What makes courage wither? Part 2

Monday dawned bright and hot, but Doctor Morales neither saw nor felt it; the artificial light and coldness of the morgue being his substitute. He started late Sunday evening and worked through most of the night. The two hours of rest he rewarded himself, was spent driving home and showering with a half hour nap on the couch and then driving back to the morgue to finish the last autopsy as Monday morning was barely dawning. The clear blue skies outside the window shield of his car held none of his attention. He was focused on the puzzles the murder victims presented; images and possible scenarios bounced around in his mind's eye.

Kendall had come in early and helped with the tagging of evidence before it was being sent off for lab analysis. The younger man worked efficiently and was only happy to get the extra experience. Tissue samples from three bodies were a lot to handle and having a pair of extra hands was a godsend, and Morales told him as much.

While Kendall worked quietly by one of the rolling tables, Morales prepped the morgue. He put the relevant CT and X-ray scans up on the light board, covered the victims with white linen to their necks and consulted the clipboard with his notes while standing up and down on his toes. Finding everything to his satisfaction, he smiled and gave a small cheer, surprising Kendall somewhat. Morales felt ready to pass on information to the police and called the Captain down.

Out in the morgue's hallway, he greeted Captain Raydor and Lieutenant Flynn. The two looked fresh-faced and awake, but something seemed a little off; the Captain deliberately stood a good space away from the Lieutenant with her arms crossed and studying a spot on the opposite wall. The Lieutenant stood with his hands in the pockets of his pants, the suit of the day; a pinstriped gray one with turquoise shirt. His eyes were centered on the Captain with a questioning glance, a worrying frown that only deepened. The atmosphere seemed if not tense then a little awkward. Morales had gotten used to those two standing on top of each other, especially if they thought no one was watching, them standing apart spoke of something going on.

They both looked up with a start when Morales came through the morgue door, relief painted on their features at the interruption.

"Morning folks," Morales smiled cheerfully, his eyes on the Styrofoam cup of coffee Sharon Raydor held out for him. She always thought of others, Morales had come to acknowledge and he smiled thankfully at her. Throughout his whole career working with the LAPD not once had an officer thought of bringing him coffee, let alone more than once. But the Captain, she brought it on a regular basis.

"Morning, doctor," she replied back in a smooth, low tone. Upon closer inspection, Morales could distinct the small lines of exhaustion in her expression that were probably remnants from yesterday.

"You ready for the show and tell?"

"Yeah, yeah," Lieutenant Flynn groused groggily, his demeanor impatient.

The Captain smiled warmly at Morales and he read the 'don't mind the grump' in her look as she side-eyed the Lieutenant out of the corner of her eye.

Morales nodded; he had learned a long time ago to never mind the grumpy ones. He held the door open for the two, ushering them inside with a hand gesture.

"So, who do you wanna start with?" Morales asked before he took a sip from the coffee cup. The lukewarm coffee was just what he needed. He sighed contently.

"Let's start with Linda Rothman," the Captain answered promptly, her attention already on the dead woman. Morales understood the urgent tone of tension in her voice well; she wanted to know if Philip Stroh was behind the murder or not.

Morales walked up to stand at the table that held Rothman, watching as the two followed suit; the Lieutenant standing behind the Captain with his arms crossed and his mouth downturned. Morales looked down at the dead woman. He had met her only once, and that had been in brief passing.

"The cause of death is strangulation. The killer used a knotted string that cut through the skin, some places as deep as the muscle tissue. Judging from the bruises and the patterns, I would say the killer used the string a number of times before she died," he pointed at the lines that ran across the pale of her throat, "I found some traces of foreign particles in the wounds and it's going off to analysis. Maybe it will tell us a bit more about the string and its composites."

The two nodded in unconscious synchronization, Lieutenant Flynn moved a little so he stood next to the Captain as if to better see what Morales was pointing out.

