Brueger strolled by each body and removed the tarps that covered them. I hate to admit it, but my heart jumped a little when I saw the bodies. Or maybe a better way to describe it would be: my heart sunk.

They were dead all right, young women, but they were a bunch of parts sewn together into bodies. As in each one’s head, arms, hands, torsos, legs, and feet were sewn on. Most of the limbs were sewn at the joint with thick black cord and pulled tight so the skin ruffled at the bond. The folds of skin and cord sent a chill straight up the back of my neck.

I had a bad feeling about this. Not just because these poor women had been hacked up and reassembled, but because I’d seen it before. It was the specialty of a twisted fuck named Dr. Polynice. But I’d put him away twice after he’d made one too many Franken-teens and sold them as personal sex slaves.

What is up with people reanimating dead bodies? I don’t get it.

These bodies were different though. First of all there was no clear sign that any attempt had been made to reanimate the bodies. At this point, they were just chopped up and reassembled. And I’m not saying that’s not strange. It’s sick as fuck, but I wasn’t so sure this case required my particular area of expertise.

I turned to Brueger. “The bodies are scrambled. Maybe it’s just a way to cover the evidence or make it hard to identify the victims.”

“You tell me,” she said, pointing to one of the bodies. “This one’s got that one’s arm. This one’s got that one’s hands. The medical examiner drew up a complete map if you want to see it.”

“What about that one?” I gestured to the headless one. “Where’s her head?”

“Look at this.” Brueger moved over to a table against the far wall.

She flicked on a desk light and there on top of the table were two boxes.

“Two,” I said.

She nodded, chewing the inside of her mouth nervously. “Honestly, McDonald, we don’t know what to think.”

I nodded at the heads. “I guarantee there’s another patchwork body out there somewhere,” I said.

“Right. The ME arranged the limbs on the computer. Unscrambled, they all come together as five complete bodies, except,” she held up a finger, “each one has a missing part—some internal as well. We thought another body like these would turn up, but instead, we got these two heads.”

I rubbed my head. “I don’t see why you called me on this one. This is weird, but not my kind of weird. Not yet.”

Brueger looked annoyed. “Don’t start that crap.”