“I see,” said Odelia, even though I didn’t. “So what did the killer use?”
Abe leaned back, folding his hands across his rotund belly. His hair was practically fizzing with satisfaction.“Stiletto heel,” he said finally, rolling the words around his tongue like a wine connoisseur would a nice Beaujolais.
“Stiletto heel?”
“Stiletto heel,” the coroner confirmed. “As you can see there are footprints present, made when the perpetrator dug the heel of a stiletto deep into the chest.”
“God.”
“God had nothing to do with this, Odelia. Man did. Or a woman, of course.”
“Men don’t wear stilettos.”
Abe arched a meaningful furry eyebrow.“Don’t they? Anyway, that’s for you to decide. I’m simply presenting you with the evidence. You use it to nab the maniac who first clubbed this woman to death, then mistook her chest for a pincushion.”
“Is it possible that the killer grabbed a stiletto and used it on the victim?”
“You mean without actually wearing it?” He shook his head. “Out of the question. The depth of these wounds, and the marks on the chest suggest a great deal of force used. Which suggests that they were made by pressing down on the chest with a foot, not a hand. Unless the person was remarkablystrong, of course. But even so. The evidence points to a frenzied attack by someone pressing their foot down several times. I’ve counted no less than a dozen separate wounds.”
“So… would a woman be capable of using this kind of force?”
“Of course. The leg muscles are capable of producing a lot of force, whether male or female.”
“This seems to suggest a great deal of rage, wouldn’t you say?”
“It does have all the hallmarks of a particularly frenzied attack.”
“We have a suspect in custody right now,” Odelia explained. “An ex-con. I was thinking he could have knocked down Isobel, then his fianc?e could have finished the job by hitting her with her foot. Is that possible, you think? Two perpetrators working in tandem?”
“Of course. But you’ll appreciate such conjecture is beyond my area of expertise. One suspect or two—that’s something for you and your husband to work out.”
As Odelia got up, and extended her hand, Abe shook it warmly.“I have to say I had my doubts about you and Chase working as a team. You being a reporter and all, and having enjoyed no formal training. But by all accounts you’re doing fine.”
“My uncle seems to think I have something of value to add,” Odelia said modestly. “He says I bring a human touch to the investigation. Cause people to open up. Not sure if that’s true or not.”
“And we bring the feline touch, don’t we, Max?” said Dooley.
“That, we do,” I said as we took our leave.
“So how is little Grace?” asked Abe as he led us through the warren of corridors that constitute the county coroner’s lair.
“She’s doing great, actually,” said Odelia. “My grandmother dropped her off at the daycare center this morning—or at least I hope she did.”
“Not getting dotty in her old age, is she? Though one might argue Vesta has always been dotty.” He laughed at his little joke, while Odelia merely smiled.
We’d told her how Gran seemed to have forgotten that Grace was at the daycare center the day before, and it had caused Odelia some measure of concern.
Once we were back in the car, and on our way to Hampton Cove, she said,“Has Gran been acting strange again? Or was it just the one time, you think?”
“I think she’s fine,” I said, not having noticed anything out of the ordinary, apart from the one slip.
“Maybe she just woke up from a nap,” Dooley suggested. “We all get confused when we wake up from a nap. I know I do. Sometimes I don’t know where I am.”
“Mh,” said Odelia, not entirely convinced.
And I understood where she was coming from. She often entrusted Grace to Gran for babysitting duties, and if the old lady was going batty, perhaps that wasn’t such a good idea.
But soon Gran was forgotten when Odelia’s phone chimed. She put it on speaker and said, “Yes, babe? Did you make the arrest?”
“I thought I’d wait until we got confirmation from the crime scene people. They’ve been going through Alison’s car, and the apartment she shares with Jason.”
“And?”
“Nothing. Zip. Nada. Not a single drop of blood or hair of the victim or sign of the murder weapon. And the car hasn’t been cleaned recently either.”
“I see.”
“If Jason had killed Isobel, you’d expect him to have blood on him, wouldn’t you? And if he got back into the car, that blood would be on the car seat, since that detective says he saw the guy get into the car with Alison and take off.”
“Did you talk to that detective again? Double-check if Alison stayed put?”
“I did, and he’s adamant. Alison never got out of that car, and Jason was only gone ten minutes, and when he got back there wasn’t a trace of blood on him.”
“Something else is going on,” said Odelia. “I talked to Abe Cornwall, and according to him we’re looking for two murder weapons: a club and a stiletto.”
“Stiletto like in a stiletto knife?”
“No, a shoe.”