Chapter 10: Autopsy, Cause of Death, and Close Relationship

Mars stopped harping on the awkward conversation topic. He started to walk toward the stainless steel autopsy table before he turned to look at Luke and said, “Young man, are you sure you’re ready for this?”

Luke nodded with a calm expression.

It wasn’t that he didn’t feel anything, but as a police officer, it was a matter of time before he had to face something like this. He had to get used to this.

Michelle’s cause of death was likely to be drowning, and she had been discovered soon after her death.

Luke would rather this be his first autopsy than face something that was comparatively more dreadful.

Mars started to remove the white cloth which covered the body and stopped at the chest. He first started studying the head under the lights.

First, he used something which resembled a comb to comb Michelle’s hair.

“No obvious foreign objects found in the hair.”

He put the comb down and used his hand to move the hair around as he inspected the head in even more detail.

“No obvious external injuries on the head.”

Then, he moved on.

“No palm or rope marks found on the neck.”

Next, he moved on to the part that would generally be censored in films.

Luke remained silent and watched attentively.

Luke wasn’t a psycho, and thus wouldn’t be turned on by seeing a naked corpse. It wasn’t as if he was watching a movie. He was facing an actual corpse here.

Luke was merely attentively watching Mars’ inspection process.

He was no forensic doctor, but as a police officer, Luke had to have a certain degree of knowledge when it came to forensics.

After inspecting the entire body from head to toe, Mars gestured at Robert. Robert, who already had gloves on, stepped forward and helped turn Michelle’s body on its side.

Again, Mars inspected the body from head to toe. When he was finally done, he shook his head. “Alright, you can put the body down now. No obvious external injuries found.”

Robert placed the corpse down and said, “Can you check if she engaged in any s*xual activity prior to her death?”

Mars glanced at Luke before asking, “You sure?”

Robert replied, “Yes.” But he immediately turned and faced Luke. “Stand over there.”

Luke said nothing and slowly stood in a new spot.

In this new spot, he was facing Michelle’s head. Clearly, Robert still cared more than he let on.

Mars got to work, and after a while, he lifted his head and said, “The deceased engaged in s*xual intercourse prior to death, and… a large amount of sperm was left behind.”

Robert rolled his eyes. “Prioritize finding whom the sperm belongs to. Are you able to determine the cause of death?”

Mars replied, “Please wait a moment.”

He got working on the corpse again, and shortly after, he said, “Suffocation.”

Robert raised an eyebrow but didn’t say anything.

Mars glanced at him and added, “However, there was no water in her lungs. Therefore, she didn’t drown. Hehe, you’re going to be busy now.”

Robert sighed helplessly.

Generally speaking, of the few causes which led to suffocation, drowning and choking were the two most common scenarios.

If it was by choking, there would have been handprints, or rope or other marks left on the neck.

And as for those who drowned, water would definitely be found in the lungs.

Michelle’s corpse had been discovered in the water, yet there wasn’t any water in her lungs. Her neck was also completely clean. Something was definitely wrong here.

Robert had been a police officer for many years, and he was aware that this was obviously a homicide.

That meant that he had to solve the case as quickly as possible.

They drew their salaries from the town, and thus, in a situation like this, they had to quickly discover the truth and maintain order in the town.

Presently, Mars was starting to inspect Michelle’s nose, eyes, lips, tongue, and ears. After a short while, using a pair of tweezers, he pulled out several thin and white objects from her nose.

Robert narrowed his eyes and asked, “What are those?”

Mars remained silent and checked Michelle’s mouth. Again, he used tweezers to pull out several tiny white objects from within.

Only now did he say, “Alright, although the official forensics report will still take a while, I can let you know right now what these are. These are feathers, or to be accurate, down, which is generally used to make pillows, cushions, and other similar items. Now that some have been found in the nose and mouth of the deceased, you should have an idea what the most probable cause of death is.”

Robert nodded. “Got it. I’m leaving now. Let me know if you find anything else, and when the autopsy report is ready, give me a call.”

Then, he called for Luke before leaving the room.

Luke followed along, but just as he was about to exit the room, Mars said, “Hey kid, Luke, not bad. You’re much more interesting than Robert. Come visit when you’re free.”

Luke turned and nodded with a smile on his face. “Thanks. I’ll definitely come when I have the chance.” He then waved and shut the door behind him as he exited the room.

Inside the room, Mars blanked out slightly before smiling. “The way he behaves… is completely unlike Robert. Perhaps, he really isn’t his biological son?”

He then shook his head with a smile before he continued with his work.

Once again, the police car sped off along the road back to where they came from.

While driving, Robert asked, “Do you have any thoughts on the case?”

Luke replied, “It’s a homicide?”

Robert replied, “Of course it is. Anything else?”

Luke recalled what he saw last night and hesitated inwardly. However, he still spoke up. “Crime of passion?”

Robert nodded. “Yes, that’s possible. Anything else?”

Luke shook his head. “Nothing for now.”

Robert asked, “Are you sure?”

Luke sighed and said, “Fine. Michelle has a boyfriend at school: the football captain, George Joshua.”

Robert asked, “Are you close to him? Or is Michelle the one you’re close to?”

Luke replied, “Neither. But Jimena is a member of the cheerleading squad, and Michelle was the captain of the cheerleaders. That’s why I know a bit about her.”

Robert asked, “What else do you know about her?”

Luke sank into a short silence before saying, “Michelle is also rather intimate with two other members of the football club.”

Robert raised his eyebrows. “What?”

Luke sighed and said, “She’s already dead and I don’t like talking about her like this. But since her death wasn’t an accident, I can’t keep this hidden anymore.”

Robert was somewhat speechless. “Kids nowadays… sure are… playful. Back then, when I was in high school… cough, um, I was very innocent back then.”

Luke snorted.

If you’re going to lie, can you improve your awkward acting first? At the very least, wipe that guilty look off your face!

Perhaps the disdain in Luke’s eyes was too obvious, as Robert immediately flew into a rage out of humiliation. “Bastard, what are you looking at?! I’m busy, I need to focus on the road. Huh? Wait, I’m the boss. Why am I the driver?”

Then, he slammed on the brakes and stopped the car before saying, “Come, you drive.”

Luke helplessly got out of the car and walked around it to the driver’s seat. As for Robert, he moved to the passenger’s seat.

After he got into the car, Luke shut the door, put his seatbelt on, and said, “I still don’t have a driver’s license. Am I driving illegally now?”

Robert sneered. “Sure, get an officer to issue you a fine, then.”