Chapter 28

"Behind Stone Walls"

As I mentioned before, this story would be making occasional stops in Greece, where the bombing of TWA Flight 841 out of Athens was thwarted. One of the bodies recovered in Lockerbie was instead flown to Greece via West Germany on account that there was a connection to one of the passengers on board the flight.

Standing on the tarmac of the Athens Ellikion International Airport, a group of International Police officers were awaiting the arrival of the Pan Am Boeing 727 jet containing the body on board.

"Are you sure this is the body of Evans' wife?" asked the lead agent.

"I am positive that it's, Mr. Anderson," replied the Greek agent as the plane pulled to a stop and the rear cargo door opened. Watching, the agents oversaw the wooden casket being carried off the plane and loaded into a hearse. "Dr. Heather Evans is in that casket."

Getting into their cars, Anderson and the agents proceeded to follow the hearse towards the Pokemon Center where the Voltorb and Electrode were still being treated from the "R" gas.

"Mr. Anderson, I really don't see the whole point of this," remarked a younger agent in his mid 30s. "Why bring the dead body of Evans' wife here to Greece?"

"Because Mr. Ward, we need to confirm if its really here and there also the fact that Mr. Evans, not too long ago, may have impregnated her. If he did, we're charging him with sexual assault."

Ward just stared out the window in disbelief.

"I think I know why we are doing this," he guessed. "We're going to tell Mr. Evans that we have his wife's body and trap him. But, isn't he in Tehran?"

"Yes, Mr. Ward. But, since it is dangerous for us to go into Iran, we're going to bring him here to Athens and then, we are going to arrest him."

…

At that moment, the cavalcade arrived at the Pokemon center and the coffin was carried into the examination room which in turn was placed under heavy guard by the International and Greek Police. Opening the casket, the medical examiner looked down at the body of Dr. Heather Evans, her long dark blue trenchcoat cloaking her body and her blonde hair filled with dirt.

"Okay, now we're going to have to prep the body for the examination," said the examiner. "Anyone got a pair of scissors and an evidence bag?"

"Right here," said Anderson, handing the medical examiner a pair of scissors as several of the agents carefully lifted Heather's body out of the coffin. "Now what?"

The medical examiner carefully removed the blue flats from Heather's feet and then proceeded to remove her dark blue gloves from her hands.

"Don't tell me you are going to watch this, Mr. Anderson?" asked Ward.

"Need to check for bruises and other marks, Mr. Ward, anything that can be used against her gangster husband in a court of law."

Taking the scissors, the medical examiner opened Heather's trenchcoat and revealed the light blue skirt suit she was still wearing.

"Well, from the looks of it," he said as he and another nurse pulled off the trenchcoat. "Her clothes remained intact despite the fall from the sky. Did suffer some level of contusions during the fall."

The nurse then opened up Heather's suit jacket as the scissors cut into the shoulders. Once it was gone, then the scissors cut into Heather's white button down shirt, revealing the top of a white slip underneath.

"Agent Anderson take a look at this," cried the medical examiner, holding Heather's throat. "Look at the finger marks on her throat. A sign of strangulation."

After the white shirt was discarded, the attention turned to the light blue skirt, quickly cut away and leaving the body only the white slip.

"More markings on here," said a nurse, directing them to look at the bruises on Heather's bare arms. "Could have been signs of a struggle."

Just as the medical examiner prepared to cut away Heather's slip, there was a knock on the door.

"Rupert," said another agent. "Come out for a second…you too, Alan."

The two stepped out of the examination room and greeted their colleague.

"What is it, Bird?"

"I just got off the phone with the Tehran Airport police. They had camera footage of Heather Evans checking in for an Iran Air flight to Athens on December 20th."

"So, what does that have to do with anything?"

"It means that the bruises were more than recently inflicted on the morning of the 20th."

Just then, they watched as a phlebotomist walked into the room.

"Bruises are one thing," remarked Mr. Ward. "But what about…?"

"The fact she could have been impregnated as a result of assault is the lead in this case. Supposedly, Heather was living in Iran with her husband and wanted nothing more to do with him."

"It still doesn't make any sense."

"Well, this clarifies that Heather was targeted for assassination, but not on Pan Am 103, right Bird?"

"Yeah, the records at Athens Airport clarify that the bomb that came off the Iran Air flight from Tehran was to be transferred to TWA 841 to Minneapolis via Rome and New York."

"Has TWA in Athens been notified about this? Did you ask if Heather Evans was added on their 841?"

"The flight was apparently canceled for operational reasons and the airline sent her to Pan Am because she wanted to get back to New York on the night of the 21st."

Turning back to the examination, Anderson and Ward walked back inside the examination room where the phlebotomist worked on what appeared to be blood extracted from the body.

"I had a phlebotomist come into check for any signs of pregnancy," acknowledged the medical examiner. "I also did a full examination and found that there were signs of a beating and that appeared to have detected broken bones in the chest and shoulders."

"Then they were probably treating captive Pokemon in the same manner," said Ward in a disgusted tone. "To beat anyone who stood in their way to a bloody pulp…"

Of course, this was the first indication of the horrors that went on behind the walls of a Team Rocket compound and as we would continue our investigation, there was going to be more where that came from.

…

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