Author's Note: Sorry for the wait! Things have been a bit hectic... work, home-life, the release of Dragon Age: Inquisition... well, I think everyone gets the idea. The chapter is a bit short, but I felt what is next couldn't be placed within this chapter without making it overly long... you all will see what I mean when I post the next chapter... until then!
Steve sighed as he ended the call on his phone. "That was the morgue," he said to no one in particular.
"And?" Traci asked as she crossed her arms over her chest.
"They are prepping the vic for autopsy now." He elaborated as he paced back and forth in front of the sofa.
"But the body was sent to them over four hours ago!" Traci exclaimed in a huff.
"They were backlogged," Steve replied as he stopped his pacing and stared at the screen in front of him. "They are running her prints now to determine I.D."
"Didn't Mrs. O'Neil say that the next door neighbour, Mrs. Schlenz, house-sits for her when she is gone out of the country?" Andy asked as she joined the two detectives. "So, why do they have to check her prints?"
"It's pretty much standard procedure when a vic is rolled into the morgue without identification, Andy," Sam replied as he walked over to join the group. "Right now, we can't be certain it is her because O'Neil didn't see the body to give a positive ID and besides..." He shoved his hands into his back pockets and shrugged. "I don't trust Mrs. O'Neal enough to listen to anything she says."
"I agree with Detective Swarek," a voice said from the middle of the stairs causing the group to jump. They listened as footsteps echoed on the wood until they saw a pair of polished black boots and crisp black pants through the slats in the banister.
"Mom, what are you doing here?" Steve exclaimed as he moved to brush non-existent dust from his jacket.
"I received a call from Staff Sergeant Shaw," Superintendent Peck said as she stepped off the last step and peered at the group. "What I don't understand is why didn't you call me first? I could have rushed the autopsy at the very least. At the most, my daughter could already be out of that damned room and on her way to a hospital to be monitored."
"Mother, I..."
"Don't say a word, Steve," Elaine interrupted as she walked towards the television on the far wall. "Is that video footage of them in the room?"
"No ma'am," Sam said as he moved closer. "It's real-time."
"My god..." Elaine muttered as she walked closer. "At least she has someone in there to keep her company."
Gail allowed what Holly said to sink in. after a few moments, she spoke again, "What about the bloodstains on the floor? I remember when you checked the body, you said you noticed nothing abnormal with the body. Besides a few torn ligaments in the wrist and..."
"And petechial haemorrhaging of the conjuntivae," Holly replied, finishing the blonde's sentence.
"Then why is there a trail of blood in here and to where the body is located? You didn't see any other damage did you?"
"No, and that is another thing that concerns me." Holly grabbed the flash-light from Gail and pointed it at the floor. "Do you see how dark the blood is? Granted, it has been sometime since it has been expelled, but in a room as chilly as this basement is, the blood would have a harder time to dry up. Also, take a look at the shape of the splatter. No arcs, except for this one spot here." The pathologist turned the light to the first spatter. "But, as you can see, the arcs are not characteristic of arterial spray or of transfer from a blunt object swinging. There large, but still had a lot of force behind it. Like someone coughing up blood, or possibly vomiting it up."
"But what would cause so much blood and why wasn't there any on the victim?" Gail asked as she stared at the stains. "How much blood do you think the person lost?"
"Well, without the tech being able to come into this room since we were locked inside it, I can not give an accurate assessment. Offhand, I would say a little over a pint? But that is just speculation. The techs would have to come in here and rip the carpet up to see how much blood had soaked through to the wood or concrete, or whatever is actually underneath in order to give an accurate amount." Holly took a deep breath and stretched her neck. "I wish they would hurry up and get us out of here."
"Me too," Gail said as she looked over at the pathologist. "I have another question."
"Go ahead. We might as well keep ourselves entertained while we wait for them to rescue us anyway."
"What could cause someone who is apparently healthy looking in death to 'expel blood' in the manner you suggested?" Gail questioned as she placed her hand on Holly's thigh and squeezed gently. The blonde's nerves were going haywire, but she could never show her girlfriend how much everything was upsetting her.
"Well, to be honest... anything could." Holly said as she stared intently at the police officer. "A person who is absolutely normal on the outside could drop dead at a moment's notice. It all has to do with what's on the inside of the person. For example, this woman you found today could have died because of a broken rib that punctured her lung. That could cause the petechial haemorrhaging... she would have died of asphyxiation which causes the tiny capillaries and blood vessels to rupture in certain areas of the body. I really wouldn't know until I was able to open her up though. I really hate speculating any of this. But I think you are wondering more about what sort of virus would wreak such havoc." Holly quirked an eyebrow as she looked at Gail, when the officer nodded, she continued. "There are several actually that could cause it. We can rule out five in particular... that being the filoviruses. One of them, human's can not catch from our primate cousins and the other four... well, let's just say that the outcome is a lot more... hmm, well, let's just say that it is really nasty and is definitely not the cause. Smallpox, on the other hand, could cause what we saw with the victim, but I did not see the telltale flush on her extremities. Plus, smallpox has been eradicated from nature. The world's only supply of the virus is supposed to be in Atlanta at the CDC and in Novosibirsk at Vector, which is in Russia. Also, we can not rule out other arenaviruses or hantaviruses at this point either. There is a large spectrum of haemorrhagic fevers that we can not rule out at this point either."
Gail narrowed her eyes. "So this could just be something as simple as a punctured lung or as serious as a deadly virus?"
"Exactly," Holly stated with a sigh. "Which is why I wish to err on the side of caution when dealing with all of this. I want us to both be protected from the even the slightest possibility of viral infection. There is a saying in medical sciences... 'When you hear hoof-beats, think horses, not zebras', but there are several instances where you should think zebras... and I do believe we may have stumbled across a zebra."