morgue
Pettigrew was standing at the service elevator door when the MPs arrived with the tub full of death and two MedTechs.
Raitt had stayed at the base of the laundry chute, performing the fruitless chore of interviewing any possible witnesses to anything. He knew he'd end up several floors above MedLab, looking for the particular chute hatch through which the victim had been pushed.
Sands and Talman had the kits in tow. The tub was huge. The elevator seemed oppressively small and cramped with Colavito, the two MPs pushing the tub and Sergeant Pettigrew.
They could almost feel the stench of blood and death permeating their clothing.
It was a good thing the morgue was on five. Short trip.
The relatively fresh air was welcomed by all when the doors opened.
Colavito led the way. The only others who even knew where the morgue was were inside the tub with the victim.
She opened the doors relatively quietly for her, a gesture of respect to the cargo and the MedTechs she very much needed to be co-operative in the near future.
Colavito spoke to the volunteer at the desk. "Hey, Rowley, we have a deceased woman. Just show us where to go & then I suggest you come back to your desk and stay here."
Rowley had heard already. "I'm good Detective, I know how bad it is. Dr. Shamata has been called and she's on her way. You'll be down in the big room." He watched as Colavito filled in the papers and signed the admissions books. "I gather this is not pretty."
Colavito signed her name.
"No, Rowley, it isn't. You put plastic down?" Her eyes looked down at his as he sat composed and stoic.
"Yeah, four sheets, they meet under the ... under the reassembly table." He let out a deep breath of resignation.
Colavito smiled as best she could. "Thank you, James."
He gave her his stock-in-trade smile of polite understanding. "You're welcome." He rose, looked at the tub and kits, and walked around, fishing for his keys. "This way, gentlemen."
They followed him down the long hall, paused as he unlocked the door and slid it wide open. "It's all yours, Detective."
Colavito noticed he never set one foot across the line dividing the big autopsy room from the clean halls of the entrance area. "Thanks, James."
She walked across and lifted the sheet covering the tub contents. "Time to come out now."
Rails looked at her. "We think we should wait until the M.E. gets here, hand her the .. um .. sections out in the reverse order."
Colavito thought for a moment. "Ok, fine." She looked at the pretty blonde woman covered in blood. "How'd you come to be in the tub?"
Aggie and Rails had worked that out on the way.
Aggie made the mistake of smiling a little. "Me, I was stuffing laundry in the chute, leaned in, I guess she hit me on the way down and I fell and Rails jumped in after me."
Colavito looked at her again. "You have broad shoulders. You'd have to point your arms to get through the chute hatch. Do I need to ask you the question again?"
Aggie looked slightly shamefaced. "Ok, fine. We were trying to retrace the steps of a patient who got out. The rest is covered by the Fifth Amendment."
"This patient got a name?"
"Leon Freedman."
"Is he a psych case?" Colavito was already sifting likely candidates in her head to account for the nature of the crime.
Rails grabbed that one. "He is, yes, but not this kind of psych case." She gestured at the mess in the bottom of the tub.
"You sprout an MD in Psychiatry on the way up in the elevator, Railsback?" Colavito looked at her quizzically.
Rails knew she'd made a mistake. "No. I just know Leon."
"Yeah, and I knew Tonya Palazzo, too." Colavito looked for signs of a reaction. "Doesn't ring a bell?"
Almost in unison, the MedTechs shook their heads.
"Nice lady, Tonya. Lived in the same nabe as me in Queens for a while, married to Alberto then." She had turned away to clear her nose of the smell. "Turns out Alberto was hubby number five. Hubby number six was the one that got her the needle in Virginia. Loved flowers, won prizes from the horticultural society."
She recovered enough to turn back around. "Tonya was the exception. If I have a woman who looks like a sushi banquet and a psych patient on the loose, if nothing else, I have a working hypothesis, right? Let me have these small footholds in reality before we start waltzing blithely off into Fantasy World, okay? Vlad the Impaler didn't make it to L5."
Aggie and Rails were saved from any further gaffes by the arrival of Dr. Shamata, a stunning woman in her early thirties. She walked in and said a curt "Good day to you all." and began to gown up.
When she was done, she walked over to the table. "Hi, Aggie, hi Rails. Who do we have here today?"
"Oh, god!" Aggie, her face a mask of horror, her hand moving to her mouth, Rails tugging on her shoulder in complete bewilderment.
No one had been expecting that, despite the raw emotion of the day.
It puzzled Colavito a lot, as Agnes Brooks was staring in horror at the beautiful face of Dr. Leela Shamata.
