Perri O'Shaughnessy - Presumption Of Death

She had never felt so wounded. “My boon companion,” she said, choking up, and put her hand over her eyes.

“Not you too, Megan, we need you to stay strong,” Tory said. “I think you have a good idea. If we could get somebody right away. Because our children are in danger.”

“How about the lawyer who’s defending Danny’s friend?” Debbie said. “She’s a criminal lawyer. I liked her.”

“But-wouldn’t she have a conflict of interest? She already has a client-”

“Maybe not,” Megan said. “She could consult with us confidentially, and if she can’t help us, she’d at least have to keep her mouth shut about the consultation.”

Tory said, “I vote we call her.”

“Me too,” Debbie said. “She’s probably in court right now.”

“We’ll leave an urgent message,” Megan said. “Now, meantime, if any of us talks to the men, it’ll all blow up even worse. Capisce, Debbie?”

“I’ll just watch TV and go to bed. I can do it.”

“I’ll pretend I’m sick. I am sick. Sick of Darryl not growing up,” Tory said. “Do you want me to talk to Jolene?”

“Yeah. I’ll call the lawyer,” Megan said.

The medical examiner, Dr. Rittenhauer, took the stand after lunch on the second day of the prelim. She was young, with a pleasant face and a practical haircut, and a recent medical degree from Columbia. She gave Wish a curious look and then turned to her papers. A very well-prepared lady, Nina thought. Nina hadn’t found much wrong with the autopsy report either, but she did have a couple of subjects she couldn’t wait to explore.

After the preliminaries, Jaime asked, “Did you perform the autopsy on the decedent later identified as Daniel Cervantes?”

“I did.” Nina pulled out her copy of the autopsy report, and Dr. Rittenhauer kept a hand on her own copy.

“Please summarize the autopsy findings for the court.”

“Certainly. The most conspicuous feature presenting externally was massive flame burns over about eighty percent of the skin. The burns penetrated very deeply into underlying musculature and internal organs in places. As I noted, this made it impossible at first to determine ethnicity, weight, nourishment, or age. We were able to tell that the body was that of a male over six feet in height. Almost all the clothing was burned away. However, we had an immediate break. As we turned over the body I noted that the posterior side had not been burned.”

“Go on.”

“The body, when I first saw it, was on its left side with the arms drawn up in a pugilistic attitude, common in burn victims. However, Monterey County sheriffs reported that when found on the mountain, the decedent lay on his back in that position. There had been a fire that had passed over him, but it didn’t burn the body so severely that it could get to the back. Therefore, when we turned it over, we saw clothing and skin. I was then able to identify the decedent as a young male, probably Hispanic, no particular identifying marks on the skin. He wore the remains of an army camouflage jacket, a white T-shirt, and jeans. Also the remains of a pair of steel-shanked boots were still on the feet. Around the waist, under the jacket, we found the remains of a black leather belt with silver conchos attached.”

“What kind of condition was this belt in?”

“In the back, good condition. There were six conchos still attached in back. In the front, the belt was burned but was still in one piece. There were four conchos, and two more were missing. CVPD did not locate those in the vicinity.”

Salas, Nina, and Jaime all scribbled a note.

“What else could you determine from the exterior of the body?”

“The hair in front had burned away. However, in back there remained hair on the scalp that was long and black. No scars, tattoos, moles in back. In front, impossible to determine. You have the autopsy photos, correct?”

“Yes, thank you, they are in evidence by stipulation. What did you do after this initial evaluation?”

“We attempted to take fingerprints, without success. We also took photos for identification. I then began a detailed examination of the body. Charring from direct contact with flames was extensive in front. We are talking about fourth-degree burns, which are incinerating injuries extending deeper than the skin. In general, however, the skin was burned away in front, with muscle exposed and ruptured. Unburned skin had a seared and leathery consistency. There was a partial skeletonization of the face due to soft tissue being burned away. Portions of the outer table of the skull had fallen away in the right frontal region.”

“And the clothing had been destroyed in front?”

“The camouflage jacket was made of cotton, which transmits more thermal energy than polyester, and provided almost no protection. The undershorts were of polyester, which protected the genitalia to some extent.”

“Which is how you knew immediately it was a male.” Paul was grimacing.

“Yes. Our dental consultant came in at that point and prepared a dental chart and took X rays of the remaining teeth to attempt to identify the body. When he was finished, I began examining the skull area. I observed some heat fractures on the skull.”

“What else, if anything, did you observe with regard to the skull?” Jaime said.

“I observed a severe linear skull fracture in the parietal area, obviously an impact injury. The fracture was several inches long and the skull had been slightly deformed by the impact of the object. I took photographs and called Detective Crockett to see if any objects near the body had been collected that might have been impact objects. Detective Crockett brought over a Canon camera with the remains of a long strap, a surprisingly heavy camera. I tried fitting it in various ways and found that the base fit the injury. At first I was puzzled because even though it was heavy I wondered how hitting the skull with a camera in your hand could cause such a severe injury. Then I tried swinging the camera by a portion of the strap. This added considerable impact velocity.”

“And what, if anything, did you conclude regarding-”

“Before I could come to any conclusions I completed the autopsy, including weighing and examining the internal organs. I was interested in the possibility of carbon-monoxide poisoning, what is sometimes referred to as smoke-inhalation injury, but the skin in back didn’t exhibit the cherry-red coloration I would expect and the subsequent lab tests confirmed there was very little CO in the blood. I also checked very carefully for soot around the nostril and in the trachea. There were only traces.”

Dr. Rittenhauer sat back. Her face said, There you have it.

Jaime said, “Those were your major findings?”

“Yes. I can go into much more detail if you have particular questions.”

“I think we have enough of a factual basis. I would now like to ask you some of the conclusions you may have come to pursuant to the autopsy.”

“Very well.”

“Could you identify the body?”

“Not as a result of the autopsy. I was informed that a report had been made of a missing person and for the first two days was working on the assumption that the victim might be Mr. Whitefeather. Apparently the shoes were a match to Doc Martens Mr. Whitefeather was known to wear. However, the next day, I believe it was, the uncle of the victim came in. He was able to make the identification based on the remains of the camouflage jacket, the concho belt, the long hair, the general build and height, the color of skin in back, and other factors.”

“And that identification was?”

“That the victim’s name was Daniel Cervantes.”

“All right. Could you determine whether the victim was alive at the time of the fire?”