TRACE - CSI Reilly Steel #5 (Forensic novel Police Procedural Series) Read Free Page B

There was something about a body being cut open to the air, things that should not see the light being exposed. Everybody, no matter how clean living, had a musky rotten smell to them in death. Dr Thompson was used to it and went without a mask.
    ‘Well,’ the doctor said, ‘your victim was in good health overall. Note the lack of fatty tissue, the good condition of the muscle. She was in perfect health, really. I was very quickly able to rule out death by natural causes.’
    Reilly, Chris and Kennedy nodded. Thompson was good at her job, but she liked to unveil her results slowly. All medical examiners had this slight theatrical tendency, Reilly thought.
    ‘There had been no sexual activity prior to death, though your victim had fitted a diaphragm, indicating that some was perhaps expected.’
    Dr Thompson lifted the sheet up to obscure the victim’s body, leaving only her face visible. A face that was once quite striking, now leached of peachy skin tones, simply thin flesh stretched over a skull.
    ‘There is no sign of struggle. No bruising, no flesh under the fingernails, nothing to indicate the victim was aware of being killed. What is interesting though,’ she said, ‘is your victim bit down quite hard, on the left side of her tongue, before death. I may have attributed this to mere accident while eating, were it not for the powder, the same substance recently encountered by you Reilly.’
    Thompson now pulled the sheet all the way up and turned away to retrieve a sample of the powder.
    ‘As we already found from our previous situation, the powder is once again antimine,’ she confirmed and Reilly nodded, expecting as much. ‘Good to have had this previous encounter as it doesn’t usually show up in your average toxicology test. It is derived of a natural product and comes from the seeds of a fruit called Joker fruit. The fruit itself is not poisonous and indeed, is a delicacy in Asia. But the seeds are extremely poisonous when eaten in large quantities.’
    ‘This is indeed what killed your victim. I have run analysis on the food that was prepared, and it was present in huge quantities in one plate. The meal was duck confit with a salad of Asian greens. It would have been undetectable to the palate.’ Dr Thompson was finished. ‘There you have it,’ she said. ‘That’s all I was able to gather at the moment.’
    ‘Thanks, Dr Thompson,’ said Chris. ‘Brilliant as usual.’
    Reilly noticed that Dr Thompson blushed slightly at the compliment. She was warm-blooded, after all.
     
     
    ‘That antimine again stuff narrows things down at least,’ said Kennedy afterwards. ‘We have a list of importers from the last time, so we can start looking closely again at anyone who can get their hands on it.’
    ‘Still be hard work,’ Reilly said. ‘Considering you’re still running into brick walls with it from the last investigation. Plus, we can’t be sure that someone hasn’t smuggled it in either. I want to go over the crime scene again on iSpy, make sure we haven’t missed anything.’
    Kennedy held up his hands. ‘If you’re talking about a late night, count me out. I’ve got my anniversary dinner tonight. I can bring a note from the wife tomorrow,’ he joked. ‘I’m more afraid of her than I am of you.’
    Reilly smiled. ‘You’re free to go. I wouldn’t want Josie coming after me, lovely as she is. Chris and I will take care of it. Unless you have other plans?’
    ‘Nothing but the gym and a spot of reading,’ he said. ‘In other words, I’m free as a bird.’
     
     
    Back at the GFU, they ordered some takeaway Thai food and set up in the Visual Equipment Suite. Technically, you weren’t supposed to eat in here. Technically, you weren’t supposed to do quite a lot of things.
    It was one of Reilly’s gripes about the job that her fitness suffered because she so often had to work late and ended up eating takeaways. But it had been a while since she and Chris had done it.
    Eyeing the