Chapter 11: HPD Coroners office. Honolulu, Hawaii.
Kono paced inside the coroner's office while she waited for Max to finish his rendition of Mozart's piano concerto in b-flat major, k.238. She had arrived to see the man hunched over the bodies of the two women he had been examining, but before she could announce her presence he moved to his piano and started playing, and sadly there was no stopping him once he had begun. She waited patiently until she thought she had heard the final cadence of the piece before she spoke.
"That was lovely Max, what have you found for me?" Kono asked as the piano rang out the last dying notes.
"Shh! There are two more movements," Max stated, never turning away from the piano, as he began playing again.
Kono sighed and took a seat realizing she was in for the long haul. She had followed the body of Lakele back to the island, and now she was regretting volunteering to be at the coroners this morning. The sad melody of the second, much slower, movement filled the outer office as Kono sat, staring out of the upper floor windows at the surf down by the shore and longed to be there rather than where she was.
Fifteen minutes passed, Steve and Danny arrived, and finally Max came to the end of the concerto that had captured his attention. None of the Five-Os were about to question his motives for playing, or his choice of piece, but they were glad that he had finally finished.
"Now, I have found some interesting residue on your victims." Max stated as he stood from the piano and marched back to the examination room. "The insides of the victim's mouths have both been coated in what I have identified as methamphetamine. The explosives used to mutilate the bodies were made with the exact same chemicals that that made the methamphetamines, only they were mixed in two separate batches. The meth, as far as my analysis can deduct, was fabricated before the explosives. Unfortunately for you, they are all house hold chemicals that can be obtained quite easily from almost anywhere. The good news, however, is that there are other anomalies on the body that I would like to point out." Max explained as he motioned from one body to the other and then moved around them. "Surprisingly, we have a more conclusive time of death for you. Victim one, the first body you brought in, has been dead for nearly three weeks. Victim two is far more resent. Judging from when you found her and onto the thawing process, we can conclude that she was dead for approximately two days." He explained.
Kono and Danny exchanged glances while Max took a deep breath and then continued to explain his findings. The time of death of victim number two corresponded with the evidence they had already gathered and the accounts of those they had already questioned.
"I also found some rather strange blood patterns on some of the clothing, and the results came back that, that blood does not belong to either victim, but that there were others involved in both murders. You have two other unknowns out there." Max said showing the photos that were taken of the clothing once it had been thawed out and stripped from the bodies.
"Has the blood been run through CODIS?" Danny asked.
"Not my job," Max stated and then continued. "I simply analyze it, I don't match it."
"We'll do that right away." Steve stated and Danny nodded his agreement.
"Another interesting story these victims are telling, is that their killer had been taking his time with all of the events that he puts them through. The cause of death, I'm pleased to tell you are asphyxiation. In both victims their hyoid bones are crushed. I have postmortem bruising around the necks that started to form once the bodies started to thaw. We also have ligature marks around the victim's wrists and ankles, these ligature marks happen antemortem. The victims were bound, strangled, frozen, in that order. It wasn't until the bodies were sufficiently chilled, but not completely rendered unmovable that the mutilation began. First the bodies were prepped by cutting the fabric of their clothing to expose the abdomen, they were then placed in a seated position and then the explosives were encased around the abdomen, on the out side of the body. The casing, which we found traces of in the surrounding tissue, kept the explosives contained to the area. All of the digestive and reproductive organs have been destroyed. After this step the bodies were returned to their cooling unit and once they had sufficiently cooled once again, the murderer continued with his mutilations. The bodies were tagged and returned to the freezers until the bodies were discarded." Max explained.
"What do you mean by tagged?" Danny asked.
"There are tattoos that were located at the base of the cranium, hidden by the victim's hair. The tattoos were done postmortem." Max stated as he moved the first victims head, and her hair, and showed the small Japanese character that was located there. He then did the same with the second victim. "The tissue that was tattoo shows signs of its previously frozen state before the ink penetrated the skin."
"They are not the same." Kono stated pulling her cell out of her pocket and snapping shots of both tattoos.
"This is true," Max stated moving around the bodies again. "The first victim was tattooed with Japanese character for 'talk' and the second with the character for 'rat'."
"That seems to fit in with our investigation," Danny stated as he too took his turn eyeing up the tattoos.
"Is there anything else that you can tell us, Max?" McGarrett asked.
"Aside for the body mutilations, I would have to say your killer is meticulous. The bodies are in pristine conditions outside the blast area. The girls hair was brushed, their fingernails were well manicured with nothing underneath. I would even go so far as to tell you that once the bodies had been mutilated by the explosion the remains that would have been left where the abdomen was, were removed and discarded, and the area was clean, albeit not very thoroughly. I would even say that I can speculate that the girl's did not struggle, except for the ligature makes." Max said flipping through his files.
"Sounds like the victims knew their attackers." Danny stated.
"I would think so," Kono stated. "Or there would be more evidence of their struggling. It wasn't until they were bound that they realized what was going on."
"The trace and clothing have been sent to forensics for further analysis as per your request," Max added, "Any trace that was lifted from the body is being investigated."
"Have you ever seen anything like this before, Max?" Danny asked searching for even the slightest little lead that they may be able to go on.
"No sir, this is all new to me." Max stated. "It is quite fascinating. The lengths that people will go to; I have to wonder why the explosives were necessary. What was on the body, or inside the bodies, that merited the destruction of the entire abdomen, but not the rest of the body?"
"That is a good question," Danny sighed.
"The questions are all part of my job." Max stated contently and moved to his outer office once again where his piano waited for his attention.
"Well thanks Max, this is a lot to think about," Danny sighed and turned to leave.
"Do you want to hold the bodies?" Max asked holding out his chipboard to McGarrett.
"I don't think so," Steve stated taking the clip board.
Suddenly Governor Jameson walked into the coroner's office.
"Good morning Governor!" Max stated seeing the stately woman before anyone else.
"Good morning Doctor, I'm sorry to disturb you this morning, but I need to take the Five-Os." The governor stated turning to Kono, McGarrett and Danny.
"What's going on, governor?" McGarrett asked.
"There has been an accident." She stated, "It appears to be a hit and run. Officer Kelly has been rushed to Queen's Medical Center."
"Oh my God, Chin!" Kono stated and rushed out of the coroner's office.
"You don't think it was a hit and run do you?" McGarrett asked looking at the governor.
"Not with what I know about your friend, and the case you are currently investigating." The governor confessed.
"I'll head out to the scene," Danny stated taking his keys back from McGarrett. "You take Kono to the hospital. Keep me posted on Chin's condition, will you?"
"Is this personal enough for you Danny?" McGarrett asked.
"Too personal…" Danny stated angrily and walked out of the coroner's office.
Max sat down at the piano once again, the sad melodies of the Mozart requiem filling the office, but there wasn't an officer left to hear them.