Page 48 of Girl Between
Each equaled the scientific equivalent of the sum of a human life.
The Massachusetts physician was widely ridiculed for wanting to increase his sample size in order to validate his results, earning him the nickname as the first doctor of death.
“What am I missing?” George asked, looking between the two women.
“Just an old folklore,” Dr. Cruz said. “The blood loss fits with the assessment at the scene that someone tried to embalm your victim. Which was a great catch by the way.”
“That was all Dr. Gray,” George admitted.
Dr. Cruz’s gaze moved to Dana again, her dark eyes inquisitive. “How did you come to that conclusion?”
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Dana shifted uncomfortably,knowing her response would reveal how much time she spent around the dead, but omitting it seemed more of a betrayal. “I smelled the formaldehyde.”
Dr. Cruz’s perfectly shaped eyebrows lifted. “Truly?”
Dana nodded.
“Impressive,” the coroner said to herself while adding a note to her clipboard.
“Alright,” George drawled. “What we know so far is that our vic had her organs removed, died, then had her blood removed via transnasal craniotomy. Based on the rarity of that process combined with the crudeness of the organ removal, we might be looking for more than one suspect.”
“I concur,” Dr. Cruz said.
“What about the missing organs?” Dana asked, unable to stop herself.
George turned to face her. “What about them?”
“The first cemetery body was missing organs as well, right?”
“Yes,” Dr. Cruz said. “The liver and both kidneys.”
“Harvesting those organs would fetch a lot of money on the black market,” Dana said.
Dr. Cruz and George exchanged a strange look.
“What?” asked Dana.
“She’s not wrong,” Dr. Cruz admitted. “Could this be another Harvest Girls situation?”
George shook his head. “That was different and a long time ago.”
“That’s the thing about history,” Dr. Cruz said. “It repeats itself, whether we want it to or not.”
“Not if I can help it,” George muttered.
Unsure what they were referring to, Dana asked, “Have there been other bodies missing organs?”
“No,” George said quickly.
But Dr. Cruz disagreed. “What about the body you brought in from the bayou?”
“She was missing more than organs,” George replied. When he saw Dana’s puzzled look he elaborated. “We pulled a Jane Doe from the bayou at the Barataria Preserve. Gators and the bayou can do a number on a body …” he paused. “It’s the worst kind of crime scene. Makes our job impossible.” He directed his next comment to Dr. Cruz. “That body might’ve been missing organs, but the MO doesn’t fit. No white dress. No mask. No TNC.”
“Who knows what she was wearing before she ended up in the bayou. And I didn’t know to look for TNC yet,” Dr. Cruz pressed.
“Yeah, she also came in missing the lower half of her torso,” George clarified.
