Roland P D Omnibus

by Ruth DuCharme

  “Why would they do an autopsy for a car fire? I would think manner of death was pretty explanatory?”

  “Well maybe the fire was set intentionally? I don’t know. We found an empty liquor bottle on his lap. The person could’ve been drinking and passed out. Maybe he or she was smoking and the cigarette fell and sparked the fire.”

  “That sounds reasonable”

  “I get to go to the autopsy on Monday. I’m looking forward to that. I’ve never seen one before.”

  “Isn’t that a detective’s job?”

  “It is but Dekker asked my sergeant and he said it was ok. I’d really like to be in on this investigation as much as possible. I could learn so much. I want the people on my team to see that I can follow through. Who knows, if this is an actual murder case, I may be able to solve it!”

  Jack laughed. “What makes you think it’s a murder? Aren’t you getting a little ahead of yourself? You don’t even know how to be a cop yet and here you are trying to impress everyone with your sleuthing skills. Other cops don’t like that. You’ll come off looking pretentious.” Jack glanced over at Lizzie and seeing the annoyance on her face he continued, “You haven’t even proved yourself on the street yet!”

  “Prove myself?”

  “Yes prove yourself. Can you handle yourself in a fight? Can you do car stops without screwing them up? How about report writing? You need to get the basics down before you start taking on bigger things like a potential murder investigation.”

  Lizzie couldn’t help but feel a little crushed at Jacks comments. And a little annoyed. “But they said I could.”

  “So now you look like the teacher’s pet. If I were you I’d turn it down. Tell your training officer you want to work on the basics without getting in over your head. He will respect that and more than likely agree with you.”

  “I’m not doing that. That’s silly. Besides, Dekker isn’t like that. He’s a good teacher and he wants me to experience everything.”

  “Just think about it. I won’t say another word on the matter.”

  Lizzie stared out the window letting her irritation keep her from any further discussion.

  Jack said, “Hello. Are you still with me over there?”

  “I’m here. Let’s just not talk about work anymore, ok? I want to relax and unwind and forget about the job for a few days.” Lizzie tried not to dwell on Jack’s comments. Was he right? Or was he just being a man and trying to hold her back. Maybe things were different for women since he started out on the job. He didn’t know. He had never been a training officer as far as she knew and he had never solved a homicide. Could he be a little jealous? This trip was supposed to be fun but she barely noticed the beautiful scenery any longer.

  Chapter Thirty-Three

  Despite the uncomfortable drive up, the weekend at the shore was relaxing after all. Eating seafood and playing on the beach had been just what they needed. Back at home, the Monday morning alarm went off a little too early for Lizzie’s taste but she jumped right out of bed.

  Jack rolled over lazily. “Where you going?”

  “I need you to take Sam to school today. I have to go in early for that autopsy, remember?” She went into the bathroom and started the shower. While waiting for the shower to heat up, she stripped out of her pajamas and wrapped a towel around herself.

  Jack followed her in and sat on the toilet. “You mean you’re really going? I thought we talked about this.”

  Lizzie gave him a side-glance before handing Jack a towel and stepping into the hot water. Through the shampoo and soap she sputtered. “I don’t have a choice, Jack. We are already scheduled to be there. I did think about what you said and I’ll see how Dekker reacts when I show up. If he seems like he thinks this autopsy is inappropriate then I’ll mention it but if he’s going for it then so am I.” Lizzie shut off the water and stretched her arm from behind the curtain, “Towel please.”

  Jack handed her back the towel. As Lizzie stepped out of the shower smelling like roses on a summer day he couldn’t help but think she really was a little slice of heaven on earth. He felt a little pang at the thought of her being so close to his darkest moment.

  “Hey, are you ok? You look a little pale.” Lizzie asked as she wiped the fog from the bathroom mirror.

  “Oh I’m fine” Jack sighed. “I just didn’t get enough sleep, I guess.”

  “Why don’t you go back to bed? I have to hurry anyway.”

