Dr. Lester’s response to the discovery of the splinters anteriorly, on the knees, on the feet, was that perhaps, at some point, the body was dragged, and only those areas of it had been in contact with a wooden surface, a floor. Scarpetta remarked that few wooden floors were rough enough to cause splinters, unless the wood was untreated.

“You aren’t going to get me to rule out an accident yet,” Dr. Lester stubbornly asserted. “Bondage, beatings, whippings, severe spanking. And sometimes things go too far.”

“What about a struggle?” Benton said. “Does that also factor into your theory that this might be an accident?”

“Writhing, screaming in pain. I’ve seen it on videotapes that profilers like you show at meetings,” Dr. Lester said, and the crease between her eyebrows seemed deeper, like a crevice dividing her forehead. “Couples turn the camera on, never knowing their perverted rituals will end in death.”

“If you could go through the photographs,” Scarpetta said to Benton. “The ones from the scene. Let’s look at a few things.”

He retrieved an envelope from a counter and together they arranged photos of the bathroom. She pointed to one that showed the vanity, and directly above it, the oval mirror that was slightly askew.

Scarpetta said, “The injuries to her legs were caused by moderate to severe blunt force with an object that is flat and has an edge. The edge of the vanity and the underside of its drawer, maybe? If she’d been seated in front of the vanity? That could explain why all of her injuries are anterior and from the mid-thigh down. Nothing posterior, or on any area of her upper body. Nothing on her back or buttocks, which are usually the preferred target for spanking.”

“You know if police found any weapon at the scene that might have caused these bruises and abrasions?” Benton asked Dr. Lester.

“Not that I’ve been told,” she replied. “That doesn’t surprise me. If whoever she was with left the scene with whatever was used around her neck, maybe he also left with whatever was used to beat her. If she were beaten. Frankly, I’d lean more toward homicide if she’d been raped. But there’s no evidence of that. No inflammation, no lacerations, no seminal fluid …”

Scarpetta returned to the gurney and moved the surgical lamp over the pelvis.

Dr. Lester watched her and said, “As I’ve told you, I took swabs.”

She was beginning to sound unnerved and defensive.

“I also took the initiative to make several slides, which I examined microscopically for sperm,” she said. “Negative. And samples went to the DNA lab, and you’re aware of those results. Doesn’t seem likely intercourse occurred, in my opinion. Doesn’t mean that wasn’t the intention. I think we have to at least be sure she wasn’t planning something consensual, and the foreplay involved bondage.”