A/N: La la la…life is good, getting better.

You will be happy to hear that I passed my karate belt test, and I am now a step higher on the arse-kicking scale.  I am now an honorary Orange belt.  *waits for applause, but crickets chirp instead*  Hey, at least I'm TAKING martial arts!  Do you think writing is the only thing I've been struggling with?  Hmm?

Anyway, I'm also attempting to learn Ancient Egyptian.  Worry not, this shall not interfere with my free time…much.  *evil grin*

Q&A time!  Yee!

Hester: *evil Mazoku-y grin* I'll never tell…It would serve you right if that were the case.

…Huh.  No more questions to answer.  That's a shocker.  Oh well, let's get down to business, shall we?  Ooh…13.  Lucky number, eh?

Cheers,
~Rumer ("Ahh, grasshopper…only when you are able to pluck a fly from the air with chopsticks will you be able to leave the temple…")

Autopsy Report: Chapter Thirteen

I strode down the halls of the clinic wearing black jeans, a burgundy tank top, and army issue jungle boots, shined to a mirror likeness.  Yes, yes, people stared at me. After all, this wasn't a casual establishment.  There WAS a dress code.  My attitude: Fsck off.  The staring people weren't on their way to meet a corpse, so they wouldn't know.  Most people don't, but hey.  Those people are lucky, but unlucky.  They're lucky in that they get to stay out of it and leave hopefully normal lives.  They're unlucky in that my job was damn cool!  …'was' being the operative word there.  I really enjoyed my job before all this…stuff started happening.  Maybe I'm morbid.  Maybe not.  That didn't matter.  What mattered was the here and now, and I wasn't happy about it.

I passed several offices before winding up at Dr. Proudmoore's office.  Why they put the director's office in the smack middle of the place, I'll never know.  Maybe for privacy reasons.  Maybe for the confusion factor on first-time clients.  Yes, the confusion factor.  We hospital folk are such devious people.  We get off on almost any stunt.  Well, a lot of the things going on in hospitals are pretty depressing.  People are hurting, dying, or dead, so you have to have a sense of humor.  It may not be appropriate, but you have to know when and where to use it.  Getting sued for an inappropriate comment is a perfect example.  Yes, that has been done before.  No, we didn't win.  So now the rule of thumb is either say something appropriate or shut up.  Most people shut up.  Ah, so that's why all the staff is so quiet all the time!  My my, I'm giving out ALL the secrets of the trade, now aren't I?

I knocked twice on the door and went in.  Dr. Lecter was sitting behind the desk, reading a paper.

"Yo, Elwood," I began, "Where's Dr. Proudmoore?"

Elwood looked up and did a double take.  A smile curled on his lips.  "You know we have a dress-code here, don't you, Kira?"

I raised an eyebrow.  "Don't start with me, Lecter.  Answer the question.  Where's Dr. Proudmoore?"

"She was called out on business.  She should be back in a few hours."  Elwood stood up and handed the paper he was reading to me.  "Your work for today's stats."  I took the paper and began to read.

"Edward Dumbrowski…Age:31…Weight: Good God!  312 lbs?!  This guy wasn't exactly underfed, was he?"  I looked up at Elwood.  He had a somewhat angry look on his face.  Oh, I'd forgotten.  He didn't like anyone saying anything remotely offensive about overweight people.  I said a quick apology and continued reading.  "Height: 6'0''…Huh.  Found in Silent Hill…as usual.  Cause of death: Two rifle shot wounds to the- Wait a minute!  He's already been done!  Why are you pawning him off on me if he's already had his examination?" I extended the paper back towards Elwood, who shook his head.

"He's already had the autopsy because we weren't sure if you were still up to snuff.  You were out of it for a while, and we didn't want to take any chances.  But," he said, holding up a finger, "we still want you to take a look.  Poke around a bit.  See if you find anything the coroner didn't.  You're the most observant person I've ever met, so you probably will.  I'd bet money on that." 