  “No, I’ll make you some coffee and breakfast to go before I take Sam to school.” Lizzie kissed him quickly on the cheek before shutting the bathroom door behind her.

  Jack walked to the kitchen and started coffee. He wondered what he would do if Lizzie actually found some evidence at the autopsy. He was pretty sure he hadn’t left anything in the car to identify himself. Joel’s body burned had burned to a crisp leaving it nigh impossible to get DNA from. Suddenly he felt even more tired than before.

  Lizzie came into the kitchen fully dressed with her bag in hand. She gave him another kiss and took the toast he had made for her. Pouring the dark hot coffee into a travel mug, she swept out the door. “Call you later!”

  Jack looked at his watch. He had a few hours before he had to get Sam up. He went back to the bedroom room and fell down on the bed. He rolled over and grabbed Lizzies pillow. He buried his face in it, inhaling her sweet innocent smell. His head spun with all the ways this could go horribly wrong. He inhaled Lizzie’s scent one more time before using the pillow to muffle the noise of his exhaled scream.

  Chapter Thirty-Four

  Lizzie arrived at the police station and got suited up. She met Dekker in the briefing room. “Ready to go?” He asked her.

  Lizzie paused for a second. “Are you sure its ok if I go to the autopsy with you?” She asked

  “Is someone giving you a hard time?” He asked trying to read her expression.

  Lizzie felt a little shocked that he could read her mind so easily. “Not exactly. I just don’t want anyone to think I’m getting unfair treatment or doing things rookies aren’t usually allowed to do. I mean, what will the rest of the team think?”

  “Don’t worry about what other people say. I’m the training officer and this is good experience for you. It’s true that you should be learning the basics but you let me worry about what you are ready for. Ok?”

  “Sounds good,” said Lizzie, exhaling imperceptibly.

  The morgue was a short thirty-minute drive. Lizzie parked the patrol car in the space reserved for law Enforcement and took a look around. Located across the street from the county courthouse, uniformed cops from differing agencies walk in and out.

  Dekker spoke, “This is where you come when there’s a jury trial. You won’t have to worry about that for a while though. Nothing goes to jury trial until after the preliminary hearing. I have one coming up so we will go and you can see what it’s like to testify.”

  “I never really gave much thought to testifying in court. Is it difficult?”

  “No but you do need to be prepared. We will go over the process and before you know it you’ll be a pro.”

  Dekker held the morgue door open and Lizzie noticed how cold it was. A sheriff’s deputy at the entrance had them sign in on the visitor roster before he led them back to a room filled with medical equipment. Dekker reached over to a nearby table and grabbed two sets of latex gloves. He handed one to Lizzie before donning his own.

  A tiny woman in scrubs entered from a side door. “Hey stranger!”

  “Hi Kim!” Dekker responded as she reached up to give him a big hug. “Meet Officer Noble, our newest rookie.”

  “Nice to meet you, sweetheart,” said Kim as she reached out to hug Lizzie too. Lizzie smiled at the woman’s warmth and returned the hug with a squeeze. “How is your training going? Is this old bear giving you a hard time?” Kim laughed as she poked Dekker in the chest.

  Lizzie smiled again. She liked this woman already. “I’ve only been on the job a week and this is all so new
to me. I had never seen a dead body until last week and this is my first time at an autopsy.”

  Kim patted her arm affectionately and winked. “Well it won’t be the last, kiddo, of that you can be sure. But don’t you worry, Old Dekker here will catch you if you faint.”

  “Like hell I will!” Dekker growled with a warning glance at Lizzie.

  Lizzie laughed nervously. “I’ll be fine.”

  Dekker handed Lizzie a paper gown and paper booties. Put these on. We don’t want to transfer anything to the body nor take anything home with us if we can help it.”

  “Don’t I need Vicks or something to put under my nose?” Lizzie asked

  “That’s only in the movies. If you put that up under your nose you’ll get dead-people-particles stuck in it. You will be smelling decomp for a week!”

