Chapter 11 Section ten

John Strout worked from morning till lunch, still working on Tim Markham's autopsy.It can be clearly seen that the body of the deceased was first hit by the vehicle that caused the accident, and then injured by the collision with garbage.The skull was fractured in two places and there were multiple lacerations in the face.The forensic doctor thought that the face in life should have been very handsome, with a broad forehead, angular jaw and chin with a slit. Markham was hit from behind on his left femur, which was shattered along with the attached thigh bone.Apparently, the body flew backwards at the moment of impact, hitting the hood or windshield of the car, perhaps causing a fracture to the skull.Another fracture, which Strout speculates may have been caused by a collision when the body fell from the air to the ground.The right shoulder has been dislodged from its joint, and three ribs on the right side of the body have been broken.

Of the internal organs, only the digestive tract, heart, left lung lobe and left kidney were not damaged.The right lung lobe was smashed into pieces, while the spleen, liver and right kidney were severely damaged to varying degrees.Even Strout, a forensic doctor with forty years of medical experience, held this view—it was a miracle in itself that Markham made it to the emergency room alive.He believed that blood loss, or multiple internal injuries, or multiple impacts at one time, could have killed him instantly. But Strout is a rigorous and meticulous person.Even though Tim Markham wasn't an important person, the coroner wouldn't sign any formal identification papers until he had gone to great lengths to identify the primary cause of death.He has ordered standard electrolytic testing of blood and tissue samples.While waiting for these test results, he began to conduct a more rigorous review of the internal organ injuries.

An obvious hematoma on the back of the liver caught his attention. Subconsciously, he thought of his assistant, Joyce, and asked her to come to him from the other side of the morgue.When she came to him and turned around to see what he was busy with, he continued to check for a while as if no one else was there, and then lazily said: "This thing here, just it can make you feel better." He's dead." Then he looked up at Joyce's concerned face, dropped his work and said, "Is there something wrong, dear?" Joyce was new to the corpse, but not so much to the testing equipment they had recently purchased to upgrade the lab's technology.For the past few days, Strout had been directing Joyce to test the operation of the equipment, to calibrate the machines that do the complex work of scanning blood and tissue, since he put Markham's body in the autopsy this afternoon. From that moment on stage, he gave Joyce tissue samples from the corpse.

She looked tense, and for a moment Strout thought she must have broken a new expensive toy. "Whatever it is, it can't be worse than this," he told her. "Is there a problem?" She held up a piece of paper, which was the result of those tests she had been doing in the laboratory. "I don't think I've done the test well. What I'm trying to say is, the machine..." She said and then closed her mouth. Strout took the paper, squinted at the data she was pointing to him, pulled off his rubber gloves and said, "Is this the correct data?" "That's what I want to ask you too. Will this be the correct data? I checked it twice, and I think I must have discarded it wrong somewhere."

His gaze turned to her face, and then back to the data on the paper he was now studying carefully. "Is this the data from Tim Markham's blood test?" "Yes, sir." "Damn it." He muttered softly, so quietly that only he knew what he was talking about. Out of the morgue, Strout went into the corridor outside that connected his office to the back door of the Justice Building.The biting wind was blowing again in the afternoon, but he didn't pay attention to it at this time.After passing the inspection by the doorman and the metal detector, he decided to bypass the elevator, run straight to the right and go up the stairs, two steps at a time.Grisky was out of office.As was customary during the weekday lunch break, the Homicide Squad had only a few agents on duty, and the captain had not been seen all day.Strout hesitated before asking the agents for a favor and telling Abramovich to call him when he got back to his office, then thumped down the stairs again.

On the next floor, he was allowed to go to the exclusive office of the District Attorney, and God, he just walked all the way!He couldn't wait to talk about it with someone in charge.He was standing at Treya Gent's desk now, asking if Clarence Jackman was in the next room.What happened next is very interesting.Before she answered, her expression told him that today would not be his lucky day. "He's been in meetings all morning, John, and the afternoon has been filled with a few other meetings. That's what the District Attorneys do, you know, they don't deal with lawsuits, but they open all the time." Yes." Strout thought Ms. Ghent—or should it be Mrs. Griski? ——A dark-skinned, dignified beauty with some Asian blood, or Indian blood.At this time, she showed him a warm smile. "Is there anything I can do for you?"

He thought for a moment and said, "Do you know where Abu has gone?" She shook her head that she didn't know. "He left the house with one of his agents this morning. I haven't had any contact with him since. Why are you looking for him?" Although she knew what the next answer would be, she still asked up.Strout wanted to see her husband, who was the head of the homicide squad.There is no doubt that the "pretty interesting thing" he is referring to is by no means the latest insider information on the stock market. The lanky gentleman sighed in disappointment, asked her permission to sit on the waiting seat by the door, and walked away. "Give me a breather, I came up by the stairs and it was never frowned upon at my age."

