Chapter 3
Chapter Three
The next morning, I showered quickly. Then I threw on some jeans and a sweater. The house was chilly, and I realized I’d forgotten to turn on the heat before I went to bed.
Downstairs, I made myself an espresso, to jolt my brain awake. Normally, I’d head down to the pub for breakfast, but Abigail had texted she’d made her blueberry scones.
I’d just sat down at the kitchen table, when she and Tommy came in through the back door.
“Morning, Doc,” she said.
“Good morning. You two are here early.”
She grinned. “Tommy was up with the sun. We actually waited a bit to come down, so we didn’t wake you up.”
“Scones,” Tommy said. Then he sat down across from me.
“I heard,” I said.
“Your favorite,” he said.
“True. Did you have fun with Henry last night?”
Tommy, who had turned twenty recently, cocked his head. “Yes.” No need to expound, I appreciated his succinctness.
Abigail put the pastry box on the table, along with clotted cream and jam she’d most likely made.
“You didn’t have to do all this,” I said.
“I was in the mood for scones. Just as easy to make my own than to buy.”
“For you, maybe.” I was not a baker or cook. I barely knew how to boil water on the AGA in my kitchen. Though I’d become a pro at heating up pizza.
She grinned.
Before I’d put jam on my first scone, Tommy was done with two. “Garden,” he said.
Abigail let him out of the booth, and he headed to the garden.
“I have a favor to ask you,” I said.
She frowned. “Anything.”
“The next time I’m running around town with ghoulish makeup on, maybe, remind me to take it off.”
She laughed, and I smiled.
“We were so busy, I didn’t even notice.”
“Nor did I, until I scared myself in the mirror upstairs. I’m sure everyone at the pub last night thinks I’m a bit off.”
She shrugged. “Pots and kettles, and all that. Besides, lots of people were in costumes, and they will be for the rest of the week until All Hallow’s Eve next weekend.”
“I love how much Scotland enjoys their holidays, especially, here in Sea Isle.”
“They do. I’m sure it has to do with creating joy during the gloomy days ahead.”
“You might be on to something, there. I never thought of it that way.”
“When I was a kid, I couldn’t wait for All Hallows Eve and the December holidays.”
“When you were a kid?”
We laughed.
“Fine, I enjoy them even more now,” she said. “And I promise to remind you about the makeup. Hopefully, we don’t find any more bodies. I still can’t get over how alive he was earlier in the night. He’d seemed like such a nice fellow.”
“He did.”
“Was his sister able to give you any information?”
“Only that they didn’t see each other much. His friend Baird said there’d been a few things that happened on the rig, but nothing worth killing over.”
She shivered. “Makes me appreciate the fragility of life.”
“I think we are both more aware than most because of our professions.”
“Truth. I’m glad today we had scheduled off. Though, I’m sorry we have to do an autopsy,” she said quickly.
“Look at us thinking we’d have time off before the haunted house.” We only had to work it through Saturday evening. Then other teams would take over for the next week. They liked changing up the rooms so they could get visitors multiple times.
“Do you think they’ll bring someone new in for across the hall?”
“I don’t know. I can’t imagine Baird and Isobel will feel much like entertaining people. I’m sure Mara is on it, though.”
“I imagine she is.”
I grinned. I adored my friends.
We ate in silence for a few minutes, then we cleared everything away.
We suited up again for the autopsy and then entered the cooler that had been built off the kitchen. It was our autopsy suite and perfect for keeping the bodies at the right temperature.
“At least we have cause of death,” she said. “That usually takes ages. Though I did run toxicology reports. I can pull those for you, if you want.”
“Later. Let’s get this examination done. I was thinking last night that the angle of the knife was strange.” I used my light and magnifier to take a closer look at his chest.
“How so?” she asked.
“More of a downward thrust,” I said. “Maybe someone his height or taller, even though he was seated, they had to be around his size for the angle to work.”
“That would narrow down the suspects.”
I nodded. “He was a tall one.”
“I measured last night. He’s six four.”
I’d guessed six three. I hadn’t been far off.
“How tall do you think Baird is?”
“Maybe an inch shorter. They were both wearing the same kind of black boots. I noticed because they were dressed like artists, but they wore work boots like you see the guys on the rigs wear.”
Her observation skills had grown since we started working together.
I turned on my recorder, but she would still take notes, label, and weigh as we went along.
When I opened his chest cavity, it was as I suspected.
“Mitral valve perforation, and ventricular septal perforation; these are deep,” I said.
“It isn’t easy to stab someone like this.
