Skin Deep

84

It wasn’t until one o’clock that Saturday afternoon when Steve finally heard back from Chief Nathan David of the Wellfleet P.D. Because the file photo of Marla Murphy was grainy, Steve had asked for a sharper, more recent likeness. David had placed the request with the family, saying that the case had been reopened. The family obliged and sent him a photo taken shortly before her death. It was the image attached to Chief David’s e-mail.

Steve opened it with no expectations. He clicked on his printer then got the Stubbs file to include it. When the printer was finished, he looked at it.

At first he wasn’t sure that David had sent a photo of the same woman. So he opened the file and removed the grainy original. In that one she had blond hair. But what caught his attention was that her features looked different. Her nose looked broader and longer, her eyes were more squinty, and her lips were thinner. It was the same woman as in the grainy older shot. But the face in the recent photo was pretty—voluptuous, more balanced in features. She also had red hair.

He picked up the phone and called Chief David and thanked him for the photo and pointed out the difference in the woman’s likeness. “I’m just wondering if this is the same woman, Marla Murphy.”

David put the phone down to get the files. Then he returned. “Yeah, it’s Marla Murphy.”

Steve strained to keep his voice neutral. “Any report that she had cosmetic surgery?”

“Not that I know of, but I see what you mean. I thought it was just the hair.”

“Can you tell me the next of kin?”

He named the deceased’s sister, a Sarah Pratt-Duato.

He thanked David and hung up. For a few seconds he sat there looking at the photos and feeling a strange premonitional awareness build. Then he called the number David had given him for Marla’s sister. “Is this Sarah Pratt-Duato?”

“Yes.”

Steve identified himself, said the case had been reopened and that he had a few questions for her.

“I’ll do my best.”

He explained the discrepancies in the photographs. “Did your sister have cosmetic surgery? She looks younger and her features don’t match up.”

After some hesitation she said, “I suppose it doesn’t matter anymore but, yes, she had some face work done. She was in a profession that puts a premium on physical appearance, and she had yielded to the pressure.”

“A news reporter.” Steve felt a small shudder pass through him as if the temperature of the room had dropped twenty degrees.

“Yes. As you can imagine, to make it in that profession you have to move from station to station, and all they seem to hire these days are superstars or pretty girls. And she was not a superstar.”

“Of course. And what procedures exactly did she have done?”

“The usual for women her age—Restylane injections, eyelid work, abrasion therapy. She also had a nose job even though I don’t think she needed one.”

Steve’s mouth was suddenly dry. “Do you know when she had the cosmetic surgery?”

“A few weeks before her…her murder.” She gave emphasis to the word.

He named the approximate dates.

“Yes, about then. I don’t remember exactly since she kept it quiet until I saw her and it was obvious. Of course, in her business, nobody wants to know. It’s just the image that’s for sale.”

“Sure.”

“I’d like to add that my sister did not commit suicide and wasn’t into any perversions as reported.”

“I’m sure.”

“Thank you, and I hope you get the so-and-so.”

“One more question if you don’t mind. Do you know the name of the surgeon?”

“She never said.”

Steve thanked her, put the phone back onto the cradle, and just sat there looking at the last photograph of Marla Murphy before she was strangled with a black stocking.

She looked like Dana with red hair.