“Everything is already at the lab. I should hear something soon actually. I’m hoping early next week.” He ignored the question about how the items had been acquired. He couldn’t tell her that he had the lock of hair because he was John Thiroux and Jane Gallier had mailed it to him. That it was his hair. Or that he couldn’t really explain why he had kept Jane’s letters, including the hair that had accompanied the one, stuffed in his desk for all these years. Nor could he tell her that he had never engaged in an affair with Jane beyond a few dinner dates and one kiss, despite her words to the contrary. That his demonic appeal altered women’s behavior drastically, made them see and feel what wasn’t there, what wasn’t real.

“It’s a shame the coroner’s report is so inadequate. A lot could have been determined from the blood spatters, a better description of the injuries, a more accurate time of death.”

“That’s the point. To show precisely that.” He wanted to compare Anne’s case to her mother’s, to illuminate the progress forensics had made in criminal investigation, but show that ultimately, the human factor couldn’t be removed from the justice system. It was people who solved crimes, who convicted or acquitted, not physical evidence.

She pursed her lips before saying, “You want to show the autopsy report from my mother’s case, don’t you?”

“It would be the best way to illuminate the difference forensic science has made in criminal investigation. But only if you’re comfortable with that.”

“It’s okay. It’s not like it’s a secret how she died. The papers and the news trotted out every gory detail.”

And she had gotten the pictures to prove it.

Chapter Eleven

Chapter Eleven

“So we need to list the similarities between the two cases.” Gabriel was frustrated by the limitations on what he could tell Sara, but he had to be realistic in how he could write the book anyway. His personal knowledge of a lot of facts couldn’t be explained.

“Boyfriends that were the last one to see them alive. Facial and upper body mutilation. Use of a bowie knife. Attacked while in bed. No sign of forced entry. No sign of sexual intercourse.” Sara typed into her laptop computer as she spoke. “Anything else you can think of?”

“Does Rafe have a drinking problem?” He had wondered about that since the very first article he’d read.

Sara looked at him like he had completely lost his mind. “No. Not even close.”

“Is he religious?”

“No. You asked me that before and I told you no. Honestly, I’ve never known him to go to church or to even mention God.”