I've Seen A Lot, And This Is Nothing New

"This is one of the strangest things I've ever seen."

The forensic scientist was jabbering excitedly, "I ran the physical properties through a database, but no matches came back positive. So I took it back to back to basic chemistry: NMR, IR spectroscopy, and mass spectrometry." He gestured to scratch paper covered in chemical formulae, "It's impossible! Whatever this plant matter is, it shouldn't be able to stay in this configuration, but it does! There must be some sort of weird energy holding it together!"

Mabel encouraged Argent Advic to calm down before he had an asthma attack. But a puff of his inhaler did nothing to quell the light in his eyes.

"I've just," a wheeze, "Never seen anything like this before."

"Is that the only irregularity?" Ray queried.

"Yep. All the other compounds are as normal as dust can get."

Mabel let that sink in. After Deputy Chief Frederick's account, it was easier to puzzle together the abnormality. But what was magic plant matter doing mixed in with dust at a murder scene?

"Let us know if anything else seems strange to you. Otherwise, I'll just look through these." She held up the reports Argent had compiled.

He nodded seriously, causing his thick glasses to slip down his nose, "Of course. Everything in there is pretty standard though." They left the science enthusiast alone in his lab, allowing him to return to the conundrum magical molecular structure.

"More questions and no answers." Ray grumbled.

Smiling demurely, Mabel corrected, "Well, we now have a baseline of sorts. It's a bummer they didn't run tests on the dust at the previous incidents. That way we could have concrete evidence to connect them. Then again, I only had it checked on a hunch."

Ray nodded, "Good intuition. Speaking of which, what were you were talking to Frederick about?"

"Intuition."

He rolled his eyes, dissatisfied. But she ignored him in favor of holding the door open to the morgue. Ray entered first, greeting the elderly coroner, "Good morning, Mr. Miller."

"You can just call me Beckett."

Mabel nodded to the gray haired man, "What do you have for us today?"

"A body."

Ray palled a little at the dry response, but Mabel cracked a smile. "Do explain."

"Well, he was dying to meet you."

She muffled her chuckles with a hand as Ray's incredulous stare alternated between the two of them. After a few false starts, he simply requested, "Can we be a little more professional? For the sake of my sanity at least?"

Beckett pulled on a pair of nitrile gloves, winking at Mabel, "Jokes keep us young, my friend. Sadly, some opportunities come at the expense of others. Anyway," he uncovered the body, the victim's skin effusing the cold aura of death, "As I'm sure you've noticed, the primary cause of death was excessive blood loss. The wire sunk as deep as three centimeters in some places. But of course, the mortal factor was where it severed the brachial and femoral arteries, both on the left side."

He pointed to each wound in succession.

"What's interesting is this missing digit." Beckett indicated the stump where the pinky was supposed to be, "The nature of the laceration doesn't match that of the ones inflicted by the wire. If I were to hazard a guess based on my previous experience, I'd say it as chopped off with a butcher's knife."

Ray nodded, "We believe that the culprit may have used such a weapon on previous victims."

The coroner shrugged, "I leave that kind of conclusion to you detectives."

"Anything internal to note?" Mabel prodded.

"Tons." Beckett continued, "Though most of them are probably not related to his sudden murder. Failing liver and kidneys, small spot of cancer in his lung, low brain mass. Typical signs of destitute alcoholic."

"You said most though."

Beckett seemed gratified by Mabel's question, "Exactly. He had a heavy lining of mucous down his pharynx, larynx, and trachea. That's usually the result of a primary immune response. I'd say there was something abnormal in the air at the time of death, but I couldn't get a chemical sample since it had already been broken down by Lysozyme – a natural enzyme in the body."

"The dust." Ray guessed. "We found a strange compound in the dust at the scene."

"That would explain it. But from the autopsy, I wouldn't be able to conclude the dust's affect."

However, Mabel wasn't really thinking about the dust. It was simply a mode. She was focused on the motivation. Why had the finger been taken separately? It almost seemed like it had been… harvested.

"Beckett." Her tone came out sharper than she intended so both men snapped to attention, "I presume you examined the bodies of the previous victims."

"I examine all the bodies that pass through the Salem Police Department, detective."

"I realize it's not the most accurate approach, but if I get you names, information, and pictures of the previous victims, do you think you could recall any oddities you observed. I want to know if any other tissues were taken."

The old coroner's smile was sharp and confident. "Young lady, besides having a bad taste in jokes and dealing with dead people on a day-to-day basis, could you guess why I'm still alone in this crypt after seventy-four years."

Entertaining his little game, Mabel replied without decorum, "That can usually indicate some sort of personal inhibition. A unique quirk?"

"Yes." Beckett's smile widened, "People don't really appreciate it when you remember more about them than they do themselves."

"You have a prolific memory."

"Give me a day or two to review the files. Then you will get your answer, detective."