sweater up near her ears.
She heard the
sound of breaking branches and the small shuffle of footsteps and felt hands
close around her neck. As she was jerked backward off balance her taser came
out of her pocket and hit the surgical gloved hands. With a surprised yell the
hands fell away.
Turning sharply
Corla tased the masked figure twice as he shouted obscenities and fell to the
ground. She used his temporary immobility to flip him over and place hand cuffs
on him. As the attacker regained enough momentum to turn back over, he kicked
at Corla. Anticipating that move she tased him again then looked into the face
of Danial Gravois.
“I’ve been waiting
for you, doctor. I knew you couldn’t resist another opportunity to kill such an
‘easy target’. That’s your MO, isn’t it?”
“I don’t know what
you are talking about. There is no MO. I was just out here because I got
worried about you roaming around a murder scene by yourself. And I will
certainly tell them about your wild use of force and inability to react with
restraint in a dangerous situation. I will see that they pull your badge.”
“I kept looking
for the connection between the women killed and the murderer. All of them were
working toward associate degrees at the junior college and planning to enter
nursing school.”
“That’s right and its
why Chris Green is the murderer. He worked as a security guard at the college.
He even said he knew some of those women pretty well. You should be off
investigating him. Now let me up!”
“You counted on
throwing me off with Green, but he wasn’t the only one that worked at the
campus. All of those women needed a passing grade in the required anatomy
class. I checked and they were all on your rosters. The same for the most
recent six victims, including Dandria.”
With the taser
effects wearing off Gravois moved his feet under him in a quick move to stand
and was met by Corla’s steel-toed riding boot in his groin. He gasped but
continued to try to get up.
“What was it
doctor? I’m betting you tried to date all of those women and didn’t get
anywhere. You’ve never married and I think you tried to use the grading pencil
to get compliance and when that didn’t work you decided to eliminate them.”
“Those women were
unmarried but they had children. Obviously, they were having sex with men who
didn’t care. They should have been flattered to be involved with a medical
professional with a career. But you’re forgetting one thing. There was no trace
evidence left at any of those scenes. You
can’t implicate me.”
“That’s where I
almost failed to see the obvious in my investigation. I just assumed you had done
those autopsies twenty years ago. Then I saw that the previous chief coroner
performed all of them. A foot note for each one indicated the bruise marks left
on the victims’ throats indicated that the killer had a weakened index finger
on the left hand. Reading your autopsy reports of the most recent victims there
is no mention of the left finger indentation difference. But the state coroner
is examining Dandria’s neck bruising as we speak and I believe that left hand
issue will appear.”
“You are going to
be sorry about this, you crazy bitch. I didn’t note bruising differences
because there were none. More to the point, my hands are just fine. If you
remove the handcuffs, I’ll show you.”
“Not going to
happen, Gravois. Your medical school report shows that you weren’t able to get
a position as a surgeon because an injury suffered during a college football
game prevented full use of your left hand.”
“Still makes no difference because all of
those twenty are long gone. There is no way to prove that their killer had some
hand issue from a foot note. If your theory is correct, what was I doing for
the twenty years between killings? Taking a vacation”
Gravois struggled
to stand again, shouting at Corla. Her eyes narrowed.
“Another piece of
evidence I almost missed. You couldn’t resist looking in my briefcase, which is
why I left it in your office. Your absence from this killing field was
definitely not a vacation and the photos on your wall will prove it.”
“You are crazier
than I thought. What do those photos prove?”
“They’ll prove
that you used your time at ‘Doctors Without Borders’ as an escape route. You
joined them six months after you lost your suspect coverage when Green retired
and moved to Missouri. You traveled around the world for fifteen years, Interpol
confirms at least one unsolved strangulation case in the ports you visited. I’m
betting they will find more now that they know what to look for.”
“I have been back
here five years with no murders. What was I supposed to be doing if I’m the
murderer?”
“Simple. You were
running for the office of Chief Coroner and getting back into your teaching
position at the junior college. Once you heard Green had started returning to
visit his father you had the perfect setup to start again. The class rosters
will show the six recent victims were in your college classes, just like the
rest.”
“I will deny all
of this and there will just be your word against mine, Cross.”
“Dr. Cross,
Special Agent, to you Gravois. Remember it and my face because you aren’t going
to get a chance to tell any more lies or do any more harm to women who are just
trying to better themselves and take care of their children. My mother, Evelyn
Crossland, was one of the eighteen women you murdered twenty years ago. You
killed a wonderful woman who gave me a loving home and everything I needed, I
was fifteen and they wanted to put me in foster care because we didn’t have any
family.”
“And I’m supposed
to feel bad for you? Looks like you did just fine for yourself without her.”
“Wrong doctor. I lived
a nightmare for months after her death. I disappeared so that they couldn’t put
me in foster care. I lived on the street for a while and with friends that
helped me hide. Still, there were two more murders after hers.”
Gravois stopped
struggling and looked at her. Fear began to replace outrage. That fear
increased as Corla pulled down the turtleneck to expose her own neck.
“That’s right
doctor, I made mom a promise that I would end it. I would have been your
nineteenth victim and I have the scars to prove it, including the indentation
mark for the left-hand index finger. I would have been your last in that series,
except that cab came along and you didn’t have the balls to stay. I was the one
that got away.”
“Well, I suggest
you call for backup and then we will see what happens in court. In the
meantime, I am going to stand up and you had better not try to stop me.”
“I wouldn’t dream
of it, doctor.”
Gravois got to his
feet and turned around with a growl.
“You are going to
look very foolish when this is all over, Cross. When I tell them how you
attacked me and….”
“You aren’t going
to be telling anyone anything doctor.”
“You aren’t making
any sense. Call for backup.”
She pulled her
service revolver.
“You can’t kill
me. I deserve my day in court and you are an officer of the law.”
“I will have done
my duty. You attacked me and gave me no choice but to protect myself. I’ll be
sure they know how you followed me here when you found the evidence I left in my
briefcase in your office.”
As Gravois lunged
at her Corla’s bullet hit him in the chest. He fell to his knees and then to
his side. She watched as he struggled to breathe. Walking over, she released
the hand cuffs and pushed Gravois to his back with her foot. He clutched his
chest.
“You see, like
those wonderful women whose lives you took, you aren’t going to have a chance
to tell anyone anything anymore. You won’t get to see the sun come up or the
days end. Most importantly, you won’t get to troll for more unsuspecting women
and take them from their children. You should know that I am going to serve as
Krista Capple’s foster parent and intend to adopt her. That means one more
single mother that you won’t be able to hurt. I will also have done my duty by
ending any chance you might have of getting out of this”
Gravois looked up
at her as the light began to fade from his eyes.
“There are two
rules that you should know better than anyone, doctor. One is Locard’s Exchange
Principle. You brought your hand to the crime scenes and left those
indentations and you took that evidence away from every murder scene and your
work record came in and out of each too. Both of those were ‘silent witnesses’
to your crimes.”
Bending down to
check his pulse and finding none, Corla pulled out her cell phone and called
for backup. She looked down at Gravois one more time then walked to the river’s
edge.
“The second rule you
should have known is that when you’re dead you’re done. And you doctor, are
definitely done.”