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LEDET WOKE UP WITH a heavy sense of foreboding. They still had no good leads regarding the current murder case. How could someone get killed on the Pontchartrain Causeway and there not be any witnesses?
He had a bad feeling about this and wanted to review the file once more. The autopsy report should be done by now. He didn’t want to miss a thing, so if that meant reviewing the information again he would.
As soon as he arrived, he saw the autopsy report on his desk. He told the receptionist, “I am going to grab a coffee and find a quiet spot to look over this file. Call me on my cell phone if you need me.”
The local coffee shop should be quiet for another hour. As he entered, he confirmed his assumption. It was still too early for the morning rush. He ordered his beignets and his coffee and found a booth in the back corner to spread out the files.
Flipping open the manila file, pictures of the young woman greeted him. He shook his head in disgust. A maniac had cut short this poor young girl’s life. The college student on her way home to see her parents had unfortunately broken down on the Pontchartrain Causeway. She probably thought a good Samaritan had stopped to help her. By the looks of the autopsy report, death came quickly. Her eyes and tongue were removed postmortem. The knife had a smooth edge, almost similar to something you would use to filet a fish. The wounds were neat with no hesitation marks. The blade was about six or seven inches long and extremely sharp.
So far, she had no known enemies or a jealous boyfriend. It looked as if her death was simply the result of being in the wrong place at the wrong time. What twist of fate made this poor girl intersect with such evil? Was this written in the stars or just plain bad luck? Another thought crossed his mind, could this be premeditated? Did someone know she would be leaving to see her parents at this time? Did they rig her car to break down?
Ledet took a bite of his beignet and brushed off the powdered sugar from his shirt before taking a sip of coffee. As he finished his coffee, he contemplated the information in front of him. The same questions kept plaguing him. Who did this and why? When would the killer strike again? Ledet’s gut told him this killer would. This case was big, and it was going to get bigger. They needed to nail this guy before he struck again.
Although they tried to keep the grisly details of any murders from the public, someone leaked the cause of death to a local reporter. The story had been sensationalized to the point of exhaustion. Many of the “facts” being reported were not even being verified. The masses didn’t care about that. The only “fact” that the public could wrap their heads and their hearts around was that a young college girl’s life was cut short by a monster. At least the removal of the eyes and tongue had not been released to the public.
Now, rumors circulated about the officers and detectives of the New Orleans Police Department. The rumors speculated that this department and its staff were no longer capable of performing the duties required and could not keep the citizens of this city safe. It did not matter to rumor mongers that the officers and detectives were well trained in investigative procedures.
Detective Ledet put his fingers on his forehead and massaged his temples. His head was killing him. He had stared at these files for too long. Although he had every page memorized now, he still kept looking over them, hoping he had missed something.
He despised being at the mercy of some whack job. His stomach turned with the knowledge that they must wait for him to kill again.