The Morgue
Check-In
Forensics
When they showed up, it was clear that Ben was wrapping up the autopsy that he’d been working on. Samuel Padilla was being put in the cooler, and the ME was sitting on a rolling stool not far away.
As soon as he heard them enter, he looked up.
“Gentlemen, I was wondering when you’d show up. Great timing,” he admitted.
When he stood, Gene and Ethan headed his way, and all of their fingers and toes were crossed that the man found something.
Anything.
They were lacking forensics, and that was making this case more difficult. This victim hadn’t been in the water, so the chances were they might get lucky.
“What do you have, Doc? Anything that’s going to help us solve this?” Gene asked.
The man flipped open his chart, and shared.
“Samuel Padilla died of BFT to the head. He was hit hard in the temple area. It was fast, and it was what did him in seconds later. The fracture to his skull is COD.”
Well, that was what the others had, so, there was nothing surprising or shocking here.
“Anything else?”
He flipped pages.
“TOD is around five in the morning, give or take thirty.”
Gene was making note of that, and he was going to assume the others had about the same TOD. That meant that wherever he was killed, it was going to be close to the man’s home.
And it was.
The killer likely went from the sugar cane facility directly to the man’s home.
It checked out.
Ben continued.
“He had seven broken ribs, both kneecaps were dislodged, and he had multiple breaks in his arms, fingers, and toes.”
“So, he was tortured,” Gene admitted.
The man nodded.
“And he was alive for it. There’s swelling in his knees, showing that there was blood flow there when someone kneecapped him. I’d like to say I’ve never seen that before, but back home in Miami, I’ve seen gangs and mob men do that.”
Ironically, they had too, and they were dealing with a mob man.
“What was used?”
He paused.
“Something hammer-like, but not a hammer. From what I can tell, it was all metal with a rounded head. Ball peen hammer?” he said, guessing.
Gene made notes.
