Page 6 of Their Haunted Hearts (Detectives Kane and Alton #27)
Five
That afternoon, Jenna stepped into the brightly lit corridor leading to the examination rooms in the medical examiner’s building.
Behind her, she could hear Kane’s and Raven’s boots clattering on the tile floor.
The air had a strange aroma of vanilla and formaldehyde as she led the way to an alcove where they changed into scrubs and PPE.
Once ready, they moved to the door with the red light glowing above it and Jenna swiped her identification card across the scanner.
The door slid open in a whoosh and the faint smell of decomposition oozed through her face mask.
Cold immediately seeped through her clothes, raising goose bumps and instilling a feeling of unease.
Autopsies were a necessity, but she hated attending them, sometimes unable to push the sight of a murder victim from her mind.
She guessed being here made her more determined to catch the killer.
Trying to breathe as shallowly as possible, she blinked into the brightness of the overhead surgical lights, reflecting in the stainless-steel surfaces, over the neat rows of instruments and the array of screens.
Wolfe stood beside an instrument tray, his white-blond hair partly covered by a surgical cap, his face masked and covered with a plastic shield.
He nodded to Jenna and turned to greet them.
“There y’all are and Raven too.” Wolfe’s gray eyes twinkled. “Almost ready. Emily will be along soon.” He removed the tops from specimen jars filled with liquid and lined them up.
Jenna moved to stand under the air-conditioning unit. The constant flow of fresh air made being in the autopsy suite a little more palatable. She leaned her back against the counter. “Have you completed a preliminary examination?”
“I’ve taken the body temperature, swabbed the exterior for any hairs or trace evidence, and taken a good set of prints.
I figure she died around eight to twelve hours before her body was discovered.
” Wolfe sighed. “Emily is running a DNA sample in the sequencer, but unless she or any of her relatives are in the database, it will be no use until she shows on a missing person’s file and we can test a relative. ”
The door whooshed open and Emily Wolfe, the new medical examiner, came through the door in a squeak of shoes. She dumped an armful of specimen jars on the counter and turned to look at them.
“Hello, everyone.” She arranged the jars within reach. “Hi, Raven. It’s good to see you again.”
“I couldn’t miss watching you work.” Raven gave her hand a squeeze. “It’s been a long road for you but it’s finally happening. Your dad must be so proud of you.” He glanced at Wolfe.
“I’m just about bursting.” Wolfe’s eyes crinkled at the corners as he smiled behind the mask.
“But it makes me feel terribly old. It seems only yesterday I was bringing her home from the hospital.” He looked at Emily.
“Okay, we’d better get to work.” He walked over to a bank of drawers, slid out a body on an autopsy table and then pushed it under the lights.
“I have everything we need.” Beside him, Emily pulled down the microphone and positioned it in front of her father.
Jenna pressed her face mask tighter over her nose as the distinct smell of bodily fluids wafted from the corpse.
When Wolfe removed the sheet, the acrid sweet smell of decomposition became overpowering.
The victim was sheet-white, and the tips of her toes and fingers had turned blue.
A bullet hole in her cheek showed white teeth. “What have you got, Shane?”
“The victim is a healthy white female between the ages of eighteen and twenty-two. Five feet, six inches and approximately one hundred pounds.” He examined her mouth.
“The gunshot wounds to face and right upper torso, I assume, came from this morning’s shooter.
The bullet went straight through and was collected along with others at the scene.
I’ve checked them and they match the shooter’s weapon.
I don’t believe the gunshots contributed to this person’s death.
” He went back to the mouth. “We’ll concentrate on the victim and cause of death.
She has a full set of porcelain veneers, blue eyes, and ear piercings but is without any other distinguishing features.
” He glanced up at Jenna. “I already checked for any signs of sexual abuse or activity and found nothing significant. The finger- and toenails are clean.”
Jenna had attended many autopsies in her time as sheriff and understood the process. “I don’t see any defensive wounds on her anywhere. Have you completed a tox screen?”
“Yeah, we’ve taken a number of samples and they’re being run as we speak.
” Wolfe turned back to the body. “As you can see, there are two small sharp forced injuries directly above her carotid artery approximately two inches apart. I will examine the marks under the microscope to determine what made them. Although from prior knowledge, they are not made by an animal.”
“There would be some distinct tearing if an animal had bitten her neck.” Emily turned to look at Jenna. “There would also be scratching or other indications of animal interaction. We would also find fur or saliva and we found neither of these.”
“Did she bleed out?” Kane had moved closer to the gurney and was watching with interest.
“Yeah, I believe so. The pale waxy skin tone and lack of livor mortis would indicate exsanguination.” Wolfe glanced over his shoulder.
“I believe the body was drained of blood prior to death via the carotid artery. Likely using a wide catheter inserted directly. It is clean and she has no bruising or abrasions around the neck to suggest her killer restrained her. There is no doubt that she was unconscious at the time.”
“The stake wound appears to be postmortem.” Raven moved closer to Jenna and leaned his back against the counter. “It’s on a strange angle. Do you figure he hammered that through while she was standing up inside the coffin?”
“Yeah, that was my determination as well when I removed it to get her out of the coffin. The lack of tissue damage, as in no bruising, would indicate a postmortem injury.” Wolfe waved him forward.
“The stake was plunged in with considerable force, although he used the interior wedges that suspended the original mannequin to support the body. Unless this is a powerful man, he must have used a mallet of some kind.”
“What type of wood is it?” Kane peered at the body.
“Treated pine as used in garden stakes.” Wolfe looked at Jenna over the top of his face mask. “They sell them all over town.” He looked at Emily. “Crack her open.”
Jenna looked away as Emily went to work. When Emily had cut through the rib cage to expose the internal organs, she gathered herself and lifted her gaze. “What else do you see?”
“There is an absence of blood in the major vessels and organs, which would confirm exsanguination as the primary cause of death.” Wolfe stopped recording and turned back to Jenna.
“The marks on the neck and the stake could indicate the killer’s obsession with vampires.
The positioning of the stake indicates a ritualistic mindset.
” He glanced at Kane. “Don’t you agree?”
“I do.” Kane lifted his gaze to Jenna. “I hope this doesn’t cause panic with people believing we have vampires in town. You know what the townsfolk are like over the week before Halloween. The mist rolls in and everyone starts seeing things.”
“Do you figure it’s the man you caught shooting up the town?” Wolfe stepped away from the autopsy table, leaving Emily to remove the organs and weigh them.
Recalling the slight figure waving a gun, Jenna shrugged.
“It could be, but I doubt it. The shooter was intoxicated and has a small frame. Someone dismantled the display, ripped out the mannequin, and installed a heavy body and then staked it. If the shooter did it, he had help.” She straightened.
“Do you mind if we leave you to finish up here? I want to get back to the office and search for missing persons so we can identify this poor woman.”
“Not a problem.” Wolfe nodded sagely. “I’ll upload the reports to the server as soon as I’ve finished them. The DNA and toxicology screen will take some time but I’ve tested specifically for a date-rape drug and a few narcotics. The rest will take longer.”
“Thanks.” Kane followed Jenna to the door.
Jenna stood in the alcove and ripped off the scrubs. She lifted her gaze to Kane and Raven. “That’s all we need. A killer who has a fascination with vampires.”
“I’d keep a lookout for any large bats.” Raven grinned at her. “Since I’ve lived here, it seems nothing is impossible.”