Lucifer's Apostles

Lucifer'sApostles Chapter 2

Tank walked through the door into the morgue. Katie was hunched over the corpse on the stainless-steel table before her. She looked up at Tank. “Both victims have had a cannula inserted into their left pulmonary artery here”, she said, pointing to the opposite side of the elbow. “This is as close as you will get to a carbon copy of the murder of Juliette Tarver two days ago. You were right both times about the old coin in the mouth. I had never heard of that before”. Tank had told her of the old Greek tradition.

“The bruising on her wrists and ankles has been made from wrist restraints. The makeup concealer on all parts of the head and body is to conceal strap burns and bruises, as well as what I deem to be clamp marks on her temples. The burn marks are from a type of stun gun, which had been used on her breasts, stomach, back, and buttocks”. She took a breath and went on, “This woman had been r***d repeatedly, either by one or more males”.

“The assailant or assailants wore condoms. There are no semen specimens, nor DNA I can use to identify anyone. Whoever cleaned the two women has had some previous experience. The corpses have been washed in vinegar and lemon juice and cleaned with a scrubbing brush, post-mortem”.

“Tank, it was certainly the same perp on both occasions. I can tell you that they have used a needle to anesthetise their victims. They have practised this technique because the women were pricked in close to identical positions on the right side of their necks on more than one occasion”. Tank looked down at the woman lying on the stainless-steel table. He wondered what torture she had endured in the days before and at the time of her death.

“Both victims were stabbed straight through here with an identical weapon”, Katie continued, pointing to a spot in the centre of the woman’s breasts. “A large, heavy dagger was thrust straight down with force like this”. She stood behind the head of the corpse and spread her feet apart. She then raised both hands above her head, mimicking the action of holding a dagger and plunged her fists straight down towards the area between the corpse’s inanimate breasts.

Tank looked at her when she finished and said, “Like a human sacrifice, it looks like the victims are being laid down as offerings”.

Katie replied, “Whatever it is, it is not good. I will have a complete report on your desk as soon as I have finished”.

***

The pain in Sally’s right hand was excruciating. Two hours ago, she had felt her thumb separate from her hand while trying to pull it through the wrist cuff. She had ripped the skin away from her hand in patches from her knuckles to her wrist. Trying to be as quiet as possible, although she was screaming inside, she succeeded. Tears rolled down her cheeks as she realised that she had freed herself.

Gritting her teeth, Sally pushed herself off the bed and rushed for the door. “Of course, it would be locked”, was the thought going through her mind the whole time she was trying to free her hand. To her astonishment and excitement, it was not. She turned the door handle and pushed open the door.

To her dismay, Jacko was standing on the other side of the doorway, holding a stun gun in his left hand. With his right fist, he punched her hard in the face, knocking her to the floor. He then kicked her before ramming the cattle prodder into her stomach.

She assumed the foetal position, covering her head with her arms while he kicked her two more times. He grabbed a handful of her hair, dragged her to her feet, and threw her limp body against the wall. She collapsed into a pile on the floor, motionless. Jacko maintained his grip on her hair and dragged her across the room to the bed, forcing her to her knees and burying her face into the mattress.

Gasping for air, Sally’s fingers clawed at the mattress as he pushed her head down with more force. She had felt the septum snap in her nose when he had thrown the first punch. Now, the pain intensified until she passed out. When she awoke, her left wrist had been cuffed to the chain bolted to the floor, replacing her right wrist. It seemed tighter than previously, with no chance of pulling her hand through. She knew she would not try to duplicate her efforts again. Her hand and face were mangled, and so was her spirit.

***

Tank stood at the front of the room with Chief Superintendent Joe Hawkins and Inspector Bill Clements. He knew if he stood too close, he would dwarf the two men, so he stood back a little and to the side. Everyone else in the room sat at tables, all eyes glued on the three men at the front of the room.

Hawkins was the first to talk, “Two murders in three days with the same M.O. is troubling. We have a profoundly serious case in front of us. It looks like this is the work of a serial killer committing sacrificial murders. This will cause widespread panic in the community if it leaves this room. At this stage, there will be a complete media blackout. All the press has been told is that there have been two murders. I asked Inspector Clements to put this task force together because we need to act quickly and precisely. Detective Senior Sergeant Dodge will be in charge and regularly report to Inspector Clements and myself. I am confident we can apprehend this unsub before any more lives are lost. Everything you need for this case will be given the green light once it has been presented to me”. He stepped back and nodded to Inspector Clements, who took his place.

“I’m sure you have all seen each other around at various stages in your careers”. Bill always spoke with a deep, almost harmonising voice, the kind of voice that did television commercials. He would be described as medium build and height with a thick head of white hair.

“In case you don’t, then I’ll introduce you all around the tables. Firstly, the man to my left is Detective Senior Sergeant Jonathon Dodge, no doubt many of you know him as Tank”. He then pointed to the furthest person seated to his right. “Next is our Coroner, Katie Phillips, who is also the chief forensic pathologist on this case. Katie performed the autopsies on our two victims. Sitting next to her is Detective Owen O’Donnell from Missing Persons. Optimistically, these women would have been reported missing by family, loved ones or associates”. Owen O’Donnell had an Irish name as well as ancestry. He reminded Tank of Mr Bean with his bushy eyebrows and similar haircut. He was not an attractive man by any stretch of the imagination and was short and stout.

Bill continued around the tables, “We have a new rookie detective starting with us this morning. I would like to introduce you all to Detective Lisa Blythe”. Tank noticed all the male eyes avert to Lisa, an absolute beauty with bottle-blonde hair and the most bottomless blue eyes he had seen in a long time. When she was nineteen, she entered the Miss Universe pageant and was second runner-up in the final after winning the Australian pageant. Lisa was 26 years old and left the Police Academy seven years ago with high accolades. “Detective Blythe has worked diligently throughout her career, and I’m confident she will be more than up for this task force”.

“Moving around the table, we have Sergeant Tom Williams from the Forensic Evidence Team, who combed both the crime scenes. Senior Constable Louise Harrigan from our Forensics Technical division is next. Detective Harrigan is not only an excellent profiler but also exceptional with computers. She is the closest thing to a genius we have in the whole force”.

“Finally, the three detectives on the end are Peter Hogan, who was partnered with Detective Senior Sergeant Dodge on the first victim’s case. Deng Lee and Mary Kidd work under Tank in the homicide division as well. Pete will catch everybody up on the findings from the murder victim at the church”.

The three detectives were Tank’s musketeers. Pete was around the old six-foot mark. He had a balding head, something he had been struggling with since his twenties. He had a goatee with no moustache, and when he smiled, there was a gap between his front teeth big enough to slide a twenty-cent piece into. Deng was in his mid-thirties, the same as Pete, and still lived at home with his parents behind the Chinese Restaurant that the four musketeers frequented. Deng was by no means a large man, although he was fierce.

Mary Kidd was the female of the four, but she could never be called a lady. She could swear and drink like a shearer and fight like a Pitbull. Mary was the modern-day Calamity Jane. She had a short back and sides haircut that was a dusky brown, the same colour as her eyes, and she always dressed in better suits than Tank. Mary had no use for men in any capacity. She would tell the other three she tolerated them because she was paid to.

“In this room, we have the best of the best. I’ll leave you in the capable hands of Senior Sergeant Dodge”.