Hour Game by David Baldacci Page B

afternoon. The boys would have seen it maybe minutes before that.”
    “Counting back,” said King, “that means the body wouldhave been dumped there, using your twelve-hour outside number, no earlier than two-thirty in the morning.”
    Williams had stood in the background all this time, but now he stepped forward. “Nice work, Sylvia. Wrightsburg is lucky to have you,” he said.
    She smiled thinly at his praise. “A postmortem doesn’t tell who committed the crime unless the killer left behind things like semen, saliva or urine that we can test. The post just tells us how and what.” Sylvia glanced at her notes and continued. “As I said, there was no evidence of rape, no injury to the rectum or vagina, and she’d never had a baby. I’d put her age at about mid-twenties and her health as physically sound. In life she was a well-built woman about five feet five inches tall. She’d had breast implants, and collagen injections in her lips. And she also had had her appendix removed. We’ll know more when the toxicology screens come back in a couple of weeks.” Sylvia pointed at Jane Doe’s slit-open stomach. “Todd, she was pierced on her belly button, perhaps for a belly ring, but there was none on the body. That might help you in identifying her.”
    “Thanks. I’ll check it out.”
    “The only helpful identifying mark I found was this.” She picked up a magnifying glass, lifted the sheet off the lower part of the body and held up one of the legs, positioning the glass at a spot toward the inside thigh very near the woman’s crotch. “It’s a little difficult to make out with the extensive discoloration of the body, but it’s a tattoo of a cat.”
    Michelle looked at the tattoo of the feline and the proximity of it to the woman’s genitals and stood straight up. “I really don’t want to think about that connection.”
    “Damn,” said Williams, reddening.
    “I know, not very ladylike, is it?” said Sylvia.
    She looked up as Kyle entered the room.
    “There’s another police guy out front, wants to talk to the chief here, Doc.”
    “Police
guy
?” Her tone was a little strident. “Try police
officer.
”
    “Right, this police
officer
wants to see the chief.”
    “Can you ask him to come back here?”
    A malicious smile passed across the young man’s features. “That’s the first thing I did, Doc. The police
officer
declined, without explanation. Come to think, though, he looked a little green when I suggested it.”
    “I’ll go out front,” said Williams, and he hurried off with Kyle right behind.
    Five minutes later Williams returned with a nervous-looking uniformed patrolman in his wake who was introduced by Williams as Officer Dan Clancy. Williams looked stricken. “We might have an ID on the girl from the picture we circulated,” he said, his voice trembling slightly as they all stared at him. “Looks like she worked briefly at the Aphrodisiac.”
    “The Aphrodisiac?” exclaimed King.
    Williams nodded. “As an exotic dancer. Her ‘stage’ name was Tawny Blaze. Not real imaginative, I know. Her real name was Rhonda Tyler.” He glanced at the paper in his hand. “Tyler worked there for a while but left when her contract was up.”
    “Will the person who recognized the picture come down and attempt to make a positive ID?” asked Sylvia. “Although with the state the body’s in, I’m not sure that’s possible. But if—”
    Williams cut in. “That won’t be necessary, Sylvia.”
    “Why not?” she demanded.
    “We were told she has a distinguishing mark.” Williams looked embarrassed.
    It hit Michelle in an instant. “A tattoo of a cat next to her…?”
    Williams’s mouth gaped even as he nodded.
    “Who was the person who provided the information?” asked King.
    “The manager of the Aphrodisiac. Lulu Oxley.”
    Now King’s mouth gaped. “Lulu Oxley! Junior Deaver’s Lulu Oxley?”
    “How many Lulu Oxleys do you know, Sean?” asked Williams.
    “I know her