"Wow, you’re early," Julian commented sarcastically when Tara arrived at her desk. He frowned a little when he noticed a rare sparkle in her eyes and a jovial smile etched across the brunette’s lips.
"What’s going on with you?" He asked with a noticeable smirk. Waving his hand about him, gesturing toward his partner, "What are you doing with your face?"
Tara shot him a frown of her own. She was amazed by his ability to read her like a book. However, since now wasn’t the appropriate time or place to disclose about her new found relationship with Willow to him, she decided to feign ignorance.
"Nothing. Why?"
"You have, like, a glow," Julian answered incredulously with an amused smile as he leaned closer, perching his arms on his desk. "Come on, spit it out," he urged, his interest was reaching a peak point.
Tara cocked her head and stared wide-eyed at him from across their conjoined desk.
"What are you talking about? I do not have a glow," she snapped back irritably, unconsciously slipping back into the aloof mode that she was often in when around him.
"Fine, be that way. I’ll get it out of you soon enough," Julian replied smugly.
"Right. And how are you gonna do that?" Tara questioned; her tone chock-full of skepticism as she continued that rather light-hearted banter.
Julian opened his mouth to respond but was interrupted by Lt. Gorden as she sauntered up to their desk, her eyebrows pinched together.
"I need the two of you to go down to UC Merced. Dispatch just received a call on a possible homicide. Go have a look," she ordered, glancing at Julian then Tara. She was about to turn and walk away but did a double-take instead.
"What’s up with you, Maclay?" she asked, arching an intimidating eyebrow.
Tara sat up straighter in her seat at hearing the address. "What? Nothing’s up, Lieutenant."
"Really? You have like a glow," Lt. Gorden replied while making circular motions with her spread-out hand.
Julian laughed out as soon as the words left their boss’s mouth. "See, I told you so."
"Shut up," Tara barked at Julian who was losing control of his laughter. She dropped her head in embarrassment, covering her eyes with her hand.
888
After a somewhat long drive from downtown all the way to South Lake Merced, they reached their destination which was the main parking garage of the university, where the body was found. Julian pulled the issued black BMW coupe just outside the entrance to the multi-story car park that had been sealed off with crime tape. At the same time, a familiar silver hybrid came to a halt in front of them, catching both Julian and Tara’s attention.
Tara locked eyes with Willow instantly once they had gotten out of their respective vehicles, exchanging bashful smiles. She was exceedingly pleased to see her again, despite having only just left the redhead’s apartment a few hours earlier.
Commotion was all around them with masses of college students, faculty, and bystanders surrounding the structure, murmuring amongst themselves. "Dr. Rosenberg," Julian greeted with a sincere smile.
He was still harboring feelings for the redheaded medical examiner and he knew it was going to be quite a while before he could actually move on. The fact that they had mutually agreed on building a friendship during their failed dinner date a couple of days ago did nothing to mend his broken heart.
"Hey, Julian," Willow replied, smiling back in the same way. "And like I’ve said before, you can call me Willow."
Julian nodded in accord, pursing his lips into a straight line afterwards.
"What are you doing here anyway?" Tara asked, clenching and unclenching her fists to suppress the urge to pull the other woman into a passionate lip-lock. "You shouldn’t be working. You’ve only just recovered."
"I don’t wanna stay at home alone. Besides, I really wanted to see …" Willow managed to catch herself before the beans were spilled. "The body." She added quickly, cringing at the lame and perhaps inappropriate excuse she had just given.
Tara couldn’t help but smirk at the panicked improvisation. When she turned her head to her other side, the smirk on her face faltered instantly as Julian was staring questioningly at her. She cleared her throat nervously, feeling browbeaten under his intent gaze.
After holding his stare for a few seconds, she diverted her eyes away from him and headed into the crime scene with Willow following close beside her.
Julian stood in place and stared after them as they moved away from him, trying to put the pieces of the puzzle together in his head. He frowned at the ridiculous conclusion his mind had derived. Shaking it off, he put his head back into the investigation and walked into the parking garage.
The body lay in the northwest corner of the first story landing. The victim’s clothing was ripped into shreds, her torn underwear resting near a discarded heel while a braided leather belt, loosely coiled, rested not too far from her torso. The scene in question was secured by several beat cops while ECU swiftly worked the area, snapping pictures of the body and items sprawled out around her.
Willow shared a dismayed look with Tara before getting down to work. She carefully examined the body while Tara leafed through the victims backpack.
"So, what do we know?" Julian asked once he had reached them, putting his hands on his hip.
Tara let out a heavy sigh, wiping the sweat on her forehead with the back of her wrist. "Well, victim’s name is Rebecca Lynn Hewett. She’s a sophomore student here at UC Merced. Judging by the books in her bag, she was more than likely a business major."
"The cause of death appears to be from strangulation and these bruises in the inner thighs," Willow stated as she pointed to the purplish-red spots adorning the victim’s body, "plus tears around the vagina suggest that she was raped." Pulling a new scalpel from its individualized packaging, Willow made a small incision on the victim’s upper right abdomen, passing a thermometer through the opening into the tissue of the liver. She waited a few moments before pulling the thermometer out of the corpse, her eyebrows narrowing as she calculated time of death based off of her findings. "Based off of her livor mortis and the level of rigor mortis in her face, I’d estimate that time of death would be about 6 to 7 hours ago … so around 3 in the morning."