I shot Elwood a look that clearly said "yeah right", but I raised the paper back up to reading level and continued to scan Eddie's stats.

"Cause of death: 2 rifle wounds to the upper torso.  Evidence of frostbite."  My eyes flicked from the paper to Elwood.  "Where was he found?"

"Actually, he was found in a meat locker.  Took people a helluva lot of time to find him.  The owners of the restaurant that found him thought he was a piece of meat.  Stupid people, huh?"  Elwood shook his head.  "Well, in any case, the toxicologists have already taken their blood and other body fluid samples, so we should have a good idea if this guy was on anything at time of death.  It'll probably be done in a little bit, so I'll have the report sent directly to you."

I nodded and gestured to the door with an open hand.  "Shall we?  I assume you're coming with me, since I'll probably need a bit of help."

Elwood shook his head.  "Nope.  Not this time.  You get a different supervisor."

I cocked my head to the side.  "Okay, who?"

"Look behind you."

I turned around and froze.  Dr. Mary Sunderland was standing in the doorway, grinning.  I gulped and forced my brain to disregard the 'fight or flight' response and donned a grin of my own.  Except mine looked rather forced.  Gee, I wonder why.

"Dr. Sunderland," I said cheerily, "what a surprise.  I thought you were going back to Silent Hill.  You do have a hospital to run, don't you?"

Mary shook her head.  "That's true.  But Laura wanted to stay for another day before going back.  I couldn't refuse her!"

"Laura?"

As if on cue, a little blonde girl peeked out from behind Mary, a judgmental and curious look on her cherubic face.  Her blonde hair was tied back into a ponytail, and she wore a plaid jumper with Mary Janes and knee-high stockings.  How cute.  I forced myself to not recoil and bent down a smidge.  I ignored a tinge of déjà vu and smiled at the little girl.

"Hi, Laura!  My name's Kira.  How old are you?"

Laura ducked back behind Mary.  I straightened up.

Mary smiled at me.  "She's just a bit shy.  She just turned nine last week."  She turned around to face the hall.  "Laura, you wait in here with Dr. Lecter.  He said he'll play with you while I finish up my work."

I raised an eyebrow.  Dr Lecter OFFERED to play with a child?  Hell had finally frozen over.  Or was beginning to, anyway.  It was quite cold in the room.

Laura re-entered the room and immediately plopped into the cushy visitor's chair across from Elwood.  He immediately launched into the customary speech you go into when dealing with a child, and Laura's mind seemed to be elsewhere.  I felt a hand on my shoulder.  It was Mary.

"I promised Laura I'd make this quick.  You just need to look over the body, right?  It shouldn't take too long."

I nodded.  "Let's go."  I left the room and walked down to the morgue, Mary tailing me the whole way.

***

I looked over Eddie's dead body with disgust.  The report hadn't lied.  Two fist-sized holes decorated Eddie's obese figure, one over his heart, the other through his left lung.  Instant death, most likely.  Frostbite was evident, especially around the wounds' edges and phalanges.  A few fingers and toes looked about ready to fall off.  Several already had and were floating in formaldehyde filled jars on a tray.  A bit morbid, but eh, what are you gonna do.  I poked around the wounds for a few minutes and found nothing.  Still, despite the obvious futility of what I was doing, I did what I was told.  I couldn't very well let Elwood down, now could I?

Mary loomed over me the whole time.  I took to wondering if she had been a vulture in another life.  Oh well, maybe I could get her to answer a few of my questions.

"So, Mary, are you married?"

There was a long pause before the answer.

"I was, but my husband disappeared a while ago.  He was declared dead.  So, to answer your question, no."

"Oh…I'm sorry…"

A moment of silence for the crazy woman's dead husband.  Wherever he was, he was in a better place.  Hopefully.

"So all you have is your daughter…it must be tough."

"Oh, she's not my daughter…"

I looked up and stared into Mary's eyes.  "Not your daughter?"

