Titania Falling
Chapter 2 - They who unfold both heaven and earth

"A swim club?" Danny groused as they gathered their kits from the back of the SUV. "Who kills someone at a swim club?"

"A diving club," Angell corrected from behind them. Behind her, at the building entrance, a man stood wringing his hands, and she gestured in his direction. "Don't let him hear you call it a swim club or you'll get a 15 minute lecture on the history of diving."

"I take it you're speaking from personal experience?" Hawkes said, grinning, as she led them into the building.

"Don't make me regret warning you," she retorted, showing them down the hallway, past the locker rooms and into the natatorium. "The DB's over here," she said as they entered the room with the large diving pool. "Mr. Hempel, the director, found it when he came in this morning."

"Not what he was expecting, huh?" Danny said as they walked past the showers and hot tubs towards the pool.

"Not exactly," Angell said as she glanced at them. "There's a reason I requested Hawkes on this one."

"I'm honored," they reached the edge of the pool, where Angell pointed down. "I think... Is that what I think..."

Below them, at the bottom of the empty pool well, lay a mangled body. Angell observed Hawkes and Messer's expressions as they took in the scene.

"Oh, great. At the bottom of the pool?" Danny asked, turning to her. "You know, the last I checked April first was a few months ago."

"Don't look at me," she said, her hands up at shoulder height as if to placate him. "I didn't put him there."

"Oh, it's real, all right," Hawkes said as he climbed down to examine the body. "Definite signs of high velocity impact. Why wasn't there any water in the pool? That probably would have saved him."

"The club has been closed for the last two weeks to resurface the pools. It was supposed to open tomorrow, thus Mr. Hempel's stopping by to check on things and to begin refilling them."

"Was the place locked when he arrived?" Danny asked, pulling out his camera to begin taking pictures of the scene.

"Tight as a drum. And he says he always double checks the locks when he leaves for the day. He's positive the doors were locked last night." She checked the notes from her interview with Mr. Hempel. "A few select members have keys, but they all knew it was closed for renovations. I've got a list of names; I'll check and see if they all still have their keys and where they were at TOD."

"There's no ID on the body," Hawkes said, rocking back on his heels as he looked up at them, "and the cranial trauma is going to make identification difficult if he doesn't have fingerprints on file."

"Great, just great. We have a human pancake with no ID in the middle of an empty swimming pool." Danny spun in a slow circle, looking around the entire natatorium. "Suicide?"

"Could be." Angell brushed her bangs from her face. "We can't rule it out just yet. At the same time, most people who commit suicide don't leave loose ends. There would be a suicide note."

"Or at least some ID," Hawkes said, agreeing with her. "And this is an odd place for a jumper. Most go for buildings, tall buildings, or bridges, not closed diving pools. Most people wouldn't even consider this place."

"Which suggests that if this was a suicide, he chose this place for sentimental reasons. But the director didn't recognize him."

Danny snorted, nodding at the body. "What's to recognize?"

"Hair color, height, body type, and structure," Hempel answered from the doorway. "I was stunned to see him down there and ended up with a much better look than I would have liked. He is much leaner than most of our divers of similar height. And none of my divers would enter the pool area in anything other than clothing appropriate for diving."

Angell ignored the pointed look he gave her. He may have included a few snide remarks about her dress in his earlier tirade, but the captain had yet to say anything about her causal style. And she wasn't going to sweat it until he did. The good thing about being a uniform had been just that, the uniform, and she'd poured every extra dime at the end of the month into paying off student loans. She was years ahead in payments, but her wardrobe hadn't been the most professional when she'd received her early promotion to detective. She'd started to slowly add bits and pieces, but she wasn't going to break her bank account unless the Captain mentioned it. Clothing didn't make the detective.

"Perhaps he was a past member?" she asked as she headed over to join him at the door, planning to shepherd him back out of the room. Hawkes and Messer had an ugly scene to deal with; they didn't need this guy getting in the way.

"Nosy, isn't he?" Danny commented as he put the camera away.

"Or concerned about what occurred here and the potential impact it could have on the club," Hawkes pointed out. "Regardless, he does have a point. Our vic isn't wearing a standard bathing suit, much less a typical diving suit. That diver who committed suicide in Oklahoma was wearing the suit she trained in."

"Typical diving suit?" Danny asked, pulling a bag from his kit to collect some trace. "Don't tell me they have special suits just for diving. Don't they just wear speedos?"

"Just like with the suits top swimmers wear, the idea is to be more aerodynamic and have less friction with the air and water." Pointing at what the deceased was wearing, he continued, "I'd say, if this was a suicide, that he knows enough about diving to wear something that is more aerodynamic even if it isn't considered proper attire."

"Maybe he couldn't afford a fancy suit. Maybe he was having money troubles - could be a reason for suicide."

"Could be. But we won't know until we ID him."

"Hempel is going to get me a list of past members and staff," Angell said as she rejoined them. "He showed me around the rest of the facility, nothing else seems to have been disturbed. All of the offices are still locked. It looks like our friend only came in here."

"Not even a change of clothes?" Danny motioned to the spandex shorts and tank their db was wearing. "We may be having record temperatures, but I just don't see him walking around in that. Unless he left his bike outside?"

