Deep Lacerations: Chapter 3
CID Special Agent Sonja Gracy adjusted the long lens of the camera as she focused on the body. Frowning, she clicked the shutter before lowering the camera, walking toward the victim as if magnetically drawn to it.
Standing by the victim's feet, she slowly turned three hundred sixty degrees, documenting what the victim would have seen from any possible angle. Turning back to the body, she took several shots of him while standing before bending down to get a closer look.
She didn't move for a moment, her eyes fixed on the body. Without looking away, she pulled a pair of latex gloves from her pocket and her phone from her belt. "Victim is a white male, aged from mid-twenties to early thirties," she said, using the dictation application of her phone.
"Patient is a white male, between the ages of—"
"You know the exact age, Doctor. Do not play around. Lives depend on it."
She blinked the memory aside, focusing on the body in front of her. "The victim is dressed in civilian clothes appropriate for local weather conditions—blue denim pants, gray thermal tee-shirt, black fleece-lined jacket. Shoes appear to be black combat boots, not shined." Her eyes scanned the body again. With a frown, she leaned closer to his torso. She pulled back, snapping several pictures with the camera before picking up her phone again. "The shell of the jacket is a synthetic material. There appear to be two burns on the front. Burn A is mid-torso on the left side, approximately along the mid-clavicular line. Burn B is lower and closer to center, likely several centimeters from the umbilicus when clothing is in the natural position. These burns are possibly consistent with a taser or stun gun." She frowned and reversed the dictation, erasing the last comment. A preliminary examination was no time for conjecture; that came later. Instead, she placed her left index finger next to each burn for a size comparison and snapped more pictures. "Each burn is roughly circular in shape, approximately two by two centimeters. The burns do not appear to penetrate through the lining of the jacket." She stopped the dictation while she thought about the sequence of events: at some point, the unknown man was walking through the USNA campus—she stopped herself when she realized that she didn't have enough evidence that he died there. In fact, she didn't have any evidence at all. She gave a frustrated sigh and continued her survey of the victim.
Agent Tony DiNozzo glanced over at his new teammate before turning his attention to his old one. "What do you think of your CID counterpart?" he asked quietly enough that Gracy couldn't hear.
Officer Ziva David glanced up from her crouched position to see her partner again studying the CID agent. She followed his line of sight a few feet to see Gracy crouched beside the victim, her camera forgotten around her neck, what appeared to be her phone in her left hand. "She does not seem to grasp of the concept of 'photos'," she commented. DiNozzo grinned.
"Gibbs won't be happy."
"Gibbs was already not happy with her," David pointed out.
"He did seem unusually upset with the idea of her being on the team," he agreed. "Even more so than he usually is when we have to work with CID."
"It was not working with CID that upset him before," David pointed out. "It was working with Lt. Colonel Mann that upset him."
To her surprise, DiNozzo grinned and again turned toward Agent Gracy. "And this one even has red hair," he mused.
"It is more of an auburn, yes?"
"Which is a shade of red," DiNozzo replied forcefully. Ziva rolled her eyes and returned her attention to her work. DiNozzo continued to study Gracy.
He watched as she appeared to alternate between speaking into the phone and snapping pictures with the crime scene camera, occasionally leaning in to look at something closer. He frowned as she picked up the victim's arm, pushing the jacket sleeve up to press into the skin of the forearm. "Hey!" he said sharply. "You can't touch the body until the ME arrives!" Gibbs looked up sharply from his interview with the two midshipmen to glare at the CID agent.
"I think we can make an exception in this case, Anthony," Dr. Donald Mallard, the NCIS Medical Examiner, stepped in smoothly. He smiled at the new team member. "Major Gracy, it is always a pleasure."
"It's Special Agent Gracy now, Ducky," she corrected gently, almost sadly. Dr. Mallard grimaced slightly.
"Ah, yes. I do apologize, Sonja. So, what brings you to our crime scene?"
She stood from her crouched position to better face Ducky. "Actually, I'm filling in for Special Agent McGee while he is convalescing. Directors Vance and Jackson seemed to think a CID-NCIS liaison position would be in the best interests of both agencies."
The ME nodded slightly, making a mental note to talk with her further when the rest of the team wasn't around. "Mr. Palmer," he commanded. "The temperature?"
"Ah, yes, Doctor. I'll get started," the medical examiner's assistance stammered in reply. Gracy appeared amused for a split second before her expression became serious again. Ducky turned back to face her.
"What can you tell me about our victim?" he asked, bending down to get a closer look. Agent Gracy did the same.
"White male, mid-twenties to early thirties," she began. "I can't be sure without a liver temperature, but I would say time of death is between two and four hours ago. Pallor has set in, but that doesn't say much—we already knew that he's been dead for longer than thirty minutes. Livor mortis has begun, but the skin on the underside of the wrist blanches, so it hasn't set in yet, which happens between four and five hours. It also means we can't say for sure where he died or how he was positioned when he did so. And finally, rigor has begun in the small muscles of the wrist—it's hard to extend his fingers—but not yet in the larger arm extensors or flexors. Rigor begins within two to four hours post-mortem, and is complete between six and twelve hours, depending on ambient temperature."
"Liver temp is 93.7 degrees Fahrenheit," Jimmy Palmer chimed in. Gracy raised her eyebrows.
"Based on the Glaister equation, that would put time of death right around three hours ago," she commented. By this time, the other agents had stopped what they were doing to focus on Gracy. Palmer's jaw was hanging slightly open.
"Very impressive, Agent Gracy," Ducky commended. Gracy smiled slightly.
"It's not my first time on the dance floor, Ducky," she said softly.
"Can you give me a cause of death?" Gibbs cut in sharply. The medical examiner and CID agent both turned to face him, studying him for a second before Gracy broke the silence.
"No," she said flatly. "Even if he had a bullet in his forehead, nobody could give you a cause of death without an autopsy."
Dr. Mallard nodded his satisfaction with her answer before turning to face her again. "Would you like to join me for the post-mortem examination, Agent Gracy?"
She shook her head, looking away. "I don't do autopsies anymore, Ducky," she said, her voice almost sad. She turned back to face him with an expression that was part challenge, part fear, and part vulnerability, and was gone as soon as it appeared. She turned and walked away.