<div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-weight: bold"><span style="font-size: 200%; line-height: 116%;"><span style="color: #00BFBF">Chapter 2</span></span></span><br/><a class="postlink" href="http://i.imgur.com/NlkffVA.png?1">[ img ]</a></div><br/><br/><br/>Detective Sergeants Beaulieu and McDougal climbed into the Dodge Charger, recently acquired by the Montreal Police Force. Apparently the city had purchased several new black pursuit cars from the American Car manufacturer. The two had picked up their morning coffee on Rue Saint Paul Ouest. They were heading to Old Port Montreal for a homicide. Joe sipped the coffee once before slipping it into the cup holder. He then reached for his pack of Marlboro's from his shirt pocket, slapped out one cigarette, offered one to his partner, Chris. After lighting the cigarette, he started the engine, put the car in gear and headed for the silo.<br/><br/>The pot hole littered road proved the shocks on the new Dodge worthy. They splashed through some puddles as the black sedan rumbled along an old railroad spur. Joe spotted the marked patrol car about halfway down the row of silos. Joe recognized Scott Grieve, a twenty-year veteran of the force standing outside the car. The uniformed officer had placed yellow "Do Not Cross" tape around the crime scene.<br/><br/>Joe parked the cruiser, stepped out, "Morning, Scott," he addressed the man. "What do we got?" Joe coughed twice, pulled out a white handkerchief and coughed a few more times into the cloth. He noted some bloody spit and tucked the rag back into his pocket.<br/><br/>Scott looked at the two detectives with a grim expression, "it's bad, Joe. Young woman in her early 20s. Perp slashed her up pretty bad. She has cuts all over her body."<br/><br/>"Thanks Scott," Joe responded to the uniformed officer. He took a drag on the Marlboro and turned to his partner, "Hey Chris, get the camera out of the trunk take some shots of the outside. Look for tire impressions and footprints."<br/><br/>"Any witnesses?"<br/><br/>"Freddy has been living in one of the silos. He heard a noise and called it in this morning, but swears he didn't see anything. He was juiced up, sedated. Probably didn't see anything."<br/><br/>"Where is he?" Joe asked.<br/><br/>"He left as soon as I arrived. You may have passed him on the bridge."<br/><br/>"OK, I know who you're talking about. I'll chat with him later." Joe then asked, "has the M.E. been notified?" Joe was asking about the Medical Examiner or Coroner. All corpses, the police find need to be inspected by the Coroner before they can be released to the morgue. The standard procedure is for an autopsy on all suspected homicides.<br/><br/>"I know I look like a rookie to you, Joe," Scott smiled. "But yes, the M.E. has been notified." Scott noticed the black Ford LTD Crown Victoria lumbering toward them. He pointed as he spoke, "speak of the devil. Here comes Doc Aubrey now."<br/><br/>Joe watched the approaching coroner. He waited for him to step from his car. Sixty year old Doctor Bill Aubrey had a bad case of gout. He moved very slowly, especially under his five foot nine inch frame and weight of 325 pounds. He did not move quickly. The old man, pushed his eyeglasses up onto his face and wiped some sweat from his brow. He slowly lumbered over to the police officers.<br/><br/>"Good to see you, Doc," Joe said. I haven't been inside yet. Why don't you follow me. Joe turned and stepped under the tape. He put his rubber gloves on his hands and walked the short distance to the doorway. The door was slightly ajar, pulled it open at the door, not the handle. The Medical examiner did the same. Both men stepped inside.<br/><br/>Immediately, their eyes fell upon the naked young woman, tied up between two poles near a brick wall as the smell of Clorox bleach punched both in the nose. A pair of wings had been drawn into the brick wall, undoubtedly in her own blood. The words,<span style="font-style: italic">"Angels Live Amongst Us"</span>was written near one of the wings. A small table sat less than twenty feet from the corpse. The victim's head hung down as though she were staring into the floor. Her legs had turned to a dark pink color while her upper extremeties were a pale white.<br/><br/>Joe hoped he would find something, he returned to the patrol car while Doc Aubrey went to inspect the body. He gathered up his kit. He checked as many areas as he could, paying attention to details. The girl's clothing had been removed. A pool of coagulated blood less than a meter in diameter formed a circle on the floor at her feet. They found trace blood in her pubic hair and a few splatters on the opposite wall, undoubtedly from an arterial spurt. The amount of evidence he could gather was scant; a few small blood samples, fingerprints, photographs and a possible drunken witness who would prove unreliable in court. This case did not appear to be shaping up well. Joe was getting a bad feeling and he'd been there less than an hour. "I must not be seeing it. It has to be here, " Joe spoke softly to himself. Joe turned to his partner, "Chris, what do you see? or not see?"