Tolerance Book III

Chapter Sixty-Six: Proof of Death

NY Langone Health

After Jays' solemn declaration there was a brief tense silence as the Chief Neurosurgery assessed the younger man and tried to gauge whether or not he was bluffing.  He came to the conclusion he wasn't.  Parker had informed him that he regarded the Detective as a friend and more importantly that he had developed a great deal of respect for the Chicago man.  Knowing that the Psychologist was not prone to making rash assessments and did not give his respect easily Burke knew the pale man before him
needed his practical aid rather than medical aid.  In acknowledging that to himself the bearded man realized his misgivings had been taken care of and his decision had been made.  Gesturing to a chair he spoke evenly.

"Well since you're going to work with or without my help," Burke
stated ruefully, "take a seat while I try to get you what you need."
"You sure Doc?" Jay was surprised by the mans' words.
"Yes.  I need to make some calls but hopefully we can work something out."
"Great," Jay allowed his gratitude to show as he sank down on the nearest chair in front of the desk in the spacious office.
"I have a call into a Vascular Surgeon who performed three amputations yesterday."
"Won't legal go ballistic over this?"
"You trying to talk me out of helping?" Burke rolled his eyes wrily as he walked around the teak desk and claimed his chair before picking up the phone receiver.

Jay simply shook his head.  In truth although the plan he had devised might work if they executed it properly he had doubted being able to gain access to the vital proof of death Billings was seeking.  Surprised by the medical professionals' acquiescence he knew down the line there were going to be ructions.  For now though the present took precedence over whatever fallout occurred in the future.

Command Post

Murphy had been making calls to pave the way for Burkes' help.  In doing so he had learnt some interesting details which he shared with his eagerly listening companions after passing the necessary information onto Mouse so he could complete his false morgue records.

"Well Burke has been granted permission to take an index finger from a hand amputation yesterday evening .....,"
"The hospital agreed just like that?" Voights' scepticism was clear.
"Well we got lucky," the Assistant Director explained, "turns out the young man whose hand was amputated gave permission for the limb to be used by the Medical Science Department in the facility ...,"
"Guess something worked in our favour," Al commented then added calmly, "we just got lucky he didn't want to bury it."
"Bury it?" Parker raised an eyebrow.
"Some people need to keep the limbs," the moustached Detective elaborated grimly, "to be buried with them down the line.  Guess it brings some sort of comfort."

Parker had never dealt with an Amputee and would have liked to discuss the matter further with the former Sniper but he knew now was not the time.  On his part Voight had a fairly good idea how his old friend was familiar with such practises considering his military experience but he too refrained from commenting.  Right now they had more pressing issues to deal with.

Surveillance Van

To avoid any delays the IT Specialist had, of his own accord, discreetly hacked into the well known medical centers' system and ascertained the identities of recent Amputees before he was advised of which patient they would be using.  Once he had been appraised of the age and gender belonging to the body part Jay would be furnishing to Billings he would set about creating a false Death Certificate for the fictitious Victim he had christened Anthony Greene.  If Billings or someone else checked the Morgue the preliminary Autopsy Report would show that Greene died of a gunshot wound to the head and that standard follow up tests were due to be carried out as soon as possible but there was a backlog which might entail a delay in conclusive findings.  Mouse had created a whole backstory for the  character his friend was supposed to have killed.  Knowing the Victim needed to be someone Jay would have relatively easy access to but who would not immediately be missed he had recorded that the young deceased man had been living on the streets for some time.