Excerpt

The victim’s blood-stained midnight blue cocktail dress, black bra and matching panties were shredded. The mangled flesh of her chest and abdomen, bloodied from multiple stab wounds, left little doubt about how she died. A thorny white rose protruded from between her legs, and a note pinned to her left breast fluttered quietly in the gentle morning breeze.

Fists clenched, shaking her head, Tessa said, ‘Just like the others.’

Almost to himself, Joe murmured, ‘Yeah ... number three.’

‘Roses used to be my favourite flower. Not anymore,’ Tessa said.

‘I’ll know more after I’ve examined her,’ said the forensic pathologist. ‘But it looks like she wasn’t alive when he, assuming “he,” put the thorny end of the rose inside her—thankfully.’

There’s nothing here to be thankful for, Joe thought.

The victim’s face was slashed and disfigured. Her short hair matted with blood and sand.

‘She’s blonde, like the others,’ Tessa said. ‘I wonder if she was pretty, like the others?’

Joe shook his head. ‘Impossible to tell.’

Tessa took a step closer to the young woman’s body. ‘The note …’

Joe breathed deeply and nodded. ‘Looks the same as the other two.’

‘When I get my hands on the son of a …’

Joe interrupted Tessa’s outburst. ‘What time?’ he asked the forensic pathologist. When did her heart stop pumping blood? Joe thought, feeling his own heart pounding in his chest. He stared at the body, discoloured a purplish red in the lower regions, due to gravity causing the blood to pool there.

‘Judging by her temperature and rigor mortis, I’d say between ten and fifteen hours ago. So probably sometime last night between seven and midnight.’

‘Here, or was she moved?’ From the amount of blood that had transformed patches of the surrounding sand from gold to dark red, Joe knew the answer.