Like we thought, the person had to be tall and strong.
The size of the blade didn’t help. There is so much damage, he didn’t have a chance. ”
My dreams had been riddled with trying to save his life, which we hadn’t done. We’d known from the start that it wouldn’t be possible. My dreams hadn’t seen it that way.
By the time we finished up, it was nearly ten. I asked Abigail to call the family to come in when she was done. Then I went to write up my report for Ewan. I’d been somewhat surprised that he hadn’t stopped by this morning. He usually attended the autopsies.
With everything going on in town, though, he was probably busy. That, and after last night, he had suspects to interview.
Abigail came into my office and handed over a file. “I emailed the toxicology to you, but here it is in paper form. I know how you like to look at things all at once.”
I grinned. “Thank you. I’ve just sent our findings to Ewan to help with his investigation.”
“I was wondering why he wasn’t here,” she said.
“I pondered the same thing. He’s probably busy with all the visitors in town. And Baird gave him some folks at work to follow up on. He’s dealing with that.”
She nodded. “That makes sense. The family will be here in an hour. And we’re ready for them. Also, let me know when you want to release the body to the funeral home. I’m sure his sister will want to know.”
I glanced over the toxicology. “His liver seemed OK,” I said.
“What do you mean?”
“This level of alcohol in his system would have rendered most people useless. He didn’t appear to be drinking when we had dinner earlier in the evening.
I handed her the report. “You’re right. That’s weird. Maybe he had a flask with him. He could have been drinking throughout the night.”
“But we didn’t find one on the scene, right?” I glanced through our evidence list.
“Maybe Ewan’s team found it.”
“Could be. I’ll ask when I send this to him. One thing is for certain, if he was that inebriated, he may not have been able to fight back much or respond. That could be why we didn’t hear anything even though he was so close. I’ll need to ask the friend if he had a drinking problem.”
“Like you said, though, the liver didn’t show signs of damage.”
That was strange. “If he was drinking, and he wasn’t used to it …”
“He could have been severely incapacitated.”
“But you would think Isobel and Baird would notice.”
As if I’d conjured them up, the doorbell buzzed, and their picture popped up on my computer.
“Is it them?”
“Yes. They’re early. What room did you put him in?”
I didn’t like people being in the autopsy suite. Well, other than Abigail and myself, and sometimes Ewan. Too many chances for cross contamination.
“Exam Four.”
“Thanks.”
I clicked the lock on the door, and it opened. Isobel had been crying. Her eyes were red, and she held a tissue in her hand.
“Come in,” I said softly.
“We, uh, brought the clothing,” Baird said as he handed me two shopping bags. “Including the wigs.”
Isobel sniffed.
“I can do this on my own,” he said to her. “There’s no reason to put yourself through this.”
She shook her head. “It isn’t real until I see him.”
I understood what she meant. It was one thing for someone to tell you something, quite another to see it for yourself.
I handed the bags to Abigail for testing.
“I’ll take you through,” I said.
I stood at the door, while they flanked each side.
“He looks like he’s asleep,” she whispered. Tears streamed down her cheeks.
I didn’t know any of them well, but my heart hurt. Loss like this, especially when it was so sudden, was difficult for most of us.
“Can you tell us how it happened?” Baird asked.
I’d had a text from Ewan explaining that they’d been asking the sister and friend more questions and to tell them the bare minimum.
“He was murdered,” I said. “Ewan has asked that we keep the facts quiet while he’s investigating.”
She sobbed and Baird went around the table and put his arm on her shoulders. “Come on, love. Let’s sit down.” He guided her out of the room to the lobby.
I sat across from them.
“I don’t understand,” Isobel said. “Who would do something like this? And how? I mean, it was maybe forty minutes from the time we left him, and then you showed up at the pub. He was fine. We could barely breathe we’d been laughing so hard all night.”
“We were the same way,” I said. “And he didn’t seem upset about anything before last night?”
“No,” Baird said. “As I said, things can get tense on the rig, but once you’re home, all that doesn’t matter. Most of the guys don’t even live around here. They are from Edinburgh or Glasgow. A few of them are Brits. That said, none of them would do something like this.”
“Do you think, because of the makeup, they thought he was someone else?” Isobel’s voice was barely a whisper.
I shrugged. “It’s possible, but an attack like this … it’s hard to say. That’s why there’s an investigation. Hopefully, we’ll have answers soon. I do have some questions for you, if you don’t mind.”
“Anything,” she said. “We want to help.”
“Was he a big drinker?”