Christian had the feeling for a moment that the blood will burst out of his veins. He struggled to get enough air, "what?"
"She is dead," Myers repeated unemotionally.
"How...?" Christian voice failed him.
"How was she murdered?" Myers finished the sentence for him, "simply the normal way. Do you really want to know all the details?" He asked sceptically.
Christian shook his head. It was enough to know that the Carver murdered one more person to leave him completely shocked.
"She was found close to the city park," Myers continued his recounting of the events, "he carved her the usual way before he finally cut her throat."
Christian touched the now hardy noticeable scars on his neck. He relived his own ordeal, "is she...I mean...was she a patient here?"
Myers shook his head, "we didn't get that far with the investigations until now. We don't even know yet who she is. She had no documents on her and she was naked. We think she must be about twenty five, but no more than thirty. But now that you mention..." Myers scratched his chin wistfully, "you can certainly see some operation scars on the upper half of her body, fresh ones, only about a few weeks old."
Christian closed his eyes worried. He didn't want to think about Kimber now, he was too scared to, still, his thoughts hauled him in that direction, "please, dear God," he addressed the skies with a quiet prayer, "please don't let it be her!"
"Ah, and... I almost forgot. The attacker left a note," Myers showed Christian a crumpled, tattered piece of paper.
"Beauty is a curse on the world..." Christian read shocked. He let go of the piece of paper slowly, "I think we shouldn't doubt it anymore that Quentin is back."
Myers nodded, "it looks like it. We have gotten convinced since last time as well that this wasn't the work of a copycat. Our undercover agent has found out that a man has been seen in Malaga who reportedly looks exactly like Dr. Costa."
"Spain?" Christian asked surprised, "what does Quentin do in Spain?"
"Only that it seems that he didn't like the weather over there. Otherwise he would've not came back to Miami," Myers said dryly.
"To kill..." Christian continued the sentence.
"I'm done. What is going on?" The door suddenly opened and Sean entered. He could tell only by looking at the two grave faces of the men that the news could not have been any good.
"Please sit down Dr. McNamara," Myers ordered Sean.
Sean took a seat irritated, "what's up?" He repeated his question.
"We found the body of a woman in the city park," Myers let him know, "because of the note that was left beside her we think that the Miami Carver, who you know under the name of Dr. Quentin Costa is back."
"Is this for certain?" Sean asked visibly troubled by the news.
Christian nodded, "beauty is a curse on the world-that was the note he left behind."
Sean looked at Myers accusingly, "this is all your fault!" He declared angrily, "if you had been investigating right away, there would be no other victim."
"My people and I have been doing our best," Myers defended himself, "otherwise, you haven't got the experience to judge whether or not we are doing our job well. You should mind your own business!"
"What do you mean by that now?" Sean asked indignantly.
"It was your plastic surgery business that landed us in all this mess!" Myers answered angrily, "without you here we would have no mad serial killers running on the streets of Miami, who has chosen destroying the work of cosmetic surgeons to be the meaning of his life!"
"Stop arguing!" Christian stood up and in between the two word wrestlers, "that won't help either!"
"You're right," Sean admitted it first," "I'm sorry," he apologised to detective Myers.
"It's okay," Myers nodded, "I wanted to ask you something..." He cleared his throat, "we couldn't identify the young woman yet. Her scars tell us she had an operation not so long ago, so it is well possible she was one of your patients. You could maybe help us identify her, so that we can start filing the case."
"Filing?" Sean lifted his eyebrows, hardly believing his ears, "how can you file it when the attacker is still free? That is what you do with all unsolved murders?"
"Sean, please," Christian warned him. He knew that Sean wasn't far off from loosing his cool again, "detective Myers knows what he has to do."
Sean rolled his eyes and kept quiet just now.
"I meant finishing with the identification," Myers explained, "and we can start with the investigations afterwards. Do you understand?"
After glancing into Christian's eyes once more, Sean nodded.
"Good, can we go then?" Myers asked.
Sean looked at the detective bewildered, "you mean this minute?"
Myers nodded, "of course. As I just said, we want to settle the score as soon as possible."
Christian stood unenthusiastically. He wasn't so sure that he wanted to know who the dead person was. He had a feeling it couldn't be Kimber. He was sure he would've felt it if she was dead. On the other hand, his instincts were nowhere when Quentin abducted her, "let's get it done," he said sighing.
A good hour later they entered the city morgue together with detective Myers.
"Do you remember the last time we were here?" Sean asked quietly.
Christian nodded apprehensively. The closer they got to the cold storage room, in which the bodies were kept till they were taken for autopsy or burial, the more nervous he became.
"That's it," Myers opened the door to the storeroom and one of the drawers that contained the body of the young woman.
The corpse was covered with a white sheet, only part of one of her feet was visible.
"Are you ready?" Myers asked and seeing the surgeons nod, he pulled the linen back.
Paralysed with terror, Christian stared at the exposed corpse. He felt the gagging reflex in action in his throat and he pressed his hand quickly in front of his mouth fearing he will throw up. He turned away and closed his eyes.
Detective Myers didn't leave his reaction unnoticed, "do you know the woman?"
Christian nodded. Under the circumstances, he found speaking impossible.
Sean took over instead of his friend, "yes," he said when he recovered from the shock, "we knew her. She was our patient," he cleared his throat, "her name is Abby Mays."