Loudin could have received up to sixteen years in prison had he been convicted and given the maximum sentence for all eight felony counts. “But there just wasn’t a way to prove the eight deceased animals discovered in the pet store’s freezer were alive when placed there,” said Assistant District Attorney Jaime Berger, whose recently formed animal-cruelty task force raided the shop last October. She added that the judge didn’t feel the police had supplied sufficient evidence to prove a lack of justification for the euthanization of these same eight companion animals, all of them puppies ranging from three to six months in age.

Berger said it is commonly known that some pet shops “eliminate” dogs, cats, and other pets if they can’t sell them, or if for some reason they become a commercial liability.

“A sick puppy, or one that’s three or four months old, loses its ‘doggie in the window’ appeal,” she said. “And far too many of these stores are notoriously negligent in supplying medical care or even the most basic necessities such as warm, clean cages and sufficient water and food. One of the reasons I started this task force is because the people of New York have had enough, and I am making it my mission to bury some of these offenders under the jailhouse.” …

It was the second time tonight Shrew called 911.

Only she was drunker and more unraveled now.

“Murderers,” she said to the operator, repeating the Lexington address. “The little ones being locked in there—”

“Ma’am?”

“He forced me into his car after the event, and my heart was under my feet… . He had a red sullen face and a frosty silence.”

“Ma’am?”

“You’ve tried to put him in jail before, for the same thing! Hitler! Yes, Pol Pot! But he got away. Tell Ms. Berger. Please. Right away. Please.”

“Ma’am? Would you like an officer to respond to your residence?”

“Someone from Ms. Berger’s dog squad, please. Oh, please. I’m not crazy. I promise I’m not. I took a picture of him and the freezer with my cell phone.”

She hadn’t.

“They were moving!” she cried. “They were still moving!”

23

Kay Scarpetta 16 - Scarpetta

23

The dark blue Impala was waiting at the hospital’s entrance when Benton and Scarpetta walked out into the night.

She recognized the fleece-lined leather jacket, then realized it was Marino who was wearing it. The trunk popped open, and he took the crime scene case from Benton and started talking about coffees he’d picked up for them, that the two coffees were in the backseat.

That was how he said hello after all this time, after all that had happened.

“I stopped at Starbucks,” he was saying, shutting the trunk. “Two Ventis,” which he didn’t pronounce correctly. “And some of those sweeteners in the yellow wrapper.”

He meant Splenda. He must have remembered that Scarpetta didn’t touch saccharin or aspartame.