“She was so sweet,” he said. “We always requested her section when we went in for lunch. I can’t believe anyone would want to harm her.”

“No way this is a coincidence. This has got to be tied to O’Connor. Did he tell you he was dating her?”

“He never came right out and discussed it with me, but I knew. He was so much older than her. I’m sure he thought I wouldn’t approve.”

“Did you?”

“Not really, but they were both consenting adults, so I kept my opinions to myself.”

Since emergency vehicles had surrounded Tara’s apartment building, Sam told him to double-park.

Freddie met them at the door to Tara’s apartment, his expression grim. “Beaten, bound, raped and strangled.”

Steeling herself, Sam followed him into the bedroom. “God almighty,” she whispered at the sight of a bloodbath.

Behind her, Nick gasped.

Sam spun around. “You need to step back.” Realizing he was on the verge of passing out, she rushed him into a chair and pushed his head between his knees. “Breathe.”

“I’m okay,” he muttered, looking up at her. His eyes glazed with shock, he shook his head. “Who could do that? Who?”

“I don’t know, but I’m going to find out.”

“Go ahead. Sorry to wimp out.”

Sam left him in the living room and returned to the bedroom as Freddie took photos of the scene. Tara had been bound, gagged and, judging by the bloody pool between her legs, repeatedly raped.

“Who found her?” Sam asked Freddie.

“One of her coworkers got the super to let her in when she didn’t show up for work for the second day in a row.”

Dr. Lindsey McNamara, the medical examiner, stepped into the room. “Damn. Just when you think you’ve seen it all…”

“No kidding,” Sam said.

One of the crime scene officers lifted a baseball bat from the floor. Blood stained the thick end of the barrel. “Looks like this was used for the beating, among other things…”

The women in the room winced.

Sam studied the young waitress who’d been so distraught over her breakup with John O’Connor. “How long has she been dead?”

Lindsey pulled on latex gloves and reached out to close Tara’s eyes. “Looks like twenty to thirty hours, but I won’t know for sure until I get her into the lab.”

“I need a time of death ASAP so I can get a timeline going.”

Lindsey nodded. “Who did this to you, sweetie?” the kind-hearted doctor whispered. “Don’t you worry. We’ll get them.” Lindsey shifted her green eyes to Sam. “Won’t we?”

“You bet your ass we will.”

“Go pick up Elin Svendsen,” Sam said to Freddie, working a hunch.

“Really?” The spark of excitement in his voice wasn’t lost on Sam. “Will I get hardship duty pay for that?”

“Take her to a hotel and arrange for round-the-clock coverage.”