An hour later. .
As the three of them walked into the coroner's office, they could smell the all too familiar odor hanging in the air. They all suppressed the urge to vomit and continued to the examination room, hoping that there may be some sort of air freshener or nose plug in there.
Georgia McKinney, a veteran coroner, was very used to the sight of bloated and decayed bodies. She also, thankfully, had almost no sense of smell, which made this line of work a little bit easier for her than most other people. When they walked in they found her writing down notes in a file while she enjoyed her lunch- a turkey sandwich with lettuce, tomato, and onions, and a bag of potato chips. She didn't notice them at first, but when she did she gulped down her bite and quickly shook their hands.
"Hi, sorry I didn't greet you sooner. This guy has got me working all hours; I hardly have a chance to take a lunch break anymore."
"That's fine," Derek said, "I'm agent Derek Morgan and this is agent Prentiss, and this is officer Perry."
"I know Joshua." She said with a smile. "We've been friends for years."
"Dr. McKinney," Emily said, "can you show us the remains of the four victims?" They followed her to the silver wall that could, at maximum occupancy, encase thirty corpses. She pulled open the four requested drawers, and they all forced down another wave of nausea as an even stronger smell hit them.
"Their bodies are still intact, but due to the bloating its hard to make out any identifying marks. I had to use dental records to figure out who they were. When I examined them I found large doses of tranquilizers in their systems." They looked the women up and down. The stab wounds were easy enough to see, as was the deep, jagged wound where the uterus was removed.
"What kind of tranquilizers?" Emily asked.
"Ketamine, Diazepam, among other various ones. It's like he ripped off the local vet."
"Could the killer be a veterinarian?" Derek asked.
"Not at all. The edges of the wounds here are jagged and uneven. Not even a pre med would operate this way; by that time we're trained better. Not to mention the dosage he gave the women of each drug was irregular. If he was in the medical profession, he would know the estimated dosage he could've used on each victim. Dosage can change depending on height, weight and age of the patient. "
"Have any of the veterinary hospitals reported any drugs missing?" Emily asked.
"Not to my knowledge. I asked around; everyone who has gotten back to me so far said they weren't missing anything. Besides, it's not that hard to get these drugs."
"That's true; drug dealers sell animal tranquilizers as much as they sell heroin or ecstasy." Derek said, remembering a report he'd read not too long ago.
"Was the sexual assault pre or post mortem?" He asked, wondering how this woman could think about eating right now.
"Both. There was tearing of the vaginal tissues, indicating pre mortem rape. And I found several samples of semen from different times, some of them from after estimated death. And there's something else, too." They all looked at her, wondering what she was going to say next.
"The last victim, Erin McDonnell. She had fluid in her lungs."
"She was still alive when he put her in the water?" Joshua asked, rather shocked.
"Yes. The others all died of the same cause: exsanguination caused by a large wound in the lower abdomen."
"He didn't wait for her to bleed out." Emily said.
"With the injuries she had, I'm guessing he couldn't tell. Her heartbeat would have been almost non-existent, and her breathing would've been faint at best. He probably assumed she was dead when he put her in."
"Thank you, doctor. Let us know if you find anything else." Morgan said.
As they all exited the building, thanking god for the ocean breeze washing the smell out of their noses, Joshua asked a question.
"Do you think he meant to put her in the water while she was still alive?"
"It's possible. In which case it's even more important we find him soon." Emily said. Joshua looked at the two agents, wondering what they meant.
"This could mean he's devolving. Reverting to a more primitive time when his killing first started. If that's the case, he could go on a rampage and try to kill as many brunette women in this town as he can."
Derek looked down and saw his phone ringing. Seeing it wasn't Garcia, he tossed aside the clever and sexy pun he had and answered.
"Agent Morgan... What... Where? Okay, thanks. Tell the others we'll meet them there."
Joshua and Emily looked at him curiously.
"They found Evelyn Gifford. Dead." They all hopped into their cars and drove to the new crime scene, hoping the scene wasn't as gruesome as the others had been.