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his back. My thinking is that he might have been jumped on, beaten, perhaps a robbery that went wrong even.”
    Lorne tapped a finger against her nose. “Hmm… possibly. But surely if robbery was the motive, wouldn’t the assailants have stolen the vehicle, instead of leaving it running? Just a thought.”
    “A good one at that,” Patti was quick to agree. Then she sank the scalpel blade into the man’s body.
    “Did you go through his personal effects? Was his wallet still with him?” Katy asked, thinking along the same lines as Lorne.
    “His wallet was in the back pocket of his jeans, along with his other ID. I guess we can discount robbery in that case, given the evidence left behind,” Patti told them. She pulled the blade down the length of the man’s breastbone to his belly button then withdrew the blade and dropped it into the waiting metal dish on the stand beside her.
    “It’s all very perplexing. No known enemies that either his wife or his work colleagues can tell us about. The vehicle left running instead of being stolen. The fact that someone went out of their way to stage this as a suicide. Why would anyone want to do that?” Lorne asked.
    “Like I always say, when you ask questions about the motive to a crime, Sergeant, I can give you all the information, except that. It looks like you’re going to have to dig deep to find the answers on this one.” Patti picked up the scalpel again and started slicing off pieces of the victim’s internal organs and depositing each piece carefully into sample pots so they were ready for more thorough tests. It was almost an hour before Patti finally let out a huge breath. “Well, that’s it, ladies. Job complete.”
    “And? What’s your professional opinion?” Katy asked.
    “As it was in the beginning, Inspector, the blow to the head is the cause of death. He was dead minutes before any of the fumes from the exhaust could do any further damage. His lungs are clear in that respect.”
    “Okay, so now we have a murderer on the loose who kills innocent people by stabbing them in the head. Should be easy to find, eh?” Lorne said sarcastically.
    “Maybe we’re looking for someone who’s just been released from a mental institute,” Katy offered.
    “Bit extreme, but I suppose anything is possible. Shit like that is always showing up in news bulletins nowadays. Are there any mental hospitals around the crime scene?” Lorne replied.
    Katy shook her head. “Not a clue. Even if there aren’t any in the area, it’s still something we shouldn’t discount. Any similar incident in the past has involved these people being set free—just shoved out the door with little or no money to their names—and never into the hands of an accompanying member of their family, from what I can remember.”
    “You’re right. It’s dreadful, these people who—let’s be frank—are crying out for help, are neglected in such a way in today’s caring society.”
    “Ladies, as much as I’d love to stand around listening to you debate what kind of killer you’re after, I’m going to have to get changed and onto the next PM. So if you’ll excuse me.” Patty motioned for Katy and Lorne to leave the examination room.
    “Oops, sorry. We ought to be getting back to the station anyway. Thanks, Patti,” Katy said as they all left the room together. “We’ll be in touch if we need anything else.”
    “Sure. Toodle pip, ladies, and good luck. You’re going to need it.”

Chapter Four
    In spite of their best efforts, the team had not come up with anything significant in their absence, either. Katy left Lorne to run through what each member had uncovered, while she tackled the paperwork threatening to bury her alive in her office.
    “Nothing on the CCTV footage, AJ, I take it?” Lorne asked, crossing the room to the sergeant’s desk.
    “I can show you what I managed to dig up. It’s not much.” AJ pounded the keys on his keyboard then pointed at the screen.