The Penitent One (Boston Crime Thriller Book 3), Brian Shea [best non fiction books of all time .TXT] 📗

metal tray, prepped and ready for the autopsy to begin. Two technicians were standing by to assist, for which Kelly was grateful. When the medical examiner was overloaded with bodies, he’d had to do some of the moving and manipulation during the course of an autopsy. He preferred to remain distant, maintaining his role as an observer and taking copious notes.

A detective wasn't required to be on scene for an autopsy. They were recorded by audio and video, and extensive photographs were taken. Kelly always applied a layer of redundancy to his cases, and being physically present on a crime scene or autopsy was different from watching it on video.

Best tapped the voice recorder on the stainless-steel tray nearby, indicating to the group the recording was about to begin. As was ritual, Best made her opening remarks.

“Today is Monday, November twenty-fifth, two thousand nineteen. I, Doctor Ithaca Best, pathologist for the Massachusetts Office of the Medical Examiner, will be performing today’s autopsy of Benjamin Tomlin, age forty-six. Pathology Technicians Thomas Robichaud and Adrian Markus will be assisting. Detectives Michael Kelly and Kristen Barnes of Boston Police Department’s Homicide Division are in attendance and will be observing the procedure. Also in attendance is Special Agent Sterling Gray of the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Time on the clock reads 10:27 a.m.”

Processing a body followed a similar pattern to working a crime scene. Best began by taking photographs, starting with overalls and then working her way down from the head toward the feet on the right side of the body. She moved in a clockwork fashion around Tomlin’s gray body, working her way back up on the left.

Kelly and his team stood off to the side and watched, waiting patiently and hoping something in this initial part of the investigation would give them some evidentiary find that would propel things forward.

"We've got a single gunshot entry wound left temple, exit wound right side slightly above the temple region. Major damage to the brain. We'll know the extent once we remove the skull cap. No stippling except on the outside of the entry wound. We see debris embedded, appears to be bits of splintered wood, in and around the entrance wound."

The gunshot was fired through the confessional screen. The round that traveled into the priest's skull would have carried with it bits and fragments of the handcrafted wood lathing screen divider.

Ithaca continued her summation of the head wound. At her direction, the technicians rolled the body. The exit wound was measured, and the diameter of both entry and exit wounds was noted.

Kelly took notes. "Any idea on potential caliber?" he asked, knowing from past experience that a specific caliber couldn't be generated, but a rough guesstimate could be made based on an entry and exit wound.

“Given the approximate distance from where the weapon was fired, I'd say we're looking at a weapon no greater than .40 caliber. Looking at the exit wound, I would guess—and this is just a guess, mind you—we might be looking at a hollow point, something that would do some expanding on exit, based on the size and damage of the wound. When I remove the skull cap and take a closer look at the brain, I should be able to give you a better estimate. But I think we're safe to say that greater than a .22 and less than a .40 caliber."

That really doesn't narrow things much, Kelly thought. A wide variety of weapons and calibers were capable of producing such a wound.

Best continued her overalls. "I see the hands are bagged. I'll check for any type of defensive wounds or manipulation."

Kelly interrupted, "There's a wound to his left hand, Ithaca. It's going to be at the webbing between the thumb and index finger. Could you take special care in noting that and documenting any potential findings for an instrument that would have left such a mark?"

"Will do." She manipulated the bagged hand slightly, looking at it more carefully. "Some type of an X, a stamp of some sort," she said. "Possibly a Phillips head screwdriver."

"Not an X, a cross," Gray said.

"Huh," she said, not dismissing his comment but absorbing it. "Tell you what. When this is all done, I should have at least a potential workup of what could cause the wound. Who knows? Maybe I'll get lucky and be able to scrape something usable out of it. Anyway, that's going to take a bit of time and we're going to have to wait for the lab for analysis, but I'll put it on expedite."

"Thanks," Kelly said.

"Moving on."

No truer statement, Kelly thought. He couldn't help but think of the list Gray had provided, and the killer who was somewhere on the loose within the city of Boston.

10

"What do we think?" Kelly asked.

The group sat inside The Depot and stared at the board. The new information extending out from the suspect line detailed the description provided by the Behavioral Analysis Unit’s analysts, their bureau’s profilers. Added to it was the information gathered from Debbie Shoemaker’s potential eyewitness account of the killer.

It was fascinating to see the parallels, the connections the analysis unit in Quantico had made to the descriptors, albeit limited in scope, to those Shoemaker had provided. They married up on several points, one being the suspect’s physical size.

Height: 5’11” – 6’2”

Build: Muscular

Hand: Right

Age: Mid to late 40s

Glasses: (?)

Education: College +

But what haunted Kelly most was the top line: ex-military/police likely.

What Shoemaker had given them did little in the way of providing a detailed-enough description to use with a sketch artist. At this point they had almost nothing in the way of any specific details they could disseminate to the public.

TDH. Shoemaker described a tall, dark, and handsome man with rigid facial features and glasses, although she was less confident in her recollection of the eyewear. It was a more complete picture than when the investigation began, but still not enough to pursue any one particular person. Not by a longshot.

"Why the left hand?" Barnes asked.