I certainly try to keep both of them open at all times.”
Pine squatted down and ran her gaze over the dead woman. Her eyes were open and bulging. There were marks and bruises around her throat.
“Death by compression of the windpipe,” said Pine as Wallis nodded. “Asphyxiation.”
The coroner had stooped next to the victim on the other side and begun his examination. This included checking out the deceased’s eyes and shining a light down her throat, and feeling around the base of her neck.
He said, “I agree with that. Hyoid bone is crushed.”
“Petechial hemorrhaging,” added Wallis, pointing to the woman’s eyes.
The coroner nodded. “Strangulation puts pressure on the blood vessels servicing the eyes and they burst.” He looked at the eyes more closely, hitting them with a pen light. “Pupils have contracted, eye fluid has dried, and the irises have altered. This is not a recent death.”
Pine touched one limb. “And she seems to be in full rigor. How far along I don’t know.”
“Let me see if I can firm that up a bit.” The coroner made a small incision in the abdomen, inserted a liver temp probe through it, and checked the reading. “Factoring in the ambient temp and air dampness, the size and age of the deceased and her clothing, I’d say she’s been dead over twelve hours. That would coincide with the degree of rigor and the condition of her eyes. They’ll know better once they get her back and open her up.”
“ID?” Wallis asked one of the techs.
“None on her that we can find.”
“There’s an engagement ring and wedding band,” noted Blum, indicating the woman’s left hand. “A fairly expensive ring judging by the stone and setting. If it’s real, that is.”
“Note the posed look of the body,” said Pine.
Wallis nodded. “Yeah. She was carefully placed. Hands over her stomach, like she was in a—”
“—coffin,” Blum finished for him.
Wallis looked at her strangely. “Exactly.”
The coroner moved off to jot some notes down while Pine checked the victim’s fingers.
“I don’t see anything under her nails, no blood or tissue or hair.” She slid up the woman’s jacket and sweater sleeves. “No marks here.”
“So no defensive wounds or evidence she fought her attacker,” noted Wallis.
Pine said, “It had only been dark for about a half hour when I arrived at the scene.” She looked between the buildings and to the tree line behind.
“The body couldn’t have been lying here for hours,” noted Wallis.
“I doubt it was there too long before the woman saw it. And there would be far more insect infestation if she’d been lying out here for hours.”
“So we have a bit of a time window to work with.”
“If we can compile some suspects we can check alibis. Not just for the murder, but also for the placing of the body here.”
Wallis said, “A lot of strangers come through here every year because of the prison tour and other Civil War stuff. Even my wife and I have done it. Had an ancestor die here.”
“Union or Confederate?” asked Pine.
“Union. I’m originally from New York. Joined the Army, trained at Fort Benning. Liked the weather down here better. When I got out, I stayed and joined the police force.”
“Well, I’m not sure if the killer is a stranger here.”
Wallis nodded absently. “So strangulation, body posed, possibly a local or someone familiar with the layout and goings-on of the town.”
“When was the last homicide you had here that was out of the ordinary?” asked Pine.
Wallis closed his notebook, put it away, moved out from behind the screen, and crossed under the police tape. Pine and Blum followed. He lit up a cigarette from a pack he pulled from his jacket pocket. “Didn’t want to contaminate the crime scene,” he explained. He took a puff of the cigarette. “We had an abduction about thirty years ago, but no murder, at least that we know officially.” He stared at Pine pointedly.
She gave him a knowing look. “I thought you seemed to recognize my last name when I introduced myself, and you studied my creds for a longer time than normal.”
“I had just started at the GBI after being in uniform. Wasn’t really involved in what happened to your sister, but I read up on it because it remained unsolved. And because of something else.”
“Daniel James Tor being active in the area at the same time?” said Pine.
Wallis nodded and blew twin trails of smoke from his nostrils. “Among other things.” He looked down at his cigarette. “Tried to quit about