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 a
id 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 passenger 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.
“I really like Officer Dekker.” She said quickly.
“I like him too.”
“He is a really good training officer. I have learned so much from him”
“How do you know he’s a good training officer. He’s your first one.”
Lizzies face burned with embarrassment. “What I meant was he doesn’t take any shortcuts and takes a lot of time to teach me the proper procedure in each detail.”
Sgt. O’Connell stared at Lizzie over the rim of his coffee cup. “I am glad to hear that. If anything seems off or you feel like you aren’t getting the training the way you want I want you to come to me directly.”
“Like you said, how will I know if he isn’t training me correctly?”
“You’re smart Ofc Noble. I think you know what I mean. If Dekker does anything out of school I want you to feel free to tell me.”
“Sarge, are you asking me to spy on him?”
Sgt. O’Connell said nothing. He just continued to look at Lizzie. Lizzie wanted desperately to fill the silence but she had no idea what to say. Should she keep defending Dekker? Did the sergeant know something she didn’t? Was this some kind of test? Before she could formulate any further coherent sentences, Sgt. O’Connell picked up his empty coffee cup and stood.
“Let’s go,” he said. Lizzie put her empty cup on the front counter and had to run to catch up with him as he strode out the front door towards their car.
Chapter Thirty-Six
Once they had returned to the station, O’Connell went straight back to his office without a word. Lizzie decided to go out to the car and wait for Dekker. She needed a little breather. She wondered to herself what the purpose behind her coffee date with the sergeant had been. He had seemed suspicious about Dekker. How was she going to handle this? She sat in the driver seat of the patrol car mulling it all over and so lost in thought she was startled when the passenger door opened and Dekker fell in.
“How’d coffee with the sergeant go? You didn’t make a fool out of me, I hope?”
“Not at all,” said Lizzie. “It was uneventful and I have nothing to report.” Lizzie looked at Dekker out of the corner of her eye. He seemed a little stressed out. “How did the briefing with the detectives go? Do they know anything about our dead body?”
“Nope. Not a thing.” He waved a yellow folder in the air before stuffing it between himself and the center console. “Crime scene investigators report. Nothing to get excited about.” Lizzie glanced down at the folder. It seemed awfully thin.
“Ugh, forgot my notebook. Check the computer for what’s holding in our beat and I’ll be right back.”
After Dekker got out of the car Lizzie looked at the folder once more. She waited until Dekker was inside the building before quickly dislodging the folder and opening it on her lap. The CSI report was several pages long and Lizzie perused it with interest. Dekker had been right, not much to report apparently.
Lizzie flipped to the last page and stopped cold. Wait a second. This was the fingerprint report from the car that had been burned. One partial print had been recovered from inside the trunk. Apparently it hadn’t had time to burn sufficiently. And the print had been matched to some guy named Frank Barnes. Why hadn’t Dekker told her about this? This could be the dead guys identity! What if he had been in the car trunk at some point? It could have gotten there when he stole the car. It sure didn’t match the registered owner.
Lizzie looked up to see Dekker approaching and she quickly stuffed the papers back in the folder and returned it to its spot between Dekker’s seat and the console. Lizzie waited until Dekker climbed
back into the passenger seat and settled in. “Would it be ok if I looked at the CSI report?” she asked.
“You mean you didn’t look at it while I was gone?”
“Of course not,” she lied.
“Looks like you had your chance and blew it then.”
“Are you sure there’s nothing in it?” Lizzie pushed
“Nothing that will help us.”
“What do we need to do next in the investigation?”
“We? We do nothing. The detectives have it from here.”
“But…”
“NO!” He interrupted her gruffly. Dekker took a deep breath before continuing, “You’re a rookie and this is best left for the detectives. Let’s just focus on what you need to learn.”
“Copy that” Lizzie knew when it was time to shut up and listen. She shifted the patrol car into drive and exited the parking lot. Lizzie felt irritated and concerned. Dekker suddenly sounded like Jack. Something had changed since their field trip to the morgue. Just like a man, hogging all the info to himself so he can get all the credit. Well she couldn’t just un-see the name in the report. She had no idea what to do next but she wasn’t about to let this go and now she had a place to start; with Frank Barnes.
Chapter Thirty-Seven
It was well after midnight before Dekker made it home and he was a little surprised to see his wife still awake. He dropped his bag in the hallway and followed the delicious smells of fried chicken wafting from the kitchen. He stopped just inside the kitchen door and smiled at the sight of Robyn standing at the stove. She wore a red apron over her pajamas and her dark brown hair in a long braid down her back. “Well don’t just stand there gawking, grab us some plates,” she said without even turning around.
Dekker went to her and put his arms around her waist. He leaned over her shoulder to see what she was cooking. “Fried chicken? At this hour?”
“I knew you probably hadn’t eaten and for some reason I was starving!”
“It smells delicious,” he said taking the opportunity to kiss her on the neck.
Killing Frank Barnes Page 10