Larry shook his head as he examined the femur in front of him. "First, the knife wasn't within immediate reach. Second, there may have been physical limitations. Third, a lack of experience handling corpses. In my opinion, the cause of death was severe blood loss due to a neck wound."
"But didn't we also find superficial cuts on the limb bones?" Jack, who was observing the progress, asked.
"Exactly—you said they were superficial, so they weren't fatal. We need to wait for Max's bone cut analysis before drawing conclusions," Larry replied, not needing to explain much thanks to his boss's sharp mind.
As they discussed, they approached the body of Victim B. The hair had already been removed from the face, revealing her features. Diego, the new forensic photographer, took pictures from every possible angle without missing a detail.
The head had been hanging just below the manhole cover, close to the surface. It was much more decomposed than the rest of the body. Diego stepped back with a look of disgust.
"Larry, why did this victim's head decompose faster than the torso, even though it wasn't submerged?"
"The ideal humidity for decomposition is around 70%. Water actually slows it down. The head was hanging near the surface, where the temperature is higher. That's why it decomposed faster."
"Whoa! I thought water sped things up."
Larry placed a magnifying glass over the neck wound. The cut was clean, precise. The muscle tissue and blood vessels had retracted inward, exposing the cervical vertebrae. Despite some distortion, it was clear that whoever did this had skill. A single cut had gone through vertebrae, muscle, and tissue. "Not even someone with forensic experience could achieve this level of precision easily… unless they were a butcher."
The tool used had been more effective than the one used on Victim A.
"The neck wound was scalded—apparently to stop the bleeding."
Jack stepped closer, inspected carefully, and nodded. "Definitely. And there are no signs of burns on other areas of the head. The pot must be pretty big. I hope we have one."
Diego, standing nearby, turned pale at those words, nearly dropping his camera. "Ah... cooked! Human meat? No, no, boiled head...!"
Noticing Larry and Jack's stares, Diego covered his mouth. He knew Larry hated interruptions during an autopsy.
Larry had already secured the head and began the craniotomy. The smell of burning filled the room. At that moment, the buzz of the electric saw was interrupted by the sound of the door opening. Jane entered wearing her isolation suit.
Jane came in looking a little pale and greeted them with a wave.
"Jane? Here so early?" Larry looked her up and down, and upon noticing her muddy shoes, raised an eyebrow.
"You didn't go home last night, did you?"
Jane paused. "How did you know?"
"The shoes. We were in the ditch yesterday. Everyone cleaned up... except you. It's clear you've been working all night."
"Impressive…"
"Don't bother Dr. Luk while he's working!" Jack warned, unusually stern.
Jane understood and stood aside. Larry had finished opening the skull. The brain was intact. He removed it and sutured the scalp carefully.
The buzz of the saw ceased. Only the occasional sounds of instruments and the unmistakable metallic scent filled the air.
"What's that sound?" Jane asked, never having witnessed an autopsy before.
"They're separating the pubic symphysis with a pressure cooker. We need to extract muscle tissue for comparative analysis."
Jane covered her nose and mouth, her face tense. It took her a moment to steady her breathing.
Larry looked up briefly. "It's best if you wait in the office. The smell here isn't for everyone."
But Jane didn't move. She replied with her presence, not with words.
Larry focused again. The abdominal cavity hadn't been fully opened, but the torso showed the absence of several organs: stomach, intestines, spleen. However, the uterus was intact, and he found an IUD in place.
He took a sample, sutured the torso, and bent down to examine the perineal area with a magnifying glass. Jane, watching closely, felt a bit uncomfortable but was interrupted by a sudden, "Hm?"
"What is it?" Jane asked.
"The victim had an IUD, but there are recent tears in the hymenal membrane." Larry then examined further. "This was repaired at least four or five times..."
"Diego, take a photo."
Diego captured the image. Larry used forceps to reconstruct the tissue. Small white nodules appeared on the sides.
"What are those?"
"Scars. They tried to treat them, but it wasn't effective. This gives us a clue about her occupation." After saying that, Larry checked his watch.
"Max, are the bone cuts ready?"
"Yes, here you go."
Larry took them and examined them under a high-powered microscope. Jane asked:
"What are you looking for?"
Max responded, "For hemoglobin in the bone canaliculi. If the fracture occurred while the person was alive, there will be signs of bleeding. If it happened post-mortem, there'll be no trace of hemoglobin."
Larry adjusted the lens and spotted small red patches on the bone.
"Look at this—cut from the cervical vertebrae of Victim A. There's red blood cell presence. The injury was ante-mortem. She died from decapitation."
Jane held her breath. "How much hatred does it take to kill someone like that?"
"You'd be surprised what people can do for a hundred bucks."