“Not a theory, Dr. Knight. You see, this man was shot in the back of the head, execution style. Then someone tried to cover up the crime by setting a fire. A drug deal gone wrong, he owed someone money… a scorned lover? Those are theories. Why he was shot is a theory. Why he was killed, at this point, is speculation. How he died is not.” Again, Jack had no derisive tone in his voice.

“Of course, it’s not speculation. He was shot, that’s how he died,” Val said.

“Now, we shouldn’t jump to conclusions with the cause of death. Just because he was shot doesn’t mean that’s what killed him. He could have survived the bullet to his head and then died from the fire. The only way to tell is with an autopsy where you would expect to see soot in the mouth, esophagus and lungs, since he would have been breathing when the fire started, plus carbon monoxide would be in his blood. But I will confirm that he was face down in the car, left side down to be exact. Everything we need to decipher that is right before us.”

Val said nothing. Everything about this examination, she either managed to do wrong or get wrong. If Jack didn’t point out her errors, she would have failed Dr. Blythe’s test miserably. She made rapid mental notes, preparing to add Jack’s facts to her report as soon as she could.

“His face is barely damaged by the fire on the left, so he must have been face down with his head turned to the right, exposing the right side to the flames. I told you just a few minutes ago that fire is a very poor way to cover a crime. Do you know why?” He lingered on the words temptingly.

She took the bait. “Why?”

“It draws attention to what you’ve just done. Someone commits a crime, pours a flammable liquid all over the scene. Then puts a match to it and what happens next? Smoke. Smoke goes up in the air and alerts everyone within miles to what has just occurred. Very good citizens that see the smoke call the fire department and the firemen come and put the fire out. So, your crime scene doesn’t get the opportunity to burn long enough to destroy everything. The victims are usually still in great shape for dental ID since the lips and the cheeks protect the teeth, especially the back ones. The parts of the body in contact with the floor or some other surface are also protected from the flames and have little damage, that’s why his face looks pretty good on the left side but not on the right.”