“Tell me why.” I back up so I can maneuver off to the side, leaving room for cars to pass in and out of the gate.

“I don’t see how it’s possible she fell from a ladder, Doctor Scarpetta. Not unless she fell from it three or four times. She has multiple depressed skull fractures that extend into the paranasal sinuses, the structures of the middle ear. Plus underlying areas of hematoma.”

“How are we doing with her identification?”

“Dental charts are on the way. It’s her. I mean who else would it be?”

“Let’s get it confirmed.”

“I’ll let you know the instant we do.”

“Has Luke started her post?”

“He’s in the middle of it.”

I open the screen of the laptop built into the console between the two front seats, and in a moment I’m logged into the CFC’s closed camera system, a network of fish-eye panoramic domes in the ceiling of every room of the intake and examination areas. It allows me to monitor what my doctors and forensic investigators are doing at any given time. I type in my password and the computer screen splits into quadrants that cover each workstation in Autopsy Room A, which is where Luke and I work.

I hear the whine of the Stryker saw inside a vast space of bright overhead lights, glass observation galleries, and stainless steel. I see Luke at his station suited up in a teal green gown, an apron, a face shield and surgical cap. Our two medical residents are across the table from him, and Harold is sawing open Chanel Gilbert’s skull, the oscillating blade grinding as he cuts through thick bone.

“It’s Doctor Scarpetta. I’ve got you up on my screen,” I say as if I’m talking to people inside the truck.

“Hello.” Luke looks up at the camera in the high ceiling, and the glare of the face shield makes it hard to see his handsome face and vivid blue eyes.

The body has been opened from the clavicles to the pubic bone, the bloc of organs on a cutting board, and Luke is snipping open the stomach with a pair of surgical scissors. He pours the contents into a plasticized paper carton. I tell him I’m checking on how the case is going and explain that I’ll be returning to the scene shortly, and is there anything I should know? Is there anything special I should look for?

“You definitely should check for multiple impact areas.” His voice with its heavy German accent sounds from the laptop inside the truck. “I’m assuming you’ve seen the images on CT?”

“Anne has given me a quick summary.” The diesel engine rumbles in my bones as I talk to the laptop’s screen. “But I haven’t viewed the actual scans yet. She doesn’t think Chanel Gilbert is an accident.”