Chapter 21

  THE ME’S OFFICE is in a building connected to the Hall of Justice by a breezeway out the back door of the lobby. Claire was already working in the chilly¹ gray heart of the autopsy² suite³ when I got there at 9:30 that morning. She said, “Hey, darlin’,” barely looking up as she drew her scalpel from Patty Malone’s sternum to her pelvic bone. The dead woman’s hands were clenched⁴ and her legless body was carbonized.

  “She hardly looks like a person,” I said.

  “Bodies burn like candles, you know,” Claire said. “They become part of the fuel.” She clamped back the burned tissue.

  “Did the blood tests come back from the lab?”

  “About ten minutes ago. Mrs. Malone had had a couple of drinks. Mr. Malone had antihistamine⁵ in his blood. That could have made him sleepy.”

  “And what about carbon monoxide?” I was asking as Chuck Hanni came through reception and back to where we stood over the table.

  “I picked up the Malones’ dental records, Claire,” he said. “I’ll put them in your office.”

  Claire nodded, said, “I was about to tell Lindsay that the Malones lived long enough to get a carbon monoxide in the high seventies. The total body X-rays are negative for projectiles⁶ or obvious broken bones. But I did find something you’re going to want to see.”

  Claire adjusted her plastic apron⁷, which just barely spanned her ever-thickening girth, and turned to the table behind her. She pulled back the sheet exposing Patricia Malone’s legs and touched a gloved finger to a thin, barely discernible pink line around one of the woman’s ankles.

  “This unburned skin right here?” said Claire. “Same thing on Mr. Malone’s wrists. The skin was protected during the blaze.”

  “Like from a ligature?” I asked.

  “Yes, ma’am. If it was just the ankles, I’d say maybe Mrs. Malone was wearing socks, but on her husband’s wrists, too? I’m saying these are from ligatures that burned away in the fire. And I’m calling the cause of death asphyxia from smoke inhalation,” Claire said. “Manner of death, homicide.”

  I stared at the fire-ravaged body of Patty Malone.

  Yesterday morning she’d kissed her husband, brushed her hair, made breakfast, maybe laughed with a friend on the telephone. That night she and her husband of thirty-two years had been tied up and left to die in the fire. For some period of time, maybe hours, the Malones had known they were going to die. It’s called psychic⁸ horror. Their killers⁹ had wanted them to feel fear before their horrible deaths.

  Who had committed these brutal¹⁰ murders - and why?

1 chilly   

adj.凉快的，寒冷的

参考例句：

• I feel chilly without a coat.我由于没有穿大衣而感到凉飕飕的。
• I grew chilly when the fire went out.炉火熄灭后，寒气逼人。

2 autopsy   

n.尸体解剖；尸检

参考例句：

• They're carrying out an autopsy on the victim.他们正在给受害者验尸。
• A hemorrhagic gut was the predominant lesion at autopsy.尸检的主要发现是肠出血。

3 suite   

n.一套(家具)；套房；随从人员

参考例句：

• She has a suite of rooms in the hotel.她在那家旅馆有一套房间。
• That is a nice suite of furniture.那套家具很不错。

4 clenched   

v.紧握，抓紧，咬紧( clench的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• He clenched his fists in anger. 他愤怒地攥紧了拳头。
• She clenched her hands in her lap to hide their trembling. 她攥紧双手放在腿上，以掩饰其颤抖。 来自《简明英汉词典》

5 antihistamine   

n.抗组胺剂

参考例句：

• Taking an antihistamine isn't the only way to battle seasonal allergies.采取抗组织胺并不是唯一防止季节性过敏的方法。
• Antihistamine drugs may offer an effective treatment.抗组胺剂药物可以提供比较有效的治疗。

6 projectiles   

n.抛射体( projectile的名词复数 )；（炮弹、子弹等）射弹，（火箭等）自动推进的武器

参考例句：

• These differences are connected with the strong absorption of the composite projectiles. 这些差别与复杂的入射粒子的强烈吸收有关。 来自辞典例句
• Projectiles became more important because cannons could now fire balls over hundreds or yards. 抛射体变得更加重要，因为人们已能用大炮把炮弹射到几百码的距离之外。 来自辞典例句

7 apron   

n.围裙；工作裙

参考例句：

• We were waited on by a pretty girl in a pink apron.招待我们的是一位穿粉红色围裙的漂亮姑娘。
• She stitched a pocket on the new apron.她在新围裙上缝上一只口袋。

8 psychic   

n.对超自然力敏感的人；adj.有超自然力的

参考例句：

• Some people are said to have psychic powers.据说有些人有通灵的能力。
• She claims to be psychic and to be able to foretell the future.她自称有特异功能，能预知未来。

9 killers   

凶手( killer的名词复数 )； 消灭…者； 致命物； 极难的事

参考例句：

• He remained steadfast in his determination to bring the killers to justice. 他要将杀人凶手绳之以法的决心一直没有动摇。
• They were professional killers who did in John. 杀死约翰的这些人是职业杀手。

10 brutal   

adj.残忍的，野蛮的，不讲理的

参考例句：

• She has to face the brutal reality.她不得不去面对冷酷的现实。
• They're brutal people behind their civilised veneer.他们表面上温文有礼，骨子里却是野蛮残忍。