''In the autopsy on Chris Lorentian, who died from similar inflicted wounds,' Jessica said, 'there was evidence of an antemortem epidural hematoma.'
Repasi added, 'We find a similar blow to the head before death in Martin; there is a sizable postmortem epidural hematoma present. Not an uncommon sight in severely burned bodies. See here, Jessica, the chocolate brown color, crumbly, with its telltale honeycombed appearance.'
'Yes, I see it. Large, fairly thick, overlying the frontal lobe, extending toward the occipital area.'
He lifted a tiny ruler to it and asked an assistant to snap a picture, and for the record he announced, ''Yes, large at one point five centimeters.'
'Good catch, Doctor.' Jessica turned off the recorder for a word with Dr. Repasi. 'Karl, I didn't know your specialty was burn victims.'
''One of many,'' he replied with a grin beneath his surgical mask. 'Shall we have a look-see at the larynx and trachea? Examine for carbon monoxide intoxication?'
'I prefer the term smoke inhalation, Doctor, but yes.'
'Semantics,' he parried and scalpeled at the same time, opening up the charred throat and dissecting the larynx and trachea, which, while fire-blackened and fractured on the outside, remained intact.
Too many people in the scientific community, as far as Jessica was concerned, used the terms of the profession too loosely, such as making carbon monoxide poisoning synonymous with smoke inhalation. A number of important factors other than the presence of carbon monoxide in the blood might cause death by smoke inhalation, such as oxygen deprivation due to consumption of oxygen by the fire itself, cyanide, free radicals, and the old standby to fall back on, nonspecific toxic substances. Jessica knew that in cases of self-immolation, carbon monoxide, as a general rule, was not elevated, since it was a flash fire. In cases involving explosives or gasoline fires, carbon monoxide levels in the blood were usually found to be in the so-called normal range. This held true even if the body were severely charred. Every fire, in fact, was unique, and each created its own unique mysteries. Of course, Repasi knew this as well as she.
She spoke again into the recorder, saying, 'Smoke inhalation reveals soot in the nostrils and mouth, but this alone is no indication the victim was alive when the fire began. Any further look into the breathing apparatus will not change that fact.'
But Repasi, ever the perfectionist, wanted to see the results of this fire to the windpipe as well. He announced what his scalpel now sliced through and why for the record. The soot had not coated the larynx, trachea, or bronchi, but both doctors took this in stride.
'Well, clean as a whistle except for the gristle,' quipped Repasi. 'What do you make of that, Dr. Coran?'
'Absence of soot in these areas in a flash fire is not uncommon, and it does not necessarily mean that Martin was dead prior to the blaze.'
'Quite right. I've seen numerous cases in which no soot appeared in these deeper areas, and yet analysis of blood carbon monoxide revealed lethal levels. Unfortunately, blisters or the absence thereof,' continued Repasi, 'do not indicate that the deceased was alive at the time the burns were incurred either, since they can be produced postmortem.'
Jessica knew that many people, medical people included, coroners and pathologists and some medical examiners included, mistakenly believed that if blisters or burns were surrounded by an erythematous-red-rim, then this clearly indicated that the victim was alive at the time the burns were incurred. This was blatantly false. Blisters with such red rims had now been produced on dead bodies at the FBI's famous, or infamous, 'Body Farm' in Tennessee. Both she and Repasi knew that heat applied to skin caused contraction of dermal capillaries, and this forced blood to the periphery of the blister, simulating an antemortem hyperemic inflammatory response. An autopsy on such a body proved the worst kind of pathology. Fire did awful things to flesh, creating leathery, wood- grainlike swirls, like some mad tattoo artists had been allowed to go to work on the dead man. Jessica recognized this configuration as the result of actual contact with flame, that they were again dealing with a 'flash' burn.