Raitt had stayed at the base of the laundry chute, performing the fruitless chore of interviewing any possible witnesses to anything. He knew he'd end up several floors above MedLab, looking for the particular chute hatch through which the victim had been pushed.
Sands and Talman had the kits in tow. The tub was huge. The elevator seemed oppressively small and cramped with Colavito, the two MPs pushing the tub and Sergeant Pettigrew.
They could almost feel the stench of blood and death permeating their clothing.
It was a good thing the morgue was on five. Short trip.
The relatively fresh air was welcomed by all when the doors opened.
Colavito led the way. The only others who even knew where the morgue was were inside the tub with the victim.
She opened the doors relatively quietly for her, a gesture of respect to the cargo and the MedTechs she very much needed to be co-operative in the near future.
Colavito spoke to the volunteer at the desk. "Hey, Rowley, we have a deceased woman. Just show us where to go & then I suggest you come back to your desk and stay here."
Rowley had heard already. "I'm good Detective, I know how bad it is. Dr. Shamata has been called and she's on her way. You'll be down in the big room." He watched as Colavito filled in the papers and signed the admissions books. "I gather this is not pretty."
Colavito signed her name.
"No, Rowley, it isn't. You put plastic down?" Her eyes looked down at his as he sat composed and stoic.
"Yeah, four sheets, they meet under the ... under the reassembly table." He let out a deep breath of resignation.
Colavito smiled as best she could. "Thank you, James."
He gave her his stock-in-trade smile of polite understanding. "You're welcome." He rose, looked at the tub and kits, and walked around, fishing for his keys. "This way, gentlemen."
They followed him down the long hall, paused as he unlocked the door and slid it wide open. "It's all yours, Detective."
Colavito noticed he never set one foot across the line dividing the big autopsy room from the clean halls of the entrance area. "Thanks, James."
She walked across and lifted the sheet covering the tub contents. "Time to come out now."
Rails looked at her. "We think we should wait until the M.E. gets here, hand her the .. um .. sections out in the reverse order."
Colavito thought for a moment. "Ok, fine." She looked at the pretty blonde woman covered in blood. "How'd you come to be in the tub?"
Aggie and Rails had worked that out on the way.
Aggie made the mistake of smiling a little. "Me, I was stuffing laundry in the chute, leaned in, I guess she hit me on the way down and I fell and Rails jumped in after me."
Colavito looked at her again. "You have broad shoulders. You'd have to point your arms to get through the chute hatch. Do I need to ask you the question again?"
Aggie looked slightly shamefaced. "Ok, fine. We were trying to retrace the steps of a patient who got out. The rest is covered by the Fifth Amendment."
"This patient got a name?"
"Leon Freedman."
"Is he a psych case?" Colavito was already sifting likely candidates in her head to account for the nature of the crime.
Rails grabbed that one. "He is, yes, but not this kind of psych case." She gestured at the mess in the bottom of the tub.
"You sprout an MD in Psychiatry on the way up in the elevator, Railsback?" Colavito looked at her quizzically.
Rails knew she'd made a mistake. "No. I just know Leon."
"Yeah, and I knew Tonya Palazzo, too." Colavito looked for signs of a reaction. "Doesn't ring a bell?"
Almost in unison, the MedTechs shook their heads.
"Nice lady, Tonya. Lived in the same nabe as me in Queens for a while, married to Alberto then." She had turned away to clear her nose of the smell. "Turns out Alberto was hubby number five. Hubby number six was the one that got her the needle in Virginia. Loved flowers, won prizes from the horticultural society."
She recovered enough to turn back around. "Tonya was the exception. If I have a woman who looks like a sushi banquet and a psych patient on the loose, if nothing else, I have a working hypothesis, right? Let me have these small footholds in reality before we start waltzing blithely off into Fantasy World, okay? Vlad the Impaler didn't make it to L5."
Aggie and Rails were saved from any further gaffes by the arrival of Dr. Shamata, a stunning woman in her early thirties. She walked in and said a curt "Good day to you all." and began to gown up.
When she was done, she walked over to the table. "Hi, Aggie, hi Rails. Who do we have here today?"
"Oh, god!" Aggie, her face a mask of horror, her hand moving to her mouth, Rails tugging on her shoulder in complete bewilderment.
No one had been expecting that, despite the raw emotion of the day.
It puzzled Colavito a lot, as Agnes Brooks was staring in horror at the beautiful face of Dr. Leela Shamata.
