Double-Edged Detective

“The guard? Is that like the hilt?”

“Yep. Hilts refer to swords, but it’s the same thing. It’s always good to have those marks on a wound like this. If I had a weapon to compare it to, that contusion could give us a match.” Dave pulled the magnifier down again and peered through it. “Now I need to concentrate.”

“Sure. I’ve got to write up my report. Let me know as soon as you know anything.”

“Definitely.”

As Ryker pushed open the door, Dave called out to him.

“Oh, Ryker, your victim had breast cancer.”

“Yeah?”

Dave nodded. “Double radical mastectomy, and evidence of radiation.”

“Is that relevant?”

“Hard to say. I’m curious to see if they got it all, and how much of the lymph nodes they got. I’ll order her medical records, and take a biopsy, just in case.”

“Thanks, Dave.”

Ryker headed to the precinct and wrote up everything he’d seen and done at the crime scene. Then, in a different document, he wrote his impressions of the murder, and how it fit his theory of a serial killer, from the date to his concern that the weapon used could be Nicole’s missing knife. He included Dave’s information about Jean Terry’s cancer, although he had no reason to think it had any bearing on her death.

Twice he was interrupted by phone calls. The first was from one of the deputies who’d run the kid in the other night, telling him that the boy was seventeen, had no priors, not even as a juvenile, but that he’d given them a tip that helped in a drug ring case they were trying to put together.

“Great,” Ryker had said. “Glad to help. Do me a favor and get your sergeant to tell my boss, will you?”

The deputy had laughed and said he’d try.

Then, before Ryker could get back to work, his twin brother, Reilly, called.

“Hey, old man.” Reilly’s nickname for Ryker referred to the fact that Ryker was older by seven minutes.

“Kid. What’s up?”

“I heard about the murder. Another notch on your serial killer’s belt, eh?”

“Yeah. I’m hoping this one will give me something concrete I can take to Mike.”

“Maybe so. Did you see Mom’s e-mail?”

“Nope. Been a little busy to follow the Delancey soap opera.”

“Well, it did ramble a bit, but the gist was reminding everybody about the anniversary barbecue.”

Ryker winced at Reilly’s implication. Their mother tended to ramble when she drank, whether talking in person, on the phone or via e-mail.

“I haven’t forgotten about the party.”

“Well, take a look at her message. She’s changing the date because Dad’s got to meet with his parole officer on their anniversary.”

Ryker cursed under his breath. How many ways could his dad’s skewed loyalty interfere with all their lives?

“I’ll check it,” he growled.

“So, you going to bring a date?”

“What do you think? If I can’t even check my mail, when do I find time to date?” Ryker tried to ignore the mental image of Nicole’s beautiful naked body that rose in his brain. “What about you?”

“Not only do I have no time, I have no prospects.”

“That’s sad, kid. Truly sad.”

“Yeah, well.” Reilly sent a few choice and colorful words across the airwaves.

“Same to you,” Ryker said, deliberately changing the subject from their dysfunctional family. “How’s SWAT?”

“Pretty slow right now. We’re doubling up on exercises and drills.”

“Good. See if you can learn how to aim better.” It was an old joke between them. Although they were identical twins, Reilly had inherited the sharpshooter gene. It was Ryker who’d had to work at his marksmanship.

“Right. Call me if you want me to take your handgun proficiency test for you.”

Ryker winced at the faint bitterness in his twin’s voice. Reilly had wanted the detective position that had been given to Ryker.

“Trust me,” Ryker said wryly. “You couldn’t shoot bad enough for them to believe you were me.”

The backhanded compliment earned a reluctant laugh from his brother. Ryker’s desk phone rang. “Hey, kid. I gotta go. Work calls.”

“Guess I won’t see you until the party, then. Bye.”

Ryker hung up his cell phone and picked up his desk phone’s handset.

It was Dave. “Ryker. I’ve got something for you.”

“I’ll be right there.” He sped over to the lab and ran to the autopsy room.

“Whoa!” Dave said as Ryker slammed open the door. “There’s no fire here.”

“Sorry. What’ve you got?”

“Take a look at this.” Dave pointed to a white elongated carving that lay on an exam table.

Ryker’s heart thumped when he saw it. It was the casting of the knife wound. Although the casting didn’t look like any knife Ryker had ever seen, he knew from the look on Dave’s face that he’d come to a conclusion about the knife that had been used to stab Jean Terry.

“Well?” Ryker said, not even trying to keep the excitement out of his voice.

“From the shape of the casting, and the appearance of the wound, I’d say the knife’s blade is around five and a half to six inches long. It has a curved return and a tapered bolster. I’d be willing to bet the blade is flexible, based on the shape of the wound.”

“Return? Bolster?”

Dave grinned. “Yeah. I suddenly developed a need to know a lot about knives. If you’re so sure you’ve got a serial killer on your hands, I want to make sure I don’t miss anything that might help you prove it.” He pulled up a diagram on his computer. “Here’s a breakdown of the parts of a knife. See there? The return is basically the end of the blade. The bolster is a collar that joins the blade with the handle.”

“So what does all that mean? Can you identify the knife?”

“If I had a knife, I could tell you how it compares to the knife that was used. I will say, in the short amount of time I’ve had to do research, I’ve concluded that the knife used to kill your victim was a boning knife.”

“A boning knife?”

Dave nodded. “Usually used by chefs to debone meat. The blade can be stiff or flexible. This one was flexible.”

Ryker’s pulse pounded in his head. “This could be it.” He clasped Dave’s shoulder and shook his hand. “This might be my break. If that wound was made with a chef’s knife, it could be the knife that he took from Nicole.”

“Nicole?”

“Nicole Beckham. Last year’s victim. She’s a chef. The killer was scared off by her roommate, but he got away with one of her knives. I don’t know which one.”

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