Conjugated - A Jonnor Tale

Chapter Fifteen: Surprising Outcomes

Chapter Fifteen: Surprising Outcomes

Turner parked the FBI van at the Medical Examiner's office and he got out with the Future Agents In Training: Taylor, Sophia, and Jay; with Myranda and Jason along as guests. Turner had accepted Jay into the FAIT program instantly after seeing his Tae Kwan Do skills, and he was wearing an FBI rain slicker like Taylor and Sophia. They followed Turner into the M.E.'s office.

"Hi Doris," Turner said to the secretary. "I've got my FAIT kids with me."

"Well," Doris began, looking them over. She was a middle-aged black woman with loose curly hair and 1950's style glasses. "I guess we'll find out which of you has strong stomachs, won't we?"

"I've been bulimic before," Myranda volunteered, "so my stomach is an iron kettle." She looked at Jay, who didn't look worried, and Snapback, who seemed a bit more ill at ease.

The Medical Examiner, Charles Douglas, came out of his office and greeted Turner. "If you kids will excuse me, I have a case to discuss with Douglas," Turner said. He and Douglas went into the latter's office.

A guy in a lab coat came out into the lobby area, he was twenty-something and scruffy-faced, with green eyes and unkempt brown hair. "Hey kids, I'm Matt. I'm giving you the tour today." They all waved at him and introduced themselves. "Taylor," Taylor said.

"Oh, I've heard about you...I actually helped with the autopsy on Rodriguez, those were some clean shots."

"Thanks," she said with a smile. "This is Sophia, and her partner Myranda."

"Hello girls."

"I'm Jay," Jay said, "I'm new in the FAIT program."

"Very cool."

"I'm Jason, but everyone calls me Snapback," Jason said. He pointed at his head and the baseball cap.

"Ohhh, an apparel nickname. That's original." He opened the double doors into the next room. "You all ready for the morgue?"

"That's what we came for," Taylor said with a shrug. They followed them into the the morgue area.

"You'll want some of this," Matt said, picking up a jar of paste. He smeared some of it on Taylor's upper lip. "It'll block out the smell, that takes some getting used to." He repeated the procedure on the rest of them. Then he put the jar down and walked over to an autopsy table. There was a body on it and he pulled the sheet off of it.

"They found this guy in a ravine with a blunt force wound to the head. No ID, probably homeless. And as you can see, he'd been there awhile."

"About five weeks, is my guess," Sophia said.

"Very good," Matt said to her. "You studying forensics?" She nodded.

Jay looked at Snapback, who was decidedly green in the face. He jumped towards Jason and caught him as Jason crumpled into his arms.

"One down," Matt said. "I'm actually surprised, we usually lose somebody in the first few seconds. You guys want to see some advanced decomposition?"

***

Jude and Connor were weeding a flower bed when Jude's phone beeped. He pulled it out. "It's Kyle," he said to Connor. "Should I ask if he wants to hang out?"

Connor nodded and Jude texted on his phone. He watched for the reply. "Sure. What do we want to do?"

"Let's skateboard down by the warehouses," Connor said. "There should be some quiet areas down there. It's the weekend."