Val nodded her head in agreement and then went back into the room with the body. After the success with the old woman, her nerves eased and she could focus better. She couldn’t see any lividity immediately. But since this man was sitting, and gravity pools blood downward in a dead person, she knew where she needed to look. Howie helped her ease the man from the commode down to the ground and she inspected the man’s backside. Except the parts that touched the toilet seat, eggplant-colored splotches were on both cheeks. Val remembered another area where the blood would settle on a deceased individual found in a sitting position and pulled off his slippers. The soles of his feet matched the buttocks.

Core body temperature would be her next clue and she prepared to take a reading. She pulled an eight-inch thermometer from her bag. She’d have to make a small incision through which she would insert the thermometer directly into the liver. Feeling around the man’s abdomen, Val took out a scalpel, located the right area and without hesitation, made a slice and pushed the thermometer through.

She cringed when she realized this motion had the same resistance as the time she used a meat probe to check a Thanksgiving turkey for doneness.

“I’d have to say he died about three to four hours ago,” she informed Howie as she looked at the digital display on the thermometer. It read ninety-five degrees. “Everything is consistent with this time frame.”

He nodded in agreement with her findings.

This man would have to have an autopsy of course, but it seemed like his death was due to natural causes. She’d heard of people having aneurisms on the toilet as they strained too hard to go. Many were found exactly as this man was found. Slumped over, still on the seat. This was thoroughly detailed in the natural deaths section of the death investigation textbook.

Val exhaled in relief, proud of her accomplishment. She was able to take care of the situation without much help from Howie. Things were a little rough at the beginning but she got through it. What was I nervous about? I can do this.

After getting the necessary information and collecting the medications in the bathroom cabinet, she released the body to go to the medical examiner’s office. As she was doing so, Howie’s cell phone went off. He spent several minutes talking, and when he hung up, he told Val the next order of business.

“You did so good here, why don’t you take this one solo?” Howie offered. “It’s a pretty simple one. Just skeletonized remains found at a landfill.”

7

The sun was just beginning to set when Gavin and Warren arrived at the Lockland Landfill, twenty minutes south of the city of Buffalo.