Chapter Nineteen

The Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center in Westwood wasn't just a fully functional teaching hospital. It was also ranked the fifth best hospital in the whole United States, providing students and the community with research centers covering nearly all major specialties of medicine and nursing, as well as dentistry. It was located in the southwest quadrant of the UCLA campus, just by Westwood Village, which was about fifteen miles away from the Police Administration Building.

Garcia took a parking space by a black Mercedes Benz, on the second floor of the visitors' multi-story car park.

The main entry lobby to the Ronald Reagan Medical Center was so spacious it looked like a Vegas hotel reception foyer, minus the slot machines. It was brightly lit and airy, with the floors decked out in two-tone marble and the walls in white polished granite, giving the entire hall a very clean, welcoming and comforting feel.

The main pathology theater was located right at the end of the ground-floor concourse, just past a large auditorium.

‘Doctor?' Hunter called, as he pulled open the door so that he and Garcia could step inside a very spacious, conference-type classroom.

‘In here.' They heard Dr. Hove's voice call from around the corner, just past a wall of wheeled hospital-style partitions. A second later, her head popped out from behind the last of those partitions. ‘In here,' she said again, this time with a head gesture.

Hunter and Garcia rounded the partitions to find themselves in what they knew looked exactly like an autopsy room, just four times bigger. The five autopsy tables from Dr. Hove's class earlier that day had been wheeled away, with the exception of one. The body on it had, once again, been covered up by a teal-colored medical sheet. Standing by the examination table were Dr. Hove and a second woman, who was as tall as the doctor herself, but at least twenty-five years her junior. She wore a conventional coroner's coverall, the same as Dr. Hove, and a pair of typical surgical clogs. Her black hair was tied back into a short ponytail, but had it been loose, it would've fallen to just above her shoulders, framing a delicate and attractive face.

‘Robert, Carlos,' Dr. Hove said, as she introduced them. ‘This is Carol Sixtree, one of my top students.'

Kay chuckled as her gaze skipped from Hunter to Garcia, then to Dr. Hove. ‘What the doctor really means is – "I'm her top student". And please, call me Kay.'

‘She's also very modest,' Dr. Hove added. ‘As you can tell.'

Hunter stepped forward to offer his hand, but Kay halted him by lifting her gloved ones. ‘I was just working on the body. I don't really think that you want to shake these.' She wiggled her fingers.

‘I suppose not,' Hunter said, taking back his hand.

‘But it's a pleasure to meet you both,' Kay added.

‘Likewise,' Hunter said back.

Garcia simply greeted Kay with a nod.

‘Kay was the one who discovered all the inconsistencies between the body's injuries and the information that we were given,' Dr. Hove explained, handing Hunter the occurrence report.

‘OK.' Hunter flipped open the folder.

Garcia stepped closer to have a look.

‘Terry Wilford.' He read the name at the top of the file before his and Hunter's eyes scanned the rest of the report, which wasn't longer than just a couple of pages.

‘And what sort of inconsistencies are we talking about here, Doc?' Hunter asked, handing the folder over to Garcia.

Dr. Hove nodded at her student. ‘I'd better let Kay explain. Like I said, she was the one who discovered them all.'

Kay took in a proud breath of air and positioned herself across the examination table from the two detectives. ‘I'll try to go over everything slowly, but if I go too fast, or you guys fall behind on any explanation and can't keep up, just stop me at any time, OK?'

From the corner of his eye, Hunter saw Dr. Hove press her lips tightly together, trying to suppress the smile that was visibly threatening to erupt. He also saw Garcia frown at Kay. He was clearly trying to figure out if the Advanced Pathology student was being sarcastic or not.

She wasn't.

Kay pulled the surgical sheet from over the subject. As she did, Garcia's eyes widened at the state of the male body on the table in front of them. The ‘Y' incision hadn't been stitched back up yet. In fact, the chest flaps were still pulled back over the sides of his torso and neck, revealing a somewhat hollow thorax, as none of the removed internal organs, or the ribcage, had been put back in place. The top half of his skull, on the other hand, was exactly where it was supposed to be, but it hadn't been stitched back up either.

‘Wow,' Garcia commented, once again flipping open the folder in his hands. ‘Where did he jump from again?'

‘Allegedly—' Hunter tried to correct his partner before he was corrected by Kay.

