Hollywood is an All Volunteer Army by Steven Paul Leiva Page B

Continue.”
    â€œThe mechanism of death was instantaneous ventricular fibrillation of the heart cause by the electrical current passing from the point of contact, through the heart, then on down to the ground, and the manner of death—”
    â€œHomicide, obviously.”
    â€œObviously. The accidentally dead and suicides don’t usually take a vacation trip to Alaska postmortem, so to speak.”
    â€œWhere was the point of entry of the current?”
    â€œHer lips.”
    â€œHer lips?”
    â€œThey were burnt clean off.”
    â€œAnd the grounding point?” I had a guess. It was, unfortunately, correct.
    â€œHer knees.”
    â€œHer knees? Plural?”
    â€œCorrect—both of them. Identical burn marks.”
    â€œTo kiss the golden arse,” I half whispered.
    â€œWhat?”
    â€œNothing. If it’s something fruitful, I’ll share it later.”
    ~ * ~
    The Captain also reported that the Anchorage coroner could not give even a close estimated of time of death as the body had been frozen in the snow bank, delaying decomposition. However, given the condition of the body, especially that the fixed lividity—that is, where the blood had been taken by gravity to settle and, eventually, clot—was somewhat unevenly distributed throughout the body, and that there was no discoloration of the skin, the coroner had concluded that she had been dead less than 24 hours at the time she was frozen, and that the body had been moved in a, “sort of bundled state.”
    The coroner also noted that the victim had motor oil stains in various spots on her clothes and skin, that grains of sand were found under her fingernails, and that she had had sexual relations within twenty-four hours of her death.
    â€œThere was no identification on the body, but when the troopers read through the missing persons notices from other states, it wasn’t hard to match up the body with the report on Bea Cherbourg. They called the LAPD and the rest you know.”
    â€œYes.”
    â€œBut my question, Fixxer, is, how do you know it?”
    â€œBea Cherbourg was a friend of a friend.”
    â€œThis Mike guy from the newsstand?”
    â€œYeah. So how’s the investigation going?”
    â€œNot much. We talked to her friends; her last known employer—”
    â€œOlympic Pictures?”
    â€œYeah.”
    â€œWhat did they tell you?”
    â€œThat she no longer worked there, although they were developing a script of hers, but there had been no meetings on it lately, and that no one had seen her recently.”
    â€œDid anyone talk to Sara Hutton?”
    â€œYeah—the lead was provided by this Mike. Her answer was the same. That she had been busy traveling, running an industry retreat, and that she hadn’t seen Bea since the last meeting on her script, which she admitted did not go well, and Olympic and Bea Cherbourg were having ‘creative differences’ on it. We told her that we had a report that Bea Cherbourg attended the retreat. She categorically denied it. It was for executives only, and, as she was no longer an executive....”
    â€œYou should get a list of who was at this retreat and question them. Although, it will probably be to no avail.”
    â€œWe did. It was.”
    â€œYou might want to check out the pilot of the Olympic corporate jet about a recent trip to New York, but I’ll bet he’ll report what he’s been told to report.”
    â€œYou know something we don’t know, Fixx? Because, at the moment, with the information in hand, the word is Olympic is a dead end and we are to leave it that way.”
    â€œI don’t have anything I can give you with confidence.”
    â€œThen we’ll have to leave it that way. You, however....”
    â€œI’m not in the business of solving murder cases, Captain.”
    â€œFixx, even over the phone I can see your nose twitching. By all accounts,