What moves in the depth of darkness? Part 4

Doctor Morales arrived in a flurry just as Buzz Watson was preparing to hike off with his gear to the second crime scene. Lieutenant Provenza held up a hand, making Buzz wait.

The doctor joined Kendall for a short moment, trained eyes giving the first victim a once over. The two men were too far away for Buzz to hear but from the stance and the gestures, Buzz figured Morales was giving out further instructions. Doctor Morales then joined Buzz and Provenza, a pair of Wellingtons under his arms. Buzz gave the doctor an askance glance; the other man was in no way dressed for hiking through a national park after rainfall. The trench coat with its pale beige color would be dirtied within minutes of walking and the suit underneath it seemed to be better acquitted for a night out. Buzz waited patiently while the doctor hopped on first one leg and then the other to pull on the boots. What in the world would one dress up for at the crack of dawn?

The gel Buzz had smeared under his nose felt brisk in the wind. It was a good precaution. He might have seen a lot of crime scenes over the years, but they still got to him. And if Amy said the smell was bad, the likelihood of him throwing up skyrocketed. That detective was pretty hardcore.

"Two seconds, two seconds," Morales sang out with an askew smile and half-ran to pick up an equipment box from the backseat of his car.

With the box in hand and boots on his feet, Morales looked at Provenza and Buzz, "Evening, lieutenant, evening, Buzz," Morales said with a cheerful smile.

"It's morning," Provenza grumbled.

Morales shrugged, "Technically it's evening for me. I haven't been to bed yet."

Provenza rolled his eyes disapprovingly, "I can tell."

Buzz looked at his watch; it was fast approaching 8 am.

"Well, should we go?" Morales suggested and sent Buzz a beaming smile. Buzz nodded, and took a look at all the gear, and the big camera, he was going to haul all by his lonesome self to the second crime scene.

Provenza waved them off with a knowing smile before he went off in the direction of the rest of the team. They, along with the Captain, stood huddled around a temporary station set up, talking in low voices.

Buzz sighed.

They began walking across the gravel of the parking lot, toward one of the trails that led northbound.

"What a beautiful sunrise. Did you happen to catch it?" the doctor asked in an exalted voice when they passed from gravel to grass, and nodded at Buzz's camera. They had left the parking lot behind them now.

The guy was a bouncing ball of happy, Buzz found. Upon further thought, Buzz guessed it was a necessary tactic when working with dead bodies day in and day out. The squad did the same from time to time, humor making the dark seem a little less heavy to carry.

"I didn't see it," Buzz replied with a polite smile. He had been too busy filming the first victim and trying not to look too much at the visible guts of a dead human, while still maintaining his breakfast.

"You know," Morales started conversationally, his eyes briefly going back to the white tent around the tarp and first victim, "it's been quite a while since I last had to work with disembowelment."

Buzz pursed his mouth.

The doctor continued, "It's not every day we see it. You know, in ancient times, some used it as device of torture. And the samurai of old would use it as a means of suicide, absolving them, and their families, from their crimes and dishonor."

The man looked entirely too cheerful about the subject, his mouth parting in a smile, "Interesting isn't it?"

Buzz could only nod reluctantly.

"Just imagine, some samurai would even pull out their own viscera after making the cut horizontally."

Buzz hummed and hoped it would somehow convey, without appearing rude, that the topic was not delighting him. Nor did he wish to spend the next twenty minutes hearing a detailed history of disembowelment.

Doctor Morales droned on, seeming more focused on the surrounding nature and sharing his knowledge than the apparent disinterest in Buzz's tone.

It was going to be a long day.

At times the doctor appeared to be bit of an enigma, the dark morgue humor and easy smile lending some confusion for Buzz. It was the contrast, Buzz thought, between life and death. The dark, despondent matters of their profession seemed more depressing to Buzz than anything else. Of course, there were good days and cases that ended with murderers behind bars, but still, it both intrigued and puzzled him, how you could work with the dead like the doctor did, and then still keep your humor and your positive attitude. Sometimes the doctor scared Buzz a little. Not that he was going to admit it, or tell anyone. It was kind of like how the Captain used to scare him back when she had worked for F.I.D and the whole division had disliked her with various emotional gradients. Buzz had never disliked her or felt she was a nuisance; no, he had instead felt a small sizzling fright of her.

Buzz still remembered the few times he had been left alone in electronics with her, and how her presence had put him on edge. That was until the woman had actually spoken to him, quite softly and congenially. The persona and the reputation that had preceded her, dissolved before his eyes then. She was just doing her job. In a way, he had started liking her before she even transferred to Major Crimes.

Maybe if he got to know the medical examiner, like he had gotten to know the Captain, maybe then he would change his mind about the doctor as well, Buzz thought. Maybe the man would be less of a puzzle then.

The smile on Morales face only widened as they followed a broad, down-trodden trail.

"It reminds me of a case back in 2007, actually. Have I ever told you about the curious case of Humpty Dumpty from San Diego?" Morales asked cheerfully.

Buzz shook his head, the corners of his mouth lifting up, even if he was not too keen on the subject. The doctor was enthusiastic about his work; and that Buzz could relate to.

…