Echoes of the Past (17 page)

“Dr. Thomas? Jeremy
Runions
.”

He had a slight British accent that reminded her
of one of her old pathology professors.

“Dr. Williams is out of town until Monday, but I’m
at your disposal for the next couple of hours unless an emergency comes up. The
morgue is in the basement. I’ll take you down there and get you temporary
credentials. That way, you can come and go as you please. I assume that’s what
you’d prefer?”

The man was attractive with a headful of dark red
hair, more than his fair share of light freckles, and vivid green eyes. His
friendly manner relaxed her, and Michelle liked him immediately
.

“That would be great. Being able to come and go as
I please would be a big help. I tend to keep strange hours when I’m on a case.
Follow the evidence, right? I’ll need documentation to send stuff to the lab
too.”

“This way.”
He led her to
a bank of elevators and pressed the call button.

“We have a room down there where you can change
and put on scrubs. You’re here for the two pulled out of the lake yesterday.
Craziest thing I’ve ever seen. I was working in the E.R. when they brought them
in. The bodies were almost in full rigor when they got here. We couldn’t have
separated them even if we’d wanted to, but your boss said no one was to touch
them until you arrived.”

“I’m sorry about that. Colin can be a bit abrupt
at times, but in my investigations, vital evidence can easily be unintentionally
compromised. What time did the bodies get here?”

“Just after ten yesterday morning—almost thirty
hours ago. I know it was cold outside, and they were still submerged in the
lake when they were found, but they should be out of rigor now.”

“I hope so. I’m interested in what’s underneath
the jacket. Considering how they were found, I’m not sure liver temperature
would have helped. I’ll use stomach contents,
lividity
,
and the last time anyone saw them to give me a possible range for time of
death.”

“Well, the ambient temperature was about
forty-five, and we’ve kept them less than ten degrees cooler. We didn’t think
you’d want them in negative storage.”

“You’re right. Since we know who they are, I want
to get this over and done with as soon as possible. I’ve seen bodies bundled
together like that when people have become trapped in cars in a snowstorm when
they were trying to share body heat, but never in the water. It doesn’t make
sense. I’m quite anxious to see what the bodies have to say.” Another doctor
wouldn’t suspect she meant it literally.

The elevator doors opened, and he led her down a
hall similar to all the hospital basement halls she’d ever seen. This one was
painted a soft green.

“I’ve arranged for a couple of
dieners
to assist you. The techs should be waiting for us in the autopsy room when we
get there. The hospital lab is at your disposal for whatever tests you need
run, and the police forensic lab is on stand-by to examine the clothing and
whatever else you send them. We understand Liam Moorcroft’s niece is one of the
victims. He’s our member of parliament, so this cuts close to home. We’ll do
everything we can to help you, but everyone knows you’re in charge. No one is
going to be playing cock of the rock here.”

They came to a door, and Jeremy pushed it open.

“We can change in here.”

Michelle followed him into a break room consisting
of a common area with sofas, tables and chairs, and a counter on which sat an
individual brew coffee maker next to a small refrigerator.

“The place is usually busy during the week when
the labs are on full duty. On the weekend, there’s just a skeleton crew in
place, but they’ve been instructed to give your stuff top priority. If you need
more, we’ll call in additional personnel. I’ll meet you here.”

He indicated a door marked
women
. Michelle thanked him and entered the dressing room. She
hadn’t realized Moorcroft was the local Member of Parliament. She’d thought him
one of the many from the Toronto area. No wonder everyone was on pins and
needles about this case. Colin could have told her that and come to think of
it, why hadn’t Ron? He’d made the comment about Tony having Moorcroft in his
pocket…He might have assumed she knew. An outsider like Tony would make a great
scapegoat too.

Knowing whose sandbox she was playing in was
always a good thing, and now that she was aware of whose home turf she was on,
she knew who to contact if she needed anything above and beyond what she
thought she would. It also added pressure to get the job done quickly and
efficiently. There couldn’t be any corners cut on this one—not that she cut
corners. Her problems generally arose because she looked more deeply into
things than people wanted.

