The Alibi Man

Chapter 22

“Here’s what I have for you so far,” Mercedes Gitan said. “Have a seat.”

Landry sat. Her office was extraordinarily neat. The desktop could be seen with the naked eye.

“Cause of death: ligature strangulation.”

“What about the manual strangulation?”

“The hyoid bone was intact. I would expect that to be broken if the killer had choked her to death.”

“Time of death?”

“That’s a tougher call because of the body having been submerged.”

“Guesstimate?”

“She’d been dead maybe twenty-four hours, give or take.”

“Rape?”

“I couldn’t say. There was too much damage to the lower torso from the alligator.”

“What good are you?” Landry asked.

“I can tell you she had oral sex before she died and that she hadn’t eaten any solid food,” she said. “Her stomach contents were semen and a green-apple martini. Find out what time she had dinner and add digestion time. That’ll get you something.”

“How much semen?” he asked.

“A lot. This didn’t come from just one player, pardon the pun,” Gitan said. “This girl did the whole club.”