What slithers beneath the surface? Part 4
The sun was at its zenith by the time Buzz finally arrived at the entrance to the Topanga State Park, he had rushed through midday traffic straight from Linda Rothman's residence.
The LAPD currently had the parking lot of the State Park and the surrounding area cordoned off. An officer and a ranger let him through once he showed his credentials as a technician. They waved him toward a row of parked police vehicles. Buzz parked next to the coroner's van. The heat of the day pressed down on him like a solid wall when he got out of his car, the air excessively dry and oppressive with warmth.
Rounding the coroner's van with his equipment bags in both hands, Buzz was pleasantly surprised to see Doctor Morales standing at the entrance to the park with Detectives Sanchez and Tao. Buzz's stomach grumbled in hunger as he approached the group. Buzz had yet to eat lunch, and breakfast had been a short affair many hours earlier. The doctor waved enthusiastically at Buzz before he directed his attention back to the two young uniforms standing next to him. They looked to be helping with carrying the doctor's equipment to the scene, body bag between them. Buzz reckoned they had been recruited straight out of the academy; they had that distinctive look of being fresh-faced, hesitant and eager.
Buzz imagined if the terrain was too unkind, a helicopter would sweep in and take the body away once the scene had been procured, and Morales had seen everything was to his satisfaction. If they had to take a long hike to the scene, then the likelihood of carrying the body back to the coroner's van was, luckily for the uniforms, not high.
Julio Sanchez stood with his arms crossed and an expression that was, as usual, hard to read. Mike Tao was looking at his own scribbled notes, his mouth pursed as if he was thinking. Julio had been on the initial run through with the cadaver dogs and he knew the layout of the park. Buzz was not even surprised that the detective had no map in his hands; Julio was better at finding his way than a GPS at times.
"Buzz," Julio greeted in a low tone and then nodded at Buzz's gear, "You need a hand?"
Buzz smiled gratefully at the offer and then gave the detective one of his camera bags, happy to have the weight off his shoulder.
Mike Tao put his sun glasses on, "I'll see you back at headquarters. Tell the Captain I've got all the statements, hmm?"
Julio nodded and then turned his attention to the others, "Let's get going." He then set off before anyone could get a word in, his stride long and determined.
Buzz gave Morales a sideways smile before he trotted to catch up with Julio. Morales was already chatting away easily to the two young officers, who did their best to appear interested. Buzz hid a smile as he waited for the doctor to start grilling them on a medical-related subject. And sure enough, two minutes into the hike and both uniforms were stumbling through the imagined scenario of finding someone unconscious, the doctor obviously interested in what they had learned about first aid at the academy.
It was somewhat entertaining to listen to in the background as the group trudged uphill. Buzz had to refrain from answering the questions for the rookies a number of times. Morales had helped Buzz a few weeks ago with his own first aid practice. As the doctor said, it was always good to keep it up to date, and even more so seeing that Buzz was training to be in the reserve. It helped that they had spent a proportionate period of that time making out as well.
The hike took a little hour, the tempo slow in part because of hauling the heavy gear and in part because of the terrain; ever changing from going uphill to downhill, with rocks and tangled roots on the ground trying to trap a foot, making each step precarious. And meanwhile the sun baked down, shade nonexistent and Buzz became hungrier by the minute. Also his throat hurt as the warm weather made his throat dry up.
Julio was mostly quiet. Not that Buzz had expected more than a few words and grunts from the detective; he was, in some ways, quite the opposite of the doctor. Buzz found a well-placed kiss easily shut the doctor up; or at least for a while. Maybe, if they were truly opposites, a well-placed kiss would make Julio speak up, Buzz wondered.
They arrived at the crime scene parched and sweating, the yellow tape at the periphery of the small clearing was enough of a giveaway without the presence of two uniforms guarding it, and a flock of SID spanning out below. The Captain and Lieutenant Flynn were already at the scene. They stood huddled a few meters from the body talking in low voices. They both looked up at the same time and greeted the trio.
The body had been covered with stones, Julio explained. The lower half of the body was still covered; the detective had removed some of the stones after SID had cleared it, to find an ID in the pocket of the dead man's jacket. The cell phone triangulation, that Mike Tao had performed, pointed to the body being Troy Desmond and the driver's license confirmed the identity.
Buzz put down his equipment a few meters from the body, mindful of looking carefully at the ground before setting his bag down. Julio placed the second bag next to it before he joined the Captain and Flynn. While Buzz took out his camera and put on an appropriate lens, Morales worked in sync next to him, taking out equipment he needed from his own bags. The two young uniforms stood awkwardly shoulder to shoulder, their eyes going back to the body with curiosity and apprehension with the body bag on the ground by their feet.
SID was doing a perimeter grid search through the undergrowth, spanning out. They seemed to be working in small teams, their voices subdued in the background.
Buzz readied his camera and then went as close to the body as he could without disturbing anything or being in the way.
"You're keeping me busy today," Morales commented with a smile to the group as he neared the body, putting on gloves as he went.
The comment fell somewhat flat, the tense smiles on everyone's faces not changing much. Buzz however felt a smile tug at his lips; the doctor's humor was an acquired taste, or maybe, Buzz found the both dry and sarcastic humor a delight in all the darkness that their working life presented. Or maybe he was biased.
Buzz filmed as the rest of the stones were removed from Troy Desmond, one stone at a time, until the whole body was uncovered. One of the upturned stones had a blood spatter on it that had been smeared and was now a dark color. Buzz zoomed in on it.