“That must be something important,” Treya said, subtly hinting that she expected it. There was no need for such a reminder to Strout.He was almost itchy and impatient to pour it out. "Do you remember our discussion about the Parnassus Group at the Lowe's that day?" Of course she remembered, and Mr. Jackman was still ruminating on his thoughts. "Then you see. New York will soon It's going to be more fun." Strout said a few words before she could understand.No sooner had he finished than she interjected, "Potassium? What does that mean?" "What that means is that the hit-and-run car didn't kill him, and if the doctors left him alone, he could have died from his injuries in the end, but they didn't do that."

"Then maybe it wasn't an accident? Did someone infuse him with the wrong medicine in a hurry?" He shrugged noncommittally. "Anything is possible, I think. He's flooded with potassium, intentionally or not, but the problem is that a body in this condition can look so natural that there's hardly anything unusual about it, even for someone doing an autopsy. It is also not easy to detect with the naked eye. So I thought you might know where your husband was, and he would like to know about it." When Jackman got the news about Potassium, he told Treya to tell Abu to drive over and go straight to his office as soon as he got back downtown.He then called Marlene Ash and John Strout, who responded promptly and are here now.

It was already 6:45, and the wind was getting stronger in the afternoon, and now it had turned into a biting cold wind, and its howling could be clearly heard even in the almost airtight office of the District Attorney General. Bean-sized raindrops began to fall from the sky, crackling and hitting the glass as if they had exploded on it.From his office window, Jackman looked down at the silent and crowded traffic on Brest Street, and the sudden sound of rain made him take an instinctive step back. He knew that the humming sound behind him was the eager conversation of industry insiders.This discovery of potassium was already an extraordinary situation, but when Griski finally called Treia back and said where he had been all day and what had happened to the Markham family, there was a sense of urgency. The sense of crisis hit the entire judicial building like a tsunami.Almost at the same time when Abramovich told Treya about the Markham family, the streets and alleys were full of contributions about the tragedy, and calls from all walks of life were heard in Jackman's office. , the television station, the radio station, the mayor's office, the municipal supervisory board, the police chief.

