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“I did.”
“It looks like you opened her up again.”
“I did,” Decker said again.
“Why?” he said sharply.
“Because I had to. Now, I’d prefer to talk about Ames’s post.”
Southern started to say something but then seemed to catch himself. “Okay. Not much to tell. Dead about fourteen hours when you found her. Single contact GSW to the right temple. Dum-dum round.” He held up a baggie with the round inside. “All beaten to hell. No striations, lands, or grooves visible. Did what it’s designed to do. Won’t get a ballistic match off it.”
“Fourteen hours,” said Kelly. “So around ten o’clock at night?”
Southern glanced at his notes. “About, yes.”
“Stomach contents?”
“Some dinner, half digested. That’s it. Tox screens have been sent out. I found no obvious signs of drug use. No sign of a sexual assault or recent sexual intercourse.”
Kelly nodded but said nothing. He was watching Decker.
Decker said, “Did you confirm that nobody cut her up, like they did Cramer? We didn’t look under her clothing. Just noted the gunshot wound and bagged her for the post.”
Jamison looked at her partner in surprise, because this was an unusual thing to say. But from the look on Decker’s face, the man had a reason.
Southern slowly put down his file. “Do I have to read between those lines or are you going to come to the point?”
“You noted that Cramer’s stomach and small intestines were sliced open.Sliced. I don’t need to tell you those places are pretty popular to hide contraband. When I asked you if there was anything unusual in the post you never mentioned either of those things. Now I’d like an explanation for that.”
“Theywerein my report.”
“But they were nothighlighted. They were buried, in fact. A single sentence for both organs. And you took no photos of them. You should have drawn our attention to them. That’s standard protocol.”
To this, Southern shrugged. “But you found out about them. So what’s the problem? No harm, no foul.”
“If you have to ask a question like that I’m not sure you’re in the job you need to be in.”
Southern scowled. “I do this out of a sense of public duty. It’s not like they pay much.”
Decker glanced at Kelly, who didn’t look inclined to say anything.
Southern said, “So you think she might have had something inside her?”
“Did you find any trace of that?” said Jamison.
“Because if you did it wasn’t in your report,” noted Decker.
“That’s because I found no trace of any foreign substance inside her stomach or intestines.”
“And you specifically looked?” asked Decker.
“I checked the organs.”
“Did you give the stomach and intestines a more focused look because of the way in which they had been sliced open?” Decker wanted to know.
“I was thorough. And that’s all I’m going to say on the matter. If you got a problem with that, you can take it up with Joe. Now, if we’re done here? I’ll have my verythoroughreport ready for you later today.”
And with that Southern walked out.
