Page 84 of To Die For

He slipped the pages from his jacket pocket and handed them across.

Coburn read through them carefully before handing them back to him. He noted that her hands were now trembling. “Those arenotmy reports. And that isnotmy signature.”

“Then who wrote them and why?”

“I don’t know,” she said in a near whisper.

“Maybe you should start from the beginning?” suggested Devine. “What struck you as weird?”

The woman looked close to losing all emotional control. He reached over and gripped Coburn’s wrist. She glanced up at him.

“I’m not going to let anything happen to you, Dr. Coburn. Take a few deep belly breaths, in through the nose, out through the mouth, compose yourself, and let me hear your story.” He let go of her wrist and sat back while she breathed exactly as he had told her to.

Calmed, she began, “There are nationally prescribed procedures for MEs to conduct investigations of, and diagnose and certify deaths due to, opioid overdoses.”

“Like what?”

“Examining the decedent’s medical history, and checking the scene where the death occurred. Also analyzing their living space to look for evidence of substance abuse. Everything from crushed tablets to altered transdermal patches, pills not in prescription bottles, or overlapping prescriptions, cooker spoons, needles, tourniquets, and other drug paraphernalia, things like that.”

“Did you do that?”

“I was given no chance to do that. That’s what was weird. The Ricketts police did not hold the scene of death open for me. I wasn’t even informed of its location. And I was given no opportunity to review the Odoms’ medical history. And I was told their residence was unknown at the time.”

“They lived in Kittitas County in a mobile home. The address was on the title to their car and I’m sure it was on their driver’s licenses, so the police knew exactly where they lived.”

“I was not told or given any of that. Iwastold that all indications were of an accidental drug overdose. And that Narcan was administered at the scene by the Odoms’ daughter, but was unsuccessful.”

“Who told you that?”

“The officers who found them.”

“Their names?”

“I’d have to check my notes.”

“Which are where?”

She looked hopelessly at him. “Back in Ricketts.”

“Go on with your story,” prompted Devine.

“Protocols also call for the collection of blood, urine, and vitreous humor as toxicology specimens. As well as stomach contents and bile of course.”

“Vitreous humor?”

“Gelatinous mass in the eye between the retina and the lens. Andwith a suspected drug death, blood from the ilio-femoral vein is routinely considered best. It’s due to the postmortem redistribution of drugs in the blood. I know this is more detail than you want, and I don’t want to get too far out into the forensic weeds, but I need you to understand the situation.”

“So you did all that?”

“Yes. The stomach contents showed they had just eaten lunch.”

“They had at a restaurant in town. You said you ordered a tox screen?”

“Yes, but you do a tox screen for a case of suspected drug overdoseonlyif certain elements are present.”

“Such as?”

“Known history of substance abuse or misuse, or the same being revealed at the crime scene. Having had no access to that info, I couldn’t rely on that, but just on anecdotal evidence from the first responders. Next, if the autopsy findings suggest illicit drug use, you would also order up a tox screen. There were no needle marks on the bodies. That’s not conclusive because many illegal drugs are taken orally via the mouth or nose. But there was also no hepatic cirrhosis, or foreign body cells in the lungs. And no drug-induced froth in the air passages. Those elements almost always present in an overdose case.”

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