Sara told Gary, “You’ll often find personal items with the deceased. Make sure you catalog and photograph them so they can be returned before burial.”
Gary took the pouch and carefully laid it on the brown paper.
“Let’s move her onto the table.” Sara dragged over a footstool.
Gary found another one by the door.
Will leaned against the wall. They didn’t need his help transferring the 115-pound body onto the gurney. Gary lifted her by the shoulders. Sara lifted the legs. Will saw Shay’s hand drop down as she was placed onto the gurney. He looked at her bare feet. The toenails were curved like a cat’s claw. He craned his neck, locating a pair of high heels inside a plastic bag that had been tucked inside the coffin.
Sara said, “The waxy substance you’re seeing on the skin is adipocere. The anaerobic bacterial hydrolysis of fat develops during putrefaction, the fifth stage of death. It’s an urban legend that hair and nails continue to grow. The skin retracts, giving the nails a longer appearance. Embalming fluid can’t circulate into the follicles, so the hair loses its luster.”
Gary moved the casket out from under the cameras and rolled the gurney in its place. He asked Sara, “Why aren’t her shoes on her feet?”
“That’s not uncommon, especially with high heels. Sometimes, you’ll find underwear placed in a bag at the feet. If an autopsy has been performed, you might find a sealed bag containing organs.”
Gary looked taken aback.
“None of that is outside standard industry practices,” she told Gary. “Let’s get her undressed.”
Will kept his back against the wall as they worked. Gary unbuttoned Shay’s blouse and laid it on the brown paper. The bra hooked in the front. The plastic clasp was broken. He carefully peeled it away. Cotton had been shoved into the cup where one of Shay’s breasts was missing. The material had stuck to the open wound. The arm fell away from the body. More cotton was packed into the armpit.
Sara told Gary, “During embalming, cotton batting is used to pack the orifices and any open wounds. This keeps the fluid from leaking out.”
Sara tugged down the skirt. There was no underwear. The thighs parted. Will saw more cotton packed between her legs, almost like a diaper. He could not help but think of Leslie Truong, Tommi Humphrey, Alexandra McAllister, and all of the other women from the spreadsheet.
Sara gently turned Shay’s head. She rubbed her finger down the cervical vertebrae. Next, she looked at the armpits. She had to use the tweezers to strip away the cotton batting. From five feet away, Will could see nerves and veins sticking out of the woman’s armpit like a bunch of cables that had been ripped out of a computer.
Sara used the magnifying glass to study the wound. She looked up at Will. She nodded. The puncture wound at C5. The cleanly sliced nerves at the brachial plexus.
Shay Van Dorne was showing the same damage as Alexandra McAllister.
While Sara called out the findings for the recording, Will took his phone out of his pocket. He kept it low, out of the camera frame. He texted Amanda a thumbs up. She tapped back an okay. He was about to return the phone to his pocket when he thought of Faith. She was hooked into Will’s location services. He saw that she had made good time. Faith was about twenty minutes out from Gerald Caterino’s subdivision.
He considered sending her a text of encouragement, but a thumbs up felt wrong. Faith had already been forced to deal with Callie Zanger on her own. Will didn’t know how she would handle it if Gerald broke down again. The sound of the man’s sobs in the small closet had been agonizing. Will had been reminded of the new infants that would sometimes end up at the children’s home. They would cry for days until they figured out that no one was going to comfort them.
He ended up texting her a yam emoji. Faith would understand.
“Why?” Gary said.
Will looked up.
Sara was explaining, “We won’t find anything remarkable by opening her eyelids.”
Will put away his phone. He knew that she meant remarkable in the literal sense. Because of animal damage, the sockets would be empty under the plastic eye caps that kept the shape of the lid. There was nothing to remark upon.
Sara peeled away the wax that shaped Shay Van Dorne’s lips. The jaw stayed closed. Sara laid the wax on the brown paper. She pointed into the mouth, telling Gary, “See the four sets of wires attached to the top and bottom gingivae, or gums?”
Gary said, “They look like bread bag ties.”
“The embalmer used a needle injector to close the mouth. The device looks like a cross between a syringe and a pair of scissors, but think of it as operating like a small harpoon. The injector punches a pointed pin with a wire attached directly into the maxilla and mandible. You twist together the top and bottom wires to hold the mouth closed. I need the small wire cutters.”
Gary pressed the pliers into Sara’s hand.
She clipped open the wires. The mouth slacked open, falling down and to the side like the jaw was broken. Sara pressed her fingers along the bone. “The joint is dislocated.”
Will could tell from her voice that she was troubled by the finding. He picked up the coroner’s report on the cart. The form was standard. He knew that the box labeled DESCRIPTION OF INJURIES – SUMMARY was on the third page. His finger followed the single line of text.
Animal activity in sex organs, as detailed in drawing.
Will studied the anatomical drawing. The breasts and pelvis were circled. The eyes and mouth had Xs on them. Nothing was
