The Ties That Bind Read Online Free Page B

against the corridor wall. "I'll wait, if you
don't mind."
    After putting on plastic gloves, Fiona and Gail opened the
door, pushing it aside slowly and not passing over the threshold until it was
fully opened. Alert to any surprises, they unsnapped their holsters as a
precaution, although they did not draw their weapons, each taking a swift
single step inside the room.
    "No wonder the man is freaking out," Gail said.
    Dominating the room was a queen-sized bed. Beside it, a
bedside lamp suffused the room in an eerie yellowish light. In the center of
the bed, spread-eagled, was a woman, yellowed flesh floating on a pool of
blood, sunken, unseeing, terrified eyes fixed in a frozen stare. The woman's
last life image was obviously one that triggered a sense of mortal fear.
    Her arms and legs were tied to the bedposts with a kind of
silky rope and a wad of washcloth was stuffed into her mouth as a gag. Stab
wounds covered her torso from her neck to her pubic hair and seeping blood had
dripped over the vertical edges of the sheets, leaving specks of blood on the
flowered carpet that suggested the beginnings of a Jackson Pollack painting.
    It was one of the worst murder scenes Fiona had ever
covered and for a moment her detective's eye seemed clouded over, her alertness
blunted. She felt physically and mentally immobilized by the sight.
    "You okay, Fiona?"
    It was the soft, assured voice of Gail Prentiss, who,
towering beside her, was surveying the scene with a far more controlled and
analytical eye than Fiona was able to muster. Unable to function, Fiona turned
away and went into the bathroom, noting instinctively through her numbness that
the room seemed overly clean, a sure sign that the perpetrator had expended a
great deal of energy concealing his tracks.
    She turned on the cold tap and splashed her face, letting
the drying process cool her further. The shock was mildly reviving, returning
her somewhat to alertness. She forced her concentration.
    There was not a spot in the bathroom to suggest to the
naked eye that a bloody mess was lying on the bed just a few feet away. A
number of wrung-out towels lay in a corner of the room, suggesting that the
effort to eliminate evidence was thorough and meticulous.
    A cloth case stood on the Formica counter. Fiona unzipped
it. At first glance, it contained the usual articles used by any traveling
woman. She made a mental note to go through it thoroughly after bagging it as
evidence.
    Carefully picking up the bathroom telephone, Fiona punched
in the Eggplant's private number. She cleared her throat and fought for calm.
    "A bloody pig sticker," Fiona said. "The
work of a real sex weirdo."
    "The tech boys are on their way," the Eggplant
sighed.
    "You want to be a spokesman?" Fiona asked. Of
course, he did, she knew, but the pause that followed indicated that he was
more reticent than usual.
    "Really ugly, is it?"
    "The worst," Fiona said.
    "White lady?"
    "As the driven snow," Fiona said. "It's an
uptown case."
    "Any theories?" the Eggplant asked.
    "Too early to tell. Could be a serial killer. The perp
seems to have done a thorough cleanup. The only filthy piece of work is the
deceased and her immediate surroundings."
    She felt herself talking more than she normally did upon
arriving at a murder scene. Her reactions since entering the room were, for
her, professionally uncommon. She knew exactly why.
    "Bare bones to the press, FitzGerald. But only if
necessary. Keep the lid tight, and see me when you get back here. If I were
there, I'd be drowning in shit."
    To Fiona, it seemed a rare example of his total trust. Of
course, he knew that she was fully aware of all the public ramifications. A
murder in a prime hotel meant sending ugly signals for the tourist business,
which was suffering enough with the murder-capital moniker. Aside from the pure
business aspect, it was the kind of murder that wasn't good for the image of
the country. It sent bad messages about crime and violence and the safety