“And four, I called in the head injury I discovered, which the New Haven medical examiner missed. Why would I do that if I were trying to hide it?”
Liam didn’t often go off, verbally, but when he did, it was a thing of beauty.
Pataki looked a bit defeated, but Garland obviously wasn’t done yet. “Perhaps you reported the head injury to throw us off the scent.”
“So we’re ignoring points one through three then?” Liam asked.
“When exactly did you notice the head injury?” Pataki asked, getting back in the game.
“When I shaved the head.”
“You shaved the head?” Garland asked.
“You shaved my head?” Lionel echoed, looking offended.
Gabe snorted. “Just wait. It gets worse.”
“Why did you shave the head?” Pataki asked.
“To remove the skull cap.”
Garland pressed a hand over her mouth.
Pataki managed to ask, “For what purpose?”
“To access the cranial cavity.”
“Good god…” Lionel turned away, overcome by the details that Liam delivered as flatly as if he were reading off a menu.
Even Pataki was starting to look uncomfortable by the discussion now.
“Are you some sort of sicko?” Pataki accused, dropping all semblance of professionalism.
Carson finally stepped forward. “Doctor Walsh is a well-respected doctor and researcher. There have been ground-breaking discoveries that connect low-level brain injury to depression and suicide in our military men and women and Liam’s research is part of continuing those studies. As a veteran myself, which Liam is as well, I appreciate the research he’s doing, as should you.”
Natalie couldn’t have loved Liam more as pride had her insides warming. And after that speech, Carson was right up there in her esteem too.
The best part? Both officers had the decency to look contrite… at least for a moment.
“We’ll need to take the body,” Pataki informed them.
“What? Take it where? To do what?” Lionel asked, looking panicked.
Natalie couldn’t blame him. Where Lionel’s body went, so did Lionel. At least that had always been what happened to spirits in her limited experience so far.
In some cases it was a good thing. Like when Liam returned the cadavers of the two old lady ghosts who hated her. In some cases it was a bad thing. Like how Natalie’s chest got tight every time she remembered that Liam’s contract term for Gabe’s body would eventually expire. Liam couldn’t, or more likely wouldn’t, tell her exactly when but they all lived with it hanging over them like a dark cloud.
Liam shook his head at Pataki’s declaration. “That cadaver is considered state property for research use, in this case, in my lab specifically. Albany Medical’s legal department will have to clear any changes to that.”
Liam had put up a small roadblock buying them some time by demanding the police contact and get permission from the medical college but this was still a serious situation. If they impounded Lionel’s body and transported it anywhere farther than Carson’s office at the sheriff’s department, there went the book and the article.
“Where do you plan on taking him?” Natalie asked.
“Back to our morgue in New Haven,” Pataki answered.
“Connecticut? Why?” Natalie asked. She heard the panic in her own voice.
“For an autopsy,” Pataki said.
