The East Avenue Murders (The Maude Rogers Crime Novels Book 1) Read Online Free Page A
Author: Linda L. Dunlap
had thrown down the gauntlet and he alone knew where he would strike next. A buzz of worry was beginning in her. They had to find the killer before he murdered again.
She knew she could put it off no longer and stepped into the sleeping area alongside her lieutenant. Surprisingly, he was calm and observant, his language without expletives.
“Did you touch anything Maude?” he asked.
“No sir, just the coverlet-with gloves.” She added.
“That’s good. I’m sending this officer across the hall to get a team and I want them to split up and get this room photographed and printed chop-chop,” he said, indicating the street cop who had entered the room with Maude.
Later, after the noise was over and the extra personnel left, the coroner showed up. His findings were that both young women were probably killed by the same person or persons. He stated that there were too many possible causes for the deaths of both victims, but it appeared that they had both been dead for several days. His information was a repeat of the words Maude had already used. Only an autopsy would tell the cause.
The large amount of blood found under the bodies gave the coroner reason to believe that the women’s breasts had been removed while they were still alive. Speculation was that the breast mutilation was done by a gardener’s tool or other roughly serrated blade resembling a small saw. The flesh with the nipples attached was not found. No one wanted to voice the word, trophies.
As an afterthought, the coroner ventured a more exact time of death, based upon the decay of the bodies, the bloating, and the presence of both maggots and flies. His best approximation was the victims were killed about six days earlier. That estimation allowed for generations of flies to reproduce. Due to the large number of the insects in the rooms, the coroner believed at least one or more generations had already hatched. Samples of the maggots were taken to determine if they were the same type of fly larvae in each victim.
Maude was weary. Her wristwatch hands were sitting on nine o’clock and the streets outside were already dark .There was little activity in the building. The extra officers who went door-to-door found no one who saw or heard anything. The responses were not unexpected. Seldom did anyone ‘see anything’ if it meant telling it to the police.
The crime scene techs had photographed both apartments, taking them apart to capture any prints , blood or body fluids on film. The bodies had been removed and transported to the coroner’s office where autopsies would be performed. Blood on the carpet was scraped and put into containers for testing at the lab and the victims had been photographed by two different lab techs. Both women had fingers that were broken in different places, but no determination could be made about those injuries. The tips were printed, and Maude was hoping for an identification of the victims before the night was over.
She had done her part by looking for residents to question. Sometimes comparing the answers given by potential witnesses gave a cop a lead. Not this time though. The lack of response to door-knocking showed her a thing or two. Some of the people were scared, and they weren’t talking. Thinking they might come around was a pipe dream.
Finding both dead bodies made the case hers to solve. The women were young, between eighteen and twenty-five, and Maude felt a pang of sadness for their lost young lives. Still, she knew that no matter what happened, a cool head without emotion would be needed to find the man who had killed and mutilated them. In a weak moment she had vowed to cut back on her nightly gin until the murders were solved. Already that promise was a source of regret.
Chapter 2
The clock showed ten-thirty when Maude finally arrived at her house on the outskirts of town. She liked it there. It had been her mother’s house, inherited from her mother complete with two stories of real wood siding,
She knew she could put it off no longer and stepped into the sleeping area alongside her lieutenant. Surprisingly, he was calm and observant, his language without expletives.
“Did you touch anything Maude?” he asked.
“No sir, just the coverlet-with gloves.” She added.
“That’s good. I’m sending this officer across the hall to get a team and I want them to split up and get this room photographed and printed chop-chop,” he said, indicating the street cop who had entered the room with Maude.
Later, after the noise was over and the extra personnel left, the coroner showed up. His findings were that both young women were probably killed by the same person or persons. He stated that there were too many possible causes for the deaths of both victims, but it appeared that they had both been dead for several days. His information was a repeat of the words Maude had already used. Only an autopsy would tell the cause.
The large amount of blood found under the bodies gave the coroner reason to believe that the women’s breasts had been removed while they were still alive. Speculation was that the breast mutilation was done by a gardener’s tool or other roughly serrated blade resembling a small saw. The flesh with the nipples attached was not found. No one wanted to voice the word, trophies.
As an afterthought, the coroner ventured a more exact time of death, based upon the decay of the bodies, the bloating, and the presence of both maggots and flies. His best approximation was the victims were killed about six days earlier. That estimation allowed for generations of flies to reproduce. Due to the large number of the insects in the rooms, the coroner believed at least one or more generations had already hatched. Samples of the maggots were taken to determine if they were the same type of fly larvae in each victim.
Maude was weary. Her wristwatch hands were sitting on nine o’clock and the streets outside were already dark .There was little activity in the building. The extra officers who went door-to-door found no one who saw or heard anything. The responses were not unexpected. Seldom did anyone ‘see anything’ if it meant telling it to the police.
The crime scene techs had photographed both apartments, taking them apart to capture any prints , blood or body fluids on film. The bodies had been removed and transported to the coroner’s office where autopsies would be performed. Blood on the carpet was scraped and put into containers for testing at the lab and the victims had been photographed by two different lab techs. Both women had fingers that were broken in different places, but no determination could be made about those injuries. The tips were printed, and Maude was hoping for an identification of the victims before the night was over.
She had done her part by looking for residents to question. Sometimes comparing the answers given by potential witnesses gave a cop a lead. Not this time though. The lack of response to door-knocking showed her a thing or two. Some of the people were scared, and they weren’t talking. Thinking they might come around was a pipe dream.
Finding both dead bodies made the case hers to solve. The women were young, between eighteen and twenty-five, and Maude felt a pang of sadness for their lost young lives. Still, she knew that no matter what happened, a cool head without emotion would be needed to find the man who had killed and mutilated them. In a weak moment she had vowed to cut back on her nightly gin until the murders were solved. Already that promise was a source of regret.
Chapter 2
The clock showed ten-thirty when Maude finally arrived at her house on the outskirts of town. She liked it there. It had been her mother’s house, inherited from her mother complete with two stories of real wood siding,
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