At the coroner's office, Rossi and Blake were examining Loubelle Jackson's body as it lay on the table. The coroner, dressed in his white lab coat, was standing nearby, holding his records.

"So, the mutilation started while the victim was alive?" Blake asked.

"Yes, poor lady," the coroner told them. "Just when you think you have seen and heard it all, some sicko comes along with something worse."

"Can you give us some idea of exactly what was done?" Rossi said, accepting the file from the coroner.

"The first thing I found was around the nose and mouth," the coroner began. "There were minute traces of capsaicin and related capsaicinoids. I would guess a 1% to 2% solution."

"Bear spray?" Blake asked, surprised. "That's designed to subdue a very large mammal. It would have affected her eyes, nose, and lungs."

"And, it definitely would have subdued her," Rossi commented. "She is not a large person."

"You examined the other two victims?" Blake asked.

"Yes, and I found the same thing on both of them," the coroner confirmed.

Rossi picked up Loubelle's hand. "She was restrained," he observed, noting the bruising on her wrist. "What about her ankles?"

"Those as well," the coroner told him. "And, as you have probably seen in the report, although she wasn't given any food or water for the entire four days she was fed laxatives and diuretics during that time."

"And, then there is the mutilation," the coroner didn't seem anxious to discuss the major injuries.

"What exactly did that involve?" Blake wanted to hear the details directly from the coroner.

"There had been a topical cream applied to her abdomen," the coroner began. "It contained about 10% Benzocaine and 5% Lidocane."

Rossi looked puzzled. "That would be?" he asked.

"A mild numbing solution," the coroner told him. "Commonly used in tattoo parlors. Easily available on-line. And, yes, I did find the same on the other two victims, although not as much on the first as on the second. This particular victim had even more applied."

"Well, there appears to have been a learning curve," Blake commented dryly. "Although, I don't think a topical anesthetic would have helped any of these women once he started cutting."

"There were two horizontal cuts joined by a vertical cut?" Rossi was reading the reports.

"That's right," the coroner confirmed. "One horizontal cut directly under the breasts and the other through the pubic area."

"And, they went how deep?" Blake hated to ask.

"Eventually, deep enough to expose the internal organs," the coroner told her. "And, although the organs showed signs of having been disturbed, none of them had been removed."

"Were the other two victims treated the same way?" Rossi inquired.

"Oh, yes. However, the first victim's incisions showed signs of being constantly enlarged and improved. The second one seemed to have much less hesitation, much less experimentation, if you will. With this third victim, whoever this sicko is, he seems to have finally developed his technique."

"Okay," Blake grimaced as she looked at the file. "We need to develop a timeline, if you will, of approximately when each step of this 'procedure' was performed."