The Death Watcher

Chapter Eighteen

At a quarter past seven in the evening, Hunter was just about to power down his computer and call it a day, when the phone on his desk rang.

Garcia, who was just about to do the same, paused. His gaze skittered over to Hunter, as if waiting for confirmation that their workday was truly over.

‘Ultra Violent Crimes Unit,’ Hunter said, as he brought the receiver to his ear. ‘Detective Hunter speaking.’

‘Robert.’The female voice at the other end of the line was calm and composed. ‘It’s Carolyn Hove at the ME Department.’

‘Oh, hello, Doc,’ Hunter said back. His eyes quickly moved to his watch before he looked back at Garcia for a split second. Hunter and Dr. Hove had been friends for many years, but if this was a friendly call, Hunter knew that she would’ve called him on his private cellphone, not on the UVC Unit’s landline. ‘How can I help?’

Garcia rounded his desk and paused by Hunter’s.

‘Do you remember that odd case I sent your way about eighteen days ago, on June 20th?’Dr. Hove asked. ‘Shaun Daniels? Supposed hit-and-run, but my conclusion was that he died from hypothermia?’

‘Shaun Daniels.’ Hunter repeated the name, as he switched the call to speakerphone. ‘Yes, of course I remember.’ His tone gained a somewhat disappointed and frustrated edge.

‘Did you manage to get anywhere with that? Any leads at all?’

Garcia’s eyes narrowed first at the phone, then at Hunter. Dr. Hove had always been the epitome of professionalism. She never got emotional… she never allowed herself to get personally involved with any of her cases either, and the reason for that was simple: being too close to an investigation had the magic power of amplifying every blind spot – and when that happened, important details tended to get overlooked. Unless the detectives, or anyone else linked to the investigation, came back to her with more queries, once a body left her examination table, that subject was history. Only in a few truly bizarre cases, for the benefit of knowledge, in case she encountered something similar in the future, did Dr. Hove ever ask Hunter and Garcia about their progress in any given investigation.

‘Nothing that could really lead us anywhere, Doc.’ The answer came from Garcia. ‘We’ve been hitting dead ends everywhere we’ve looked. We hoped that his financial records would maybe give us something to go on, but that too went cold just a few days ago. But why the question, Doc? Did anything else relating to Shaun Daniels come up?’

‘Umm…’Hunter and Garcia could practically hear Dr. Hove scrunching her nose. ‘Not exactly?’

The two detectives exchanged a questioning look. They both also knew that Dr. Hove loved to solve enigmas, not create them.

‘We’re a little unclear as to what that really means, Doc,’ Garcia said, shrugging at Hunter. ‘Can you help us out?’

‘Well,’Dr. Hove said, before pausing for a second. ‘I think that we’ve got another body.’

The room seemed to inhale.

‘What do you mean, another body, Doc?’ Hunter stepped in. ‘Another body in relation to what?’

‘Another body that was dead before being dead, if you get what I’m saying.’

The room exhaled.

‘Wait a second.’ Garcia leaned a little closer to the phone on Hunter’s desk. ‘Are you saying that you’ve got another person who died of hypothermia, but came to you as a hit-and-run?’

‘No,’Dr. Hove replied. ‘The body came to us as a jumping suicide.’

Hunter and Garcia exchanged another concerned look.

‘But we can prove that he was dead way before he jumped.’

‘Hypothermia?’

‘Not this time, but there are other similarities to Shaun Daniels’s case.’

‘And where’s that body now, Doc?’ Hunter asked.

‘Right in front of me.’

‘Are you at the morgue?’

‘No, I’m at the Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center in Westwood – Main Pathology Theater.’

Hunter reached for his jacket.

‘We’re on our way.’