Corrales raised himself – away from the gruesome mess below the table – and took a closer look at Jimmy's face. It was grotesquely distorted from the pain that he obviously endured and blemished with at least a dozen deep cigarette burns. These were not superficial grey ash marks, but sadistic, slow-burn, flesh-consuming fissures that made Corrales wince as he looked into the putrefying holes. “Let's get some pictures before I take that thing out of his mouth,” he said to his assistant, Sergeant Emilio Reyes.
After donning surgical gloves, Corrales carefully removed the private parts from between Jimmy's open jaws. With his penlight, he examined the inside of Jimmy’s mouth. The flies had already managed to lay their eggs in the bloody cavern. There was a larval squirm of activity once the obscene gag was removed and the flashlight beam entered the violated cavity. The lieutenant discovered that a tooth – a rear molar – had been extracted – rather forcefully – from the victim's lower jaw. Dried blood and torn flesh filled the space where the tooth had been.