Troy Desmond looked to be in his late twenties. His hair was cropped at the sides with a few half-long fringes on the top of his head. The hair was half matted with coagulated blood and lay flat against his temple. He was clad in dark clothing; dark washed out jeans and a t-shirt beneath a dark purple bomber jacket. On his feet, he wore Nike sneakers in black.
Julio was standing with the driver's license in his hands; he went to Buzz and showed him what else he had found in Desmond's pockets. The Captain and the Lieutenant followed behind.
There were two torn out papers; on one a grocery list was dotted down and on the other an address along with general directions.
"The address is a local bar," Julio said, "maybe it's where Desmond met up with his killer? It's close to the Park."
"Maybe," Flynn agreed.
"Desmond also had a phone in his pocket, two condoms in his wallet along with a couple of one-hundred bills and his credit card," Julio showed the Samsung mobile and the contents of the wallet. Flynn took the Samsung phone with a black gloved hand, looking it over with the Captain at his shoulder.
Buzz filmed the ingredients on the grocery list and then the phone in Flynn's hands; the front glass was broken and the screen black, even when the lieutenant pressed down the power-on button.
"So definitely not a robbery gone wrong if his credit card's still there," Flynn said, "The killer didn't even take it for himself."
The Captain hummed in agreement, "No. It's definitely not about money. But I'm beginning to see a pattern with the broken phones. Maybe the killer contacted his victims on the phone. He clearly does not want us knowing what is on them."
Lieutenant Flynn nodded in agreement, his eyes resting on the Captain.
Morales cleared his throat and looked up. He was sitting on his haunches by the head of the body. He smiled and waved everyone over. Buzz crawled closer on his knees, making sure to keep his lens on the victim.
"What's the verdict, Doctor?" the Captain directed her attention towards Morales.
"Wrongful death, for certain," Morales answered. "Mr. Desmond has acquired quite the contusions, none which seem to be accidental from, say a fall. Here, for example," Morales pointed at the swelling and bruises on the dead man's jaw, a large spot that unevenly went up along the left cheek and another spot at the right temple, "Blunt force to his jaw multiple times and to the side of his temple as well."
Buzz filmed what the doctor listed.
Morales continued, "There's a contusion to the back of Desmond's head," the doctor carefully moved the head to the side, showing agglomerated blood at the back of the head and two flaps of skin hanging down and following the motion. "I even think he might have cracked his skull open here in the back of his head."
Buzz zoomed in; the white of the bone was visible between the open divide the two torn flaps of skin presented. It made bile rise in his throat but he forced it down and calmly breathed through his nose till the taste disappeared.
"Now, that's two visible blows to the head, so I'd daresay there's a big chance he acquired an intracranial hematoma or two. It could be a very likely cause of death. I will get it confirmed once we get back to the morgue, naturally."
Buzz moved closer and a sudden shift in the wind direction blew the smell of the body his way. He swallowed back a lump. The smell had not been as noticeable before, but now the combination of the wind gusts and the sun baking down along with the uncovering of the body and the temperature rising, the corpse released a more pungent smell. The closer Buzz got to the body, the more the smell permeated the air. It smelled of piss, rotten trash that had been lying in the sun for too long and a cobber tang, it made the inside of his throat close up.
"It appears Desmond might also have some broken bones," Morales said as he pointed at the ripped trouser leg on the right shin and the gash beneath it, the straight line of the shin breaking a bit in the middle when Morales moved it, "well, at least he has a broken leg; I can say that without an x-ray," he demonstrated it again, the leg wobbling and the fracture more visible.
Buzz looked away for a short second as he filmed, his eyes going to the grimace on the Captain's face. At least he wasn't the only one who found it all a bit disturbing.
"Does Mr. Desmond have the same tattoo as the others?" the Captain asked, her eyes on the arms of the victim.
Morales leaned closer and pulled up the sleeve of the jacket on the dead body. It revealed the tattoo; Guilty VI.
"He does indeed," Morales nodded, "Newly acquired, and," here the doctor leaned closer, "although… it looks more hurried this time."
The Captain leaned closer and Buzz zoomed in on the tattoo.
There were a couple of dark bruises on the skin beneath the tattoo and it was written with the same black letters, but it did seem sloppier written.
Buzz sighed.
Lieutenant Flynn cleared his throat, "So, what's the explanation for the two different locations, huh? I mean, we found all previous victims close to each other. Why the change?"
"Good question," the Captain agreed.
"The other victims were in regular contact," Julio supplied, "Maybe Desmond and Wilton were not. Maybe the killer knew he had a better chance of killing them separately?"
"It's still a long way from the beach to here," Flynn pointed out, "and why the State Park? – And why so remote? Seems like a lot of needless effort."
The three continued to talk, theories being exchanged as they moved away from the body. Buzz half-listened to them until their voices became too subdued.
"So, dinner?" Morales asked Buzz, giving him a large, inviting smile.
"Hmm?" Buzz startled from his thoughts, and then quickly pressed the stop button on his camera. He did not feel up to his personal exchanges with the doctor being showed in court.
"Between all the autopsies, maybe we could grab a quick bite downtown?"
Buzz smiled.
"Or if I'm too busy, maybe just a cup of coffee and a slice of cake," Morales gave the body by his feet an introspective look, "On second thought, yes, maybe I will be too busy for dinner. I'm sorry."
"Coffee is fine by me," Buzz agreed, "It's my turn to pay."
"And cake," Morales said determined with a crooked smile.
Buzz lifted an eyebrow.
"Combined sugar and caffeine rush," the doctor explained with a goofy grin, "I'm going to need it."
…
