Disclaimer: I do not own glee, or the book this story is based on.
Chapter 1.
An hour before her shift started, an hour before she had to be there, they rolled in the first corpse of the day.
So far this day had been going great for Rachel Berry, better than usual. Her car started on the turn of the first key. Traffic had been sparse on the Telegraph, and she had got all green lights. She was at her office by five to seven, and could relax for the next hour with a large coffee from starbucks and blueberry muffin, while reading today's news. Skipping the obituaries, chances were she already knew about them.
Then a gurney with a black body bag rolled past her office door. Crap, she thought. In about thirty seconds, Will Schuster was going to knock at her office door and ask her for a favour. Sighing, Rachel listened to the wheels of the gurney grind down the hall. She heard the autopsy room doors whisk open and swish shut, and could faintly here the rumble of male voices. She counted down the seconds and as if on cue, the sound of Will's Reeboks squeaking across the linoleum floor.
He appeared in the doorway. "Morning Rach" he mumbled.
She sighed. "Good Morning Will."
"Can you believe it, they just wheeled one it."
"Yeah, how awful of them."
"It's already seven ten," he said. A tone of pleading in his voice. "If you could do me this one favour ..."
"But I'm not here" she said as she wiped the imaginary crumbs off her scrubs. "Until eight-o-clock, I'm nothing more than a figment of your imagination".
"C'mon, I don't have time to process this one. Terri's got the kids packed up and ready to go, and I'm stuck here with another Jane Doe. Have a heart."
"This is the third time this month."
"But I've got a family. They expect me to spend time with them. You're a free agent."
"Right. I'm a divorcee, not a temp."
Will moved further into her office and sat in the chair in front of her desk, leaning his elbows on his knees. "Just this once. Terri and I, we are having problems, you know." She rolled her eyes. Of course if anyone knows about marital problems it's me. "And I want this vacation to start off right. I'll return the favour sometime. I Promise."
Sighing, Rachel tossed her newspaper on her desk and sat up straight. "Okay," She said. "What have you got?"
Will was already peeling off his white lab coat. "Jane Doe. No obvious trauma. Another body fluid special. Chang and Rutherford are with her."
"They bring her in?"
"Yeah. So you'll have a decent report to work off."
Getting out of her seat and walking to the door, Rachel turned "You owe me" before turning and heading towards the autopsy room. Calling out "leave a few trout for the rest of us." Will grinned, saluting her "Into the wilds of Maine I go, see you next week."
Rolling her eyes, Rachel pushed open the heavy door that led into the autopsy room. The body was still contained in the black bag, lay on the slab. Lieutenant Mike Chang and Sergeant Matt Rutherford, veterans of the local knife and gun club, were waiting for her. Chang in his usual suit and tie – an Asian homicide detective who always insisted on mixing corpses with Armani. His partner Matt Rutherford, was dressed in a similar a tie, just not designer, was staring at a specimen jar on the shelf.
"What the fuck is that?" he asked, pointing at the jar. Typical Matt, never afraid of sounding stupid.
"That is the right middle lobe of a lung" Rachel said as if it was no big deal.
"Thought it was a brain" Mike started chuckling to himself. "That is why she is the doctor and you are the cop." He straightened his tie and looked at her "Thought Schuster was taking this one."
Rachel snapped on a pair of latex gloves "Afraid I am".
"Thought you didn't start till eight though?"
"Tell me about it."
"So guys, what's the story with this one."
Matt came forward and opened his notebook. "Caucasian female, no ID, age twenty to thirty. Body found four A.M. this morning, off South Lexington. No apparent trauma, no witnesses, no nothing"
"South Lexington," Said Rachel as she pictured the neighbourhood she knew all too well – the streets, the back alleys and the playgrounds rimmed with barbed wire. Looming above it the seven buildings all grim. "The Projects?" she asked.
"Where else?"
"Who found her?"
"City trash pickup" Said Chang. "She was in an alley between two of the Project buildings, sort of wedged against a dumpster."
"As if she was placed there? Or died there?"
Chang looked at his partner. "You were there first, what d'ya think?"
"Looked to me like she died there. Just lay down, sort of curled up against the dumpster and just called it quits."
It was time, preparing herself for the first glimpse. Rachel reached for the zipper and opened the bag. Mike and Matt both to a step backward, an instinctive reaction. The zipper parted the plastic fell away to reveal the corpse.
It wasn't bad, compared to some of the bodies she'd had to work on. This one was actually in good shape, the women was blonde about twenty five maybe a little bit younger. Her face looked like marble. She was dressed in a pink long sleeved top, a pair of bleached jeans, and a pair of brand new Nikes. Rigor Mortis had frozen her limbs into a vague semblance of the fetal position. She got to work on the examination, taking pictures and removing clothes to exam the body more closely. No trauma that could be the cause of death.
"Nothing definitive, guys," she said. "Sorry."
Mike and Matt looked disappointed, but not surprised.
"We will have to wait for body fluids," she said.
"How long?"
"I'll collect it, get it to the state lab today. But they've been running a few weeks behind."
"Can't you run a few tests here?" asked Mike.
"I'll screen it through gas and TL chromatography but it won't be specific. Definitive drug ID will have to go through state lab."
"All we want to know," said Matt. "Is whether it's possible."
"Homicide is always possible."She continued her external exam starting with the head. No sign of trauma here. The blond hair was tangled and obviously hadn't been washed for days. Examining more she came across a long ridge of scar tissue snaking down it towards the wrist.
"Needle tracks," said Rachel. "And a fresh puncture mark."
"Another junkie," sighed Mike. "There's our cause of death, probable OD."
