The doctor continued. ‘Given her history, I’d suspect a straightforward case of self-mutilation, except that in the process of cleaning the wounds we discovered … er …’
Jake watched the words emerge from her mouth, almost anticipating each as it fell from her lips.
‘… Amelia’s external genitalia is gone.’
Chapter Seven
District Hospital
Saturday, 10.52 p.m.
‘It appears to be some form of extreme genital modification … I’ve never seen anything like it,’ the doctor continued, her words tumbling over one another. ‘But something similar was mentioned on a path lab notice yesterday. It’s something to do with Dunton, right?’
Jake’s head was ringing with questions. Where to begin? ‘Yes. How ol—’
The doctor turned to go. ‘I just thought you should know.’
Jake held out a hand. ‘Wait, that’s it?’
‘I’ve sutured the fresh wounds, the old ones are completely healed. I’ve got other patients backed up, I need to keep moving.’
‘Can you tell me anything more?’
The doctor frowned. ‘They’ve just brought in some moron who went through a windscreen because he wasn’t wearing a seatbelt.’ The beeper attached to her white coat squawked. She glanced at it. ‘I need to go save his life, so my son gets a store-bought birthday cake tomorrow. Again.’
‘But …’
‘What do you want from me? We’ve stabilised her, she’ll recover, there’s nothing else for me to do.’
Her beeper sounded again. She pushed past Jake and strode purposefully down the corridor.
He wandered outside to the freezing night, his breath leaving a trail of vapour puffs in the air, his mind reeling with questions. Who had done this to Amelia? Was it the same person who did it to Ava, but decades apart? Or had Ava brutalised Amelia when she was the girl’s guardian? Had it been done to the other girls in the home? And—in the context of Jake’s current investigation—was it a motive for murder?
There were too many possibilities to process right now. He checked the time on his phone. If he left now he’d be in Dunton after midnight.
No-one in this situation seemed likely to abscond overnight, so he could safely leave the hospital. He needed time to review the evidence, revise his thinking and make a plan to hit the ground running the next morning.
Jake trudged out to his car to begin the drive back, wishing he could avoid the sight of the small, furry animal carcasses that would line his way across the mountains. Roadkill seemed rife here.
The cloying perfume of hospital disinfectant clung to the threads of his clothes, making him feel mildly unwell. Kelly had asked him to report in as soon as he returned no matter how late the hour, so a shower would have to wait.
*
Maria Kelly answered the door still dressed impeccably.
‘Come through to the kitchen, Detective Hunter.’
‘Please, call me Jake.’
She smiled at him, though he noticed that it didn’t reach her eyes.
It was after midnight. Jake was surprised to see the house still occupied by so many people. He could hear adult conversation and the indecipherable hum of late-night television echoing down the hall.