Chapter 38 Chapter 36 Municipal Morgue

"I'm used to opening the door for you in the middle of the night now, Paula." Paula's reaction was part compromise, part surprise.On one side of the autopsy table, Anthony, Dante, and the coroner stood, and Paula on the other.All four were wearing mortuary blue masks and rubber gloves.This was the third time in a few days, and this incident reminded Paula of a story she read as a child, which said that if you do the same thing over and over again, you will be sent to hell.Maybe Hell wasn't directly in front of her eyes, but Paula did have close-up evidence of its existence.

Cardoso's body on the dissecting table looked even more grisly than ever.A few hours ago, the blood on his body had not been washed, but now it looked like a pale doll, decorated with some ugly knife scars.The cardinal was tall and slender, and the blood had completely drained at this time. His face seemed to be wearing a mask, sunken, as if he was suing. "What do we know about him, Dante?" Paula asked. Dante always carried a little book in his jacket, and now he took it out and began to read. "Cardoso was born in 1934 and was made a cardinal in 2001. Known for protecting the interests of the working class, he always stood by the poor and the homeless. Before becoming a cardinal, he was in the prefecture of San Jose, California. It already has prestige. That district has the largest Latin American factory." Dante then mentioned two of the world's most famous car manufacturers. "He often acted as mediator between workers and manufacturers, and the workers liked him and called him 'Bishop of the Union,' which was a membership name for the different houses of the Roman patriarchs."

This time even the coroner was silent.The last time he dissected Robaya, he was still smiling, and satirized Pondiro for his poor stomach function (Pontillo was about to vomit), and the person he mocked was lying on his dissecting table a few hours later superior.A day later, another cardinal came.The cardinal, at least on paper, is a nice guy.The coroner surreptitiously asked himself whether the official documents corresponded to the unofficial ones, but that question was finally asked by Anthony. "Is there anything in your file that isn't from state media?" "Don't you think everyone in Notre Dame has problems in life, Anthony."

"I'll remember," Anthony said, with a playful look on his face again, "then you answer my question now." Dante pretended to be thinking, and he began to twist his neck again, first to the left and then to the right.Paula was already pretty sure Dante had the answer, or at least he was prepared for the question. "I made a few phone calls. Almost all of them backed up the official stories. He had two minor controversies that weren't worth getting into. He smoked marijuana as a young man, before he became a priest. Another was in college. Leaning towards some political groups, that's all. Since becoming a cardinal, he has had little conflict with his colleagues in the Senate, because the group he protects, the Senate, doesn't care too much: he supports the Charismatics. On the whole, he is A very decent man."

"The same goes for the other two," Anthony said. "It seems so." "Any progress, Doctor?" Paula interjected between the two of them. Pointing to the neck and chest of the body, the coroner said: "A very short and sharp blade, probably a kitchen knife, but very sharp. In the first two cases, I reserve opinion, but now I have seen this one The way he cut, I believe he used the same weapon on all three." Paula jotted it down in her head. "Pola, do you think Karowski will do anything about John Paul II's funeral?" "God, I don't know. St. Matthew's should be as safe as a barrel now."

"Of course it's safe," Dante said. "It's heavily guarded. They don't know if it's day or night unless they look at their watches." "Even increased security doesn't mean anything. Kaloski has shown his resilience and his uncanny coldness. In fact, I have no idea what he's going to do. I don't know if he'll be at the funeral I don't know what to do, but I doubt he will. In the last killing, he didn't have time to complete all his steps, and he didn't have time to write us a message in blood, as in the other two cases. "

"That means we've lost another lead," muttered Anthony. "Yes, but at the same time, that phone call made him nervous and even a little vulnerable. But for a demon like him, you can't figure it out." "We have to protect the cardinals better," Dante said. "Not just protecting them, but finding the killer. Even when he's doing nothing, he's still there, watching us laugh. I'd rather take a chance on that."