Dexter in Australia Blood and Flood
Chapter 2
Lunch time day two of forensic seminar, Dexter sat in the cafeteria reviewing his notes for the presentation he was going to give in just a little over two hours, he took another mouthful of his meal of steak, potatoes and vegetables. A softly spoken woman's voice with a distinctively English accent interrupted his concentration.
"Excuse me, is this seat taken?"
Dexter looked up at the pretty young woman with auburn hair.
"No Mam, Miss…"
Resting the tray on the table, the young woman extended her hand to introduce herself.
"Hi, I'm Kate Stewart, sorry to bother you".
"No problem Kate, I'm Dexter Morgan".
Dexter put his notes in his bag, not wishing to seem rude.
"You're giving the presentation on blood spatter analysis this afternoon according to the itinerary, aren't you Dexter?"
"Yes I'm afraid so, hope you don't find it too boring, we lab geeks can send most people to sleep very quickly, it's not the most exciting topic".
"It can't be as boring as conducting surveillance".
"So how long have you been a cop Kate, I'm just curious my sister is a cop back in Miami".
"Seven years now, I joined the Met did three years in uniform and for the last four years I've been in plain clothes and for the last six months I have been on assignment to the Melbourne Police Department".
After twenty more minutes of small talk Dexter excused himself and went outside to gather his thoughts for the afternoon that lay ahead.
5.05 pm. Dexter was walking through the doors to the conference centre when he heard a woman's voice calling him, turning on his heels he saw his lunch companion Kate running after him.
In Dexter's mind he was thinking, "charming as you are Kate I do have to get back to finding where Jonah is, in Miami it would be easy but this isn't Miami and finding someone here who probably doesn't want to be found is a challenge, OK Dexter see what the girl wants and then you can focus on the hunt".
"Dexter that presentation was brilliant, I just have a question for you, if you're not in too much of a rush".
Trying to look relaxed and cool Dexter said with a smile.
"Thanks' I didn't send you to sleep then".
"On the contrary, when you showed the slides of the murder scenes from the victims of the Trinity killer, it struck me about the similarities to a spate of recent suicides we've been having over the last month, all the victims were young women found in the bath tub just like the victims of the Trinity killer. Everyone in the department and even the Coroner have them down as suicides, I am not so sure, do you think it could be someone with the same MO, or even the Trinity killer?"
Dexter pondered as he thought, "This can't be the Trinity killer, but Jonah seems a likely copycat, of course Kate doesn't know about Arthur Mitchell or Jonah, but she could be my way into finding out where Jonah is, she has access to the police database, this is perfect".
Looking at Kate, Dexter said, "I read something about the suicide cases in the local paper when I first got here, but I hadn't thought about any connection with Trinity, do you think I could take a look at the police reports, you know like a professional courtesy, as long as it doesn't get you into trouble?"
Kate's face beamed as she spoke.
"I was hoping you would ask to see the reports, your take on them would be very helpful and don't worry about my getting into trouble the lead Detective in Homicide isn't very happy with me, he keeps trying to get me out of his hair".
"You have had words them? Dexter inquired.
"More than words Dexter I told him I would cut his manhood off if he ever tried to put his greasy hands on my behind again".
"Oh I see".
Dexter looked a little shocked and at the same time pleasantly surprised that this soft spoken girl had another side, one that he could relate to, he was looking at Kate in an entirely different light now, she would be an asset instead of a hindrance.
At the police department Kate signed Dexter in, they went to the second floor of the building where the Homicide Department was. Although the cases had been ruled as suicides, the department still had the preliminary reports including photographs of the victims.
Dexter looked over the photographs with his small hand held magnifying glass.
"What are you looking for exactly?"
Kate was curious as all she could see in the photographs was a corpse in a bath and lots of blood, nothing else.
After a minute or two's pause Dexter finally looked at Kate and handed her the magnifying glass, pointed to a spot on one of the photographs and asked…
"What do you see there".
Squinting she said…
"Dust, nothing but dust, what's so unusual about that?"
Dexter said…
"Not dust it's ash and notice it is in a small heap, that isn't through lack of cleaning it is the signature of Trinity, he leaves a small pile of ash".
"What has he burned that makes the ash?"
Dexter replied…
"Not what has he burned more like who has he burned, the ash is human remains from a cremation".
Kate got excited at this news…
"So that means we can nail him all we have to do is analyse the ash for DNA and we…"
Dexter shook his head.
"Sorry we can't do that the cremation process destroys the DNA completely all that's left is chemical ash, calcium, potassium, sodium etc".
"So how are we going to catch this Trinity?"
Dexter knew what he wanted to find out, but he would have to give Kate something that he could then use to find his mark.
"Why don't you check all people who have come to Brisbane in the last six weeks from Florida and Miami in particular, all those who have just had a two week vacation could be eliminated, only those with extended stays or those who have emigrated here need be considered".
"You think like a cop Dexter that is brilliant".
Kate sat at the computer and typed in her pass code to log onto the system. Dexter watched and made a mental note of her pass code, that will come in handy later as he could look up Jonah's details and all thanks to his new found friend Kate. Dexter made his excuses and left Kate to her search, Dexter had a more targeted one of his own to carry out and when he got the details then this new Trinity killer was going to be taken care of. As Dexter left the building the heaven opened and the rain came down in torrents.
