Morwood turned. “Good lord, look at those faces.”
“Let’s start with that,” said Corrie quickly. “The histology sections of the skin suggested a strong acid had come in contact with it, and a chemical analysis confirmed it: HCl, hydrochloric acid. It looks like both individuals had highly concentrated hydrochloric acid splashed or sprayed into their faces—repeatedly, in fact, as evidenced by the microscopic layering of damage I saw in the samples.”
“Torture, in other words?” asked Morwood.
“They were tortured, yes. But not with acid. I believe the acid was applied postmortem to erase their facial features, make identification harder. The same acid was applied to the fingers—most likely to dissolve the fingerprints.”
“Extraordinary. Does it mean we can’t do facial reconstructions?”
“The acid penetrated to the bone in places, but no more than surface etching. We should be able to do reconstructions.”
“And the cause of death?”
“Execution-style shots to the left temple of each victim, with powder burns and flakes. We recovered both shell casings. The muzzle of the gun, a .45, was pressed to the skin.”
“I see,” said Morwood. “What about the torture?”
“Fingernails were removed from the thumb and pinkie of the right hand of the man, and from the index and middle fingers of the woman’s hands.”
Morwood bent over the bodies. He pulled on a pair of gloves and gently lifted one of the hands, examining the fingers. “Crushed as well.”
“Yes, sir. Several fingers on both victims were fractured. Pliers or a similar tool, used to crush and twist.”
Lathrop, impatient to break in, now interrupted. “It was torture most foul. We’ve removed the remains of internal organs to test for toxins and so forth. We’ll ship out those evidence containers tomorrow.”
“Excellent,” murmured Morwood. “ID?”
Lathrop again spoke over Corrie. “ID, yes, very important. Extremely important. Both victims had dental work, and we’ve got X-rays and are looking for a match in the databases. Unfortunately the acid erased any chance of fingerprint identification. The male is about forty to fifty, the female thirty-five to forty-five. I might note both sported wedding bands, and she had a modest diamond engagement ring—deformed, no doubt during the torture.”
This all came out in a rush.
“Wedding rings?” Morwood asked sharply. “They were married?”
“Certainly, and probably to each other,” Lathrop said. “In 1947, a woman wouldn’t normally go around with a man not her husband.”
“And the date?”
“Based on the coins found in the pocket,” Lathrop went on, “1947 seems like a probable date, since there was an uncirculated penny of that year, several coins predating that, but nothing later. So 1947 is the terminus post quem. The manufacturing date of the shell casings is 1947 as well.”
Corrie was annoyed to hear that Latin phrase, which Lathrop loved to employ and had once mocked her for not knowing.
“Any trace of radiation?” Morwood asked.
“First thing we checked,” said Lathrop. “None.”
Morwood said, “You probably know of the two bomb scientists who went missing up at Los Alamos in 1947—vanished into thin air. They were later shown to be spies, and it was presumed they had defected to the Soviet Union. When these two bodies were discovered, I thought we might have found them…until one turned out to be female. Still, I wonder if there might be a connection. Corrie, what do you think?” he added as Lathrop started to open his mouth again.
“I think that’s a lead worth looking into, sir,” said Corrie. This, she realized, was why Morwood had been so interested in the two bodies—and why he’d looked disappointed when one turned out to be female.
“Any success in figuring out what the device is?” Morwood asked.
“Not yet,” said Corrie. “HiChem Industries no longer exists. They did classified defense research, aeronautical engineering, missile and weapons design, that sort of thing. We’ve got pictures of it out to several engineers.”
“I’d like to check it out of evidence,” said Morwood, “and bring it to Los Alamos. There’s a fellow I know up there, a scientist, now semi-retired. Dr. Angus Eastchester. He might be able to identify it.”
“Of course,” said Corrie. “If you want, you can take it now. We’ll do the checkout paperwork after you leave.” She picked it up and put it back in its evidence box, then sealed it and made a note on the label.