The Holy Joe Killer

Chapter One

Disclaimer: Borrowing the characters for fun. Not mine.

As the sun rose over the horizon that early morning, the first sign something was amiss at the Boston city dump was the sheer number of birds circling over a certain spot, more so than usual. When the driver of the dump truck came near and saw what he'd feared had attracted the interest of the birds, even anticipating the grisly discovery he still dry retched before reaching for his walkie talkie.

"Jimmy, there's a body here. Goddamn. Yeah, it's another one - the same sick Jesus shit. Over here in section S2. Say what? Fuckin' right, call the cops!"

Later that morning, as the crime scene was being cordoned off, Frost threw up into his vomit bag, so as not to contaminate the scene. Meanwhile, Jane Rizzoli waved a stick at some birds who had already made off with one eyeball, shooing them away to avoid any additional evidence loss. The natural smells of the dump combined with the distinctive smell of the body's decomposition made even the most hardened of detectives queasy, but Jane had remembered the handy tip Maura had given her; she'd smeared Vicks vapor-rub on her nostrils and so the offensive smells were overpowered. She continued trying to scare off the birds while Maura, wearing a hazmat suit, like the other officers and detectives on the scene, finished the initial examination of the body. The naked male corpse lay supine, posed, resembling Jesus on the cross. The morbidly obese corpse's hands were splayed, his feet impaled together with a stake. There was a roughly made crown of thorns on his head. The body had been left in a location where he would be easily found.

The detectives on the scene looked at each other, thinking of the other two victims who were found naked in similar positions, like Jesus in crucifixion, also posed on top of garbage. The first victim was found on a dumpster barge, and the second victim on top of garbage bags left outside a suburban home for trash collection. All three seemed to have identical wounds, on the palms, the feet and on the torso.

"Caucasian male, aged between 50 and 70, with wounds apparent on both hands and feet, a single wound on his torso, one eyeball missing. Time of death between 48 and 72 hours. I will know more after the autopsy."

"So, it's another victim of the serial killer?" Jane asked.

"I do not make assumptions. I will know more after the autopsy, as I said."

"Hmpf!"

After the photos of the crime scene were taken and they were ready to go, Jane, Frost and Maura were walking back to the car when Jane stepped on something only to realize it was the decomposing body of a rat, riddled with maggots. The disturbance released a stench which was so powerful it nearly made her vomit despite the Vick's, as Frost had already done.

What was worse, when she lifted her foot off the remains, she discovered they stuck to her foot. "Ah, Fuck!"

"Language!" Maura snapped at her as per their usual playful exchange, but then she had to admit to herself that yes, the word summed up the day pretty well, so far.

**** scene end, transition****

When Maura was done with the autopsy, she looked up to see Jane standing at the doorway, observing her. Seeing that Maura was finished, Jane strode over and sat on the free autopsy table next to her. Maura took off her gloves as Jane watched.

"Find any note this time? The same one, jammed in their throat, like the others?"

As she spoke, Jane leaned forward, balancing herself by holding the ends of the table with both hands. Maura took off her face mask and placed it on the tray beside the table, and nodded.

"Yes, like the others, the message was typed, and placed in a ziploc bag. The exact same phrase."

"Yeah?"

Jane paced back and forth as she continued with the questions.

"What about the stab wounds? Are they consistent with those on the other two vics?"

"I was able to determine that this man's hands were impaled with a rusty implement, most likely an iron spike of some description. I was right when I said the reddish brown stain wasn't blood. Not wholly. There was rust as well."

"Couldn't even use a new nail. So our killer is low-rent."

Maura continued as if Jane hadn't spoken.

"Rust traces present around the upper extremity incised wounds. Single punctures make defensive wounding unlikely, and rather indicate deliberate piercing as by a spike. There isn't enough information to determine which type of spike, given the evidence."

Jane groaned and rolled her eyes.

"Yeah. It's a rusty nail. I got it. We'll arrest all the roofers and carpenters in Boston."

Maura ignored her comment and continued;

"You see here the stab wound."

