SETH
Cause of death?

M.E.
Exsanguination.

SETH
She bled to death?

M.E.
(nodding)
Yes.
(walking to the body)
In addition to the feathers--which
we’ll get to in a minute--there
were seven other wounds. Five
incisions: one at the base of her
spine, one just below the navel and
one just above, one in the middle
of her chest between her breasts,
and one across her throat, severing
the jugular. That’s the one that
killed. There are two other
injuries, as you might notice.

CLOSE UP:

of her face. There is the image of an eye carved into the
middle of her forehead.

RETURN TO NORMAL:

SETH
The eye, obviously. What’s the
other one?

The M.E. lifts her head. On the top of her head, in the part
of her hair, is a wound shaped like a cross.

SETH
Ah. And the feathers?

A pan nearby holds a number of white feathers stained red
with blood. The M.E. turns the body to the side, showing her
back. There are two outlines cut into her back; the middles
are filled in with a number of punctures.

M.E.
I pulled sixty feathers out of her
back, thirty on each side. They
were meticulously placed, each
placement measured out. There is
the exact same amount of space
between each puncture.

SETH
Was she dead when the feathers were
done or was she still alive?

M.E.
Alive. She was alive through every
single wound and bled out when her
jugular was cut. She was drugged
though.

SETH
Did you get the tox screen back?

M.E.
No. It’s just a guess. She has
defensive wounds, but they’re old.
She was missing for three days
before she turned up in the park,
right?

SETH
Yeah.

M.E.
Her defensive wounds are about that
old. She has marks on her wrists,
arms, and legs suggesting that she
was tied up, but there aren’t any
defensive wounds the same age as
these wounds. When the perp was
killing her she was alive but not
struggling. And...
(he rolls her body, showing an
injection mark on her spine)
there are several different
injection marks on her body, in
places that suggest she was drugged

rather than a drug user. Tox screen
will confirm, but I’m almost
positive she had something in her
system.