‘He didn't jump,' she said. Her tone was confident, leaving no room for argument. Her stare moved to Hunter. ‘Not even allegedly. He couldn't have, but he fell from the 7th Street Bridge.'

Garcia nodded, as he found that same confirmation in the report. ‘That is a nasty fall. It explains the awful state of his limbs.' He nodded at a couple of the exposed fractures on the body's right leg and arm.

‘It does,' Kay agreed. ‘And to be honest, it is because of those fractures that I know that this man didn't jump to his death from the 7th Street Bridge a week ago.'

‘How so?' Hunter asked.

‘Here,' Kay said, guiding their attention to the two exposed fractures on the subject's right arm. ‘Let me show you.'

As part of the full post-mortem examination, Kay and Dr. Hove had already cut open all the skin, flesh, muscle tissue and ligaments surrounding the wounds to better expose the fractures.

‘Bones are composed,' Kay started, indicating the fracture on the forearm, ‘of both organic and inorganic material, each of which contribute to the biomechanical properties of the bones.'

‘Kay,' Dr. Hove interrupted her student, her chin dipping down, her eyes looking at Kay over the rim of her glasses. ‘Unclench. This is what we call a "post-mortem briefing", not a pathology class. Stick to the facts in plain English, pure and simple. No need to complicate anything with in-depth explanations in anatomy, biology, physiology… any of it. If they need details, they'll ask you for them. Trust me, they've done this before.'

Kay paused and looked at the two detectives across the table from her. Both of them looked relaxed. Hunter had his arms loosely by his sides, while his eyes were on Kay. The look in them was friendly, as if seconding what Dr. Hove had just said.

Garcia had his arms folded over his chest, with his left one bent upward at the elbow and his chin resting on the knuckles of his left hand. His eyes were also on Kay, with a sympathetic smile showing at the corner of his lips.

‘OK,' Kay said, as she clearly began rethinking her words. A second later, her shoulders seemed to relax a little. ‘If a fracture is sustained while the subject is still alive,' she began again, ‘or at the moment of death, which should've been the case here because most of these fractures came as a result of the impact between his body and the ground, when he fell from the 7th Street Bridge, hemorrhage would've been very easily identifiable in the surrounding soft tissue.' She indicated with the tip of the scalpel. ‘That's because until the moment of death, blood would've been flowing normally throughout his body.'

‘But we've got none there,' Hunter said, his eyes narrowing at the tissue surrounding the wound that Kay had indicated.

‘Not only here,' Kay confirmed, redirecting their attention to the exposed fracture on the subject's right elbow. ‘We've got none here either.' Then again to the fracture in the subject's right leg. ‘Or here.' Collarbone. ‘Or here… or pretty much anywhere else. Can you see that?' She gave everyone a couple of seconds. ‘That's because at the moment of impact between his body and the ground, his heart wasn't pumping blood through his veins anymore. No blood, no hemorrhage… it's that simple.'

Garcia's gaze moved from wound to wound. There really was no sign of any hemorrhage in any of the surrounding soft tissue. ‘You're not wrong.'

‘I rarely am,' Kay replied.

This time, while Dr. Hove allowed her head to drop, as if she had given up hope, Hunter and Garcia didn't disguise the smiles that bloomed on their lips.

‘Ooh, I like her,' Garcia said, nodding at the doctor.

Kay turned and pointed in the direction of the stainless-steel counter that hugged the east wall, where the subject's internal organs lay inside separate containers filled with formalin. ‘The impact also fractured a few of his ribs, two of them so severely that they broke loose from the ribcage and perforated his right lung.' She paused for effect. ‘That perforation should've, in theory, done two things.'

‘Caused the lung to collapse,' Hunter offered. ‘And filled it with blood from the tissue tear.'

Kay looked back at Hunter with surprised eyes.

‘I read a lot,' Hunter explained.

‘Good for you,' Kay replied, without missing a beat. ‘Well, Detectives, neither of those things happened. We autopsied the lung. There was no sign of any internal hemorrhaging. No trauma to the tissue surrounding the tear either.' She paused again, this time to allow the severity of what she had just said to sink in for a second.

‘That was a major discovery,' Dr. Hove explained, ‘because it tells us that he'd been dead for well over twenty-four hours before the injury to his lung took place… before he fell from that bridge.'

