Jack sidled up next to her and whispered into her ear: I was about to ask the same question.

Im not quite sure yet. If Im recalling it all correctly, it seemed to me that Bruce Webber was pretty much butchered. How many wounds in all?

Six. Four of which could have been deadly. And the one to the neck was gruesome.

In other words, he got a much worse treatment that Mrs. Ramirez. And when we compare that to the new body of Christina Ragland, the method of murder gets even cleaner…simpler. Just one woundalbeit a brutal oneto the neck.

The coroner turned the desk towards them, showing the pictures from Webbers body. There were many of them, and they showed the workings of a man possessed. In comparison, the body of Maria Ramirez looked almost untouched. Christina Ragland had been even cleaner.

It seems like hes getting more control over himself when he kills, she said. I think with a progression being shown now on three bodies, we can rule out the notion that maybe he just held something against Webber that he didnt against Ramirez.

So hes getting better? Jack asked.

She eyed the closed-up wound on Ramirezs neck. It looked tight and precise. And if the one along her stomach had been accidental, it meant that the killer had wanted to go for the neck from the start.

This cut was rather clean, right? she asked, nodding to the womans neck.

Yeah, it was, the coroner said. He clicked around a bit and brought up two images side by side: one was Ramirezs neck wound directly after the murder and the other was the closed-up, clean one. Even the grisly picture made the wound look almost delicate.

Any suggestion what sort of knife might have been used? Rachel asked.

No. But this one to the neck damn near makes you think it might be a scalpel, huh?

Yeah, it does, she said, glad that he was confirming her new suspicion in a roundabout way. Because even if it wasnt a scalpeland the wound to the stomach indicated that it probably wasntit did point to one clear thing.

This killer knew what was doing. Whether it was scoping out the schedules and homes of his victims or the precise way in which he seemed to be developing in going straight for the necks, it made Rachel come to a conclusion that might be a stretch but, in the moment, felt right.

Yes, he knew what he was doing. Maybe a little too well.

I know that look, Jack said. What is it?

I think we need to look at the transplant list from a different angle, she said. And then, after some thought, she added: And maybe the names of people on the list that are in the hospital arent as safe as we thought.

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN