Mark began taking photographs, which reminded Lexie she should be taking notes. Fishing her notebook out of her handbag, she began jotting down observations.
Lexie watched without seeing as a thin line of blood marked the progress of the scalpel as it inflicted the Y-shaped incision into the chest. She tried to block her ears against the sound of the shears snipping though the rib cage. Once they were wrenched open, Doctor Bradley moved in closer to inspect the internal organs.
‘Immaculate,’ she murmured, while reaching a gloved hand into the cavity and pulling out an organ.
Lexie couldn’t tell what it was and turned away slightly.
‘Are you watching?’ the doctor demanded.
Brad answered for her.
‘Of course. I’m actually mesmerised by the work you doctors do.’
Doctor Bradley gave Brad a fleeting glance to check if he was being facetious. He beamed a smile at her and received a very brief one back. Lexie knew what he was doing and purposely avoided his eyes, knowing he would be more than pleased with himself.
‘Have you got any theories about what happened to her?’ the doctor asked.
This was her first attempt to initiate a conversation.
‘I read Doctor Marchmen’s notes. Do you still think she was thrown from a car, or rolled down the hill?’
There had been many scenarios and ideas bandied around at the crime scene as to possibilities regarding the body’s location and position, including the presence of the single red rose.
Doctor Bradley continued before either one of them answered. ‘I meant to tell you before I started that he apologises for not being here to conduct the post mortem. He is very sick.’
Lexie had wondered why the attending forensic pathologist was not the one conducting the autopsy, but hadn’t dared to ask.
‘I’m more than happy with you doing this autopsy, doctor. You’re much easier on the eye,’ Brad said. ‘No offence to your colleague.’
Brad scored another brief smile for that compliment.
‘Flattery will get you nowhere,’ the doctor stated firmly, although Lexie could see a blush sweep up her neck. He had actually got her to smile more than once. She would not hear the end of this.
Lexie risked a glance in Brad’s direction and he gave her a sneaky wink.
Doctor Bradley, who Lexie guessed rarely received compliments, seemed to be enjoying the attention. Lexie hoped this little flirt-fest continued. It was amusing. It also beat the hell out of thinking about the scene in front of her.
‘The crime scene didn’t provide us with much. We are hoping you can help give us a direction,’ said Brad.
He then proceeded to give her a rundown on what they already knew regarding the deceased’s last movements.
The doctor nodded.
‘As I said before, because of the location of the injection site, at this stage I would hazard a guess that this woman was intentionally injected with a substance by another person. We will know more when we get the bloods.’
She paused while weighing the liver.
‘There was a rose in her hands and an empty packet of OxyContin in her clothing, yes?’
The question was directed at Brad, who nodded.
‘That’s right. It was strange. If she had been pushed or rolled down the embankment she would have landed in a mess, yet she was positioned neatly, peacefully clutching a rose.’
‘I am wondering if someone has done a bad job of trying to infer this was a suicide,’ the doctor commented quietly, as if to herself.
‘We’ve wondered that ourselves. I’m also curious to see if you think there is any evidence of sexual assault,’ Brad said.
‘Hmm. The injuries to her shoulder and arm could be consistent with rolling down an embankment. However, those injuries could have been suffered many different ways. I’ll examine the pelvis in due course, after I’ve examined the stomach contents and taken bloods and urine samples. I’ll see if I can get toxicology to look at them overnight in order to give us an urgent preliminary result, since this is being treated as a murder investigation. That might give you a line to follow.’
‘That would be great, thanks,’ said Brad, giving Lexie a surprised look.
Cindy Bradley glanced up at Brad and gave him a gentle smile. Lexie noticed that her stern expression had softened, making her features look much more attractive.
Amazing!
As the autopsy continued, Lexie let herself slip into a void where her mind wandered to tasks she had yet to do. Next stop was to interview Zack and find out what his Medicare card was doing near the scene of the crime. More importantly, she wanted to find out why there had been a number of descriptions of him at the scene being called in over the phone lines. Not that she was worried. Zack was no killer, but right now he wasn’t looking completely innocent either. Her phone vibrated against her hip. She took it out of her pocket and checked the message.
‘Return to station ASAP after autopsy,’ she read.
What’s happened now?
The sound of the circular saw stole her thoughts and turned her blood to ice. Lexie felt herself sway ever so slightly as the flap of skin that had once been the scalp was peeled forward over the face. She concentrated on the waxy skin, pretending this body wasn’t real.
Lexie knew some cops managed to remain detached from the brutality of an autopsy by approaching it from a scientific perspective. Lexie had tried that. It didn’t work. And the fact she was unable to block her stupid thoughts and feelings was extremely aggravating.
Put your mask on.
The doctor was now examining the pelvic area and swabbing around the vagina.
‘This girl has had sexual intercourse not long before she died, but there is no sign of trauma. No bruising, lacerations or swelling that would be consistent with a sexual assault.’
Brad nodded his head at Lexie. That was consistent with what their two persons of interest – Matt Talbottt and Gus Riley – had said.
‘Did you know she had herpes?’
‘What?’ Brad and Lexie said in unison.