Concern showed on both detectives' faces.

‘There's more,' Kay said, once again redirecting everyone's attention, this time to the subject's head and skull.

‘There always is,' Garcia replied, giving Kay a single nod.

Kay looked back at Dr. Hove.

‘Ooh, I like him,' she said, in the same tone that Garcia had used just a moment ago.

Garcia laughed.

‘As you can see here…' Kay got serious again, indicating the severe wound to the subject's skull. ‘Most of the impact was absorbed by his right side. His head hit the ground heavy, like a dead weight, causing extensive trauma to his skull. If he was alive, this should've been the end-of-life injury.' She used both hands to remove the top of the skull and expose the brain. ‘Epidural and subdural hematomas should've been clearly visible here. With epidural hematomas, blood accumulates outside the dura – the lining of the brain.' She indicated as she explained. ‘Subdural hematomas are injuries to the veins in the brain itself. Blood then leaks to the space just below the dura.'

‘But we've got neither,' Hunter commented.

Dr. Hove shook her head. ‘No blood. No hematomas. No hemorrhaging of the brain, which clearly confirms our theory that this man was dead way before he even got to that bridge.' There was a heavy, anxious pause. ‘Someone dragged this guy's dead body to the 7th Street Bridge and then threw him off.'

Kay returned the top of the skull to the subject's head. ‘Whoever killed him was obviously trying to mask the murder as a suicide.'

‘And he would've gotten away with it,' Dr. Hove added. ‘If not for the fact that, unfortunately for him, Kay's Advanced Pathology group picked this subject, by chance, for today's exam. I'm not sure that if this subject had gone to a different group of students, all these details would've been properly picked up.'

‘The other members of my group failed to notice the obvious.' There was a proud air about Kay as she delivered that sentence.

‘I've got a question,' Hunter said, lifting his right hand, his gaze on Kay. ‘When you began, you said that most of these fractures came as a result of the impact between his body and the ground. What did you mean by that? Are there other fractures that didn't come as a result of the impact?'

Garcia nodded. ‘I was about to ask the same thing.'

‘Great question,' Kay said. ‘It means you were both paying attention, and the answer is – yes – there are other fractures that didn't come as a result of the impact. Have a look at this.'

From the instruments cart, by the head of the examination table, Kay retrieved a couple of X-ray sheets before leading everyone to the X-ray viewer mounted on one of the classroom walls. She switched on the light and clipped the sheets onto it.

‘Here,' she said, indicating on the sheets. ‘This is his left forearm and this is his right one.'

Hunter and Garcia got close to examine the X-rays.

‘Are those spiral fractures?' Hunter asked, his forehead creasing as he looked back at Dr. Hove.

‘I'm impressed,' Kay said, nodding at Hunter. ‘That's exactly what they are.'

‘Spiral fracture?' Garcia asked, his eyes moving from Hunter, to Dr. Hove, then finally to Kay.

‘It's like the way a stick would break,' Hunter explained, using his hands to demonstrate the movement. ‘If you twisted it like you were wringing water from a dishrag.'

‘Very good analogy,' Kay admitted before addressing Garcia, as she indicated on the X-ray. ‘Here, you see? You get this S-shaped crack in the bone as it gives way.'

‘And how do you get those?' Garcia asked.

‘Someone, or something, has to twist your arm,' Hunter replied. ‘Like a dishrag. Either slowly or in a sudden, jerk-type movement. You don't get those from an impact fall.'

‘No, you don't,' Kay agreed again. ‘But here's the thing – those fractures are also fresh. There's still considerable bruising to the surrounding soft tissue, which means that they happened recently.'

‘What Kay means by recently,' Dr. Hove explained. ‘Is about three or four days before his supposed suicide.'

Hunter and Garcia carried on studying the X-ray sheets.

‘So what you're telling us,' Garcia asked, ‘is that somebody broke both of his arms just a few days before actually killing him and throwing his body from the bridge?'

‘That's what the body tells us,' Kay replied. ‘And bodies don't lie.' Her proud eyes darted to Dr. Hove for an instant. ‘Bodies don't lie' was Dr. Hove's catchphrase.

‘Those fractures also indicate something else,' Dr. Hove added.

