The next day, Bryan made ready to visit the coroner's office after receiving a call that the autopsy results for Angelina Ezekiel was available. He originally wanted to take Jason along with him but rejected that idea since the latter had to be on patrol around the dock yard. He decided to go with Bernadette because she was free at the moment and also because she knew the coroner's office very well as she had been there a couple of times. He walked past the cafe area and out the main door, heading straight for the parking lot. He met the female officer there.
"Which car do we take?" Bryan asked gesturing to the three vehicles that were parked. Personally, he didn't like the cars with the sirens because they made unnecessary noises tipping off people about police arrivals. Thankfully, Haston city's police had a number of normal vehicles for use.
"Must we?" Bernadette whined while maintaining her posture.
"Excuse me?" Bryan turned to look at her as he didn't quite understand what she meant.
"The examiner's office is just few blocks away, we could easily jog there." She said as a matter of fact. Bryan shook his head in amusement.
Lady, do you have a thing against automobiles? Bryan face palmed inwardly. The coroner's office was over 300 metres away, how could one jog there? Maybe she could, but he couldn't.
Seeing Bryan's reaction she added, "Or we could take the smaller car if you're so afraid of walking."
"Who said I'm afraid of walking?" Bryan threw his arms exasperatedly, "I was only trying to be a gentleman."
"Sorry, just that judging by your physique, I thought you could use a little bit exercise." Bernadette said jokingly as she observed Bryan's slim figure. It was obvious he didn't work out often and he lacked those heavy muscles. He seemed frail and giddy.
"Fine, let's walk." Bernadette heaved a sigh when she saw Bryan had decided to walk with her. She preferred walking to driving ever since she was young and would often pull others into walking with her. She would never try this with the chief or Jason, these two always seemed overbearing and she didn't dare ask them to walk anywhere. The reason she had asked Bryan was because he seemed friendly.
They walked around and exited the gate. They turned to the small street which was bustling with people doing various things. They literally had to weave their way through the crowd when they arrived at the park. Bryan took in the scenery of the street. Houses lined the street, each separated by a wall of exotic bush. These arrangements seemed like a tradition in this side of the city. The flowers added another sense of beauty to the environment. Butterflies fluttered along, birds chirped on the occasional trees that lined the side walk. He noticed a man sprawled on the park bench, he was obviously asleep.
He was interrupted by Bernadette who suddenly asked, "is this your first time walking through this street?"
"Kind of. Jason showed me around a lot of places, but walking by just reveals another angle of beauty." Bryan said beaming.
"I told you, you get to enjoy the scenes, the sounds, the aroma," she sniffed the air animatedly, "and even the mysterious flying pig." She gestured with her hand above her head. Bryan smiled a bit. This lady didn't behave like a normal police, she seemed carefree.
"Is that the sense of humour all women in Haston city are rumoured to have?" He asked sarcastically. He knew that most people actually hated the meme about the women here being so carefree and humorous, but he found that this lady matched the description.
"Where did you hear that stereotype from?" Bernadette arched her eyebrows at him. He shrugged and answered, "From travel books I read. It says they have a talent at making jokes."
"I will take that as a compliment." They both snickered. It was fun talking to Bryan, at least it made her forget her issues for now.
"What else do you like about the city?" She asked turning her head to glance at him.
"Not much, the weather freaks me out." He said passively, "but I have to say, the food here is great!"
"Haha, I actually have a lot of foods that I eat as my favourite."
She then began mentioning the dishes.
"-"
Bryan was speechless, "are you such a foodie?"
"Hmhm, if you want to kill me, use food, especially grilled meat." She was already salivating. Bryan looked at her in amusement, she didn't bother to deny! Truly, Haston city's women were humorous.
They soon dropped to silence as they didn't find any more topics to discuss. They walked side by side down the broad road. This road had less number of people plying it because it leads to the dock yard. They made several turns and finally arrived at another street, the coroner's office was just up ahead, six blocks away!
"Did you actually learn how to drive your sports bike?"
Bryan rolled his eyes. He understood her question. She was implying if he actually learnt it because he wanted to drive it or learnt it because it was necessary for him or was compelled to do so. This, she is going to remark at my physical build again.
"Yeah. I already rode one when I was 12."
"That's crazy!" Her eyes twinkled as she imagined what it would feel like to ride that speed monster, "I didn't think you'd like such things, you know, you seem like someone who loves going easy."
"I can do a lot of things," he said and added inwardly, 'like courting death.'
"Apparently, you can't fire a gun." She commented.
"My line of work doesn't require me to fire a gun, just my brain."
"Seriously, how do you cope when you meet bad guys?"
This lady, can't you act like a normal police for once? You seem like a child infatuated with muscular build and all... Bryan lampooned inwardly.
"Maybe you could teach me how to fire a gun then?" He actually knew how to shoot, after all he worked for the police, and also had a few combat skills, but he just wanted this lady to stay off the topic.
....
When they finally arrived at the coroner's office, Bryan's back was drenched in sweat. They quickly went in and met with Dr Jace, the medical examiner in charge of the autopsy examination. After a brief greeting, the doctor handed the report file to Bryan and went on to explain some few things.
"The cause of death was a slit to the throat using a sharp scalpel," Dr Jace took a seat and began giving his overall view, "based on the fact that there were no signs of struggle from the victim or on the crime scene, such a clean cut that could sever the two carotid arteries could only be done by an expert." He stopped to observe Bryan's reaction and continued, "Also, traces of halothane were found in her system, this could be the reason why the victims failed to struggle or put up a resistance."
"Halothane..." Bryan mulled over the word. His eyes flashed as he remembered. This explained the faint sweetish chloroformic smell he perceived at the crime scene.
"Anything else?" Bryan asked the doctor.
"All other reports have been included in the file." He pointed at the file in Bryan's hands. "The victim also had a minor case of venodilation, which can be caused by inhaling excess halothane vapour. She's the only victim that had such a case." The doctor concluded.
"What about the body?"
"It will be sent over for burial."
Bryan nodded and shook hands with the doctor.
He went out with Bernadette after taking a look at the body of the seventh victim.
"Has this always been the case for all the other six victims?" Bryan suddenly asked.
"Yes. All of them had halothane vapour traces, no signs of struggle, one deep slash across the throat." Bernadette reported dutifully.
"This psychopath seems like he is very skilled in surgical procedures" Bryan Drew a general conjecture.
"We already suspected him to be a doctor, but after series of investigation, the police discovered they were too many doctors in Haston city and dealing with each of them took a great deal of time." The lady emphasised.
"Did they try investigating surgeons with past records of mental issues?" Bryan queried. He felt he had to narrow down the number of suspects by filtering them. He also took into consideration that he could be overlooking something.
Bernadette shook her head.
"Also, get Collins Flint to find information on all the pharmacies that provide halothane anaesthetic, and the list of people that bought that particular drug over the last 12 months." Bryan tersely instructed.
"Yes, sir." Bernadette was now behaving like a normal police. It seemed her switch had been flipped at some point.
Don't tell me you change constantly as your weather... Bryan mocked. He began analysing the possible aspects he could consider in tracking down this killer.
No signs of struggle...use of halothane anaesthetic...an expert with good surgical skills...fast killer...able to make photos turn hazy...smiling psychopath...blood text.
All these didn't add up but to Bryan it was very key.