Organs that had already been removed and replaced once before were lifted free of the body cavity and weighed, with samples taken. The liver, the organ that would be most important if they were to find any toxins, had shriveled to less than half its original size.

Two hours later, they were done.

"When can we expect results?" Elise asked.

"It depends on a lot of things," Dr. Vince told her. "We'll start by running some of the cheaper, more rapid tests, like the radioimmunoassay and enzyme-mediated immunoassay. If those don't show anything, then we'll have to pull out the big, expensive guns, like mass spectrometry and gas chromatography. That would take quite a bit longer."

"How much longer?"

"A week. Maybe two. Sorry, but we have to adhere to a certain protocol."

Elise and Gould thanked her and left the autopsy suite.

"I know how anxious you are about this," Gould said when they were alone in the adjoining supply room, "but I'm actually impressed with how quickly we got that guy out of the ground and to the morgue."

Elise untied her gown and tossed it in the biohazard container. "If Turello is a victim, then our killer goes back a lot farther than we think. And it will also give us a whole new thread of clues to follow. And what about those CDs? What significance do they have?"

"You're getting ahead of yourself. We have no idea if this guy is connected to the recent crimes."

"But what if he is? What if the CDs were left by the killer?"

"Justification for the killing, maybe. Someone could reason that a prostitute is killing himself. Committing slow suicide. And our killer just helped him along."

"Or it could be a death obsession."

She looked through the glass, to the body still on the table. Two workers from a Savannah funeral home were there, signing paperwork.

"The family is going to have a memorial service," she said. "Then he's to be reburied."

Gould wadded up his gown and tossed it in the bin. "That'sjustsadashell."

"I don't know," Elise said. "Years ago, it wasn't unusual for Gullahs to bury their loved ones twice."

"A second burial? I don't get it."

"The body decomposed so quickly in the heat that they would bury the deceased, then dig him up a year or two later at a more convenient time when all of the family and friends could gather."

"Ah," Gould said with exaggerated satisfaction. "Just another quaint local custom."