How these two were involved with The Three Sisters
and her mission might be a mystery, but solving their deaths was a priority.
Ron’s comments about Tony resurfaced in her mind. Pollution was a serious
matter. If there were pollutants in the lake, why would Ron want to deny them?
Was Tony searching for an excuse to justify his lack of results? Would he kill
two people to keep them quiet?

She undressed, hung her clothing in an empty
locker, and donned the scrubs provided. After twisting her braid onto the top
of her head, she covered it with a surgical cap and grabbed a pair of booties
for her feet. As a pathologist, she knew the smell of decomposition could
linger in the clothing she wore as well as in her hair.

The thought she might smell of death bothered her.
The last thing she wanted was for Ron or Tony to smell decaying flesh on her,
especially since her visit here was a clandestine one.

She picked up her bag and returned to the common
area where Dr.
Runions
waited for her. He’d changed
as well. The long-sleeved scrubs provided were lined and thicker than those
used in the O.R. or the rest of the hospital. It was cold in the morgue. These
were designed to keep the pathologist clean and warm. Dr.
Runions
handed her an apron.

“We keep face shields, masks, and lined gloves in
the autopsy room itself. The techs are getting the bodies. You’ll be using room
three since it has better ventilation, and we’ve got two empty drawers in there
for them. They were kept in another area last night. We don’t have drawers large
enough to accommodate a mass that size. I assume you’ll try to separate them?”

“Yes, it’s the first thing I intend to do after I
conduct an exterior examination.” She held up the picture she’d pulled out of
her case earlier. “A picture may be worth a thousand words, but it doesn’t
always tell the whole story. Once they’re separated, I
’ll
need
help undressing the bodies. Are the techs mine for the time I’m
here, or do they normally work elsewhere?”

“Milo’s a pathology lab tech who volunteered for
the assignment. He’s thinking of going back to medical school. Jamie works
full-time as a
diener
in the morgue. Your boss has
seconded him for the duration. We didn’t expect you so soon, but now that
you’re here, he’s all yours. If you think you’ll need more help, you’ve got me for
the weekend, and on Monday, George will be back to give you a hand.”

Michelle nodded and entered the modern, well-appointed
autopsy room. The technicians, one with a camera around his neck, stood beside
a large body bag.

“Gentlemen, this is Dr. Michelle Thomas. You’ll be
working with her until someone tells you otherwise. Dr. Thomas is with the
Provincial Coroner’s Office. Michelle, Milo,” he indicated the young man with
dark hair and olive skin who held a camera, “and Jamie.” The other lab tech had
light brown hair, fair skin, and wore wire-rimmed glasses.

“Pleased to meet you, gentlemen. I’m sure we’ll
get along great, and call me Michelle. When we’re up to our elbows in innards,
it isn’t time to stand on formality.”

The men chuckled, and Michelle smiled. Everything
looked promising.

“I guess we can get started. Jamie, will you do
the honors?”

The orderlies had moved the bundled bodies out of
the cooler and Jamie moved over to unzip the body bag. As he did, Milo recorded
every step of it on the digital movie camera he held.

“I’ll need some still shots too.”

“Yes, Doctor, I mean Michelle.” The young man
blushed. “Now or after the bag’s fully opened?”

“After is fine. Make sure you work from top to
bottom so you don’t miss anything. Thanks.”

Jamie finished unzipping the bag, and Milo picked
up the digital camera. While he took pictures, Jamie noted what could be seen
and the condition of the corpses and the clothing. Michelle examined the
bundled bodies and compared what she was seeing to what she saw in the
photograph.

She noted the cadavers were in almost the same
position as they’d been when the bodies had been discovered, but one of the
male’s hands had come out of the pockets, no doubt because of moving the bodies
around. It was possible the hand had been taken out, but with the bodies in
rigor, it would have been difficult. Either Jamie or Milo had placed an empty
autopsy table beside the occupied one. Lindsay’s body would be moved onto it as
soon as Michelle
okayed
it.

