Page 13 of Broken
I let out a heavy sigh.
Work. I’ll focus on work. And if I can take down Chance Bridger in the process? Not a bad day.
My phone buzzes again, a number I don’t recognize.
“Marsh,” I say.
“Ms. Marsh, this is Dr. Nolan Hayes from forensics. I’ve got some news you’re going to want to hear.”
“Yeah? What have you got?”
“We took another look at the coroner’s report on the body of Joseph Hopkins and found a few things.”
My heart thuds. “Like what?”
“First of all, the autopsy was performed by the county coroner, not a medical examiner.”
“Huh? On what planet does that make sense?”
“It’s not uncommon,” Dr. Hayes continues, “in rural areas for coroners to perform an autopsy, but because the coroner in this case isn’t a medical doctor, we decided to take a second look.”
“And?”
“We were able to extract some viable DNA from beneath the victim’s fingernails.”
I raise my eyebrows. “Seriously? That could be a major clue.”
“Absolutely. First we’re checking to make sure it doesn’t belong to the victim himself, though I doubt that’s the case because the body doesn’t show any signs of deep scratches. So once we rule that out, it’s probable that the DNA belongs to his killer.”
“When will you know?” This is a great lead.
“I’ve put a rush on it, but DNA results, at the quickest, take about two business days.”
I draw in a breath. “All right. So if you find out it’s not the victim’s, which it probably isn’t, we need to get Chance Bridger’s DNA.”
“Right. He’ll have to submit to a DNA test.”
“Which he won’t do quietly,” I grumble. “We’ll probably have to get a judge to order it.”
Except…IhaveChance’s DNA. Half of it, anyway. I can get it from Grady.
Jarvis arrives, sitting down across from me and lifting his eyebrows.
“Anything else, Doctor?” I ask.
“Toxicology came back negative, which I expected given the age of the body, but there was something else remarkable as well.”
“Yeah?”
“The victim is missing a portion of his liver.”
“What?”
“Yeah. Is there any chance he donated part of his liver to a relative before his death?’
“I don’t have a clue.”
“The original report indicated the scar from surgery, but nothing else. I’ve looked at his medical records, and there’s no mention of him donating for a transplant. But part of his liver is definitely gone, which means he donated pretty recently before he died. The liver will usually regenerate to its normal size within six to eight weeks after donation. Four months at max.”
