Human Collateral

PROLOGUEIt was one of the few slow days at the Gary, Indiana Coroner’s office when the body of a Jane Doe arrived in the hands of medical examiner Lois Turner. It was a young woman, one could say a girl, whose face looked troubled even in death. Lois cradled the limbs of the body gently in her arms, as she always did, identifying the unhealed marks that remained. There was a large scar across the abdomen, too recent not to matter. In her arm was a small, yet very notable, puncture. “Appears to be pulmonary edema, likely heroin-induced, given the needle track on her right arm,” she noted, “which is unusual, given the muscle development of that arm indicates she was right handed.” She turned the arm over so her assistant could see the track mark. “So, you think a right-handed person would shoot up in the opposite arm?” her assistant, Bill, asked. “I do, but it’s not relevant to her cause of death. We’ll add the anomaly of the right-arm needle mark to the report. Maybe the police will find it important. For now, let’s get blood and tissue samples to the lab to confirm the cause of death.” While Lois acquired the tissue samples, Bill drew two vials of blood from the deceased woman. He then took the tissue samples and vials of blood to a lab technician in the adjacent room for analysis. When he returned, his boss was still examining the body. “Find anything else interesting?” he asked. “Interesting, yes, but again not something I see as a direct cause to her death. Look here.” She pointed to a badly infected area of the Jane Doe’s abdomen at the site where her left kidney had been removed. “She was obviously in a weakened condition from this poorly executed surgical procedure. Look how jagged the incision is. It certainly contributed to the infection and likely compromised her body’s chance of surviving the overdose. We can’t be sure, but it’s worth noting.” An hour later the toxicology report came back, confirming a heroin overdose as the cause of death. The results were added to the coroner’s final report. The infection related to the kidney removal and the location of the needle mark were also recorded. “What now?” asked the assistant. Lois shook her head. “Move her body to the morgue and send the report to the police department. It’s up to them to try and locate her next of kin. If they’re unsuccessful, she’ll be cremated and buried with numerous other unidentified corpses.” Lois could see Bill shivering. Apparently he had not yet become accustomed to seeing someone so young and so alone die in such a gruesome manner. It was not how young the Jane Doe was, or her anonymity, that bothered Lois this time. It was the needle mark and the scar. Both were likely a sign of what this girl died for, and if it was true, she feared there would be other young women destined to suffer the same fate.