The alarm clock was set to go off at 5:15 this morning. As usual knowing that she had to be up in 15 minutes her internal body clock had woke her up before the alarm had sounded. She now lies in bed and thinks about her weekend and how all she did were domestic tasks around her apartment. Laundry, cleaning, and shopping were how most of her Sunday had been spent. She needed to get out and find activities that were fun to do. Every once and a while she had a girl's night out, but even that was getting predictable now. When her mind drifted to work, she desperately knew that she need time off. But her mind did drift back to work and she mentally went through all the cases that she had to deal with this morning. That's not to include anything that dropped while she was finishing up the four cases that were almost complete.
Alexis Castle was a godsend. She had applied for and was granted the internship at the ME's office and while she knew that the girl had the smarts to make it as an intern, she also knew that with the right training from a mentor she would become great at being a medical examiner. In time, she'd show her the right way to properly follow the procedures at the start of her training. And in the course of her first three months and after she had been accustomed to the field work, they would sit down and have a talk about her attending medical school. She would not push her into any school but she'd give her whatever information she needed to make an informed decision on what to do with being an ME as a career.
Glancing over at the clock she noticed that the alarm would be going off in two minutes. She turned off the alarm and got up out of bed. She winced the second her bare feet hit the hard, cold wooden floor. Buying an area rug would solve this but once again her time was stretched pretty thin these days.
Xx
Alexis was up and showered before the sun had even risen. She was way too eager to start her first day as an intern at the morgue. She had made her lunch, packed all of her signed official papers in her bag allowing her to become an intern to give to Lanie later and chose something to wear that would not prevent her from doing the tasks that she would be assigned. She checked her watch one last time gathered her things and started for the door not wanting to be late for her first day.
Xx
As soon as Lanie left her apartment she received a text from dispatch. She dreaded reading it, but upon opening it she was intrigued. The address was well known to every New Yorker in the city. The U.N. building. A body might have dropped and she would never take away from their loss but the U.N. it had to be a first for her. She realized that this was not in Kate's jurisdiction but she knew most of the detectives that worked there. Now she had the unpleasant task of giving Alexis the news that her day would be more of a rushed start, to say the least. She texted her the address so they could meet up there. She checked her watch and figured if it was a quarter of seven, she'd either be on the way or already at the OCME office by now. She was that eager and organized. After the text was sent the response was immediate. It simply said, "just leaving the office, I'll meet you there in fifteen."
Lanie smiled knowing that she was right. This would be Alexis' first case and by no means would she be able to participate in evidence gathering or determining the cause of death. This would come later, much later. For now, she'd catalog the victim's personal effects, note any items that lay close to the body that could be identified as being a part of the detective's investigation and tell her. As she made it to the coroner's van she wondered how long it would take her to adapt to her new internship.
Xx
Alexis wanted to do for Lanie what her father had been doing for Kate for years now. She hopped into a cab and gave the address to a bakery that had the best sticky buns in the city. They also had tea which she knew Lanie preferred over coffee. Arriving at the bakery she told the cabbie that she'd be right out and to wait for her. She ran in and placed the order for both of them and being there so early it was filled quickly. Back out to the cab, she gave the driver the address for the U.N. fifteen minutes later they were pulling up to the coroner's van. She tipped him gracefully along with the fare and thanked him for a safe ride. Taking her bag, she slung it over her shoulder, picked up the coffee and tea and left the cab. Walking over to where the van was, Lanie was nowhere to be found. She removed her ID from her bag and clipped it to her jacket lapel and started for the U.N. building. Seeing detectives from the 17th precinct working the area she knows that Lanie can't be that far away.
"There you are. What took you so long? Lanie asks as Alexis comes closer.
"I stopped for this along the way."
She holds out the bag of sticky buns and the tea for her. Hoping that she was right in getting her tea.
"Alexis! Why did you do this? Not that I don't appreciate it, but this is unnecessary. You keep your money where it belongs, in your purse."
"Lanie, it brightens your day and we all could use that to lift our mood. So, you know that I am given an allowance on a weekly basis, right?"
"Still, you don't need to go buying tea for me."
"I was stopping for myself, so what's the harm?"
Lanie can only shake her head in frustration knowing that it won't do any good to explain it to her again.
"So what do we have?" Alexis eagerly asked.
"Meet John Doe. ID, cash, and wallet missing and he was killed right here. Why do you think that is?"
"First the pooling of his blood has not been disturbed, meaning that he was killed right here and not somewhere else and dumped here later."
"Go on Alexis." Laine encouraged her.
"Roll him onto his right side for me please Lanie."
Lanie does so and Alexis notes the victims back. She thinks for a couple of seconds and then speaks.
Alexis points to the largest stab wound on the left side of the victim and gives her assessment.
"This wound here is located on the left side of the back, about 22 inches below the top of the head and 2 inches from the front of the body. After the edges are measured I think it looks to be 1-1/2 inches in length and is diagonally oriented. The posterior aspect is dull or flat, measuring close to 1/32 inch and the anterior aspect is pointed or tapered."
"The wound is through the skin, the subcutaneous tissue, and the intercostal musculature and it penetrates into the abdominal cavity through the 8th right intercostal space without striking the rib. The direction is left to right with no other angulation or deviation determined because of the absence of fixed reference points. I estimate the minimum total depth of penetration is about 3-4 inches deep enough to puncture his kidney."
"In my opinion, this is the fatal stab wound that punctured his kidney and eventually killed him. The other five stab wounds are superficial…." Alexis stops in an instant seeing the look on her friends face.
"Lanie?"
At first, Lanie is left speechless by the precise report she was just given by her intern. She lets the body roll back to its resting position. She thinks that she'll go far as an ME with what she just heard. To her, this looked and felt so familiar to her but she just can't place it. Then she remembers and shudders at what she's thinking now. Alexis had just described the exact way Kate's mother had been murdered. She looks up to see the realization dawn on Alexis' face, she'd realized it as well. "Lanie, is this what I think it is?"
A/N: This story will be updated as time permits. recent health issues will prevent a timely update frequency. I'm going to try to update every week with my other stories, but that might not be possible.
P2P