Silver Lining - A Carpelli Adventure: Sequel To The Bestselling Thriller Fatal Mistake Read Free Page B

Theater-Exam Room One.
    Upon opening the door, I was overwhelmed by the smell of antiseptic and death. A quick look around revealed there was no one here and the room was very similar to the morgue I’d visited back home a few dozen times. I stepped in and looked the place over. Aside from being exceptionally clean and white, there were three large metal exam tables lined up down the center of the room. The exam tables were built like shallow pans so they could catch the bodily fluids from the cadavers being examined. They were on wheels, so they could be moved about, as needed. It lead me to think of an assembly line. There were several different saws hung on the far wall including a couple of wicked looking power saws that would make many a carpenter envious. Hanging from the ceiling were three large lights like you’d see in a Surgical Theater, so they could get plenty of light upon the subject body.
    To the left, at one end of the room was a desk piled high with papers. Along the side walls were several cabinets and counters that ran most of their length, leaving just enough space for the doors on each side of the room. There were two large plastic carts about four feet square and four feet tall on wheels, marked, ‘Clothes’ and ‘BP’ for body parts, I assumed.
    The far wall was a solid bank of two dozen cold chambers or body vaults, laid out neatly in rows of six, four high. All but a couple had paper tags in the built-in label holder on the door. Business was brisk. It appeared the place was so popular; people were just dying to get in. Yeah, I know morgue humor.
    “Are you from the Sheriff’s Department?” I heard a woman call out from behind me. I spun around and saw a woman in her forties, tall about five ten, dressed in surgical scrubs that did little to hide her shape. She was dragging a gurney with a body on it, into the room and I quickly stepped over and held the door open, so she could get the gurney through more easily. I also got a good look at the woman and decided she was quite good looking. She had a slight wisp of hair untucked by her left ear that was auburn in color and I found that quite interesting.
    “A real gentleman,” she sarcastically cracked then rapidly added. “Look, like I told the guy on the phone, the faxed form is all there is right now. I haven’t had time to do a more detailed exam. I’ve been busy.” She was talking like she was on a double dose of speed or maybe a couple of dozen cups of Espresso coffee,
    “There was a triple murder discovered over by Island Airport, I was called out on. They’ve been in the woods for some time so not only do I have to try to determine cause of death, but I have to deal with the crew out to the Body Farm, you know the federally funded, University of Tennessee run research center, studying human decomposition out north of town.”
    “Anyway they will be quite excited to have the opportunity to compare these bodies to those they’ve farm produced. It’ll turn into a real pissing match, which will end up dragging the whole process out another six weeks, while they fight over who gets to do what. It’s not like they haven’t enough to do with all the federal cases they get each month but hey, I guess there’s no rest for the weary.” She just kept talking.
    “I bet you want to have the medical jargon translated,” she stated as she shoved the gurney up next to an exam table, “into lay man’s terms?” I knew she’d asked a question but I was still digesting the barrage of words she’d just spit out, so my response was a little vague.
    “Umhh…”
    “Hey Simpleton, you still with me?” She stated sarcastically, as she grabbed the feet of the cadaver. “How about a little help, huh?” She asked and for a moment I just looked at her. “He won’t bite you, I promise,” she smiled seductively at me and I knew I just had help. I grabbed the shoulders and heaved the body up on to the table.
    “I’m sorry; it’s been a