Hunter and Garcia turned to face her.

‘The spiral fractures in both of his arms run counterclockwise,' the doctor explained. ‘If the perpetrator used his hands to cause those fractures—'

‘It means that he's left-handed,' Hunter said.

Dr. Hove and Kay both nodded.

‘If the perpetrator used his hands to cause those fractures,' Garcia added, ‘it means that he's one strong motherfucker. Mr. Wilford here wasn't exactly frail.'

‘That too,' Kay agreed. ‘But we're not done yet. There's more.' She directed everyone back to the body on the examination table. ‘Let me start with the eyes.'

Hunter and Garcia repositioned themselves by the head of the table.

‘Have a look at this,' Kay said, as she used the tips of her fingers to pull down the body's right-lower eyelid. ‘See this odd discoloration right at the edge of the eyelid?'

Both detectives got closer for a better look.

‘Uh-hum,' Garcia nodded.

‘It repeats itself on the other eye.' Kay showed them. ‘But the mark pattern is different, as you can see.'

‘OK.'

‘That's not post-mortem discoloration,' Kay explained.

‘OK, so what are they?' Garcia asked.

Kay took a second, as if she needed to prepare herself for the answer. ‘Those are chemical burn marks.'

Garcia's jaw tightened. ‘Hold on. Are you saying that someone used some kind of acidic chemical as eye drops on him?'

Kay peeked at Dr. Hove before responding. ‘That's what it looks like, but to know exactly what caused those burns, we would need to biopsy some of the eyelid tissue. Right now, all we can offer is an educated guess.'

Both detectives questioned with a look.

‘Definitely not something as strong as acid. That would've blinded him straight away. Our best guess is that whoever did this used something a little milder… something like diluted toilet bleach, or diluted methanol, or some kind of soft detergent – something that would've caused considerable pain, but not blindness.'

Hunter looked at Dr. Hove, who nodded.

‘Still, there's more.' Kay then guided their attention to the body's feet. ‘Here.' She used both hands to spread the subject's big toe from the pointer one. ‘See this mark?'

Two seconds of silence.

‘Another burn mark.' Hunter didn't phrase it as a question.

‘Yes, but not acidic this time.'

Hunter had seen similar marks a few times before. Despite the after-death deterioration of the skin, he was still able to identify it.

‘Cigarette burns,' he said.

Once again, Kay looked impressed. ‘Very good. And due to the not-exactly-circular pattern of the mark, I'd say that he was burned repeatedly over the same spot.'

Garcia cringed.

‘And that's why I've called you here today,' Dr. Hove said. ‘This man was tortured for days before he died. After his death, like Kay explained earlier, someone tried to mask his murder as a jumping suicide. Sound familiar?'

‘Familiar?' Kay was unable to hide the excitement in her voice. ‘There's been a similar case before?'

Dr. Hove's gaze bounced over to Hunter for a second, who signaled no objection. ‘There are similarities to a body I examined just over two weeks ago,' the doctor confirmed.

‘Tortured then a faked death?' Kay pushed.

Dr. Hove voiced no reply, but Kay read her expression.

A moment of absolute silence followed, where Hunter and Garcia were clearly trying to get their thoughts in order.

‘So what was the actual cause of death?' Garcia asked. ‘On the phone you said that it wasn't hypothermia.'

‘Hypothermia?' Kay questioned, wide-eyed. ‘In California… in June?' A quick, unsure pause. ‘Was that the previous victim's COD? Hypothermia? Really?' Her stare moved from person to person, but all she got was a quick shake of the head from her professor before Dr. Hove handed Hunter and Garcia her autopsy report.

‘The cause of death, once again, was heart failure. It gave away under the stress of the torture he suffered.'

Hunter looked down at the report in his hands before allowing his stare to return to the body. ‘Can you please send us everything you have on him, Doc?'

‘Of course.'

‘We'll also need the biopsy result for his eyelid burns,' Garcia added. ‘And a full toxicology report.'

‘I can email his files to you tonight,' Dr. Hove replied. ‘The eyelid biopsy and the toxicology report will take a few days, as you well know.'

As Hunter and Garcia exited the pathology theater, Kay smiled proudly at Dr. Hove. She didn't need any confirmation to know that, even before graduating, she had just stumbled upon her very first serial murder case.