Acolyte by Seth Patrick Page A

Jonah.
    Bob nodded. ‘Mary’s only living relative gave us revival permission, so we didn’t seek a warrant. Just as we were gearing up for the revival, we were stopped.’
    â€˜The Afterlifers must have ears everywhere,’ said Ray. ‘Turned out, Mary’s name was in their membership database. They went to a sympathetic judge and came back with a denial.’
    â€˜Hold on,’ said Never. ‘Revival is pretty much automatic for murder. Why did the judge grant the denial?’
    â€˜It’s complicated,’ said Bob. He shared another look with Ray and sighed. ‘The whole damn thing is complicated. Maybe you should see the victim before we get into the details.’ Bob rubbed his eyes and took out his phone. He looked around to make sure they had privacy, then held it so that Jonah and Never could see. The first few pictures were of a young woman, some of her on her own, some with friends. Always of her smiling. ‘That’s Mary Connart. Twenty-seven years old. Born in Green Bay, Wisconsin. Father left when she was three and her sister was nine. He diedfive years later in Florida. Their mother died three years ago. Her sister is her only living relative. Mary worked for a PR company in DC. On the night of her death she’d attended a party thrown by her employer for clients. She left early, saying she was tired, wanted some fresh air. Forty-eight minutes after she walked into the night she was found dead.’ Bob paused and gave Jonah and Never a long, sober look. ‘Before I go on, I have to warn you. I’ve been a detective for twenty-two years. This … this is one of the worst things I’ve ever laid eyes on.’ He waited until he had a nod of assent from each of them, then swiped through to the next image.
    Jonah and Never stared at it.
    â€˜As you can see, Mary’s left arm is gone,’ said Bob. ‘Abrasive wounds penetrated four inches into the shoulder. Likewise, deep wounds to the back of the head and left side of the face, removing flesh and bone. A large portion of that side of the face is missing. Most of the left part of the jaw is intact but exposed.’
    â€˜Jesus,’ said Never. ‘What the hell did that? An industrial accident?’
    â€˜We don’t know how the injuries were caused,’ said Ray. ‘But we don’t believe this was any kind of accident.’
    Jonah shook his head. ‘You said she was found forty-eight minutes after leaving the party. How the hell does that give someone time to … do this?’
    â€˜Next image,’ said Bob. He advanced the picture. Jonah winced, as Bob continued his commentary. ‘The injuries higher on the face reach the lateral wall of the orbit, the, ah, the eye socket. A third of the socket gone. The eyeball is damaged, but it just adds to the confusion. Any industrial injury, dragging injury, any kind of mechanical abrasion, would almost certainly have devastated the eyeball. Instead the injury seems to follow the same line as on the bone. For the soft tissue that just doesn’t make sense. The eye tissue along the wound is almost cauterized, creating that apparent shrinkage. Cauterization is a feature common to all these wounds, yet the flesh itself doesn’t seem to be heat damaged andthere’s no sign of chemical burns. Cause of death is thought to have been blood loss. When she was found there was very little blood at the scene, but two thirds of her blood volume was gone.’
    â€˜Christ,’ said Never. ‘What the hell happened to her?’
    â€˜Getting back to the question you asked first,’ said Bob, ‘yes, revival is damn near automatic for murder, but we can’t even demonstrate that this
was
murder. The initial coroner’s report was clutching at straws. It speculated the injuries were road drag, that maybe she fell under a truck and was pulled along unnoticed.’
    â€˜What?’ said Never,