Smoke and Glory

•10•

I pull out another calling card, using my steady hand and a pair of tweezers I unravel it to reveal what I already knew was coming, the 10 of diamonds card with 4 diamonds crossed out, marking victim number 4 who's decomposing body lays before me, I just have one question, for the body to decompose like this it would have had to have been dead for about 9/10 days which in respect to the killers usual amo doesn't really make any sense I mean why wait? Why not kill and then just leave the victim somewhere like in every other case? It doesn't make sense. I remove the trousers when I see it, a massive cut down the left leg blood all around it dried up and crusty and I, using a tweezer, remove a little bit of it and place it in a small metal evidence bag wanting to have it sent for DNA testing in order to maybe get closer to figuring out who this victim is. From the looks of things this cut severed several arteries meaning he would have died more or less within 20 minutes of those cuts which explains the lack of blood in the gunshot wound so this death can be ruled as a stabbing using a sharp object but potentially not a knife from the unevenness of the cut and the fact that in certain areas the cut is much deeper and in other areas much lighter which wouldn't make sense with a knife. I write all of this down on the notebook ready to be typed up into the autopsy report as I cut open the body making the usual Y Insition on the chest area and removing each of the organs, the last thing he ate is a kind of brown dark liquid that reacts with Benedicts solution hinting that it would be something such as a coke or maybe a chocolate bar. But from the way it's not fully digested he was killed 2 or 3 hours after eating it and that was the last thing he ate but I can't tell how long ago he ate it due to the decaying of some of the organs inside the body. I look at the rest of the organs but they show no other sighs of any more forms of trauma and so I return to my office waiting for the other doctors and workers in the morgue to deal with the body and run the DNA tests so maybe the good luck that was wished upon me by the killer may actually lead somewhere and as I return to my office I hope that maybe the good luck will actually come through and that this police John Doe won't have to be a John Doe for much longer and may actually get a name. I open my computer ready to type up the report, but the first thing I'm meant to type is the name, John Doe #81, the 81st John Doe in this district of New York and hopefully one of The few of which we can actually identify even if It is after 50 years like in the case of Jane Doe #59 who 50 years after her body was found was identified as being Rete Gerbetson. And she still got a name despite the Long time between her murder and the discovery of her identify so that gives me hope that even if it's not for years that this body will still get a name. "Excuse me Doctor snow" says a voice distracting me from my work and my little struggle in trying to decide what to write as the name of this person and I look up into the door way of my office and see Doctor ember standing in the doorway, "hi Laura come sit down please" I say as she walks in closing the door behind her as I move my laptop out of the way so I can her properly, "thanks Lucy I was just wondering if you'd come and help me because I'm working a case and am midway through the autopsy but I can't figure it out and I feel like I've missed something but I don't know what and I was just kind of hoping that you'd come and maybe figure it out and help me sort it out" she asks and I nod my head, "yeah sure what case you doing?" I ask regrabbing my laptop and pressing x on the file I didn't even write anything on despite the rather long debate I had with myself regarding what to write as a name. "Case #99260, the body of 38 year old Cassandra Witts," she says and I search up and quickly read the details, she was found in her house collapsed on her bed by her husband at 9:30pm last night and there is no obvious signs of trauma to her body, "of course i'll help. What autopsy suite you in?" I ask as I stand up to grab the blue overalls as I slide into them once again and replace the blue latex gloves on once again struggling to get them over my ring but eventually being able to do it. "Room 4" she says which is the 4th autopsy suite out of the 7 we have in this building despite the fact that it's 8 floors and different doctors work in different rooms, I have room 1 reserved for me and me only because I'm the chief, my deputy doctor grant has room 2, and the others doctors use whatever room is available and that includes me due to the fact that I normally am working on multiple bodies at once and 2 tables work for 2 bodies only meaning I usually have one laying around in autopsy room 5 or 6, "alright let's go" I say and we both leave the room heading down the hallway to autopsy room 4 which is next to 3 but the others are on different floors for a reason that I don't actually know. We walk in and I see the body, I start to examine it. "Do you see what I mean there's no clear signs of trauma" doctor ember says and I nod my head leaning in closer to admire the skin and the head where I feel as if something could be wrong, "yeah I see that but let's open her up and check inside" I say grabbing a surgical knife and making the cut along the head wanting to get a look at her brain while Doctor ember cuts along the chest area in order to look at the organs, I remove the brain when I find it, "she had a brain tumour" I say and she walks over and admires the brain where she sees it as well, the big area of black that counteracts the pinkness of the brain itself, "ah" she says now realising why she didn't see it in the beginning, "I didn't realise that" she says and I smile at her as I take a better look at it before grabbing the camera and taking a few different photos of it, "that's okay, we all make mistakes sometimes it's not something you can easily spot either she has no disfigurement or any signs of it, I bet she didn't even know" I say and Doctor ember nods her head, "thanks Doctor snow, and I'll tell you what's happens although we can rule it a natural death right" she asks quickly, Doctor ember has been with us for about 6 months and is one of the brightest doctors I have despite the fact that sometimes she has trouble noticing the smaller details but she's so kind and presentable and she's a great member of the team here. "Yeah it's a natural death caused by natural causes so no investigation needed" I say as I remove the scrubs and place them into the bin that is next to the door as I walk out and back to my office still dreading doing the stupid report that I have to do regarding victim 4, and as I walk in I find the phone on my desk ringing and I pick it up again, "hello" i say expecting it to be detective griffin warning me of her arrival or giving me some good news of having found a clue that points to the identity of number 4, but instead I'm regreeted by the monotone voice of the serial killer, "I hope your ready Doctor snow, after all you're next"