The Coldest Fear by Rick Reed

case. Three men had gotten another man drunk with the intention of robbing him, but hadn’t counted on the fact that he might resist. He was beaten unconscious and then carried into an alley and left in the trash, where he aspirated his own vomit and suffocated. The defense successfully argued that the blood alcohol percentage was so high that the amount of alcohol consumed could have killed the man by itself. The jury, not knowing that the normal blood alcohol of the victim was never much lower than toxic, found the defendants not guilty of murder.
    â€œWe have a winner,” Carmodi announced, shocking Jack out of his reverie.
    â€œWhat is it, doc?” Liddell asked.
    Carmodi had the neck opened, exposing the laryngeal cavity. “The carotid was severed.” He pulled the tissue back to show the detectives the flaccid carotid artery.
    â€œHe knew what he was doing,” Liddell said.
    Carmodi shook his head. “Not necessarily, Cajun. He might not have even been trying to hit the carotid.”
    Jack had a question. “Then why not cut straight across the throat?”
    Carmodi looked at him from under the plastic visor and shrugged.
    â€œI mean—and I’m just thinking out loud here—why not cut across the throat? Why did he cut at an upward angle?”
    Carmodi had measured with a probe earlier. “It didn’t have to be deep to get the carotid, Jack. Only about two inches, maybe less. But you’re right about the upward angle. He wouldn’t have done this much damage if he had just sliced her throat straight across.”
    â€œSo, he might have intentionally targeted the major blood vessel in the neck?” Jack asked.
    Liddell saw where this was going. “You’re the expert here, doc. What’s your gut tell you?”
    Dr. John appeared to be weighing the evidence. Finally he checked the recorder to be sure it was turned off before saying, “I have to agree that there is some evidence that the carotid artery was the target. Whoever did this made neat work of it. Not medically trained, but knows his way around the body, I’d say.”
    â€œIs that just your gut talking, doc?” Jack asked.
    â€œWhy is that so important?” Dr. John asked.
    Jack shook his head. It just didn’t feel right to him. “Why kill her with one precise blow to the neck . . .” Jack began, and stared off into space as if he was visualizing the killing. “And then force her to the floor where he hacks her face off ?” Jack saw the confusion on their faces and explained, “The first blow doesn’t seem to be consistent with the other damage he did to the body after he killed her. So why? Why not just cut her head off? Why take her face and knock out her teeth? If he was trying to keep us from identifying her, why not take her purse and identification?”
    Carmodi lifted the victim’s right arm that ended in a bloody stump where the hand should have been. “Notice anything unusual here?”
    â€œYou want me to give you a hand?” Liddell offered, and earned a scathing look from Lilly Caskins.
    Carmodi pointed to several places on the stump that were shiny. “See this here? And here?” Jack nodded. “Our killer had some skill with a blade to do this.” He lay the arm down gently. “The hand wasn’t surgically removed. Off the record it looks like the same weapon was used to sever the hand at the wrist. And that’s not as easy as they make it look on television.”
    â€œAnything else?” Jack asked.
    â€œWell, my unofficial opinion is that cause of death is exsanguination. Loss of blood. The method of death is a wound to the neck severing the carotid artery. The removal of the tongue, eyes, and hand was postmortem. She could have survived any of the other injuries, including the removal of her face, if she had found medical care immediately. The wound to the neck dropped her like a