  Dekker pulled two paper hospital masks from a box on the table and handed her one. “Here, kid, try this. Remember when we used to light up a cigar, Kim? Too bad those days are over,” he said. “We used to come in and light up a cigar to get the smell out. We left the room in clouds of smoke and death.”

  Kim shrugged “We have to progress with the times, my dear, but you can still have that cigar – outside!”

  “Ok, we are sufficiently costumed.” Dekker laughed.

  “In that case, follow me, my darlings.”

  Lizzie and Dekker followed Kim through a door into a large sterile exam room. Lizzie didn’t recognize any of the equipment. It looked nothing like she had seen on TV.

  Lizzie’s gaze immediately focused on a steel table in the center of the room. On it was a body covered with a white sheet. Lizzie felt a strange mix of horror and fascination. She couldn’t keep herself from smiling slightly. This was stuff normal people didn’t get to see on a day-to-day basis. Here she was with a front row seat to crazy town. It was a whole different aspect of real life. A secret and sacred part only a handful of people ever got to experience. Despite the gore, Lizzie felt lucky to be here.

  “Will you be able to get any identification from the body?” Lizzie asked Kim.

  “I don’t know. I tried rehydrating the fingerprints but the skin was either missing or too damaged for a print.” Kim pointed to a metal pan with water in it. Lizzie looked inside and had to fight to hold back her gag reflex. There was partially rehydrated skin floating in the water and it was shaped just like a hand.

  Kim told her, “I rehydrate the skin and then slip it over my own fingers and roll the print. In cases as severe as this one, it rarely proves worth the effort.” Noticing Lizzies averted gaze she covered the dish with a towel. “I guess that can be pretty shocking to someone who hasn’t been exposed to this before.”

  Lizzie watched with fascination as Kim uncovered the burned body on the steel table. Kim lifted a large scalpel and made a Y incision from the corpses shoulders to its pubic bone. The skin crackled and popped as the blade sliced through it with ease. Kim folded back the edges of the incision to reveal deep red innards charred with black spots.

  As the autopsy progressed, Kim detailed her findings out loud.

  “White male adult in his early thirties. Liver shows signs of alcohol abuse and possible drug use. No internal injuries to signify gunshots or stabbing as manner of death.”

  Kim pulled the lungs, esophagus and tongue from the open cavity in front of her. Kim turned to Dekker, “Here is something you might be interested in.” Kim pointed to the organs. “For someone who died in a fire, this man had zero smoke in his throat or lungs.”

  “What does that mean?” Lizzie asked.

  “It means that our guy was dead before the fire started.” Said Dekker.

  “So he was murdered?”

  “Not necessarily. He could’ve died of a heart attack or alcohol poisoning before the car caught fire.”

  Kim pried open the jaw of the dead man’s skull. “Take a look here, Dekker.” Lizzie And Dekker both leaned over the gaping mouth. Kim grabbed a pair of tweezers and pulled several light colored fibers from between the lower teeth.

  “Looks like polyester,” Kim said as she held the fiber up to examine it closer. She placed the fiber in a dish to be examined later. With the buzz of a saw, Kim unceremoniously cut the skullcap from the head and removed the corpses brain.

  Kim placed the brain in another stainless steal bowl and pointed to a dark spot on the backside. “See this? Looks like your boy suffered some kind of blow to the head.” Kim felt around the rear of the empty skull and then tipped it towards Lizzie and Dekker. “Fracture here. Its slight but its consistent with the brain contusion. This injury isn’t significant enough to kill him though.”

  “So what killed him?” Lizzie asked. She was in awe of this tiny woman’s nerve and skill.

  “Its preliminary hypothesis because I still need to run some further testing but given what I’ve found so far? I would say your dead guy here was incapacitated by a blow to the head and then smothered with something that was covered with gray cloth.”

  Dekker frowned. “Looks like we have a murder on our hands.”

  “Could very well be that the fire was set to cover up the murder.” Kim replied.

  Lizzie shivered involuntarily. Someone killed this guy and then started the fire to hide it. She marveled at the evil things humans were capable of doing to one another. “Will dental records help us to ID him?”