Morales walked around the table and pointed at her arms and feet, "She has defensive wounds and contusions consistent with being held down. I found some fibers that might belong to a rope or a string and I'm having that analyzed as well. Time of death would be around late Thursday night or early Friday morning."

Morales paused.

"What about sexual violence?" the Captain asked, her look somber as she studied the pale face of Rothman.

"I found DNA samples and she was most likely raped prior to death. I took a casting of the teeth marks on her thighs and seeing we have both Stroh's dental records and DNA in hand, we will know soon enough if it's a match."

They both looked up with abrupt surprised expressions; the last information seemed to be a sort of relief for the two officers.

"Really?" Lieutenant Flynn asked his arms coming uncrossed as he took a step closer to the table. His tone was somewhat excited, "so, we can have a likely match, tomorrow maybe?"

"Later today," Morales replied, "If it's Stroh it won't take that much time to affirm it. I just need the casting to dry before I can run a comparison test and the DNA comparison will run quickly too."

"That is good news, doctor," the Captain nodded, "anything else on Rothman we need to know?"

"That's about it. We will know more once the lab results are back. So far, there's no evidence to suggest she was drugged, but I'm having blood samples analyzed anyway."

They both nodded in unison again. With Stroh's background it was more than likely he would drug his victims than not. Serial rapist and serial killers tended toward a routine that never wavered much.

"Okay, onwards," Morales drew a small breath and then moved to the two other victims in the room.

"Daniel Wilton and Troy Desmond. First up, their murders would appear unrelated if not for the tattoo on their wrists. In fact, however, the autopsy revealed they died in much the same way. Rather peculiar, if you ask me."

"How so?" the Lieutenant asked, shifting his glance between the two men on the tables.

Morales turned around and walked to the light board, his index finger tapping on the bottom of two CT scans; they showed the abdomens of the two victims in a frontal view. It was procedure nowadays to always do a pre-autopsy full body CT scan, and this time the results had been rather surprising.

"Both Wilton and Desmond had foreign objects in their digestive systems," Morales told the two officers.

Both Captain Raydor and Lieutenant Flynn came closer, narrowing their eyes as they looked at the lighted up images of the two men's internal organs.

"Is that packed condoms?" Lieutenant Flynn asked, his tone incredulous as he tilted his head and looked closer at the scans. The Captain pursed her lips in disgust.

For a moment Morales was stumped that the Lieutenant was able to see it. But then again, Flynn had worked in Robbery/Homicide before Major Crimes. The Lieutenant must have had a few stints with the Narcotics Unit, and so of course Flynn would know the looks of packed condoms in the stomach.

"Indeed it is," Morales finally answered, "However, unlike certain drug smugglers, the condoms were not filled with heroin or cocaine. I tested the contents with quick kits but they were negative. I just got back a preliminary result on the spectrometry and it is the benzodiazepine Flunitrazepam."

"Rohypnol?" the Captain repeated, her nose scrunching up in a mixture of disbelief and horror.

"With a small margin for error of course, though from the sample I analyzed I am certain it is just that. Both victims had four condoms filled with the powder from the pills in their large intestine. The condoms eventually ruptured, and voila, both men died from extreme benzodiazepine intoxication."

"Rohypnol in their large intestine?" the Captain repeated, "You said it was in powder form and not preformed pills?"

Morales nodded, "Yes. Some work it would have acquired to take so many pills apart and redistribute the powder into the condoms."

"How many pills would you guess was in all condoms, all in all?" the Lieutenant asked, a finger tapping his chin, his look thoughtful.

"Many," Morales smiled, "Actually, it's a rather big quantity. I'll weigh whatever's left in the condoms and make an estimate from there. I'll let you know then."

They both nodded.

The Captain pursed her lips, "The condoms, doctor… how exactly were they administered? Were Wilton and Desmond conscious? Or..?"

Flynn interrupted with a furrow between his eyebrows, "and how in the world is the killer certain the condoms would rupture?"