‘She was having an outbreak, so I hope she was using protection.’
Lexie stared at Brad. Did the men the deceased had slept with know she had herpes? Did she tell them? Perhaps some of them had found out the hard way, when they contracted the disease themselves. Was herpes sufficient reason to warrant murder?
‘Funny, I just remembered . . .’
Doctor Bradley stopped what she was doing for a moment and stared at them.
‘The girl, the suicide case I mentioned. Not only was the injection site the same, she was also found clutching a rose.’
Lexie felt a jolt of adrenaline kick-start her heart.
‘Do you remember the name of the other girl, the one who committed suicide?’
Doctor Bradley looked annoyed again.
‘Do you know how many of these I do a week? No, I don’t remember her name,’ she snapped. ‘It stood out to me because it was unusual.’
‘That’s a shame,’ Brad said quietly. ‘You never know what might help in an investigation. Is there any way we can find out? I don’t want to put you to any trouble. We know you’re very busy but I’d appreciate—’
‘I’ll see what I can do,’ she said, cutting him off. Then, softening her voice, added, ‘I do remember she was very attractive and her brother was a policeman. He was very nice-looking too.’
She gave Brad a cursory glance.
‘He came in to see her. He was very upset.’
That had to be Josh. It had to be Jenna she was talking about.
There couldn’t be too many cops whose sister had recently killed herself. Could there?
Lexie nudged Brad’s arm and whispered, ‘Did you hear that?’
‘I’m standing right here, aren’t I?’
Lexie looked at Doctor Bradley and chose her words carefully, to avoid another snappy answer.
‘Do you happen to recall the name Jenna Harrison?’
&
nbsp; ‘Yes, that was it,’ she replied without hesitation. ‘And the full toxicology just came in recently. She overdosed on OxyContin.’
‘She overdosed on OxyContin?’ Lexie repeated.
She had assumed Jenna had cut her wrists. It was what she had done numerous times before. Why hadn’t Josh mentioned Jenna had overdosed? she thought angrily. Then again, maybe it was of no consequence to him how she had taken her own life. The results were the same, no matter how it was done.
‘This girl here, Melissa McDermott, had an empty packet of OxyContin in her pocket,’ said Lexie, thinking aloud.
‘Yes, I know, we discussed this,’ Doctor Bradley answered, a little abruptly.
Lexie felt a myriad of sensations starting to build: excitement, anticipation and confusion.
‘Just let me get this straight. Our victim, Melissa McDermott, has a matching injection site to that of Jenna Harrison?’
‘Oh, here we go . . .’ Brad mumbled.
‘Both held a red rose in their hands. Jenna Harrison overdosed on OxyContin and Melissa McDermott had a blister pack of empty OxyContin in her pocket.’
Brad stared at Lexie as though she had suddenly gone mad.
‘You can’t think Jenna’s death is linked to this one? She committed suicide, Lexie. Any similarities are just a coincidence.’
‘Are you sure about that?’ Lexie challenged.
Doctor Bradley glanced between the two of them. Then cast her eyes downwards again towards the body before them.
Lexie pushed the issue.
‘Do you know of any other deaths that are similar to this one, to Jenna Harrison’s? Where there is an injection site at the base of the neck?’
‘Not personally, not with identical injection sites, though it’s not uncommon to overdose on OxyContin.’
Lexie knew a bit about the drug OxyContin, or hillbilly heroin as it is sometimes referred to. If the druggies could not get their hands on the real stuff, they turned to this prescription drug for a quick fix.
‘The problem is,’ Doctor Bradley explained, ‘OxyContin is a narcotic like morphine. It’s a pain reliever but it has many other effects as well. It is a slow release drug that is meant to be swallowed whole. If it is crushed, chewed, or dissolved into liquid, the drug can be released into the system too rapidly. The results can be as fatal as taking too many of the tablets.’
‘Could this girl have taken an overdose by accident?’ Brad asked.
The doctor shrugged.
‘It’s possible. If that is what in fact has killed her, and so far I’ve found no other cause of death. We will have to wait and see what levels are present in her blood.’
‘So OxyContin can be dissolved in drinks?’
‘That’s right. It’s probably best dissolved in a juice or alcohol to disguise any taste. Although that doesn’t explain the injection site, unless someone has injected her for the purposes of sexual assault and accidentally used too much, which has killed her. There are a lot of scenarios that could be feasible: accidental, intentional or just straight-out sinister. As I said, we will be able to provide a more accurate cause of death once toxicology has been completed.’
‘Is it a common drug used for suicide?’
Lexie couldn’t stop with the questions. She felt they were on to something.
The doctor shrugged.
‘Anything can be used to overdose if that’s what you want to do. But if OxyContin does show up in her blood I think we might have a problem. Having two bodies with identical injection sites is most unusual. In all my time doing this job I have not seen a drug user or suicide victim with an injection site in the neck area like that.’
Doctor Bradley glanced up at Brad, resting her hands on the side of the table for a moment.
‘Have you considered that maybe someone is knocking these girls out for the purpose of sex? What if this has happened to other women but they have survived and not reported the incidents because they can’t remember them?’
