expected. Every organ was grossly involved with obvious destructive infection or at least inflammatory swelling. Within the heart, she found beginning infectious vegetations on the valves. In the liver, there were incipient abscesses, as well as in the brain and kidneys, suggesting the victim had had a massive bacteremia. There were even ulcers in the gut, attesting to the ease with which the bacteria spread.
"How long to the next case?" Laurie asked, as she and Marvin finished suturing the giant autopsy incision encompassing both David Jeffries's chest and abdomen.
"As little time or as much time as you'd like," Marvin said. "If you want a coffee break, I'll stretch it out."
"Actually, if you don't mind, I'll call you when I want to do it. Among other things, I want to see if Cheryl Myers is here and catch her before she goes out on a case."
"Then I'll take my time," Marvin said. "Give me a call when you want to start."
"Make sure you leave a note for whoever releases Jeffries's body to inform the funeral home that a serious infection is involved and precautions should be taken."
On her way out of the autopsy room, Laurie briefly stopped at Jack's table.
"Ah! The doomsayer!" Jacked quipped at recognizing her. "Forsooth, Vinnie! Take heed! She's surely here to terrify us with the grisly horrors of her nosocomial surgical-site infection case."
Despite Vinnie's reflective face mask, she could see him roll his eyes. She felt similarly. On occasion his creative but oft irreverent black humor was not amusing. After being married to him for almost a year, she now saw such behavior as defensive and a way to avoid what he was really thinking.
"I do have to talk with you about my case," Laurie admitted. "There are some additional facts you should know."
"How could I have guessed?" Jack questioned mockingly.
"But it can wait until you are more receptive."
"Praise be to the Lord."
"Where's Lou?"
"He literally fell into a deep sleep leaning against the autopsy table between cases. I thought it best he head home, lest one of the mortuary techs mistake him for a corpse."
"Which case are you doing now?" Laurie asked, to change the subject.
"Sara Barlow, and it's a hell of a lot more interesting than the John Doe floater."
"How so?"
"See the obvious bruises on the face and the upper arms. Obviously, she'd been beat up a lot over time, but do you think any of them could have been fatal, as the police assumed?"
"Probably not, but were there any on the anterior chest?" Laurie asked. She couldn't see because the chest walls were butterflied open. From a case she had when she'd first started at the OCME, she knew that blunt injuries that one would not expect to be lethal could be if they occurred on the chest. "Any reason to suspect commotio cordis?"
"Nope! Chest was clean. What if I tell you there was extensive pinkish pulmonary edema, injected eyes, and sloughing of the tracheal epithelium."
"What's your presumptive diagnosis?" Laurie asked with a sigh.
Sometimes she found Jack's forensic guessing games tedious, and this was one of them.
"What if I told you our clever PA, Janice Jaeger, found a mixture of rather strong, open cleaning products in a glass-enclosed shower stall with a bucket of water and a damp cloth? Earlier, when she had viewed the body, she noticed the knees of the woman's jeans were wet, and the victim was not wearing any socks or shoes."
"I'd have to know if the cleaning products contained hypochlorite, which many do, and if others contained acid, which a lot do, and if she had ignored the warning not to mix them, and did."
"Bingo!" Jack said. "Chlorine gas, the first chemical-warfare agent used in World War One, did her in, not her boyfriend. It's amazing to me how many people blithely ignore product warnings. Anyway, Lou will be pleased it is not another homicide he has to worry about."
"Not unless the boyfriend was the one who insisted she use the deadly products, and use them together."
"Now
"How long to the next case?" Laurie asked, as she and Marvin finished suturing the giant autopsy incision encompassing both David Jeffries's chest and abdomen.
"As little time or as much time as you'd like," Marvin said. "If you want a coffee break, I'll stretch it out."
"Actually, if you don't mind, I'll call you when I want to do it. Among other things, I want to see if Cheryl Myers is here and catch her before she goes out on a case."
"Then I'll take my time," Marvin said. "Give me a call when you want to start."
"Make sure you leave a note for whoever releases Jeffries's body to inform the funeral home that a serious infection is involved and precautions should be taken."
On her way out of the autopsy room, Laurie briefly stopped at Jack's table.
"Ah! The doomsayer!" Jacked quipped at recognizing her. "Forsooth, Vinnie! Take heed! She's surely here to terrify us with the grisly horrors of her nosocomial surgical-site infection case."
Despite Vinnie's reflective face mask, she could see him roll his eyes. She felt similarly. On occasion his creative but oft irreverent black humor was not amusing. After being married to him for almost a year, she now saw such behavior as defensive and a way to avoid what he was really thinking.
"I do have to talk with you about my case," Laurie admitted. "There are some additional facts you should know."
"How could I have guessed?" Jack questioned mockingly.
"But it can wait until you are more receptive."
"Praise be to the Lord."
"Where's Lou?"
"He literally fell into a deep sleep leaning against the autopsy table between cases. I thought it best he head home, lest one of the mortuary techs mistake him for a corpse."
"Which case are you doing now?" Laurie asked, to change the subject.
"Sara Barlow, and it's a hell of a lot more interesting than the John Doe floater."
"How so?"
"See the obvious bruises on the face and the upper arms. Obviously, she'd been beat up a lot over time, but do you think any of them could have been fatal, as the police assumed?"
"Probably not, but were there any on the anterior chest?" Laurie asked. She couldn't see because the chest walls were butterflied open. From a case she had when she'd first started at the OCME, she knew that blunt injuries that one would not expect to be lethal could be if they occurred on the chest. "Any reason to suspect commotio cordis?"
"Nope! Chest was clean. What if I tell you there was extensive pinkish pulmonary edema, injected eyes, and sloughing of the tracheal epithelium."
"What's your presumptive diagnosis?" Laurie asked with a sigh.
Sometimes she found Jack's forensic guessing games tedious, and this was one of them.
"What if I told you our clever PA, Janice Jaeger, found a mixture of rather strong, open cleaning products in a glass-enclosed shower stall with a bucket of water and a damp cloth? Earlier, when she had viewed the body, she noticed the knees of the woman's jeans were wet, and the victim was not wearing any socks or shoes."
"I'd have to know if the cleaning products contained hypochlorite, which many do, and if others contained acid, which a lot do, and if she had ignored the warning not to mix them, and did."
"Bingo!" Jack said. "Chlorine gas, the first chemical-warfare agent used in World War One, did her in, not her boyfriend. It's amazing to me how many people blithely ignore product warnings. Anyway, Lou will be pleased it is not another homicide he has to worry about."
"Not unless the boyfriend was the one who insisted she use the deadly products, and use them together."
"Now
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