Intersecting Lines Book 3

07 Voodoo Hoodoo

Sharon's viewpoint

The call had come in relatively early in the evening, around 9 pm. I'd been curled up on the sofa at Brenda's watching some forgettable cop movie as we laughed together at the mistakes; the blatant insubordination of the star, his disregard for procedures, evidence, habeas corpus, due process, the basics of gun safety and the lives of innocent bystanders as he seemingly gunned down everyone who crossed his path. Getting up to answer the call I'd smiled sadly and kissed Brenda, then walked into the bedroom and got changed, we both kept several changes of clothing at each other's places for just this sort of thing, making me reflect that we needed to stop living separate lives and get ourselves sorted out under one roof sooner rather than later. Now wasn't the time though so I tabled that thought getting changed and heading for the bathroom as Lieutenant Gabriel texted me the initial details from the scene, something I made a note to thank him for. Ready to face the outside world I passed through the living area, getting a hug and a kiss as I headed out the door; I was just a little anxious, after all this was going to be my first major new case since taking over Robbery / Homicide.

I knew my move out of FID hadn't been particularly welcomed; there were other Commanders who wanted the high profile role, not to mention lots of ambitious Captains who just knew they'd be a better fit for the Commander's rank that the job entailed and weren't particularly quiet about saying so. I'd heard enough of it through back channels to know there were plenty of people watching, looking for me to fail, that I wasn't cut out for anything other than being the frigid bitch of Force Investigation and that I should stay where I belonged.

Truth be told, I was nervous, I hadn't run a normal criminal investigation in years, sure I'd been good at them, back before FID, before I'd transferred to the LAPD, that had been a long time ago though and while I may have the nickname of the 'Ice Queen' I was human enough to doubt myself. Brenda of course had no doubts, she'd been nothing but completely supportive, as she'd put it if I could get to the bottom of investigations into corrupt, murdering cops, a normal, ordinary homicide should be easy.

Unfortunately the initial details Lieutenant Gabriel had texted through made it look like this one was anything but normal or ordinary. Fortunately I had a good team to back me up, Sanchez, Gabriel and Kwang were all rock solid and I'd helped select the rest of the team from across the LAPD so I had to have faith in them.

Arriving at the scene in Florence, a low socio-economic area with a history of issues, I saw a ripple go through the cops watching as I got out of my car, my FID reputation still apparent. I showed my badge to the cop on the door who was already standing back out of the way before making my way up to the second floor of the mid-60's era building.

I put on a pair of gloves and the disposable over-shoe covers before walking through the door to the cheap apartment, seeing police, uniformed and detectives both, moving about while the coroner's team worked, that was all too familiar from my time in Force Investigation, what was different was the amount of blood on the floor and the vast open cavity where the victim's torso had been, the stink of blood and death was everywhere. I shook my head at the sight then clamped down on my emotions, time to be the person in charge, the LAPDs Ice Queen, once more.

I looked round and saw Maura crouched down over the body despite the hour, she'd apparently arranged to get calls out to my cases, something for which I was quietly, desperately grateful for. I also saw Sergeant, now Lieutenant, David Gabriel standing there waiting for me, another change from the days in FID, but a good one.

"Lieutenant Gabriel" He nodded respectfully.

"Good evening Commander, a pretty ugly one tonight" I glanced at the body again and nodded slightly as I spoke.

"So I see; thank you for the heads up, it is appreciated" I saw his head lift slightly at the praise as I continued. "What information have you gathered?" He flipped out a notebook and a pen, a universal cop constant as he started bringing me up to speed.

"Victim is Maria Ortado, 52, divorced, lives alone apparently" The neighbour called the cops when she smelled something bad, knocked a few times and no one answered" I nodded once as I looked round, taking everything in.

"Please go on" His gaze dropped back to his notes.

"The first response arrived and the officer recognised the smell. He called for backup and when they arrived they broke the door down" I nodded, that explained the broken door I'd entered through. "They confirmed the place was empty and the victim was dead then backed out, called it in and waited for us. The team's out now checking for witnesses, anyone who saw something, camera's, that sort of thing" I nodded again, David's summary had been clear and concise, not that I expected anything else after all those years working in Brenda's team.

"Thank you; do we have a time of death?" David indicated Maura with his pen.

"Doctor Isles is just trying to work it out now, apparently it's not as easy as usual" I nodded then took two careful steps over; carefully avoiding stepping in the blood pools and spoke.

"Good evening Doctor, what can you tell me?" Maura looked up and nodded, all cool politeness in front of others, then stood.

"Good evening Commander, the victim suffered a significant slicing wound to the front of their neck, the incision opened the carotid artery and allowed the victim to bleed out profusely" Maura crouched down again and turned the head with her blue-gloved hands, revealing a wicked slash across the throat, already covered in congealed blood and crawling insects as I grimaced slightly, Maura of course was all professionalism though I'd expect nothing less from her. "Whilst I cannot be sure until I get the body back for a proper autopsy the wound appears to have involved a very sharp blade, the size and shape of which will need to be determined" I nodded, knowing Maura hated guessing, mind you when she came to a conclusion you could take it to the bank, or court in our case. She twisted round to face the lower torso once more and indicated the gaping cavity in the victim's stomach.

