“I’ll certainly keep a lookout,” Rebecca assured him. “And I’ll pass the word to the rest of the team. I’ll let Hank Monroe and Sergeant Murphy know as well, although they might have both already been given a heads-up. One way or the other, they can get things moving on their end as well.”
“I’d appreciate it,” Jack said.
Hurrying back downstairs, Jack looked into the decomposed room once again. Now the light was on and a black body bag was stretched out on the single autopsy table. Next to it was a separate metal stand with various instruments, specimen containers, preservatives, labels, syringes, evidence custody tags, and all sorts of other stuff needed for the autopsy. Jack was encouraged, but there was no Vinnie Ammendola or CarlosSanchez. Guessing they were in the locker room donning moon suits, Jack hurried in himself.
When Jack arrived, Carlos was completely encased in one of the OCME’s level-A hazmat suits. Because of the glare of the overhead fluorescent lights off the helmet’s curved plastic face mask, Jack couldn’t see the man’s face, but he could sense that Carlos was terrified. He was standing motionless, with his arms stuck out to the sides at an angle from his body. Jack had to smile.
“He doesn’t like this,” Vinnie explained with a laugh as he stuck his legs into his suit and then pulled the back up over his shoulders.
“That’s apparent,” Jack said. He got his suit off its peg and unplugged the ventilation battery pack from the charger. “Relax, Carlos! The suit is designed to protect you, not hurt you.”
“There’s going to be dangerous bacteria in there?” Carlos couldn’t seem to control the quaver in his voice.
“We’re more worried about dangerous viruses,” Jack said.
“You mean like Ebola?” Carlos asked.
“Something like Ebola,” Jack agreed. “Viruses are viruses. What I’m thinking we might be dealing with is influenza. You’ve certainly heard of the flu virus.”
“Of course I’ve heard of it, but it’s nothing compared to the likes of Ebola,” Carlos said.
“I wouldn’t be quite so cocky,” Jack said. “Influenza has killed infinitely more people than Ebola. Let’s put it this way: If this case is a new lethal strain of influenza, it could be as bad as or worse than if it were Ebola, because flu spreads much more rapidly than Ebola. Haven’t you ever heard of the 1918 flu pandemic? It killed more people than World War One and World War Two combined.”
“I don’t like the sound of this,” Carlos said. “Has anyone died here at OCME doing autopsies like this? I didn’t think this job was dangerous, just gross.”
“Oh, yeah, we’ve had a ton of deaths,” Jack said as he stuck his feetdown into the legs of his suit. “We lose mortuary techs maybe once a month. That’s why you got hired.”
“Jesus, Dr. Stapleton!” Vinnie complained. “Don’t tell him that. You’re going to scare the shit out of him. We’ve never lost a mortuary tech, Carlos. He’s pulling your leg.”
“Listen, Carlos,” Jack said. “The reason you’re in this godawful torture contraption is to protect you. You’ll be fine. Just don’t stick a knife blade or a needle through the suit while we are doing the case. At the end, be sure to do exactly what we tell you to disinfect.”
“This is not what I expected this job would be like.” For a grown man, Carlos had an uncommon knack for imitating a whiny child.
“You’ll be fine,” Jack repeated. He hadn’t meant to scare the novice as much as he apparently had. At the same time, Jack didn’t particularly care. He wasn’t convinced Carlos was going to be a permanent addition to the team. There had been a handful of not-so-positive quirks about the man’s behavior that morning that didn’t sit right with Jack. One way or the other, he planned on saying something to Twyla Robinson, the chief of staff.
Once Jack was fully suited and his HEPA ventilation fan was turned on, he led the way out of the locker room, down the hall, and into the decomposed room. He could tell that Carlos was still seriously spooked, but Jack decided to let the guy stew. Jack was eager to get going.
In his typical efficient fashion, Vinnie had already put up on the view box the X-ray that he and Carlos had taken of the body through the body bag. Jack switched on the light. X-raying the body was routine for MEs. The X-ray was a way of making sure that things like bullets or broken-off knife blades weren’t missed, which had happened in the distant past. Jack certainly didn’t expect anything like that on this case. Still, he entertained a minor possibility of coming across something like an old fracture. Such a finding could possibly assist in making or confirming the patient’s identification. But to his surprise, Jack was immediately presented with a totally unexpected and significant discovery.
“Good grief.” He stared at the image. “Do either of you bums know what we’re looking at?”
“Looks like a bunch of twisted wires,” Vinnie said.
“Yeah, wires,” Carlos echoed.
“They are most definitely wires,” Jack said. “Wire closures wrapped around the woman’s sternum, holding it together.”
“Did she have surgery?” Vinnie asked.
“Without a doubt,” Jack said. “And if I had to guess, I’d say she had open-heart surgery. Most likely valvular surgery on either her mitral valve or her aortic valve.”
“Could that account for her death?” Vinnie asked.
“By all means,” Jack said. He tried to keep the disappointment out of his voice. If a sudden rupture or, more probable yet, a rapidly progressive inefficiency of a cardiac valve was the cause of the woman’s demise, then there wouldn’t be any ongoing issue. He wouldn’t be looking at a possible contagious case that could potentially threaten the city and occupy his mind by keeping him busy for days on end.
“Well, that would be good,” Vinnie said. “Right?”
“Of course,” Jack said. If Vinnie noted his lack of enthusiasm, he kept it to himself. “Let’s get to it.”
