was first on the left side or on the right side,” Terrel said. “And it’s possible she was on the right side, turned to the left after a few hours, then turned back to the right when lividity was complete.”
“Can you estimate how long she was lying on her left side?” Tatum asked.
“I estimate eight to ten hours.”
In that case, if the scenario O’Donnell suggested was correct, Catherine Lamb was murdered between eleven p.m. and one a.m.
“I found signs of very recent sexual intercourse and abrasions on the labia minora. While that doesn’t necessarily mean the victim was raped, these injuries aren’t likely with consensual intercourse.”
Neither were torn and shredded clothing and missing underpants. Dr. Terrel’s job was to be as accurate as possible, but Zoe had no doubt regarding Catherine’s rape.
“There are bruises on the face, the arms, the knees, and the left breast. None broke the skin. The cause of death is asphyxia. The marks on her throat correspond with ligature strangulation. The horizontal angle makes it clear that the strangulation wasn’t caused by hanging, which makes it most likely the death was a homicide. The ligature marks are wide and shallow and left no abrasions or bruises. This makes me think that a wide and smooth device, such as a belt, was used.”
Or a tie. Zoe couldn’t suppress the thought any more than she could stop her heart from pounding. Rod Glover had used ties to murder his victims. The ligature marks they left were exactly the same as Terrel had described.
“I found no grooves or scratches on her neck corresponding to the necklace that was on the body when it got here.” Terrel raised her eyes from the body. “I can’t be sure, but I don’t think she wore the necklace when she was murdered.”
O’Donnell’s eyes met Zoe’s for a fraction of a second.
“What can you tell us about the knife wound?” Tatum asked.
“For one, I can tell you it wasn’t a knife wound at all.” Terrel circled the body and gestured at the wound on the arm. “If you look closely, you’ll see three wounds, not one. Two small puncture wounds and a third, larger wound. These wounds were caused by a needle. There’s bruising on her wrist, here, indicating that it was gripped hard. This is probably because he gripped her while inserting the needle.”
“The victim was injected with something?” Tatum asked.
“I can’t know for sure until I get the toxicology reports, but it’s likely. However, this was a thick needle. The diameter is between 0.06 and 0.07 inches. That means it was a sixteen- or fifteen-gauge needle. Usually, when administering injections, thinner needles are used. This needle size is more typical for blood donations. Also, I don’t understand why he kept jabbing the needle into her.”
Tatum frowned. “It’s possible that he simply doesn’t know anything about needles.”
Terrel nodded. “That’s true. Look here—do you see this bruise?” She pointed at an extensive purple bruise around the largest wound. “This was probably caused by blood vessels rupturing during the injection.”
Zoe bent to look at it. The shape and size of the bruise made her think of something else entirely. “Isn’t the bruise too big to be caused by the needle?” she asked.
“It really depends. The large wound indicates the needle moved quite roughly,” Terrel said, but Zoe thought she could hear the slight hesitation in the doctor’s voice.
“What if the bruise was caused by suction?” Zoe asked.
Terrel scrutinized the bruise. “I suppose it’s possible.”
Detective O’Donnell seemed to catch on. “You think this is a hickey?”
“The needle mark was irregularly wide for an injection, like the doctor said,” Zoe pointed out. “He might have been trying to draw blood from her for personal consumption. And when he saw it spilling, he couldn’t help himself.”
Tatum, O’Donnell, and Terrel all looked at her with varying degrees of disgust and astonishment. Zoe ignored their incredulity. Blood drinking was not unheard of and had happened multiple times with sexual predators and serial killers in the past.
“If that’s what happened, it explains the wounds,” Terrel said. “The first two puncture wounds sank into her muscles. He couldn’t get to her vein. The third time, he hit the basilic vein, but he accidentally tore it. Perhaps the victim struggled with him, wrenched her arm away, and this was the result. The blood loss that occurred was the result of this tear. And to make this bruise, he would have sucked at it quite vigorously.”