Smoke and Glory

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I'm looking over the slightly skeletonised body, trying to decide which injury's and abrasions are premortem and which ones are postmortem. The body laying in front of me was that of a 35 year old woman who's name was Emily Speck and she was murdered and raped during an attack that happened in ne middle of the night outside a bar or so we believe that's where it occurred. Which is why I'm currently performing the autopsy on her, but the fact that she was found in a river, after her boyfriend reported her missing, jaws high means some of these cuts and damagedweren't done by her attacker, wnd also means the all the dna or evidence left behind by her killer are also gone. So based on the amount of blood surrounding each cut and whether the body bruised or not, I'm trying to determine which are which. And what the actual cause Of death was although from the blood brightly VisiCalc in her blond hair im assuming she was hit over the head with something, probably heavy and round based on the way the blood flowed, perhaps something like a base ball bat. Which means that blunt force trauma id a potential cause of death but further examination is needed to confirm. And there are 2 maybe 3 gunshot wounds visible, on the left shoulder she was shot twice and on the leg down by her right ankle was the other shot, but non of them fatal ones. I look once again around the room, reaching over to grab a ultraviolet light box to look for other evidence. Captain Derek Quill is standing against the wall staring at me, I know he hates me, he always gives me a weird look and I can see by the way his eyes glare at me as I move around the room he doesn't believe a woman is fit to do this job, however when the bureau hired me I like to believe it was my feminine side that got me where I am today. "Doctor Snow are you almost done" he asks clearly impatient as usual and waiting for the findings so he can catch the killer or killers and take every aspect of the solved case to once again get himself another promotion and the public glory and fame his self centred self desires so deeply. You know for a police captain he is a real dick half the time. "Well the insides should reveal more on how deep the cuts went and what item was used to cause the blunt force trauma and the bullets used I need to identify, because from the entrance wounds I recon that it's a 38 Calibar bullet but I can't be sure until I find the exit point or point of contact with the bone. " I say as I put on a clean pair of blue latex gloves and get out a few other surgical tools. As I hold one up I see a clear shiver go down the captains spine and a small amount of swear becomes visible on his forehead, he most have a phobia of these tools, I wonder why, the only thing I'm afraid of is snakes and that's a rational fear, the fear of a object used in surgery is a irrational fear especially when it saves  so many people's lives. I make the y incision and look at the spinal cord, this is where I expect the bullet to have come in contact with a bond and sure enough I'm right, "I'm right this is a 38 calibar, so the shot went through the skin narrowly missing the stomach, and then made contact with the spinal cord and then out her back with the other 2 bullets, she was also stabbed multiple times, here, here, here and here" I say using a black sharpe pen to draw around the cuts That I believed to be premortem, and I write this down on a sheet of paper while also looking for any other signs or things the initial examination might have missed but I find nothing. "Alright I'm gonna send her down to the lab so we can look for dna or fingerprints and I'll get tommy on the case but for now" I begin, as I start wheeling the body on the metal table into the massive fridge, "she's going in the fridge" I say as I attach a slip of paper around her wrist stating her name and what I want to have done with her, I walk out the fridge and take off the blue gloves and overalls I'm forced to where when looking at a body and I place them in a bin. "That all you need captain" I say as I pass him the clipboard in the annoyed and pissed of style because he's pissed me off like every other body we decide to look at together and he reads through all the notes and rather quickly in fact, clearly showing he doesn't care and only wants the glory of solving this already media frenzied case. "Yes thank you Lucy" he says as he returns me my clipboard and walks out of the surgery suite and out of the main building, meanwhile I walk upstairs and into my office where I get out my laptop and begin typing up the case file. I'm about mid way through when someone knocks at my door and In enters my reporter friend Annie Gustin who I met in college before I want on to study forensic anthropology and before I whim studying for my medical licence. "Hey what are you doing here?" I ask her excitedly as I give her a big embracing hug, "sorry if I smell like dead body I was just finishing a autopsy" I say as her nose clinches by the off-putting smell that is not only in this office and on me but in the entire building. It basically smells like death. Which makes sense considering the fact it's the main morgue in New York since I got promoted to chief medical examiner of New York. "Nah I don't care, anyway do you want to go to dinner later and catch up I feel as if I haven't seen you in forever" she says as she starts once again eyeing all the strange things in my office. I mean I have a mold of a persons head but that's because I'm trying to identify them, I have a bunch of pictures of dead bodies on my wall but on my desk there are a few photos of me and Mia, my niece who lives in Virginia and some other photos of me and my 2 sisters and 1 brother, Leia, Katie and Sam, and the rest is some stuff from my travels and just stuff I need in a morgue like baby wipes and shrubs that I wear when performing autopsy's. " I would love to grab dinner, what time and where should we go?" I ask as I open my desk draw and start routing through for my car keys, they have been buried under all the stuff I've thrown in this draw today although it's mostly paper but soon I pull them out and walk out of the building with Annie. "How about Scorlets at 8 I'll make a reservation" she says as we both climb into our cars, "sounds perfect see you then" I yell out of the window as I begin the drive home to go and grab a not stinky outfit that actually looks appropriate for a dinner, so basically a black top and a pair of black jeans. And I also need to take a shower and sort out my hair because I look like a mess. But then the strangest thing happens, my phone starts ringing and I check who it is but it's a no caller id, so I swipe along and answer, "hello this is doctor Snow what can I help you with?" I ask but I don't get a answer, "hello? Is anyone there?" I ask once again confused by the call and the fact that no one is answering, "you have pretty hair" the voice says and the call ends, you have pretty hair what does that mean, maybe this person accidnetly phoned me instead of there girlfriend or something, but that doesn't make sense I'm not like a easy number to accidentally call you would never just accidentally call someone and also not exactly sure why you would be telling someone they have pretty hair, but whatever and I try to forget about the voice and it's simple monotoneness when my phone goes off again and I look at it wondering if it is the same number here to apologise and explain what the call meant and the truth behind it, but This time it's actually a registered number and belongs to the police, "hello doctor Snow, we need you, captain Quill was just killed in a arson, we need you to inspect the body" the voice says, it's a girl and she sounds scared and shocked, and I am too, captain Quill is dead?! but who would kill captain Quill I mean I know he's a dick and he's not considerate and he doesn't believe in feminism or the female right and in his mind females still live in the 1800's but that's not reason to commit arson; not a reason to kill someone in such a horrific way. Dying in a fire is the most painful thing in the world, I wouldn't wish that upon anyone no matter how annoying or arrogant they are. As I try to process the information I suddenly forget that I'm on the phone and I suddenly realise when I remember where I heard the information from, "Okay I'm coming where are you" I ask and I pull over knowing I'll probably have to turn around, "682 Carnids Lane, at Captain Quills house" she says and then the call ends as I turn around and drive towards the burning house of a dead policeman.