Morales smiled and addressed Flynn's question first, "I had the same thought myself, so I put them under the microscope, and I found that the condoms were, shall we say, somewhat weakened. All eight condoms had miniscule holes in them, meant to rupture after a certain period of time, only one of them needed to break open to kill. I'd imagine the killer used four condoms to be certain that at least one condom would rupture."

The Captain hummed contemplatively.

Morales continued, his eyes turning on the Captain, "A qualified guess as to how they were administered; I would say the killer forced the two men to swallow the condoms under severe threat, maybe at gun point or at knife point. It would have been difficult to force four packed condoms into their throats and make them swallow if they were sedated or unconscious. The condoms were far enough along in their digestive systems to suggest it happened hours prior to death."

"That is just weird," Lieutenant Flynn commented with grimace, "This whole thing is just weird on top of weird."

Morales agreed with a nod and then moved away from the two bodies. He beckoned for the couple to follow him to the light board.

"Rohypnol in condoms aside, there are some differences between the two deaths. Whereas Wilton was largely unharmed prior to the poisoning, Desmond received a severe beating; both before and after his death. His fibula was broken along with the distal part of his radius and he suffered from multiple rib fractures." Morales pointed at the x-ray of Desmond's right leg, right wrist and the x-ray of his thorax. "He received a nasty blow to the head as well, but from what I can determine, the beatings were not the definitive cause of death. The benzodiazepine poisoning is the largest factor at play here. Without the rohypnol, Desmond could have lived with the right care."

"So, the anger was directed at Desmond?" the Captain commented, her eyes going to the mentioned victim.

Morales nodded, "Most of it, certainly. Wilton had no bruises or fractures or anything that suggests he was beaten like Desmond. Though both men had their genitals smashed post mortem, which seems to suggest anger was directed at both of them, and quite a specific place too."

Flynn grimaced, "Smashed?"

"To a pulp," Morales replied with a nod and he pointed at the x-ray of Desmond's and Wilton's shattered pelvic floor, "Both men had small pelvic fractures which suggests blunt force trauma. If this had happened before their death, there would have been the possibility of both men bleeding out. There's no hemorrhage in the pelvic region of either. So it happened post mortem."

"There seems to be a lot of hate behind this," the Captain thought out aloud, "so much, that it also takes place after death. In comparison to the previous killings, I would say the violence is escalating?" the last she directed to Flynn, her eyebrow raised in question.

The Lieutenant nodded, "Yeah, I would say that too. The disembowelment was pretty hateful but this takes the top."

"Though, if both men were killed because of the rape charges, then the violence against their genitals makes more sense," the Captain commented.

Flynn nodded, "Yeah, hateful but not without cause."

Morales agreed with them, "That would explain it, yes. Now, in regards to the tattoos, I've compared them to the four previous victims' tattoos, and it's the same pattern and writing. And just like our previous four victims, it's also located on their left wrist."

The Captain sighed, "Anything that says something conclusive about the killer? Prints? DNA samples?"

"Not much, though I found some hair on Desmond that isn't his own. If you find a suspect we can try for a match."

"What kind of hair?" Lieutenant Flynn asked.

"Blond and half long," Morales said, "It's being analyzed as well," he paused, "before you go, a curiosity; the lab test is back on our two disembowelment victims from last month. Both were drugged with Flunitrazepam as well. In a much smaller dose, but enough to sedate both of them."

"That is curious," the Captain said with a frown.

"Yes, it's another link between out victims besides the obvious tattoos," Morales said before he took a sip from the coffee cup, it was still warm; bless the Styrofoam cups and their lids!

"Yeah, maybe we can find someone who's buying a lot of Rohypnol," Flynn supplied.

"Thank you doctor," the Captain said with a small gracious smile.

Morales nodded back and then watched the two walk out of his morgue, the Captain walking first in a quick stride, the Lieutenant following after her. After the door closed behind them, Morales went to Kendall who was silently immersed in collecting and coordinating samples. Morales wondered what Buzz was doing at the moment; maybe he should pay the technician a visit.

…