Page 68 of Shadow of Doubt
“Thank you for explaining.” She gave Blake a smile. “It really is the most obnoxious part of the job. Well, some days maggots and other insects take top billing.” She gave a nervous laugh.
Brooklyn couldn’t laugh along with her.
“Blake said you wanted to see us,” Colin said, thankfully changing the subject Brooklyn wished she hadn’t delved into but somehow, like coming upon a car crash, she couldn’t figuratively seem to look away.
Kelsey moved over to the skull. “This is the arson victim’s skull.”
She turned it over and pointed at a hole in the temple. “Do you see the beveling around the hole? A sort of cone-shaped bone erosion?”
“A gunshot wound.” Colin blinked at her. “Our guy was shot?”
“He was indeed, and this is the direction of the bullet path through the cranial vault.” She took a long metal pointer and stuck it through the entry wound and out a hole on the other side. “This is the exit wound, which you can tell by irregular and external beveling—the bone erosion on the outer part of the bony table.”
“Any idea of caliber?” Dev asked.
“At this point I can tell you it was a low-velocity weapon, i.e., a handgun.” She set down the skull. “But the good news is we recovered a slug containing tissue so I believe it to be the bullet that ended this man’s life. We’ve taken our DNA samples from the slug, and Sierra has fingerprinted it, so Grady—our weapons expert—is evaluating it now.”
“When we’re done here, I’ll give him a call to see if he has anything to report,” Blake said.
“Is this the cause of death, then?” Colin asked.
Kelsey nipped on her lip. “Without any soft tissue or organs intact, I can’t conclusively say it is, but few people would’vesurvived such a trauma. Still, it is survivable. At least for a short time. So he could’ve died from smoke inhalation or the burns or something else that I haven’t discovered yet. Sorry. I wish I could be precise, but assigning a cause of death in a trauma like this one will not be straightforward and will take some time.”
“At least we know someone attempted to kill the victim by shooting him, even if he didn’t succeed,” Colin said. “Any leads on the victim’s ID?”
“Too early for that as well, but I do have one additional thing that could be helpful in identifying him. He’s missing the index finger on his right hand.”
“Missing, as in totally gone?” Colin asked.
She nodded. “We searched the scene carefully for any of the bones we might have overlooked, and I’m confident we didn’t miss anything. The fire was still too hot for scavengers to arrive before us and carry off a bone without burning their feet, so we know that didn’t happen.”
“Can you determine a time when the finger was severed?” Dev asked.
“The remaining bone shows no sign of remodeling, so very recent. But the area around the body hadn’t been disturbed after the fire, so odds are good he lost this finger before the fire.”
“Yeah, that could help,” Reid said, finally breaking his silence. “We’ll have Sheriff Day ask local agencies if someone who recently lost a right index finger is missing. We can also plug it into ViCAP.”
“ViCAP?” Brooklyn asked.
“The FBI’s Violent Crime Apprehension Program,” Blake said. “It’s a database of unsolved violent crimes entered by law enforcement all across the country in hopes that other agencies will search the database and be able to match their crime to one already registered, and both will be solved.”
Not something she’d ever heard of. “Sounds like it might pan out.”
“It could indeed.” Blake smiled. “If we’re done here, I know Sierra is waiting to see you.”
“I’m done until the rest of the bones are ready for examination.” Kelsey rested her gloved hands on the table. “I’ll put all of this information in an official report, and if I locate anything else, I’ll contact you right away.”
“Thanks for all of your help,” Colin said. “We appreciate your expertise.”
They all murmured their thanks before Blake escorted them out the door.
“Sierra’s lab is on the fourth floor.” He punched the four on the elevator number pad. When the door opened on their floor, he gestured with his free hand to step out ahead of him.
He led the way toward the lab that had a sign posting Trace Evidence outside a long window. He opened the lock, and Brooklyn slipped inside. She took in the large room with long stainless steel tables in the center and workstations to the left, where lab-coated individuals were busy working. Very few of them bothered to look up. Large pieces of scientific equipment she couldn’t possibly identify ringed the room. The only things she recognized were stainless steel refrigerators.
Sierra stood behind one of the long tables covered with white paper. The black box from Kane’s house sat on top. Its singed appearance looked more dramatic in this sterile environment, but Brooklyn couldn’t wait to see what was inside and rushed across the room.
Sierra smiled. “Perfect timing. I’m about to open this. I just have one more fingerprint to lift.”