  Kim explained, “Victims of fires are often identified by their teeth, which can withstand temperatures of more than 2,000 degrees but only if we handle them correctly. He doesn’t have any outstanding dental work that could aid in identification. In order to identify him from his teeth, I would need his dental records. I can try to retrieve a DNA sample by extracting the pulp from one of his teeth though. Dental identification is often the last resort, and it isn't always possible. Some people simply can't be identified.

  “What about NAMUS?” Dekker asked.

  “If he was reported missing and entered into the National Unidentified Persons Data System I may be able to find a match but it could take some time.”

  “How will we figure out who he is then?” Lizzie asked Dekker

  “Waiting for the DNA to come back is probably our best bet.”

  “How long before DNA comes back?”

  “There’s a significant backlog and the testing doesn’t happen overnight.”

  “Thanks for letting us join you, Kim.” Dekker said, as he started towards the exit. Lizzie and Kim followed him into the outer room. They discarded their paper booties, gowns, masks and gloves. Dekker turned to Lizzie. “Seen enough?”

  “Yes, sir. For today anyway.”

  Kim gave them each a brief hug. “You can come back and see me anytime” she told Lizzie. “And don’t be a stranger Dekker” she said as she squeezed him one last time.

  Chapter Thirty-Five

  Dekker and Lizzie returned to the station and checked in with Sgt. O’Connell before hitting the streets.

  Lizzie waited in the hallway while Dekker poked his head into the Sergeants office. “Hey Sarge we’re back.”

  Lizzie couldn’t see him but heard Sgt. O’Connell reply, “Did you learn anything?”

  “It looks like a murder but the coroner is still working on the official cause of death.”

  “Did you brief the detectives yet?”

  “Nope. On my way to do that. Wanted to check in first.”

  “Ok good. I’m heading out. Let me take your rookie for a bit while you go brief the detectives.”

  “Sure thing, Sarge.”

  Dekker joined Lizzie in the hallway and said, “Looks like you get to ride with Sarge for bit.” He leaned in close to Lizzie and whispered, “Don’t make a fool of yourself.” He left Lizzie standing in the hallway looking after him.

  Sgt. O’Connell came out of his office and walked right past Lizzie. He called out to her over his shoulder, “Come on, kid, let’s get some coffee.”

  Lizzie followed Sgt. O’Connell out to his car and as she climbed into the passe
nger seat she could feel butterflies arise unbidden in her chest. She was pretty sure coffee wouldn’t do anything to help.

  Sgt. O’Connell drove to the coffee shop in complete silence. Lizzie followed him inside and watched O’Connell make his way around to the back of the front counter. Lizzie looked around but no one batted an eye. O’Connell helped himself to the coffee pot and poured two steaming hot cups. He came back around the counter and handed one cup to Lizzie. He pointed her to a table in the corner. He took a seat with his back to the wall and motioned for Lizzie to take the chair opposite him. “Sit.”

  “How’s your training going?”

  “Good. My first autopsy today.”

  “How did that go?”

  “Well, it was interesting.”

  “How is the rest of your training going? Do you feel like you are acclimating ok?”

  “I suppose so. I’m not really sure how I’m supposed to feel but I do know that I feel like I don’t know a darn thing. I’m also not really certain I fit in.”

  “What do you mean by that?”

  “Well I don’t see many other females here and the few I have seen are completely different from me.”

  “In what way?”

  “Well take Shaw for example. She’s so confident and forceful. She’s like one of the guys. I’m not like that at all and I’m not sure I will ever be like that. I guess I’m just not sure I fit the persona of the ideal female officer.”

  “From what I’ve seen so far you’re doing just fine. There’s a place for everyone. Just because one person does it one way doesn’t mean it has to be your way. You have to find your own style. Treat people with kindness and mercy but take no guff. You don’t have to be like the guys or be one of them. That’s not expected. If someone tells you different you just ignore them. Don’t fall in with the crowd or you may end up with bad habits.” Sgt. O’Connell looked out the window but Lizzie had a feeling that last comment was a measured one.