in.
57
“Kevin’s going home sick,” Arnold continued. Kevin was Dr. Kevin Southgate, one of Arnold’s sidekicks. The two argued over everything, particularly religion and politics, despite being quite fond of each other. “I gave him only one post, from the looks of it an easy one at that: an apparently natural death following a collapse on the Fifty-ninth Street platform of the A train. It’s just a routine case.
Anyway, he claims he’s coming down with H1N1, and he’s heading home.”
Arnold laughed into the phone. “Have you seen Bingham yet, and if you have, could you come down and take over? I know I said I’d give you the day as a freebie, but I’m kinda stuck, and you’re the only one available. What do you say?”
Laurie smiled. Of course she wanted the case, even if it turned out to be a natural death. In fact, she thought a natural death was probably a good way to start; it was hard to screw up a natural death. What made her smile was the fact that Arnold didn’t mention whether he was busy or not. Often when he was the on-call medical examiner, he rarely assigned himself any cases.
“Who’s the mortuary tech on the case?” Laurie asked, more out of curiosity than anything else.
“Marvin,” Arnold said. “That’s another reason I thought you might be willing to take over.”
Arnold was speaking the truth. Marvin Fletcher was Laurie’s favorite tech, and she worked with him as often as she could.
“I’ll be happy to do it,” Laurie said. “I’ll be right down.”
True to her word, Laurie left her office as soon as she’d replaced the receiver, and wasted no time pulling on a Tyvek suit, gloves, and her plastic face mask. So attired, she pushed into the autopsy room and glanced around. All eight tables were in use, and Marvin waved from where he was standing at the head of the fourth table. As luck would have it, Jack and Lou were at the neighboring fifth table. They were just finishing up by closing the autopsy incision, with Lou doing the stitching. He’d become such a frequent visitor that he enjoyed helping.
Laurie made a brief stop to say hello.
“Hey, how’s it going?” Jack said, catching sight of her. “I’d heard you were to have a free day, thanks to our fearless leader. What brings you down here?”
“That was before Kevin Southgate fell ill next to you guys.”
Jack glanced at the table just behind him and nodded to Marvin, who was patiently waiting. “I had no idea,” Jack said, returning his gaze to Laurie. “Of 58
course, Arnold couldn’t come down and stand in for his friend.”
“Of course not,” Laurie agreed. “But I’m pleased. I wanted a case, particularly a straightforward case.” Since she didn’t want to get into a discussion of Arnold’s shirking tendencies, which was one of Jack’s pet peeves, she changed the subject and asked how the GSW case had gone.
“I’d say very well,” Jack responded.
“I agree wholeheartedly,” Lou chimed in. “The path of the bullet into the driver’s chest was definitely from the right to the left, meaning he was facing forward when he was shot and not straight on, as he would have been if he was twisted in his seat, backing up, as the accomplices contend. And the core jacket, which separated off as the bullet went through the windshield, did quite a number on the man’s forearm, which couldn’t have happened if he’d had his right arm over the back of the van’s bench seat, as the accomplices also contend.”
“Congratulations,” Laurie remarked, and she meant it. It was a good case to demonstrate the power of forensics.
Moving on, Laurie greeted Marvin, who returned the greeting with great enthusiasm. Up until that moment, they’d not yet seen each other since Laurie’s return to work. After a short discussion of the rigors of parenthood, since Marvin had three kids of his own, Laurie directed the conversation to the victim stretched out on the autopsy table.
“So
57
“Kevin’s going home sick,” Arnold continued. Kevin was Dr. Kevin Southgate, one of Arnold’s sidekicks. The two argued over everything, particularly religion and politics, despite being quite fond of each other. “I gave him only one post, from the looks of it an easy one at that: an apparently natural death following a collapse on the Fifty-ninth Street platform of the A train. It’s just a routine case.
Anyway, he claims he’s coming down with H1N1, and he’s heading home.”
Arnold laughed into the phone. “Have you seen Bingham yet, and if you have, could you come down and take over? I know I said I’d give you the day as a freebie, but I’m kinda stuck, and you’re the only one available. What do you say?”
Laurie smiled. Of course she wanted the case, even if it turned out to be a natural death. In fact, she thought a natural death was probably a good way to start; it was hard to screw up a natural death. What made her smile was the fact that Arnold didn’t mention whether he was busy or not. Often when he was the on-call medical examiner, he rarely assigned himself any cases.
“Who’s the mortuary tech on the case?” Laurie asked, more out of curiosity than anything else.
“Marvin,” Arnold said. “That’s another reason I thought you might be willing to take over.”
Arnold was speaking the truth. Marvin Fletcher was Laurie’s favorite tech, and she worked with him as often as she could.
“I’ll be happy to do it,” Laurie said. “I’ll be right down.”
True to her word, Laurie left her office as soon as she’d replaced the receiver, and wasted no time pulling on a Tyvek suit, gloves, and her plastic face mask. So attired, she pushed into the autopsy room and glanced around. All eight tables were in use, and Marvin waved from where he was standing at the head of the fourth table. As luck would have it, Jack and Lou were at the neighboring fifth table. They were just finishing up by closing the autopsy incision, with Lou doing the stitching. He’d become such a frequent visitor that he enjoyed helping.
Laurie made a brief stop to say hello.
“Hey, how’s it going?” Jack said, catching sight of her. “I’d heard you were to have a free day, thanks to our fearless leader. What brings you down here?”
“That was before Kevin Southgate fell ill next to you guys.”
Jack glanced at the table just behind him and nodded to Marvin, who was patiently waiting. “I had no idea,” Jack said, returning his gaze to Laurie. “Of 58
course, Arnold couldn’t come down and stand in for his friend.”
“Of course not,” Laurie agreed. “But I’m pleased. I wanted a case, particularly a straightforward case.” Since she didn’t want to get into a discussion of Arnold’s shirking tendencies, which was one of Jack’s pet peeves, she changed the subject and asked how the GSW case had gone.
“I’d say very well,” Jack responded.
“I agree wholeheartedly,” Lou chimed in. “The path of the bullet into the driver’s chest was definitely from the right to the left, meaning he was facing forward when he was shot and not straight on, as he would have been if he was twisted in his seat, backing up, as the accomplices contend. And the core jacket, which separated off as the bullet went through the windshield, did quite a number on the man’s forearm, which couldn’t have happened if he’d had his right arm over the back of the van’s bench seat, as the accomplices also contend.”
“Congratulations,” Laurie remarked, and she meant it. It was a good case to demonstrate the power of forensics.
Moving on, Laurie greeted Marvin, who returned the greeting with great enthusiasm. Up until that moment, they’d not yet seen each other since Laurie’s return to work. After a short discussion of the rigors of parenthood, since Marvin had three kids of his own, Laurie directed the conversation to the victim stretched out on the autopsy table.
“So
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