"The torso wound was definitely post-mortem, the assailant made a large incision into the torso and removed a number of organs, using what appears, based on the marks to the inside of the cavity, to be a completely different blade from then one that was used to cut the victim's throat, one that has left evidence indicating a serrated edge" I nodded once, working on projecting calm though internally I recoiled a little at the size of the hole in her belly.

"Which organs were removed Doctor?" Maura shot me a sideways glance and stood in a single elegant motion.

"The victim's kidneys, stomach, spleen and liver are all absent" I nodded once again as Maura continued. "Lieutenant Gabriel has informed me that there are no signs of the organs within the apartment so it would appear that the victim's assailant or assailants took them with them upon departure" Shaking my head at what must have been one of the strangest request David must have ever received, I looked down at the body where I could see the empty spaces, the edges of the hole were ragged and there was so much blood there, some having oozed out onto the floor like some horror movie, a sight reinforced by the flies that buzzed around the corpse and the insects that had moved into the wound cavity. For a second I closed my eyes, 'so much blood' then opened them, working hard to keep my voice unemotional, I had a reputation to uphold.

"Thank you Doctor, could I ask you to please forward the results of your autopsy once you have them" Maura nodded once as I went to turn away then turned back. "I take it you don't have a definitive time of death?" She shook her head decisively as she confirmed what I'd thought.

"Unfortunately no, regrettably with the liver and number of other organs removed the usual temperature-based analysis is not possible, plus the exposure of the other organs to the open air undermines an accurate temperate reading" I nodded slowly, wondering if that had been part of the reason for the organ removal. Maura looked at me and obviously decided to step a little out of her comfort zone to help. "I can however confirm that the victim has been dead for at least 24 hours, long enough for rigor mortis to have set in then faded once again, that plus the level of decomposition suggests at least 24 hours since time of death" She did shake her head though. "That is a preliminary estimate only I am afraid, not really accurate for anything besides a general window of time" I nodded and smiled, appreciating her candour.

"Thank you Doctor, that's all I could have asked for and more"

"Once back in the lab I will undertake a tissue decomposition analysis for a more rigorous timeframe" She smiled and nodded. "I hope to have that report to you by mid-morning"

"Thank you Doctor, I appreciate it" Exchanging a smile I turned, seeing Gabriel had moved into another part of the apartment to take a call, leaving Sergeant Sanchez there with Detective Amy Sykes, a transfer in from vice. "Detectives" They nodded as Julio kicked us off.

"Ma'am, we've had a canvas of the neighbours underway, the neighbour to the left was the one who called it in, the one above had noticed the smell and called the super yesterday" He checked his notes and continued. "Neighbour to the right's in her eighties and a little…vague" He grimaced as I got the subtext and nodded.

"I understand, please continue" He flashed the thinnest of smiles at me, obviously pleased I'd picked up on what he was saying and pushed on, nodding Sykes way.

"And apparently the neighbour below is away on holiday's" Sykes nodded and spoke up.

"Given the amount of blood from the vic some of its probably leaked through the ceiling to their apartment, the neighbour would have seen it the moment they opened their door" I thought about that for a second then looked her way.

"When did the downstairs neighbour go away on holidays, and where?" To her credit Sykes didn't hesitate, she'd apparently already asked the question herself which is what I wanted to hear.

"Florida Commander, left five days ago and according to the super, isn't due back for another four days" I nodded, that seemingly cleared them but we would check on them just in case, it's what a police investigation was, eliminating the possible and the potential until you were left with the probable answers, well hopefully. I looked to Sanchez.

"Do we have a next of kin?" He nodded.

"A sister in Orlando, ex-husband is believed to now live in Venezuela, both were originally from there and moved to the US over two decades ago" He consulted his notes. "Mister Ortado hasn't renewed his California licence in nine years ma'am, which suggests he's either out of the country or he's living off the grid here in the states" I nodded.

"Please check with the appropriate federal agencies Sergeant, let's see if we can eliminate him as a suspect" I looked round, taking in the décor. "What did the victim do for a job?" Sykes handled that.

"Works as a cleaner employed by a company, Spotless Cleaning" I raised my eyebrow at that, prompting her to explain. "ID badge is in a bowl with her keys by the door" I nodded and spoke.

"Please contact Ms Ortado's employer first thing in the morning and get details of where she worked, issues at work, the usual" Sykes nodded and I looked around, taking everything in and ordering my thoughts before turning back. "Is there any sign of forced entry besides the front door" Sanchez handled that one.

"No ma'am, the windows are closed and there's a stick in the track of the sliding door out onto the balcony, impossible to slide it open with that in there"

"Possible to set it to fall into the track on the way out though" Sykes added as I nodded. I glanced her way.

