Read The Traveller for Free Online Page B

and a make.’
    ‘Have you got a name?’ ‘Can’t tell you.’ Detective Barren stood up.
    ‘I’ll go to your boss. I’ll go to mine. I’ll go to the papers …’
    He motioned her to sit back down. ‘We got a name. And he’s got a tail. And when we got enough for a warrant, we’ll let you know.’ ‘You sure?’
    ‘Nothing’s certain. Look, the papers have been all over this thing and a lot of details have been in the press. So we’re moving slowly, we want to make certain that we make this guy on a murder-one charge, not attempted assault. Hell, we want to make him on all five. That’s taking some time.’ ‘Do it right,’ she said. Detective Perry smiled, relieved. ‘That’s what I figured you’d say.’ She looked at him.
    ‘Well,’ he said, ‘that’s what I hoped you’d say.’ He stood up. ‘I want this creep to understand boxes. The first box is the one I’m putting together for him. Everywhere he turns, I’m gonna have an answer. No way he can crawl out. The second box is gonna be a nine-by-eleven on the Raiford Riviera …’
    Death row, thought Detective Barren. She nodded. ‘And you can guess what the last box will be.’ She felt a momentary rush of satisfaction. Detective Barren stood up. ‘Thank you,’ she said. ‘You want to be in on it when it goes down?’ ‘Wouldn’t miss it.’ ‘All right. I’ll call.’ ‘I’ll be waiting.’
    They shook hands and she walked out, for the first time in several days feeling hungry.
    When she returned to her own office, two days later, after a hot, dirty day doing an inventory of car parts uncovered at a chop shop in the warehouse district, she found two memos on her desk. The first was from her own commander, listing a disposition of evidence gathered at the site where Susan’s body had been recovered. The second was an autopsy memo from the medical examiner’s officer. She read them carefully.
    to: Det. Mercedes Barren from: Lt. Ted March
    merce: That was a bite mark. But it was too ragged to make a distinct mold and is therefore not of high evidentiary value. Saliva breakdown from swab of the area shows normal enzyme values, but trace alcohol rendered it difficult if not impossible to come up with blood type. Guy must have had a drink or two. Booze always screws things up. Even just a beer or two. Anyway, I’ve sent the entire sample back over to the lab again and told them to try again. The two prophylactics recovered at the scene contained different sperm samples. Both had deteriorated considerably. Still, one was Type A/Positive, the other O/Positive. Further breakdowns are underway. No workable prints on anything so far, but they’re going to try that laser evaluator on the soda cans. I’ll let you know. Pretty much a total wash so far. Sorry. But we’re going to keep trying.
    to: Detective Mercedes Barren from: Assistant ME Arthur Vaughn
    detective: Cause of death of deceased white female, age eighteen, identified positive as Susan Lewis of Bryn Mawr Pennsylvania, is massive trauma to the right rear portion of the occipital bone coupled with asphyxiation due to strangulation by nylon ligature around neck. (See autopsy protocol for precise cause.) Genital swabs negative. Acid phosphase test negative.
    Detective: she was unconscious from the head blow when she was assaulted. She probably never regained consciousness when be strangled her. Sex act was premortem, however. But there were no signs of ejaculation. This could have been due to prophylactic device.
    I’m terribly sorry about all of this. The autopsy protocol should
    answer any questions you have, but if it doesn’t don’t hesitate to call.
    Detective Barren put the two reports in her pocketbook. She glanced at the autopsy protocol, with its schematic diagram and pages of verbatim description of her niece’s body, transcribed from the medical examiner’s tape recorder. Height. Weight. Brain: 1220 grams. Heart: 230 grams. Well-developed, post-adolescent female