She shrugged her large shoulders.
‘It’s just a thought . . .’
CHAPTER 16
The first thing Lexie did when she walked into the office was pick up the phone to ring the licensee of the Royal Hotel, Matt Talbott. He picked up on the first ring.
‘It is Detective Rogers here, Mr Talbott,’ Lexie announced.
‘How’s it going, detective?’ he replied in his heavy cockney accent.
‘Did you know Melissa McDermott had herpes?’
There was no easy way to say it, so she just came straight out with it.
‘Yeah yeah, I did. She told me. We used protection.’
‘That’s good, I just wanted to let you know just in case . . . you know, you needed to get a checkup,’ she finished awkwardly.
‘Know exactly what you mean. Thanks, but I’m good.’
‘Do you know if your friend Gus—’
‘She didn’t tell him, was probably too out of it. He’s not very happy, I can tell you. He’s actually just gone to get tested.’
‘How did he find out? Did you tell him?’
‘I did. We were talking about all that had happened this morning and I asked him if he had used protection. When he said he hadn’t, I had to tell him. Gus went off his head but I told him he was stupid for not being careful, know what I mean?’
‘Yes, I do. I hope it turns out he’s clear,’ Lexie said.
If Riley only found out about Melissa having herpes today, they could rule out anger as a motive to kill her.
‘I just wanted to make sure you were both aware, that’s all.’
Not knowing what else to say, Lexie said goodbye and hung up.
Quickly ducking into the meal room to get a coffee, she was back moments later to find Batman sitting at her desk, scribbling onto a piece of paper. He looked up and flashed a brilliant smile.
‘Just the girl I was looking for. I was leaving you a note. I came back in to get something and I’m on my way out again. This envelope is for you.’
Batman jumped out of her chair and Lexie sat down in his place. The smell of the morgue clung to her and she reached down into her bottom drawer, where she kept all her personal items, pulled out a can of perfume and sprayed herself. Giving her a strange look, Batman jumped out of the way to avoid the scented mist.
‘The morgue,’ she said, by way of explanation.
He nodded his head in understanding.
‘Spray the good sergeant here with some of that stuff, Lex. I can smell him from here.’
Brad frowned.
‘Haven’t you got something better to do than sniff around Lexie all day?’
‘I’ve got plenty to do, sarge, and I am working. I’m delivering this parcel. And before you ask who brought it in, I can tell you it was dropped onto the station counter by a big bloke in a beanie. That was all the uniform guys could say.’
Lexie fingered the envelope curiously. Getting a pen from her top drawer, she used its tip to rip it open. Pulling out the contents, she was surprised to see it was a number of blown-up photographs. There was no note but there didn’t really need to be. The pictures spoke for themselves. What she was staring at appeared to be a drug deal caught on film. And the main character doing the deal was undeniably her ex-husband.
Holy shit.
*
‘Why didn’t you tell me sooner, Lexie?’ asked Casey Blair, clearly not impressed. ‘You know interviewing a family member or friend is a conflict of interest.’
Lexie looked down at her hands clutched in her lap.
‘Technically, I didn’t interview him. Brad did. And I didn’t think it would be a problem. He was just an associate of the victim at that stage. I know Zack is no murderer, but I know these photographs look bad.’
‘Look bad?’ Casey repeated, shaking her head. ‘It looks like a drug deal’s going down.’
Lexie searched for the right words.
‘I know it does, but it doesn’t make sense. Zack’s a paramedic. He’s always been tot
ally against drugs.’
‘Well, things can change. Anyone can become a drug dealer or a drug addict. Even doctors, lawyers, people of high standing in the community, have been done for using and dealing. Do you recognise the girl in the photograph? Do you have any idea who sent the photographs and why they were sent to you?’
Lexie shrugged.
‘There was no note, nothing, so I don’t know who sent them.’
That wasn’t the whole truth. She had her suspicions as to who had taken and delivered the photographs, but didn’t say so.
‘You can only see the back of the girl’s head and no, I don’t recognise her.’
This wasn’t a total lie, Lexie justified to herself. She couldn’t be completely sure the girl was Sandy Donaldson.
‘These pictures may have nothing to do with our murder investigation.’
‘You might be right,’ replied Casey. ‘It may be totally unrelated, but I do have to question the timing, and it does give us cause to take a closer look at Zack Rogers. It might be all circumstantial, but putting it together with his Medicare card found near the scene, his sexual association with the victim and the sightings of someone who fits his description, you have to admit he does look suspicious. Not to mention these pics . . .’
‘One of the witnesses, the person who handed in Zack’s Medicare card, is Little Gitt . . . which means it could all be rubbish. He could have stolen the card.’
‘Can’t you see what you’re doing, Lexie? You are defending him. You can’t be objective here.’
Lexie felt a stabbing fear as she anticipated her boss’s next words. Please don’t take me off the case. Fidgeting with the bracelet on her wrist, she willed the tears that were threatening to stay away.
‘I’ll be getting Cakes and Grumpy to interview Zack Rogers. You are not to have any dealing with him again, professionally or socially, until this murder investigation is finished. Do you understand me?’
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