For Michelle, this was always the hardest part of
the job. The first time she saw the body and touched it, the spirit revealed
itself to her and told its story. If she were alone in the lab, it wasn’t too
bad, but when others were present, it was hard to mask her reaction to the sad
or gruesome news. She’d developed a system, and she hoped it would work this
time. Other coroners she knew thought aloud while they worked, but it wasn’t
quite the same as what she did.

Jeremy stopped beside her, looked at the corpses,
and shook his head.

“It’s a hell of a thing, isn’t it? If you don’t
need me for the moment, I’ll go check on a patient and see about expediting
your paper work. I assume you’ll want to send samples to the lab tonight. I
should be back in fifteen or twenty minutes. Milo can take them. He knows the
drill.”

“Thank you. I’ll do the full external examination
now. I’ll draw blood from the heart and femoral leg vein for toxicological
examination and send nail and hair samples to the lab too.”

She pulled on one rubber glove and smiled. Her
face mask hung around her neck.

“I expect to meet with the families tomorrow and
explain the timeline. It’s always hard for them to understand that unlike on
television, it may take weeks, not minutes or hours, to get all the results,
but I’ll know what I’m dealing with much sooner than that. If we’re lucky,
we’ll have answers by the end of the week.”

“We’ll do everything we can to expedite your
tests, but you’re right. Some tests take more time than the hour TV gives them.
I’ll be back shortly.”

Jeremy nodded and left the room. Michelle pulled up
her mask, tugged on the other rubber glove, and opened her case. She took out a
small personal recording device and turned it on. She spoke aloud.

“Case number six seven nine four
two, Lindsay Miller, and six seven nine four three, Aaron Hart.”

Michelle explained where the bodies had been found
and what had transpired up until this point. She described the physical
appearance of the bodies as she saw them now, noting Lindsay’s missing shoe.

She turned off the recorder and moved closer to
the bodies.

Michelle took a steadying breath and reached for
Aaron’s other hand, slowly pulling it out of Lindsay’s pocket. She braced
herself for contact with the spirit, but instead of the reactions she usually
encountered, she found confusion and fear, clear evidence that Aaron had not
gone to his death willingly or knowingly. She gasped and let go of the hand. It
flopped onto the table, and she winced.

“What’s wrong, Michelle?” Milo asked, noting the
way she’d dropped the hand so suddenly.

“Sorry about that.”

Michelle fought for her usual calm. Thank God
she’d pulled up the face mask, covering most of her face. She was sure her
shock and surprise would show clearly on it.

“Nothing.
The boy’s hand
slipped out of my hand. These gloves are thicker than the ones I’m used to.
Okay, Aaron, my boy.
Talk to me.
What’s going on here?”

She saw the confused look on Milo’s face.

“I’m sorry. I should have explained I like to talk
to my patients. It makes their plight more real to me. Take this young man. Do
you think he went into that lake willingly? Before I’m through here, he’ll have
answered all of my questions.”

Jamie chuckled. “My anatomy professor used to talk
to all the cadavers. He said it helped to remind him they’d once been human
beings.”

“Exactly.
We must never
lose sight of that fact. These people ended up here for a reason and it’s our
job to figure out how and why.”

Chapter Nine

Michelle nodded at her technicians and turned back
to the corpse. She sensed Aaron’s confusion. Every other spirit she’d met had
always been aware of their deaths, but not Aaron, and the boy was freaking out.
Trying to calm him down with witnesses present wouldn’t be an easy task.

Where am I?
His voice was strong and clear in her mind.

“Welcome to the Belleville General Hospital
Morgue, young man.” There was no point trying to break it to him gently. Dead
was dead, and nothing could undo that. “You and this young lady apparently drowned
in the Lake of the Mountain Thursday night. How on earth did you end up bundled
together like this?”

Drowned?
What are you talking about, lady?

“I’m Dr. Thomas. I hope you can answer some of my
questions. I’ll do my best to find the answers to those you can’t. Now, let’s
have a look under the jacket.”