Gallery of the Dead

Forty-Six

Pima County’s Chief Medical Examiner, Dr. Keith Morgan, had received the surprise call from FBI Special Agent Mike Brandon just as he had finished eating dinner. Once he disconnected, he placed a couple of calls of his own to find out exactly when the body of Timothy Davis would be arriving to the coroner’s office downtown. With that taken care of, he prepared himself a strong cup of coffee, took another shower and got dressed.

Dr. Morgan didn’t mind starting early or finishing late. As a matter of fact, he did both almost every day. Since his wife of twenty-five years had passed away four years ago, his job was all he had to keep him from constant loneliness. Dr. Morgan would gladly grab any opportunity he was offered to keep his mind busy, to keep him from losing another night to solitude.

At that time in the evening and with very little traffic to speak of, it took the doctor just ten minutes to cover the almost five miles between his home in the neighborhood of Southern Heights and the Pima County’s Office of Chief Medical Examiner on East District Street.

‘Have you forgotten something, Doc?’ the tall, Hawaiian-looking attendant sitting behind the reception counter asked, looking up from the comic book he was reading. He didn’t look very surprised to see Dr. Morgan back so soon.

‘Not quite, Nathan,’ the doctor replied, approaching the counter. ‘How’s the comic?’

‘It’s not a comic, Doc,’ Nathan replied, his tone of voice almost defensive. ‘It’s a graphic novel, but this is a really good one. You would probably enjoy it.’

‘Yeah, maybe I should give it a go sometime.’

‘All you have to do is ask, Doc. I’ve got a room full of these.’

Dr. Morgan smiled passively. ‘We should have just received a body in the last hour or so — African American male, thirty years of age, identified as Timothy Davis?’

Nathan put down his graphic novel and turned his attention to the computer on the counter in front of him.

‘We have indeed,’ he replied after performing a quick search. ‘Apparent homicide. The body came in about fifty minutes ago.’

Dr. Morgan nodded. ‘Yes, that’ll be the one. Can you please get somebody to take it to theater one for me?’

The attendant checked the clock on the wall behind him. ‘You’re going to autopsy him now?’

Usually, when Dr. Morgan stayed late or came in early, he dealt mainly with paperwork.

‘That’s the idea.’

‘But... the body hasn’t been prepped yet,’ the attendant announced, looking slightly surprised.

Before any post-mortem examination, every body needed to be properly prepared. That meant undressed, if the case called for it, then sprayed with fungicide and thoroughly washed with disinfectant soap before being moved into an autopsy theater. That job usually fell to morgue orderlies, but since Timothy Davis’s body had arrived after closing time, it had simply been moved into a cold chamber.

‘Do we have anyone around who would be able to prep the body while I get ready?’ the doctor asked.

‘Sure. Minika and Ralph are on night duty tonight. I’ll get one of them to prep it for you, Doc. Theater one, you said?’

‘That’s right.’

‘Consider it done.’ Nathan gave Dr. Morgan a firm head nod. ‘Would you like me to find you an assistant for the autopsy? I could give Patrick a call.’

Patrick Wilson was the intern who usually assisted Dr. Morgan with his autopsies.

‘No. No need to bother anyone, really. I’ll be fine on my own.’