"No bike," Angell said, "I already checked. And no signs that there was one that's been stolen."

"Then there's a possibility his clothes are missing, which suggests someone else was involved.

"And they could be either our witness or our murderer."

::

"Catching up on your reading?" Lindsay asked, sliding into the break room chair opposite his. He had offered to wait for her to print off copies of the pictures of the vic and her dress when they had returned from the scene. He had settled in at one of the tables, a cup of coffee (thick and bitter - Mac had made the latest batch) and newspaper in front of him.

"Nah." He flipped the folded newspaper around so she could see. "Crossword. I'd ask you for a five letter word meaning 'blood of the gods', but I'm guessing you have something for me."

She passed the file folder she was holding across the table. "Pictures of the dress, including close-ups of some of the detail work. Hopefully our vic's dress maker will be able to recognize her own work. I also have a picture of Titania in there, just in case you get really lucky."

"If they're on the list," Flack said absently as he flipped through the photos. He didn't know tulle from organza from cotton; it all just looked like a bunch of pink to him. "Wilson listed the ten most popular shops in Manhattan. I looked it up: there are over a hundred within the city. We're making a gamble that she went to someone here in Manhattan just because she was found in the Park."

"So what you're looking for may not be on the list." She frowned at the thought of the setback that could be, then reached across and patted his hand sympathetically. "I'm sure you'll think of something."

"Thanks, Monroe. Your confidence in me is overwhelming." He rolled his eyes at her as he flipped the folder shut and stood, tossing his styrofoam cup in the garbage. "Now if you'll excuse me, I've got to go hit the pavement. See if I can shake anything loose."

"Ha ha." It was her turn to roll her eyes at his jokes as he headed for the elevator. "Good luck."

He waved over his shoulder, looking back through the photographs again while walking. She didn't need to say that the sooner they ID'd their Jane Doe, the closer they'd be to figuring out what had happened. With a sigh, she pulled his half finished crossword in front of her. Stella wasn't back with the arbor yet; she could take a few minutes.

What was a a five letter word for 'blood of the gods'?

::

Dr. Sid Hammerback carefully removed the paper bags covering the victim's hands. After carefully scraping under her fingernails, he set the petri dish with the contents aside to continue. Time seemed to stand still around him as he painstakingly bagged her clothing and began his examination of her body. Debris combed from her long blond hair was added to another bag, and swabs were used to collect samples of what he suspected were patches of mud. Photographs were taken at every point in the autopsy, from the moment she was first laid out on the table through the washing of her body, and continuing as he made the first incision of the Y-cut. Careful notes were taken as well through out the process, which he was just finishing as the door to autopsy opened.

"Ah, Mac, just in time," Sid said, looking up from the body of the dead fairy. "I was about to call you."

"Do you have a cause of death?"

"I have something interesting. It reminds me of a time, back in my younger days-"

"Sid," Mac interrupted, "do you know the cause of death?"

"We'll have to wait on her tox screening to know exactly." Sid folded back the sheet covering her. "I'm not really certain what killed her, other than massive organ failure. It appears that she partook of some LSD while at the party." Using the video wand that transmitted to the screen near the exam table, he showed Mac the unicorn shape on the roof of her mouth. "I've seen that blotter shape come through here before. Otherwise she is a very healthy individual, but something caused her organ failure."

"Organ failure? What could cause organ failure in someone her age? Drugs?"

"Most common reason would be due to illness, but as I said she's very healthy. There isn't an sign that she used drugs regularly, though I can't rule that out without the tox report."

"Well, can you at least tell me the time of death?"

"No."

"No?" Mac repeated questioningly, giving Sid an incredulous look.

"No, I'm afraid I can't at this time." Sid gestured to the body. "Our young Titania was running a temperature of 95° at the scene."

"Body temperature drops at about 1.5 degrees per hour, which suggests that she'd barely been dead an hour, maybe two - she died late this morning, not overnight."

"Except--" Sid lifted the girl's eyelids. "I also observed at the scene that her corneas were cloudy."

"She was found on the scene with her eyes closed. It would take nearly three hours for that to develop. It is the hottest day on record so far for the year - that may have prevented her body from cooling at the usual rate."

Sid shook his head. "She was also experiencing rigor when she was discovered; not full rigor but it was setting in."

"Which begins to set in after six to eight hours, depending on environmental temperature," Mac said, thinking out loud. "Suggesting that she did die early this morning. But how was her body temperature so high?"

"Like you said, today's temperature has been the highest recorded so far this year, but it did cool off some last night. So it wasn't high enough to cause this much of a difference at the time she died. No, I think her organ failure is the clue here. I believe Titania was running a fever - a high fever - at the time of her death. But since I have so much conflicting evidence, I've sent vitreous fluid off for a potassium test. It'll take more time, but we'll get a more accurate time of death that way."

"Her temperature had to be high, then Sid. We're talking about over 104 degrees, not your garden variety fever."

"Actually, 106° is where the risk for brain death begins. But the question is how did a vibrant young woman at what appeared to be a party manage to die of hyperthermia? Did no one notice?"

"They noticed all right," Mac said, looking down at the body. "That's why they all ran."