"We could run a fast analysis on her needle," said Rachel. "Where's her kit?"
Matt shook his head. "Didn't find one."
"She must have had a needle. A syringe."
"I looked," said Matt. "I didn't see any."
"Did you find anything near the body?"
"Nope, no purse, no ID, no nothing."
"Who was first on the scene?"
"Patrol man. Then me?"
"So we have a junkie with fresh needle marks, and no needle."
Mike said, "Maybe she shot up somewhere else and ended up wandering in to the alley and just died."
"Possible."
Matt was staring at the women's hand. "What's that" he said pointing to the bit of cardboard noticeable in the women's clenched fist. Rachel looked sure enough, there was a bit of cardboard peeking out of the clenched fist. It took two of them to pry the fist open. Out slid a matchbook small with raised lettering "Laetrile, fine nouvelle cuisine. 221 Hilton Avenue."
"Kind of out her neighbourhood" Mike remarked.
"Hey, I hear that's a nice place," defended Matt. "Not that I could afford to eat there myself."
Rachel opened the matchbook. Inside were three unused matches and a phone number neatly written on the inside cover. "Think it's a local number?" She asked.
"Prefix would put it in Surry Heights, still out of her neighbourhood." Said Mike.
"Well," Said Rachel. "Let's try it out and see what happens." As Mike and Matt watched her, Rachel walked over to the wall phone and dialled the number. It rang a few times before an answering machine picked up. A deep male voice started talking. "I'm not available at the moment. Please leave your name and number." That was it straight to the point. Rachel said. "This is Dr. Berry at the Albion medical examiner's office. Please call me back in regards to a ... "she paused, unwilling to reveal that he might know the corpse lying a few feet away from her. Instead she said. "Just please call me back." Hanging up she turned back to the two police men. "Well we just have to wait and see who rings back; in the mean time do you want to stick around for the autopsy"
Rachel was sat at her desk later that morning when the phone rang. "Dr. Berry, Assistant ME." She said voice full of sarcasm. "You left me a message." She recognized the voice from the answering machine. She instantly sat a little straighter in her chair. "What's this all about" he demanded.
Rachel reached for a pen and scrap piece of paper. "Who am I speaking to?" she asked.
"You should know. You called me."
"I just had your number, not a name-"
"And how did you get my number?"
"It was written on a matchbook. The police brought a woman into the morgue this morning and she-" He cut her off again. "I'll be right there."
"Sir, you didn't give me you n-" she heard the click of the receiver and then the dial tone. Asshole, what if he doesn't show up? Or ring back?
She dialled homicide and left a message for Mike and Matt to "get back to the autopsy room." Then she waited.
At noon she got a buzz on the intercom from the desk. "There's a Mr. Puckerman here," Said the secretary. "He says your expecting him. Want me to send him down?"
"I'll meet him up there, I'm on my way" said Rachel. Jumping out of her seat and pulling on her lab coat. She knew better then to bring him down straight away, he would need a chance to prepare for the shock. By the time she had ridden up the basement elevator she made herself look more presentable. Looking through the glass door she could see a man pacing. He was nicely dressed in a suit, and didn't look like he could be acquainted with a Jane Doe from South Lexington. He was tugging at his tie like it was strangling him. Pushing open the glass door she walked towards the man. "Mr Puckerman?"
Quickly the man spun to face her. He had dark hair that was shaved close to his scalp and dark eyes. He looked about in his late twenties. His jaw set in tension.
"I'm Dr. Berry" she said, holding her hand out. He shook it automatically, quickly as to get through the formalities as fast as possible.
"Noah Puckerman," he said. "You left that message on my answering machine."
"Why don't we go down to my office? You can wait there until the police-"
"You said something about a woman," he cut in rudely. "That the police brought in a woman. She decided he wasn't being rude. He was afraid.
"It might be better to wait for Lieutenant Chang," she said. "He can explain the situation."
"Why don't you explain it to me?"
"I'm just the medical examiner, Mr Puckerman. I can't just give out information."
The look he shot her was withering. All at once she wished she stood a little straighter a little taller. That she didn't feel so threatened by his gaze.
"This Lieutenant Chang," he said. "He's from Homicide, right?"
"Yes."
"So this is a murder case?"
"I don't want to speculate."
"Who is she?"
"We don't have an ID yet."
"Then you don't know."
"Nope."
He paused for a moment. "Let me see the body." It was a request but a demand. Rachel glanced to the door hoping Mike and Matt would appear soon. Sighing she looked back to the man seeing he was barely holding himself together. He is terrified that the body in my refrigerated drawer is someone he knows and loves. "That's why you called me right, to see if I can identify her?"
Sighing she nodded. "The morgue is downstairs Mr Puckerman, come with me." He walked beside her in silence, his tan skin looking pale beneath the fluorescent lights. He was silent in the elevator to the basement to. Stepping off the elevator he paused taking in the bland walls and linoleum floor. "It's down this hall." Said Rachel.
He wordlessly followed her to the storage room. She stopped at the door and turned to his. "The bodies in here, are you sure you're feeling up to it." He nodded.
She led him inside. The room brightly lit, almost painfully so. Gripping the handle of the door. "It's not going to be pleasant." He swallowed. "Go ahead."
She pulled open the door. It slid out noiselessly, releasing a waft of cold vapour. Rachel looked at Noah to see how he was holding up. Grim and silent. He had paled slightly but hadn't moved. He just stared.
At last he let out a deep breath. He looked across at her. In a calm voice he said. "I've never seen this woman before in my life."
Then he turned and walked out of the room.
First Chapter. This story should be about 15 chapters all together.
This is my first every story. hope you like it.
Please Review.