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on her side for Maggie and Diana to see.
    Deep, vicious claw wounds marred the young woman’s shoulders and calves, as if something had jumped on her to take her down. Around the puncture wounds there appeared to be some bruising, although lividity had set in, making it difficult to tell. Hopefully the photos they had taken earlier would show the actual extent of the bruises.
    “How big an animal was it, to be able to reach from here to there?” Diana asked, motioning down the length of the woman’s body.
    Maggie and the ME answered almost simultaneously. “Five- to seven-foot span.”
    At Diana’s questioning look, Maggie said, “The victim is tall. Five foot ten. If the animal leapt at her from behind, it might have bunched up when landing, which is why it’s hard to say exactly.”
    “Regardless, we don’t have wild animals of that size running around loose in New York City ,” Diana muttered. “Unless something got free from one of the local zoos.”
    “My assistant checked around this morning. All the cats, wolves, and bears in the area zoos and exhibits are accounted for,” the medical examiner said.
    “Any remnants of the claws, fur, or anything non-human on the body?” Maggie asked as she gestured for them to settle the victim onto her back once more.
    The ME nodded. “Some fur, but no claws. I’ve sent it to our fibers team to analyze. I can send you samples along with the body.”
    “I’d like that. What about the earlier victim? Any similar wounds or fibers on her?” Diana asked.
    The medical examiner flushed with embarrassment. “The earlier victim wasn’t this—” he fumbled for the words, finally settling on the only one he could—“eaten. It did appear to be an animal attack, but that vic had a large Newfoundland dog, big enough to have caused the fatal wounds. And we had no other indications of foul play.”
    Wanting to keep open the lines of communication because they would need the ME’s assistance on this and other cases, Diana nodded. “Seems to be a reasonable judgment call. But now we know better. Any chance you still have samples from that attack?”
    He nodded, and with a jerk of his head, sent his assistant to fetch them. “I have specimens ready for you to take. I understand Dr. Gonzalez wants to review them.”
    “Maggie, please, Dr. Upton. We appreciate your cooperation and the wonderful job you’ve done so far,” she said, following Diana’s lead.
    The man visibly relaxed, but then he glanced at the victim and tension crept back into his body. “In all my years, I’ve never seen anything like this. Even the earlier body wasn’t this badly mangled.”
    Diana exchanged a look with Maggie. “We haven’t either, doc. Let’s just hope we don’t catch another one like this anytime soon.”
    …
    Diana, Maggie, and David were in the war room later that afternoon, going over all the evidence they had gathered so far. They were beginning to tie together certain aspects of the two crimes.
    Maggie’s associates in the FBI crime lab had confirmed the existence of multiple blood specimens at the second crime scene. They had also begun analyzing the blood samples from the first victim, hoping to find something to link the two crimes.
    Diana pored over the bite expert’s report, then shared her impressions with her partners.
    Her partners.
    She felt a whirl of emotions, glad that David and she were once again working together, despite her earlier upset. Having had time to think about it, she knew her anger had stemmed more from her ADIC’s blindside than the thought of working with David once again. She had reacted with her gut at the surprise, but now, she was hoping working on the case together would finally let all of them settle their differences. With any luck for the better.
    “According to this, the bites were likely from some kind of canine,” she said, “but it was impossible to say whether it came from a dog, coyote, or wolf. Mainly because the bite