As Jackman turned away from the window, Griski appeared in the doorway. "Abu, you came just in time, come in quickly." The captain patted Treya's arm lightly, and nodded to the others in the room as a greeting.Jackman sat down behind his desk facing them, and without any unnecessary oblique words, he said bluntly: "We received a case in which an important family died within twenty-four hours. That man has a health insurance contract with the city and it's expiring soon. I'm predicting whether the media frenzy will be short-term or long-term. God knows what will happen if Parnassus doesn't recover Does anyone disagree with me?" He knew no one would, and apparently expected the same to be the case with his next question, "How do we word these situations when we face the outside world?" Does anyone have any thoughts on things? When people start asking questions, I need to come up with something that makes them feel good." Grisky frowned, and the slight quiver of his facial scar showed that he was about to open his mouth to say something.Finally he cleared his throat and said, "Let's just say we're looking into this and we have nothing else to say." "I guess that's just your consistent position." "That's just a position, Clarence." What happened at Markham's house today left Grisky more or less dazed and shocked. He couldn't figure out why the District Attorney General called this meeting. What is the purpose, and what is it for. "That's true, too," he added. "That's the right thing to say, yes, there's nothing wrong with that. But I'm thinking we're going to have to guide and help people put it in perspective. That's where it all starts. I think the first thing we're going to say is, Tee M Markham was murdered." Griski's gaze scanned the faces of the others in the room, as if the remark was between him and Jackman. "Do we know he was murdered?" "We know what happened, Abu," Marlene interjected. "It's obvious." "I hate the word 'obvious,'" Griski responded sharply. "Wouldn't this be an accidental overdose? Was he physically exposed to potassium for some reason?" he rushed. "Is it possible that just someone in the hospital made a mistake?" Trout said. The medical examiner nodded in agreement. "It may be so." But Jackman didn't want to hear such an answer, and snorted angrily: "Then why did that wife commit suicide?" "Who said she committed suicide?" Griski asked. "That's what the initial reports I've heard say," Jackman said. "Do you know why they call it 'preliminary', Clarence? Because it's not final, and probably not true. We really don't know anything about the truth about the death of the wife and children, the whole Condition--" "Sergeant Langtry told me it's clearly a combined murder and suicide, Abu. Like a lot of the cases he's seen before, and you've seen it, haven't you?" "There may be some similarities, but there are also some differences. It would certainly be wiser if we didn't say anything until things were clear." But Jackman got up and went to his desk, stood there majestically, and said, "I know what the wiser thing to do, Abu, and I'd even agree with you, but it's just self-deception. The others The inquisitive inquirers -- the press, the mayor's office, you name it -- will come to me if they want to know. My concern is that if we don't say anything, it will look like Like we don't know anything about it—" "We really don't know anything! It's not a big deal if it looks like that." Jackman ignored the interruption and continued to repeat what he had said earlier. "We know Markham was murdered. We believe his wife committed suicide." "I don't know if I believe that, Clarence. John hasn't even performed an autopsy on her." Griski stopped just in time to let himself go on.He knew that Jackman was deliberately playing against him, but if the district attorney general used his office to unify a position of opinion that was unnecessary, it would make his work more political. Abhorred. "All I want to say is that someone might have gone out of their way to make it look like there was a suicide. I know what Langtry thinks, but I haven't ruled anything out. Before we speak to the media, if we can I'll be more comfortable, and you'll be more comfortable, Clarence, with some of the uncertainties of the case out of the way." Jackman frowned disapprovingly. "Are you saying maybe someone killed her and her kids and tried to make it look like a suicide? Did they find anything at her place to prove that?" "Not yet, sir. But there's still a lot of testing to be done." Grisky insisted. "The moment we can verify your claim, I'll support the idea of ​​suicide, I assure you. .But now we have a bold speculation that seems to me somewhat unbelievable, that is, when Markham was sent to the hospital, he was dying, in fact, he was almost dead. Are you taking this opportunity to kill him?" Jackman hasn't backed down on his claims. "Honestly, I believe this looks very similar to similar incidents that some journalists have seen elsewhere." "Okay, then tell them you have a problem with this. Like, he's going to die anyway, so why would anyone take that risk?" Jackman turned to Strout and said, "He's not necessarily going to die, is he, John?" Speculation wasn't Strout's strong suit, but the district attorney had asked him a blunt question that made him feel compelled to say something. "Probably not, especially once he's out of the emergency room." He paused, lifting his shoulders nervously, then lowering them again. "He might survive." "Well," Jackman said, taking Strout's peculiarity answer as a sure sign, "someone, maybe even his wife—" "It might even be his wife!" To Grisky, it was an utterly bizarre speculation that hadn't crossed his mind. "Are you saying Kara killed her husband in the hospital?" Jackman's tone softened. "Well, maybe that's not the case. Someone in the hospital was saying that Markham would make it through, but for some reason that didn't happen." "Then I just want to say, Clarence, let us find out what it is." Seeing that the verbal confrontation was about to become heated, Treya decided to intervene to ease the atmosphere. "Perhaps there's no rush to deal with the wife just now, Clarence. You'll just have to state that someone killed Mr. Markham. And I think we'll all agree," Treya said, turning her face to her husband, adding quickly. said, "The potassium lead points more clearly to murder in the hospital than to medical malpractice. Isn't that true, Abu? Do you agree with that?" Griski understood what she was asking herself, and even what she was doing.But now in the case of the potassium overdose, Griski seems to be more inclined to believe that Markham was indeed murdered, but what is believed to be true is not what actually exists, and it was never quite the case. "Well," he said to his wife, "let's agree for a moment that Markham was murdered in the hospital. Then tell anyone who asks you that we're investigating. That's true. What we're doing. What's the rush to get to the public?" Through the look on Treya's face, Griski realized he had finally asked the right question.Jackman stood up from his chair. "That's the question, Abu. If Markham was murdered, the case would go to a grand jury. I'd have a legitimate reason to open an investigation into his death, which would give me access to Parnassus' books and business. In terms of activities. We have a reason to go to his files and isolate the place and see if we can find out why. Who would be upset about that? Somebody who killed their top leader .Why are they unwilling to cooperate with us in every aspect?" Jackman stopped in the middle of the conversation, and then continued after a while: "If we have any kind of questioning about those accounting transactions, then their lawyers will get involved in this matter, and we will have to talk about it It took months and even years to delay answering subpoenas, delay delivering files, and by the time they arrived, they might have torn them up and destroyed them, or It's been re-forged. Combined with the public chatter about it, it's taking a toll on the credibility of the city's public institutions. That's where we're at. It's a murder, Abu, and the vast majority of the town Voters are against murder, and no one thinks there is anything more inexplicable than murder, at least for now. The grand jury will study the murder of Tim Markham. It can be made public There are legitimate reasons to go to his personal relationships, even his business activities. Since he was killed at Portola Hospital, there has been a clear chain of relationships there." Once again Griski couldn't sit still.It was not a good idea to involve the district attorney general's office in his investigation, especially if Markham's murder was merely used as a cover for a financial investigation of Parnassus. "What if we find his killer before you've finished the job you're talking about?" he asked. Marlene replied: "We will put aside the name of the jury and continue to work only on financial materials." Abu frowned in displeasure, but he understood that technically speaking, what Marlene could do was limited to this.The grand jury is not a cure-all for fighting crime—Jackman and Ash use it as a phishing tool for their own purposes. "But as a premise, will I still have your support in the murder investigation?" he asked. "I don't want to see a suspect close to the edge of the net and not be able to get him in the net." "That's not going to happen, Abu," Marlene said. "It can't happen," Jackman reiterated. "We're on the same side." Griski smiled at the others, looking at them solemnly. "Well, with that assurance," he said, rising to his feet, "I'd better get down to my work."