Lancelot's Lady (42 page)

Jasi did something next that made the pathologist gasp. She strode toward the corpse on the table and leaned forward, her nose barely an inch from the scorched flesh. Shutting her eyes, she inhaled deeply.

"
Agent McLellan?
"
the woman said, concerned.

"
I have a keen sense of smell. Oversensitive olfactory nerve.
"

She wasn
'
t really lying. Then again, she couldn
'
t exactly tell the woman that she was hoping traces of smoke still lingered on Winkler
'
s body, enough to set off her psychic abilities so she could enter a killer
'
s mind.

She inhaled again.

Nothing. Not one flash. Not one sick, twisted thought.

She shivered.

The dead won
'
t speak to me.

She thought of the young girl who had haunted her nightmares ever since she was a child. The girl waited each night in the closet of her dreams, a pink skipping rope strangling her last breath. She
'
d never said a word either.

"
You okay?
"
Copeland asked.

"
Yeah.
"

The woman eyed her suspiciously.
"
I hope you don
'
t mind me saying this, Agent McLellan, but you look awfully—
"
She broke off, closed her mouth.

"
Young?
"
Jasi chuckled.
"
I get that all the time. But trust me, Dr. Copeland, there isn
'
t much I haven
'
t seen.
"

The look Faith Copeland gave her was one Jasi had seen a million times before. In her father
'
s eyes. The look said,
"
Why in God
'
s name would a young woman go into such a depressing and dangerous line of work?
"

Because of Mom, she wanted to tell him.

The pathologist patted her arm.
"
Seeing death the way we do, day in and day out, has a way of making you value your own mortality.
"

Jasi raised a brow.
"
Meaning?
"

"
Life is for the living, Agent McLellan.
"

"
Yeah, but I have to find justice for the dead first.
"

Out in the hallway, Jasi pushed Copeland
'
s dire warning to the back of her mind and searched for her partner. She found him standing near the information desk, chatting with a smiling blond who looked fresh out of college and eager to make his acquaintance.

"
Hey, partner!
"

"
Took you long enough,
"
he said, moving toward her.
"
I was getting bored.
"

She smiled wryly.
"
Didn
'
t look like you were bored.
"

Eleven years her senior, Agent Benjamin Roberts gave off an air of quiet confidence. At thirty-six, he had several commendations for solving some of Canada
'
s most gruesome, high profile murder cases. Jasi counted her blessings that she
'
d been paired with Ben and not one of the older PSI agents. Most of them thought she was too young to be a good field agent. Except Ben. He was a patient team leader, a top-notch profiler and her best friend.

While he led her to an empty alcove, she studied her partner. Lean, six and a half feet of muscle and agility—and a Psychometric Empath to boot—Ben wore a navy blue Armani suit with ease. Not many men could it pull off, but Ben was at home in a well-fitted suit, the way most men practically lived in their favorite pair of old jeans. Armani was his middle name.

Or it should be, she thought.

She was sometimes tempted to ask him how he could afford such clothes. Sure, they made good money, but not that much. Regardless, there was more to Ben than he let on. One day she
'
d find out his secrets.

"
So what did you get off Winkler
'
s suit?
"
she asked.

He shook his head.
"
What little was left of it was tainted by fire, water and decomp. What about you?
"

"
The pathologist was very helpful. Can
'
t say the same for Monty Winkler.
"

"
No vision?
"

"
Not a flicker. The river washed away all traces of smoke. I couldn
'
t smell a thing other than decaying body parts, but we did get a COD. Monty Winkler drowned, and there was prior blunt force trauma to the back of his head.
"

She described the strange circular wounds.

"
Pretty brutal,
"
he said.
"
Sounds like a rage killing.
"

"
He was also drugged.
"

"
With what?
"

"
Rohypnol. He was given an injection to immobilize him.
"
Her mouth thinned.
"
Copeland says there are no signs of rape. Later, someone pounded on his head with an unidentifiable weapon and set him on fire.
"

She told him about the uneven burn pattern on the body and Copeland
'
s theory that Winkler had been placed into a restrictive space before an accelerant was poured on him.

