Intimate Relations, Rebecca Forster [best ereader for manga .txt] 📗

he smiled. "Cori, I believe whoever did this used something rounded and thick on one end, but tapered on the other." He held up one finger. His smile turned to a grin. Then that finger dived to the other side of her face. "This part of her face was also damaged, but not to the extent of the other side. So if you are standing where I am standing now—at the side of her head, and about this distance — and you raise..."

He pulled his arms up again.

"...And you strike."

He brought down the invisible thing he was holding.

"And you were my height give or take three inches. And this was the angle. The head of the murder weapon would demolish three-quarters of her face. The other quarter would show only trauma like you see here.  That would be because the end furthest away from me has the most density and weight; the closer end is narrower.  Even at a ninety degree angle, the heavier head of the thing would crush the bone with the blow. But because of the taper, the other end would give a glancing blow. To make the impact uniform, the heavier thicker end of the object would have to come down straight on the face. To do that I would have to take say two more steps back. This object had to be at least twenty four inches long."

He stood up straight again.

"You didn't find a baseball bat lying around, did you?"

"Is that what we're looking for?" Cori said

"Something along those lines." Paul nodded and dropped his arms.

Cori held up her index finger. "Are you saying the person who did this was as tall as you?"

"If the bed were as high as this table. Was it this high?"

"No," Cori answered. "But it wasn't low to the ground. There was a platform, the bedframe, box springs and a very deep-pocketed mattress. It was all top of the line."

"It also must have been quite firm. If it wasn't, it would have provided a cushion when the blow was administered.  The damage would have still been horrific but not this bad."

"I didn't lie down on it," she said. "It looked brand new. I doubt that anyone slept in it on a regular basis."

"Was she in the middle of the bed or to the side?"

"Middle," Cori said.

"Okay. Let's assume a fifteen inch box spring, eighteen inch pocket, another two inches with a pillow top. That brings her down by, what, four inches from the table?  Even if you took precise aim, you wouldn't hit her straight on if you were standing within a foot. If the perp was standing say two feet back for the reach of such a weapon to land squarely on the face. But that distance would also affect the strength of the blow. Your perpetrator was close to the victim when it happened, as close as I am now. I'd also venture to guess they stood between five foot six and six feet tall. Only a guess, Cori. You'll need to look at the blood spatter. Was there anyone walking around with flecks of blood all over them? Crushing the skull would spurt the blood."

Cori shook her head.

 "The guy we tagged was soaked in blood, but no spatter. He said he leaned over the bed and put his hands on her shoulders to wake her. He pulled her up and didn't realize she was hurt."

"A little hard to miss."

"The room was dark. Finn and I turned the lights on. The blood on his shirt was consistent with someone doing what he described. We've already got his clothes to the lab including his shoes. If there's spatter, they'll find it." Cori said. "What about his weight?"

"I can't speculate on that, nor did I say it was a man. It could have been a woman. Any woman would be strong enough to do this if she had the right weapon and was angry enough.  I know the weapon had to be heavy and shaped like a bat, but I've ruled out a bat," Paul said. "There aren't any splinters, shavings, or dust in the hair mouth or throat. Whatever hit her wasn't wood. Metal bats are strong, but they are also light. Aluminum wouldn't do this kind of damage."

"What about a composite bat?" Cori asked.

"Baseball fan?" Paul said.

"I've been known to dig into a box of Cracker Jacks." Cori smiled.

"Sorry to disappoint. Those things have a trampoline effect. They're tough, but there would be  a bounce. This woman's face was pulverized."

"Was there any sign of sexual assault?" Cori asked.

"It didn't appear that she had sex recently, but she wasn't a virgin. I did a kit as a matter of course. Also sent along scrapings." Paul picked up one of her hands. "The other thing you should know is that there was no preceding struggle. Her legs were not askew as if she were trying to get away. There was no bruising to indicate that she was thrashing. No defensive wounds. It's as if she lay there and let it happen."

"Could she have been asleep?" Cori asked.

"Sure," Paul said. "If she were a deep sleeper someone could have come into the room, and that would be that. "

"Or she could have pretended she was asleep. The whole party thing was a game so she could have been waiting for a lover," Cori said. "Maybe more than one. Bev said that consensual sex was part of the entertainment. This girl might have given her consent to who knows how many of the men that night."

"Did you ask the men?"

"They admitted to having seen her before, but they say she wasn't a guest that night," Cori said.

"A party crasher." Paul's head did a little wiggle.

"In more ways than one," Cori said.

"Be that as it may, I think  you're looking for one person and I am almost positive that person had second thoughts. Or they were horrified by what they'd done," Paul said. "It's no easy thing to do this kind of damage