Illegal Alien

'Yes.'

'Can you give further examples that support this conclusion?'

'Well, whoever did the cutting opened the stomach up before removing it from the chest cavity — resulting in gastric acid spilling into the torso. If you’d known in advance that the stomach contained acid, you’d have removed it as a unit and dissected it separately.'

'Thank you. Did you conduct an inventory of body parts?'

'Yes.'

'Why did you do that?'

'In murder cases involving disfigurement or dismembering, it’s not unusual for the killer to keep a souvenir of the crime.'

'A souvenir?'

'Yes — a finger, perhaps, or, in some sex-related crimes, part of the genitals.'

'So you inventoried Dr. Calhoun’s body parts. What did you find?'

'Several pieces were missing.'

'Which parts specifically, Doctor?'

'The right eye was gone.'

Intake of breath from jurors four and six; Dale had identified both of them as queasy during voir dire, but had been unable to get them excused.

'The eye was removed?' repeated Ziegler, as if surprised by this piece of news.

'Yes.'

'By the same cutting tool?'

'Well, sort of. The eyeball was prized from the socket, possibly by fingers, but the muscles and optic nerve were indeed severed cleanly, quite probably by the same tool, yes.'

'Was anything else missing?'

'The vermiform process.'

' ‘The vermiform process,’ ' repeated Ziegler. She looked at the jury. 'Is there another name by which we might be more familiar with that, Doctor?'

'It’s commonly called the appendix.'

'The same appendix that’s down here?' She touched her lower right side.

'The one that’s prone to appendicitis?'

'That’s right.'

'How was it removed?'

'Well, not the normal way — that is, not like we do it in an appendectomy, going in from outside. Rather it was clipped out during the internal dissection.'

'Are you sure about this?' said Ziegler. 'Couldn’t his appendix have been removed years before? Lots of people have no appendix — I don’t myself.'

'There was no appendectomy scar on Calhoun’s body, and no signs of an old operation internally. Still, I did check with Calhoun’s personal physician and his health-insurance company. The doctor had no record of Calhoun ever having appendicitis, and the insurer has no claim on file for an appendectomy operation.'

'Was anything else missing?'

'Yes. Dr. Calhoun’s lower jaw and neck were gone.'

More mock surprise. 'His neck?'

'Yes, that’s right. I said the head was severed from the body. In fact, the highest vertebra intact in the torso was the first thoracic one. And the head had no vertebrae left attached to it. All seven cervical vertebrae were gone, along with the throat and the Adam’s apple. Also missing was the mandible — the lower jaw.'

'Do you have any idea why the perpetrator would take these particular body parts, Doctor?'

'No.'

'Are you sure that it wasn’t the removal of these body parts that caused Dr. Calhoun’s death?'

'I’m sure. He was dead by the time they were removed.'

'How do you know that?'

'Well, you can tell by the pattern of blood splattering that the opening of the chest was done after the heart had stopped beating. Likewise the decapitation: in fact, there was very little blood left in the body by the time the head was severed. And the removal of the eye — well, it takes a lot of force to pull out an eye. If this had happened while Dr. Calhoun was still alive, there’d be bruising on his right cheek and the right side of his nose. As you can see here in photo fourteen, there’s none of that.'

'Thank you,' said Ziegler. She turned to the jury. 'And my apologies for the gruesome nature of the testimony — we should be on less gory ground from now on. I hope you all understand why it was necessary.' She looked at Dale. 'Your witness, counselor.'

Dale rose. Damn, but Ziegler was good. She’d apologized for the graphic testimony, and promised the jury it was over — meaning Dale would look insensitive by going over it again in his cross. 'Dr. Flemingdon,' he said, 'you spoke about ‘hesitation marks.’ '

'Yes?'

'The tentative initial cuts made by someone unfamiliar with using a knife?'

'That’s right. They’re best known as a feature of wrist-cutting suicides, but medical students make them all the time, too, until they’re used to working with scalpels.'

'Medical students,' repeated Dale.

'Yes.'

'Human medical students.'

'Ah, well, yes. Yes, but—'

'No ‘buts,’ Doctor. Now, let’s talk about the missing body parts. Dr. Flemingdon, wouldn’t you say that Cletus Calhoun was a celebrity?'

'Well, this is Los Angeles, Mr. Rice. I’m sure Mr. Calhoun is a big fish wherever he’s from—'

'Pigeon Forge, Tennessee.'

'Right, well, by Pigeon Forge standards, I’m sure he’s a big name, but out here? He was on PBS, for God’s sake.'

A few snickers from the spectators. Judge Pringle rapped her gavel to silence them.

'Actually,' said Dale, 'Dolly Parton is also from Pigeon Forge.'

'You make my point, counselor. Even in Tennessee, he wasn’t that big a name.'

'I’m not sure everyone would agree,' said Dale, turning to look at the jury.

'I’m sure many of the people on the jury considered Dr. Calhoun to be quite a celebrity.'

'Objection,' said Ziegler, spreading her hands. 'I fail to see the relevance.'

'I’m frankly baffled, too,' said Pringle. 'Mr. Rice?'

'A couple more moments, if you please, Your Honor.'

'Very well — but do get to the point.'

'My pleasure. Dr. Flemingdon, didn’t your lab handle the death last year of rock singer Billy Williger?'

Flemingdon stiffened. 'Yes.'

'And didn’t parts of Mr. Williger’s body go missing from your lab?'

'Yes.'

'And were you reprimanded for that?'

Teeth clenched. 'Yes.'

'So body parts in your charge have disappeared before?'

'I’ve already said yes.'

'And we have only your word for the fact that the parts you enumerated were taken by the perpetrator.'

'The crime-scene photos show the missing jaw and the missing eye.'

'Not exactly — none of the crime-scene photos show those parts, but the photos hardly cover the entire room.'

'You have my word that the parts were missing.'

'Yes — your word. After all, it wouldn’t do to have another case of overeager fans stealing body parts from your morgue, would it?'

'Billy Williger was a huge star, Mr. Rice. I’m not familiar with astronomers having obsessive groupies.'

Laughter from the audience; Pringle was suppressing a chuckle herself.

'The defense would be glad to introduce Dr. Calhoun’s fan mail into evidence,' said Dale. 'But so far, we have a murder mystery whose most mysterious elements rest on the testimony of someone who has lost body parts before.'

'Objection,' said Ziegler. 'Mr. Rice is arguing his case.'

'Sustained,' said Pringle. 'You’ve made your point, Mr. Rice. Move on.'

'You mentioned that body parts are sometimes removed by human murderers,' said Dale.

'Yes.'

'For what purpose?'

'Well, as I said, a souvenir of the crime.'

'Isn’t it true that parts are sometimes removed for cannibalism?'

'Yes.'

'Or as trophies from a sex slaying?'

'Yes.'

'Define ‘cannibalism’ for us, Doctor.'

'It’s — well, it’s the eating of human flesh.'

'That’s not quite right. It’s actually the eating of the flesh of one’s own kind, isn’t it? When members of one species of fish eat other members of that same species, we say they’re practicing cannibalism, don’t we?'