Mary broke eye contact and looked to the side.  "Adopted daughter.  I adopted her about a year ago, a little while after James disappeared."

I nodded.  "I bounced around the foster world myself for a while…I know what it's like to be finally adopted."  Good thing I didn't say what I was thinking.  Why?  I was thinking, 'That's why you buy a pet, not a person, you sick woman!', so you can see why I said something else.

"Yeah, she was really happy.  I met her in the hospital…I was having some surgery for an illness…and she was my little friend, if you will.  I found out she was an orphan, so I adopted her.  She was so glad…for a while there, I thought it wasn't going to happen.  I wasn't doing too well."

I nodded and murmured a sympathetic 'Mmm'.  Then I returned my gaze to Eddie.  He probably didn't have any sob stories to tell.  Well, dead men didn't tell tales, now did they?  I sighed.  There was nothing that just jumped out at me on Eddie.  It looked like Elwood would lose his bet.  I noticed a patch of cloth that was discolored, like it was vomited on.  Shaking my head, I clipped a bit of it off and put it in a plastic baggie.  I'd give it to Rook to analyze later.  I straightened up and put my probe and forceps on the surgical tray.

Mary looked quizzical.  "Nothing?"

I shook my head.  "Aside from this piece of nasty looking cloth, nothing new.  It just looks like a regular homicide case to me."  I draped the previously used white sheet over Eddie's figure and sighed.  I pulled off my gloves, mask and lab coat and dumped them in the appropriate places.  Mary did the same.  I was in the middle of washing up when I heard a knock on the door.  Drying my hands, I walked to the door and opened it.  Hey, my favorite intern.

Rook had gotten older.  His hair had gotten a bit darker, and his features had thinned out a bit.  He looked a bit like Seth Green, but of course I wasn't about to tell him that.  He didn't need any fangirls messing up his schedule.  But who's to say they weren't already?  He did look a bit brow-beaten.

"Dr. Devereaux!  I have the results from the blood sample…Dr. Lecter told me to give them to you first."  He had a bit deeper voice as well.  My my, our little Rookie was getting to be a man.  How cute.

I nodded, took the manila folder, and handed Rook the plastic bag with the cloth in it.  "Good, Rook.  Thank you.  Here's another piece for analysis; I want the results as soon as you have them."

Rook nodded.  "Can do."  He headed for the door.

"Tell your girlfriend hi for me," I added as Rook began to close the door.

Rook looked over his shoulder to gaze at me.  "We broke up…two months ago, Dr. Devereaux."

I blinked.  "Oh…I'm sorry.  I didn't realize.  I'm really sorry, Rook."

He nodded.  "It's okay.  Good day, ma'am."  He closed the door behind him.

I shook my head sadly.  I'd really gotten out of the loop these past few months.  I was about to throw an all-out pity party when the loudspeaker blared from the ceiling.

"Dr. Kira Devereaux, please report to Dr. Proudmoore's office.  Dr. Devereaux, report to Dr. Proudmoore's office.  Hurry."

I exchanged quizzical looks with Mary before going to the door.  I doubled my pace to get to the office, passing Rook on the way.  I hardly noticed.  I got to the office, knocked twice, and went in.

Dr. Lecter was talking quickly on the phone.  He saw me enter and motioned for me to sit in the chair.  Laura was on the floor reading a book.  Smart kid.  Very smart, considering she was reading Modern Psychology.

"Yes, she's here…Here she is."  Elwood held the out the phone to me.  He looked drastically pale.  I was starting to get nervous.  Hand shaking slightly, I lifted the receiver to my ear.

"This is Dr. Kira Devereaux, may I help you?"

"Dr. Devereaux, do you live at the Colonial Grand Apartment Complex?"

"That's right."

"Dr. Devereaux, this is the Brahms Fire Department, Fire Chief Brody speaking.  Your apartment complex has burned to the ground."

~~~

Reviews=More chapters!  Things are really starting to heat up, eh?  Ooh…bad pun…bad pun…