Collecting her equipment, Willow wrapped her used gloves around the scalpel before placing it inside of a small, biohazard, needles container. Straightening out, her hands reflexively brushing out the wrinkles in her scrubs, Willow motioned for the coroner to prep the body for transport. Turning to the two detectives that were standing by, looking on in astonishment, "I’ll see if I can get a sperm sample during the post-mortem exam."
As the two detectives and medical examiner walked out of the parking garage, Willow shared several silent exchanges with Tara. She was finding it increasingly hard to resist the need for physical contact with the brunette detective.
"We’ll drop by the morgue later, Dr. Rosenberg. I mean, Willow," Julian chuckled embarrassingly after correcting himself.
"Okay, I’ll see you two later then," Willow replied, looking pointedly at Tara who nodded in assurance, before leaving the two detectives as she headed toward her car.
Julian turned on the ignition and reversed the car out onto the main road once Tara had settled into the passenger seat. As he drove, his mind ran rampant with questions and thoughts.
"About before … how did you know Dr. Rosenberg was sick?" He asked when they were roughly halfway through the drive back to the precinct, falling easily back to the habit of referring to said person with her proper title.
Tara turned her head to look at him with a blank expression, her throat constricting as she struggled to swallow the lump forming at the back of her suddenly dry tongue.
"I went to her apartment last night," she answered in a quiet voice.
"Oh," Julian breathed out as he let the words sink in. "So what, are you guys like best friends now?" he joked, glancing briefly at Tara. "Because, I’ll need to know if I have competition."
Tara could feel her heart twitch painfully as it pulsated. Finding herself unable to look at Julian anymore, she turned away and stared out the window instead. "No, not best friends." Closing her eyes, Tara inhaled a deep breath, letting it out slowly before taking the plunge. "Actually, we’re kind of dating."
The words struck him like lightening. Julian put the brakes on the car instantaneously, bringing it to a screeching halt.
888
Placing a recorder on an empty steal examination table, Willow pressed down firmly on the ‘record’ button. As the whooshing sound of the blank cassette spinning inside the recorder emanated in the air, Willow gracefully walked toward the slab containing her most recent victim. Speaking loudly, so that her voice resonated clearly, Willow began her examination.
"This is Dr. Willow Rosenberg performing the autopsy of Rebecca Lynn Hewett," Willow spoke out to the empty room as she snapped on a clean pair of latex gloves. Grimacing slightly at the sight before her, Willow swiveled her body to reach for another item sitting on the steel tray next to her.
Picking up a small box, the medical examiner opened the lid before removing a swab stick and a sterile sample container. "There are several long scrapes, approximately three inches in length, along the victim’s inner thighs as well as six imprints of circular bruising, three on each thigh." Carefully, Willow swabbed the outer folds of the victim’s vagina before placing the sample into the container. Placing the sample on the tray next to her, Willow removed another swab stick, this time collecting DNA from inside the vagina. Duplicating her previous action, she placed the stick inside of a clear sample container. "Vaginal swab collected. Traces of blood and semen found inside of the body. Tearing around the labia indicates forced entrance."
Reaching for a tweezer and the magnifying glass resting on the tray, Willow closely inspected the scrapes, her mouth forming into a tight line. Carefully, the medical examiner used the tweezer to pull a loose pubic hair stuck to the victim’s labia minora. "One black pubic hair located on the victim’s body." Snapping open a self-sealing envelope with her free hand, Willow dropped the found hair into the bag.
Reaching back into the box for the last remaining item, Willow removed a nail pick. Lifting the hand closest to her, the medical examiner placed the sharp tip under the victim’s nail and scraped out the debris before smearing the findings onto a clear slide. Rounding the table, she mimicked the same action, all the while calling out her findings.
After providing the medical findings for suspected rape, she placed the nail pick back onto the tray before circling the corpse, positioning herself by the woman’s head. Placing her hands on the corpse’s throat, Willow tilted the woman’s head so that she could get a better look at the injuries. "There is a linear mark, situated horizontally on the upper neck."
Rotating the victim’s neck slightly, her green eyes squinting as she thoroughly examined the bruising, "it extends obliquely upward and backward." Repositioning the victim’s head back onto the slab, Willow reached over toward the surgical tray adorned with her medical equipment. Picking up the large magnifying glass, the Willow positioned the device over the abrasion, before resuming her examination. "Present within the linear mark is a pattern of a braided cord. An elliptical impression is present behind the left ear, bearing the same corded pattern."
Snapping off her gloves and tossing them into the nearest trash can, Willow walked back over toward the recorder. "All indications are consistent with a suspended strangulation," she proclaimed despondently as her right hand lifted to shut off the device.
_________________ Alyson, oh, Alyson why don´t you join my band? So you could play the flute like this one time in band camp. I Am Forever / A Special Christmas of Sorts / Maybe It's Just Me / Honeysuckle Rose / Blackouts and Breakthroughs / When Love Arrives
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