Page 5 of Three Girls Gone
“Good idea.” Every police department in America was the subject of public scrutiny, the PWCPD included. People would demand swift answers.
Liam managed the ME’s schedule and pulled out his tablet and tapped away, likely shifting things around to prioritize Hailey’s autopsy.
CSI Blair was snapping pictures of the girl in situ and the immediate area around her. Then she expanded out, taking inmore of the scene. She’d do even more once the girl’s remains were taken and the blockade tent was removed. CSI Donnelly stood by.
A few minutes later, CSI Blair stepped back, letting her camera dangle from its strap and sit against her chest. “There. I’m finished, if you want to get in there.”
Rideout signaled to his assistant, and they moved in to wrap the girl in a black bag.
“Any idea how long she’s been here?” Trent directed at Rideout.
“Detective, I’m good, but not that good.”
Rideout was being modest. Knowing him he was more concerned about being held accountable to his estimation. “No one’s going to hold you to it. Just an approximate,” she requested.
Rideout slid his gaze toward her. “Not playing today.” He turned his attention back to getting Hailey tucked away. “Okay, maybe I will. She’s well into rigor. This suggests the time of death was anywhere between four and ten hours ago.”
Amanda pulled her phone to consult the time. “Since it’s nine AM now, that would put TOD between eleven last night and five this morning.” This also meant that Hailey had lived with her kidnapper for days. That could support her earlier theory that the person who took her never intended to kill her.
“And she was probably killed elsewhere and then brought here,” Trent said.
“Lividity might help us determine that. I’ll advise once I get to work on her,” Rideout said.
Lividity was the name given to how blood pooled at the lowest points in the body after death. It provided insight into how the victim was positioned in the hours following death.
Trent made a good point. They would need to find the murder scene. Was it somewhere associated with Susan Butters? Or was Amanda desperate to see the woman as a killerto get swift justice for Hailey? After all, the tutu may have come from the girl’s own closet, and they hadn’t established a connection to the Tanners yet.
“Liam, stop!” Rideout rushed out, raising his voice a few notches.
Liam froze in place, his hands on the girl’s body near her shoulders. One of his hands had tugged on the scarf and exposed the flesh underneath.
Amanda leaned in for a better look but stepped back at a pointed look from the ME.
“The petechiae in her eyes and bruising around her neck indicates strangling. I can’t know if it was done by hand or with a ligature, such as this scarf even, until I get her back to the morgue. I won’t conclude this as cause of death, but it seems quite likely.”
A strangulation could be intentional or the result of someone lashing out. “We’ll need the scarf tested for DNA.”
“Absolutely,” Blair said.
“Whoever did this created the image of a perfect princess or child star.” CSI Donnelly’s words came in an undertone and twisted Amanda’s gut.
“The question is why,” Trent said. “Was it remorse? Did they have genuine affection for the girl?”
Amanda looked at where the sweet girl had been, recalling her in the fetal position. The scene was staged, so why set it this way? Was it for the shock factor? Or was it what Trent said, to signify remorse? Had it been a woman who had set out the child with a loving, but misguided, hand? She may have taken the child after losing one of her own or, as she thought before, was someone who wanted kids but didn’t have any.Orwas this more about drawing attention to Hailey as a performer, as a star? She was a ballerina. Had she performed and attracted her killer’s attention? She shoved all these thoughts aside. It was too soon to jump to any conclusions. “Let me know everythingyou find out, as soon as possible,” she told Rideout. “And notify me immediately if there are any signs of sexual assault.” Just voicing the request soured the coffee in her stomach.
“I will,” Rideout said.
The ME and his assistant got Hailey zipped away into the body bag. When Amanda stepped out, more news vehicles were pulling up along the park.
Blair stood next to her. “It never gets easier.”
“Nope.”
Rideout and Liam came out with the body, and Blair went back inside.
There would be no more putting it off. The Tanners had the right to know what had happened to their daughter. She looked over her shoulder at McGee. “You can leave your car here and come with us. We need you to bring us up to speed on the way to the Tanners’ house.”
FIVE