"
He was dumped in the Ottawa River,
"
she said.

They were silent for a moment.

"
A trunk of a car is quite restrictive,
"
Ben suggested.

She shook her head.
"
Smaller. He was practically in a fetal position. Maybe a box of some kind.
"

The blond from the information desk strolled past, giving Ben a coy look that said,
"
Call me! Day or night.
"

"
You going to call her?
"
Jasi asked when the woman disappeared into an office.

Ben shook his head and glanced at his gloved hands.

She let out an irritated huff.
"
You can
'
t let
those
get in the way—
"

"
You know what can happen, Jasi.
"

"
That doesn
'
t mean you have to live like a monk.
"

"
Monks aside,
"
he retorted,
"
let
'
s stop discussing my personal life and focus on what we
'
re going to report to Matthew.
"

"
I think he wasted his time sending us.
"
She looked up at him.
"
Or at least me.
"

"
Matthew knows what he
'
s doing. He sent us here for a reason.
"

"
Because the government takes care of their own.
"

"
It
'
s been almost a week since they found Winkler. The Ottawa Police Service conducted the preliminary investigation before it was handed over to the RCMP. They
'
ve interviewed anyone who came into contact with Winkler before he went missing. Every alibi checked out. Everyone is stumped. That
'
s why we were called in.
"
He smiled.
"
Besides, Matthew thinks you
'
re ready to lead your own team. This is good prep for you.
"

She pursed her lips.
"
What if I don
'
t want my own team? Did anyone ever think of that?
"

"
Jasi—
"

"
No, don
'
t
Jasi
me,
"
she snapped.
"
I like working with you, Ben. We
'
re good together. With our skills, we complement each other. We make a great team. I don
'
t get why Matthew doesn
'
t see that.
"

"
He knows what
'
s best.
"

Frustrated, she changed the subject.
"
Did Winkler have any personal belongings?
"

"
Nothing in his pockets, no wallet, no identification. Whoever did this even removed his wedding band.
"

"
Didn
'
t want an ID made.
"

She steered him down the hall, making for the doors to fresh air and life. Morgues always gave her a chill. Death lingered in the air, in every corner.

Around 9:30, they crossed the gloomy parking lot. One streetlight at the far end provided the only light. She noted that two others weren
'
t working.

"
Remind me to mention something to Copeland about the poor lighting out here,
"
she said.

They located the rental, a black SUV with dark tinted windows, the CFBI
'
s definition of inconspicuous transportation. Ben unlocked the doors and slid behind the wheel, and Jasi climbed into the passenger seat.

"
We
'
ll have a full pathology report from Dr. Copeland by tomorrow,
"
she said.
"
For now, we know that someone drugged Winkler, beat him, doused him in an accelerant, set his body on fire and threw him into the river.
"

Ben frowned.
"
Kind of overkill, don
'
t you think?
"

"
That
'
s exactly what I was thinking.
"

"
Intense rage and overkill. What does that tell you?
"

"
It tells me that someone wanted Monty Winkler deader than dead.
"
She looked Ben in the eye.
"
And Winkler knew his assailant.
"

"
So the question is…who?
"

She gave him a scornful look.
"
Are you kidding? He
'
s a politician. Probably had people lining up at his door, just waiting for an opportunity.
"

"
Yeah, I think you
'
re right about that.
"
He fastened his seatbelt, started the car and inched it out into the busy traffic.
"
Well, since you
'
re in training for team leader, why don
'
t you tell me what we should do next?
"

Ben was testing her again. He
'
d been doing that a lot the last two weeks. On his say-so, she
'
d be ready to lead her own team. Something she
'
d been waiting for. She
'
d been going through all the manuals, studying past cases, listening to and watching recorded testimonies for weeks. She was more than ready to lead her own team.

"
We should start with his last known whereabouts and last contacts. Next, we should interview witnesses, make a list of known enemies, find out if any death threats had been issued and look into his political—
"
She broke off.
"
Hey, wasn
'
t Winkler the swing-vote in the small arms rights bill a few months ago?
"

"
Winkler pushed it through before anyone could blink.
"

"
And a lot of people were pissed.
"