Pointing to the wound on the right hand side of the torso, Maura beckoned to Jane, who peered closer at it.

"Interesting. The length and diameter of the wound indicates a long, narrow tapered blade was used. A dagger of some description, and the mark left behind by the hilt indicates something ... not modern. Sounds crazy, I know. Believe me, I had to do some real digging on this one. But it's something like what would accompany a letter opener, or a dagger resembling one."

Jane looked up at Maura with interest.

"A letter opener? You're serious. Okay, now that's strange. How many perps are going to use something like that? Helps us narrow our investigation."

Maura nodded, walking towards her office, Jane following her.

"Another thing. The path of the wound shows some hesitancy marks, and this time the dagger did not pierce the heart. Unlike the other two cases, where there were no hesitancy marks, and the blade slid between the ribs, this man's ribs were hit twice before the dagger went through and sliced through the liver, the aorta and the lungs - both lungs - causing double pneumothorax. The victim didn't die from air in the lung cavity, though. The cause of death was massive internal bleeding."

Jane paused, nodding solemnly.

"Would the preliminary findings thereby indicate a different killer this time?", Jane asked with mock formality.

Maura sassed back, "I don't make guesses."

"Oh, go ahead! It might save us some time. What would you say, based on the science, hmm?" Jane asked, with a twinkle in her eye.

Maura smiled at her, before folding her arms,

"All I will say is the first two bodies show no hesitancy marks, and the stabbing weapon pierced the heart. The current victim's heart wasn't pierced, but his aorta was, and there were hesitancy marks. I'll type up the autopsy reports for you, and I'll text you when they are ready, and then you can detect."

Jane smiled.

"Great. Ok, see you later, I have to talk to Frost. I'll be back. Don't go anywhere."

Maura laughed at that.

"Where else would I go? I'll be here. That's perfectly fine, come back here when you're ready and we'll go to the Dirty Robber. See you later."

With a friendly smile, Jane nodded as she left the room, heading back to the Bullpen to join the others as they continued with their investigation.

A few hours later, when Jane got the report from Maura, she joined Frost and Korsak at the Bullpen. The three detectives sat facing the big computer screens that displayed the faces of the three victims with case details underneath.

Korsak asked, "Frost, could you pull up the photos of the three victims side by side so we can compare them?"

Frost looked at his computer, and did what was asked. The three detectives looked at the images for another long moment. Then, Korsak made an observation.

"So we know that the killer has some sort of obsession with Jesus' crucifixion. The injuries on all three victims were found on Jesus as he died on the cross, including the crown of thorns.

Go on, tell us. The bible phrase is the same, I bet." The others merely nodded.

Jane looked back to the file in her hands.

"Yes, the exact same phrase. If we can work out its significance to the killer, perhaps it could help us."

Frost pulled up the phrase in question and the words jumped onto the screen.

Isaiah 45:7

I form the light, and create darkness:

I make peace, and create evil:

I the Lord do all these things.

He was the first to break the silence."Sort of creepy, when you look at it. Enigmatic, too. Maybe the killer has a God complex? Or perhaps it's something to do with retribution, that these men were in positions of power and ended up doing 'evil', so our perp had to take them out? Hm, the sooner we identify these victims the better. It's very strange that there doesn't seem to be dental records for any of the victims. And it certainly makes things more challenging for us."

Jane looked at the file again, then remembered what Maura had said back in the morgue.

"Maura said something very interesting earlier. The differences."

Jane explained about the variations in m.o., and the others nodded.

Frost remarked,

"I'm not certain there's only one killer. As you pointed out, the first two victims were killed by someone with a good knowledge of human anatomy, whereas the last victim may have been killed by a different person, who may have been less experienced."

Korsak agreed. Just then they heard a loud gasp, which made the three detectives turn around. Sister Winifred Callahan stood at the door, holding on to the doorframe, with a shocked expression on her face.

"Sister, are you alright? Do you recognize these men?" Jane asked in a very soft voice.

The nun nodded, speechlessly.