Grabbing her coat, Angela left the hospital. Before setting out for Burlington, she headed home to change clothes. As she approached the house she was surprised to see a state police van parked in front of her house. Evidently the crime scene investigators were still there.
Alice Doherty met her at the door, concerned that something was wrong. Angela immediately put her at ease. She then asked about the state police people.
“They are still downstairs,” Alice said. “They’ve been there for hours.”
Angela went down to the basement to meet the technicians. There were three. They had the entire area around the back of the stairs blocked off with crime scene tape and brightly illuminated with floodlights. One man was using advanced techniques in an attempt to lift fingerprints from the stone. Another man was carefully sifting through the dirt that formed the floor of the tomb. The third was using a hand-held instrument called a luma-light, looking for fibers and latent prints.
The only man who introduced himself was the gentleman working on the fingerprints. His name was Quillan Reilly.
“Sorry we’re taking so much time,” Quillan said.
“It doesn’t matter,” Angela assured him.
Angela watched them work. They didn’t talk much, each absorbed by his task. She was about to leave when Quillan asked her if the interior of the house had been repainted in the last eight months.
“I don’t think so,” Angela said. “We certainly haven’t.”
“Good,” said Quillan. “Would you mind if we came back this evening to use some luminol on the walls upstairs?”
“What’s luminol?” Angela asked.
“It’s a chemical used to search for bloodstains,” Quillan explained.
“The house has been cleaned,” Angela said, taking mild offense that they thought any blood would still be detectable.
“It’s still worth a shot,” Quillan said.
“Well, if you think it might be helpful,” Angela said. “We want to be cooperative.”
“Thank you, ma’am,” Quillan said.
“What happened to the evidence taken by the medical examiner?” Angela asked. “Do the local police have it?”
“No, ma’am,” Quillan said. “We have it.”
“Good,” Angela said.
Ten minutes later, Angela was on her way. In Burlington, she found the medical examiner’s office with ease.
“We’re waiting for you,” Dr. Dunsmore said as Angela was ushered into his modern and sparsely furnished office. He made her feel instantly at ease. He even asked her to call him Walt.
In minutes, Angela was dressed in a surgical scrub suit. As she donned a mask, a hood, and goggles, she felt a rush of excitement. The autopsy room had always been an arena of discovery for her.
“I think you’ll find we are quite professional here,” Walt said as they met outside the autopsy room. “It used to be that forensic pathology was somewhat of a joke outside of the major cities. That’s not the case any longer.”
Dennis Hodges was laid out on the autopsy table. X rays had been taken and were already on the X-ray view box. Walt introduced the diener to Angela, explaining that Peter would assist them in the procedure.
First they looked at the X rays. The penetrating fracture at the top of the forehead was certainly a mortal wound. There was also a linear fracture in the back of the head. In addition, there was a fracture of the left clavicle, the left ulna, and the left radius.
“There’s no doubt it was a homicide,” Walt said. “Looks like the poor old guy put up quite a fight.”
“The local police chief suggested suicide,” Angela said.
“He was joking, I hope,” Walt said.
“I really don’t know,” Angela said. “He didn’t impress me or my husband with his investigative skills. It’s possible he’s never handled a homicide.”
“Probably not,” Walt said. “Another problem is that some of the older local law enforcement people haven’t had much formal training.”
Angela described the pry bar that was found with the body. Using a ruler for determining the size of the penetrating fracture and then examining the wound itself they determined that the pry bar could have been the murder weapon.
Then they turned their attention to the bagged hands.
“I was delighted when I saw the paper bags,” Walt said. “I’ve been trying to get my district MEs to use them on this kind of case for a long time.”