"Please undertake a canvas of potential security camera's covering the building, especially the entrances" Sanchez nodded and replied.

"Kwang's on that now ma'am, it's not looking good, there's none in or on the building so she's checking other buildings that might have covered this one or the approaches" I smiled thinly for a moment, appreciating the thoroughness of the team, they all appreciated that it wasn't just me that was being judged, the dispersal of the former Robbery / Homicide team and the formation of a new one I'd personally selected had made waves and people were watching us closely

"May I ask where Lieutenant Jefferies is?" Sykes handled that.

"She and Riggs are running a search of the local area by uniformed officers, checking drains, dumpsters and such for any sign of the murder weapons of the missing body parts" I nodded, satisfied. Kyra Jefferies had come to us from the gang task force where she'd been very well regarded, while Martin Riggs was nothing like his Lethal Weapon movie namesake, he was quiet, softly-spoken, methodical and had come to us from Narcotics where he'd showed a hell of an ability to put clues together. Unfortunately he'd annoyed a few of the street gangs with his testimony at too many cases which had sent gangers away for long sentences, they'd made life hard on him and the rest of his squad so he'd asked for a transfer for his partner's sake, something I'd appreciated.

"Excellent" I thought about everything that I'd learned and wondered what I'd missed. Finally I glanced Sykes' way. "I understand that we have a report from the police who responded to the initial call out" They both nodded. "Please go over it with him one more time Detective Sykes; look for anything that might seem inconsistent, just in case" She nodded as I turned to Sanchez. "Sergeant, I'd like you to review the database, look for any similar deaths with a similar MO" He nodded as well, making notes.

"Oh lord" I looked up to see Jefferies standing there looking down at the victim. She shook her head and walked around the body to where we were standing. "Evening Commander, the search is underway; Riggs is out riding herd on the uni's" I nodded once.

"Thank you Lieutenant" She glanced back at the body and shook her head.

"I didn't see it all that well when I first saw it, in the lights now the vic looks like a body from a movie I saw once, lots of organs taken for some kind of bullshit Hollywood version of a voodoo ceremony, raising the dead or some such stupidity" I nodded, the lights Maura's team had set up turned night into day and left nothing to the imagination when it came to the extent of the injuries. Maura stood at that and turned, speaking clearly.

"I truly doubt that this is the case in this instance; while there are some minor elements of voodoo's Loa practices that use internal organs, the normal practice is to source them from chickens, the use of human organs would be unusual to put it mildly"

Sanchez and I nodded, Sykes looked thoughtful but Jefferies tipped her head and smiled, a little lopsidedly at Maura.

"No kidding Doc, unusual pretty much covers Los Angeles; this place is practically ground zero for weird ass fuc…stuff"

I nodded slightly once as she corrected herself, letting her know I'd caught her correction and appreciated it. Maura was far too important to be disrespected, certainly not by anyone in my team, I was glad I hadn't had to pull her up, knowing that Sanchez and Gabriel would have if I hadn't, a lot less politely than I would have too; I was just glad it wasn't necessary.

"Indeed Lieutenant, while unusual it is not impossible" Maura nodded politely. "I will look into the Loa practices of Voodoo further to see if there are similarities" I smiled, knowing I'd be in for a dissertation sometime tomorrow, Maura soaked up information like a sponge so I'd learn all I needed and probably a lot more besides. She looked my way and smiled.

"We have finished with the victim Commander, with your permission I will have the body removed to the lab, the autopsy reports will be on your desk by mid-morning" I smiled in response.

"Thank you Doctor, have a good night" At my words Maura smiled and nodded, addressing each of us.

"Lieutenant, Sergeant, Detective, good evening" With that she turned to oversee her team removing the body. Jefferies shook her head as she looked down at the body.

"I didn't get all that good a look at it when I got here, in the light now, gotta say that's really messed up" Sykes nodded agreeably as they watched as the M.E. started to move the victim into a body bag

"Real messed up" Ignoring Sykes words Sanchez caught my eye and grimaced, making me raise my eyebrow, asking the question. He shrugged as he spoke.

"Don't know which is worse, ma'am; the idea that there's some crazy rasta guy out there cutting people up for voodoo parts, or that it might be some fruitcake who's trying to make it look like voodoo" I nodded, understanding what he meant, seeing Jefferies nodding as well. Amy Sykes didn't though as I remembered she was the least experienced of us all so I explained our reasoning.

"While either is bad, the latter is worse, if it is voodoo-related the perpetrator is likely to have a definitive M.O. and a specific purpose for each organ removed, which provides a pattern" Jefferies nodded and chimed in.

"If it's some crazy who wants to make it look like voodoo, then that's a lot less predictable" Sanchez grimaced.

"Like Jefferies said, we're ground zero for crazies" He said, shaking his head as I nodded, bringing us back to the essence of the matter I spoke for all their benefits.

"Either way, Mrs Ortado is expecting us to avenge her, so it is up to us to get to the bottom of this"

We watched in silence as the body was lifted onto a gurney and wheeled out.