The extent of the burn was indicated as the percent of total surface area involved by the thermal injury, and chemical burns from the gas used caused even deeper, thicker blotches of mottled skin tissue. The percentage of total surface area burned was quickly determined using the rule of nines. Jessica, using the typical conventional thinking, considered the total body surface as 100 percent, meaning the head was 9 percent, as it was completely burned away to the bone, leaving no features. The arms or upper extremities represented 9 percent each. The front of the torso, also extremely badly damaged, counted for an additional 18 percent. The back, which was not burned badly at all, since it was protected by the victim's weight against the bed, also represented 18 percent. Each lower extremity totaled 18 percent apiece, while the neck amounted to 1 percent, equaling an even 100 percent. Martin's body was burned over 82 percent of its surface. His burns were the worst kind, third- and fourth-degree, or as Repasi's nomenclature had it, a combination of partial-and full-thickness burns. In third-degree burns there was coagulation necrosis of the epidermis and dermis with complete destruction to the dermal appendages. Most of Martin's lesions were brown and blackened, the result of charring and eschar formation. If he had survived the fire, the smoke inhalation, the shock, the dehydration, and the bursting blood vessels, this blackened skin would have healed as scar tissue, but at his advanced age, even if he had lived, he would likely be dead within hours or days. Other burns, fourth-degree burns, appeared as ashen white leather. There were no red blisters. The fire was too intense for the cherry-red burns usually associated with fire and skin, for Martin's burns were incinerating injuries extending deeper than the skin.
It was evident to Repasi, J. T., and Jessica that Martin's injuries were the result of a high-intensity flash burn, resulting from an explosion of gases. Jessica kept hearing the whoosh of the explosion in her ears. This explained why 90 percent of the burned areas appeared to have burned uniformly. The other 10 percent was due to the mattress and clothing burning against the body. When clothing ignited, a combination of flash and flash burn occurred. Hash burns usually resulted in only partial-thickness or second- and third-degree burns and singed hair, but this flash burn was directed by human means directly at the victim, making it third- and fourth-degree about the face, head, and upper torso, with nearly total loss of hair. What hair remained crumbled at the touch, like burned pitch pine.
The severity of the burn was increased by the careful method in which the killer loosely wrapped the clothing about the body. If wrapped tightly and snugly against the body, it would have decreased the degree of burn. But the killer knew that air surrounding the clothing would help fuel his human bonfire.
'Order up at minimum,' began Jessica, 'blood, vitreous, urine, and bile for toxicological analysis.'
'I'll do the blood myself,' suggested Repasi, quickly taking the blood from the root of the aorta with needle and syringe. Wise choice, Jessica thought, glad that Karl hadn't incised the vessels and attempted to catch the fluid as it came out.
Repasi next went about placing all body fluids he collected in glass tubes and bottles, no plastic. Once more, Jessica approved.
'Shall we open up the chest? Get liver, kidney, and muscle samples?'
'Ready when you are, Doctor.' Repasi was a sure man with a scalpel, and his incision helped the already fractured and split-apart chest open like a melon to reveal the viscera, remarkably but not surprisingly untouched by the fire. Due to its high water content, a body was one of the most difficult items on the planet to use as fuel for a fire-so much so that a body like Martin's, showing great and extreme damage and extensive charring on the outside, often showed perfect preservation of the internal organs, especially those below the rib cage. Household fires generated temperatures seldom exceeding 1,200 to 1,600 degrees Fahrenheit. It took 1,800 to 2,000 degrees Fahrenheit to cremate a body. Ordinary house fires lacked that kind of intensity and the time to incinerate a human body completely. As for a flash fire, involving gasoline and butane and a sudden flashover, the intensity was fleeting. A flash fire could not sustain such temperatures for a long enough period to fully ignite the body and all its water-laden internal organs.
'Liver, kidney, and muscle needn't be retained,' Repasi suggested. 'I can take samples only, and I'll see that they are kept for three or four years, if need be. I'll do the microscopic examination of the tissues, and I'll oversee the slides.'
'Very thorough, Doctor,' complimented Jessica. ''Please be sure to also make a positive ID of the victim as well.'
He saw the glint in her eye. 'Yes, of course.' He managed a wry smile.
''To make a positive and unmistakable identification, a chest X ray will be taken to be used for comparison with those of the deceased man. His dentures will also be kept in the effort to ID him beyond a reasonable
