I made the decision to put Dezzie's broken little body into the back of my car, and to take her directly to the small funeral home on the edge of town. The Doc could use their facilities to do the autopsy. Then she wouldn't need to be moved again. I drove slowly out of the driveway, the neighbors dejectedly retreating to their homes casting me woeful looks. I hung my head in defeat as I drove carefully. There was no need to hurry anymore.

Mentally I was making a list of the male teachers that worked at Caroline Elementary School. There were only three. Two of which I had known my whole life. The last was a Justin Tench, a newcomer to town. He came from money so nobody really knew why he wanted to be a schoolteacher. I would be paying him a visit in the morning if not sooner. I'd better take a deputy with me to help me keep a level head. I was likely to brain the bastard for what he had done to this little angel. 

But I couldn't dwell on that, right now I needed to document everything that had been done to this child. I was dreading watching the doctor preform the examination. It had been three years since I observed my last autopsy, and that was an old man who died out in the woods. Not a young girl who had been brutalized. I swallowed hard, forcing the bile back down to my stomach where it belonged. I reached back into the backseat and steadied her tiny body as I made the turnoff into the funeral home's parking lot. I honked the horn as I parked beneath the portico. I breathed a sigh of relief when I noticed the light flick on inside the foyer. The Damsen's had been operating the funeral home since I had moved to Walnut Hill and they were getting up in years.

A sleepy eyed man opened the double doors. "Sheriff."  He grumbled.

"Clyde." I greeted cutting off the car and stepping out. "I've got a bad one for you." I cautioned as I opened the rear passenger door.

"Do ya now?" He queried, looking a little more awake.

"Little girl, murdered. Doc's coming to do an autopsy then I want you and the Missus to make her look like a princess." I choked on the last word, emotion making my words think in my mouth.

Clyde patted me roughly on the shoulder. "The dead suffer no more my boy."

I nodded silently as I gathered the tiny bundle in my arms.

His eyes widened a bit, but he said nothing as he led the way inside. He took me to a chilly room at the end of the hall. He motioned to a stainless steel table with a shower head and drain attached. He flicked the light switch and the bulbs flickered as they came on, casting the room in a warm light.

Gently I lowered her to the table, being careful of her head as I set her down. I didn't know why but I was unable to shake the habit of treating her corpse as if it were my own sleeping daughter.

Clyde gently pulled my jacket away, and for the first time I saw her broken body not shrouded in shadow. Clyde cursed quietly under his breath, "Jesus Christ."

I took a moment to steady myself, gripping the edges of the table so hard my knuckles turned white. "God and Jesus have nothing to do with it, what kind of sick mother fucker could do this?"

"I don't know Sheriff but I hope you find him before he kills again." Clyde said softly reaching out a shaking hand and smoothing Dezzie's hair down over her broken skull.

The doorbell rang as I was opening my mouth to reply, saving me from embarrassing myself as I felt a sob building in my throat. I blinked hard willing the moisture from my eyes. There would be time for that later.

"Must be the Doc," Clyde murmured shuffling towards the door. "I'll show him in." 

I nodded my head gratefully. Taking a few deep breaths as she left the room to calm myself. Feeling my sadness slowly be replaced by white hot anger. Stealing myself for what I knew must happen next. Needing to harden my heart for what I already knew to be confirmed. As I heard the footsteps approaching I took one more deep breath, holding it until Doc and Clyde entered the room. As they entered I let it out in a whoosh and then greeted the Doc. "Thanks for coming on such short notice Doc."

A tall gaunt man, Doc looked the part in his white jacket and spectacles.  He whistled lowly as he caught sight of Dezzie. "I wish it wasn't under the circumstances." He said quietly.

"Yeah I know, but the more evidence we have..."

"And the fresher the remains the easier it will be." He finished my thought. "Well, lets begin then." He drew out a pair of gloves and snapped them onto his long, thin fingers.

Clyde pushed a tray of tools to the side of the table. "Doc let me know if you require anything else."

"Bolt cutters?" The Doc asked.

Clyde nodded his head in understanding, leaving the room quietly.

He took out a notepad and began to notate her injuries. "Bruising to the arms, inner thighs, throat and torso. Evidence of manual strangulation." He used one gloved finger to separate her closed eyelids."Peticial hemorrhaging."

"What does that mean?"  I broke in.

The Doc turned to me. "It means the cause of death is strangulation, as the killer choked the life from her, the pressure caused the blood vessels in her eyes to burst causing the blood you see here." 

I followed his finger to see the burst blood vessels in her eyes, they were a dark brown but seemed to have a gray film over her pupils. "What is that?" 

"Decomposition is very quick, the body begins to break down almost immediately after death."

I nodded my head in understanding. "So she was strangled, then why would he bash in her skull?" I asked truly puzzled.

"He probably tried that first." The Doc said clinically. He removed a tool from his bag and gently parted her thighs.

I could not watch as she was further violated. Turning my back to the table I tried to focus on the moth fluttering above one of the wall sconces.

"Just as I feared," The Doc began. "Tearing of the vaginal walls and also the anus. Her bowel has been perforated. Also the clitoris has been cut away, rather jaggedly."

I gagged and barely made it, as I lunged to the sink. I gagged as my body slammed. Gagging as I  emptied the contents of my stomach into the deep sink.  I wiped my mouth with a shaking hand. Then turning on the faucet splashed cold water over my face and rinsing my mouth. Shrugging my shoulders helplessly I turned back to face the Doc and apologetic look on my face. "Sorry Doc." I muttered.

His face was nearly as pale as mine. He gave me a tight smile of understanding. "This is the worst I've ever seen." He held up a blood covered stick.

"Jesus, Mary and Joseph." I shuttered. My heart was breaking even as I began to shake with rage. The horror of what had been done to this child. I didn't know how I was going to break the news to her parents. How I was going to be able to sleep with the knowledge that the sick bastard that had done this was walking free in our sleepy little town.