Forensic Bureau.
After clocking in, Brian greeted his colleagues warmly and then headed to his workstation, leisurely sipping his prepared coffee while flipping through today's newspaper.
10:10 am.
The senior manager gathered everyone from the Forensic Department for a meeting and work assignments.
Brian took a seat at the back, skillfully avoiding attention.
...
I must mention the structure of the Los Angeles County Forensic Bureau.
The Los Angeles County Forensic Bureau consists of five departments: Forensic Department, Chemical Department, Operations Department, Administrative Services Department, and Public Services Department.
The core is the Forensic Department.
The other four departments exist to serve the Forensic Department.
The Forensic Department receives the best treatment.
Brian is a technical worker in the Forensic Department.
He seldom does fieldwork.
As for his colleague Tom from last night, he belongs to the Operations Department and specializes in fieldwork.
..
The main body of the Forensic Department is the forensic doctors.
There are 17 general forensic doctors, four senior forensic doctors, one supervisory forensic doctor, and one chief forensic doctor.
There are a total of 23 forensic doctors.
In Los Angeles, there used to be a highly experienced autopsy officer, who held a position equivalent to the chief forensic doctor.
However, he was aging and could not keep up with the rapidly advancing modern equipment.
So, he retired last year.
Back to the main topic.
Among the 23 forensic doctors.
The chief forensic doctor, whose rank is comparable to the chief of the Los Angeles Police Department, holds a very high position and generally does not get involved in frontline work.
The usual main business of the Forensic Bureau is typically handled by the supervisory forensic doctor and a few senior forensic doctors, who are responsible for assigning cases to all the forensic doctors in the bureau.
These individuals also rarely engage in ordinary frontline work.
That is to say,
the vast business volume across Los Angeles County is essentially managed by the 17 general forensic doctors at the bottom level.
Los Angeles County, with a population of over ten million, has so few forensic doctors because the requirements to become one are very stringent.
They need to first complete four years of university in engineering, then study four to five years in medical school, followed by another four to five years as residents specializing in anatomic and clinical pathology in a hospital.
Generally, at this stage,
these doctors in their thirties, apart from being a bit lower in status and academic authority, already earn substantially more than the ordinary forensic doctors.
That is to say,
many talented individuals at this point do not choose to switch careers.
Only a minority, due to various reasons, choose to resign from the hospital and then take a national professional examination.
After passing the exam,
they must then spend a year at the Forensic Bureau as forensic pathology interns, completing over 250 autopsies without issues before they can become professional forensic doctors.
What does this mean?
It means
from a high school graduate, if every step goes smoothly, it requires a minimum of 13-14 years to become an ordinary forensic doctor with a monthly salary of over ten thousand dollars at the age of over thirty.
It's a no-brainer for anyone sane.
Out of ten capable individuals who reach this stage,
nine would choose to become doctors.
Only the remaining one would opt to change careers for a lower income and higher academic authority and status as a forensic doctor.
Therefore, those unremarkable-looking, mostly balding white-coated individuals sitting in front of Brian, any one of them thrown out, belong to the top talent in Los Angeles County.
...
The meeting lasted about half an hour.
Actually, it was mostly a formality.
The core was the work sheet handed down by the secretary at the end.
With the work sheet in hand, Brian changed into a butcher-like full set of surgical clothes ahead of time and went to the morgue, pushing the two victims' bodies delivered last night into the assigned autopsy room to wait.
After about ten minutes,
a middle-aged bald Caucasian yawning walked into the autopsy room where Brian was.
The moment he saw Brian,
the initially listless bald forensic doctor perked up:
"Brian, are you assisting me with the work today?
That's fantastic!
The used car you recommended last time was good, just a bit bland.
Buddy, got any new leads?"
Brian's mouth twitched beneath his mask, "Dr. Henry, let's deal with today's work first."
Bald Henry nodded somewhat disappointedly.
Compared to the cold bodies in the mortuary van,
he preferred those warm, enthusiastic used cars.
"Alright, Brian, I trust you won't disappoint me, as for today's work..."
Henry, the forensic doctor, yawned, "We received a notice from above that a new department is being established in Los Angeles with very good compensation, Brian. You need more training. Today, you will complete all the work by yourself while I observe from the side."
This was clearly a violation of regulations.
Henry did this obviously to gain access to the high-quality resources that Brian had, opting to actively please him.
Brian did not refuse.
...
Two hours later.
Brian glanced at the female corpse marked with the standard Y-incision and said expressionlessly,
"The deceased, Emmaline Keller, 27 years old, Caucasian female...
There are lacerations on the lower body, with no seminal residue.
The victim must have been violated before death...
There are multiple signs of teeth shattering, with the force directed inward, without obvious abrasion, likely from biting into some soft object.
There is a significant accumulation of contusions around.
Before death, the victim must have endured great pain but did not scream loudly; instead, she bit into an object, enduring the pain, which caused her to bite her teeth to pieces.
In the gaps between the teeth, fibrous residues are present.
The specific composition still needs testing...
But, based on earlier analysis, I guess it's a towel.
The cause of the victim's death was multiple blunt force trauma to the face, resulting in skull fracture, airway..."
Henry, the forensic doctor, looked at Brian in astonishment. "Man, your growth is impressive. At least I found no issues with your autopsy analysis; you might really have a chance to join that newly formed department."
He actually had more to say: like trace analysis.
Just now, Brian's injury analysis.
Even for him, a veteran forensic doctor of over ten years, it was somewhat astonishing.
It was too professional.
As if he had witnessed the crime scene himself!
"Henry, I actually heard about this from Tom at operations yesterday. Can you share some information about the new department?"
Brian quickly processed the scene and took off his gloves, speaking casually.
He did not show excitement about Henry's praise.
Making these analyses.
It was just that he knew the result and then reverse-engineered the process, basically cheating.
Henry nodded. "I only know that the department is governed by city government Z; it has dual authority over autopsies and solving cases. The name, inspired by New York's CSI, you can refer to it as the Crime Lab Group."
"When?"
Brian wrote down several numbers on a piece of paper and handed it to bald Henry.
Henry accepted the paper with a smile, without beating around the bush. "End of September. Someone will come to the Forensic Bureau to headhunt then. I've heard because of this matter, the chief forensic doctor has been in a bad mood lately."
Brian nodded thoughtfully.
It looked like he still had more than two weeks buffer time.
...
In the afternoon.
After lunch.
Brian went to the deserted rooftop, lit a cigarette, and gazed profoundly at the distant skyscrapers.
After the morning's autopsy.
And combining it with the death scene images he had seen the previous night.
He was almost sure what had happened last night:
Andres, after a conflict with his wife, went out to drink.
Perhaps stimulated by alcohol.
Andres, not quite drunk, out of accumulated dissatisfaction, arrived at his neighbor Emmaline Keller's doorstep, pretending to be drunk and at the wrong door, used Emmaline Keller's sympathy to enter, and then assaulted her.
At the time, Emmaline Keller's three-year-old daughter was sleeping upstairs.
Perhaps this was why.
Andres succeeded easily.
After the crime.
Andres did not choose to spare the poor single mother, Emmaline Keller.
He decided to kill and silence her.
Emmaline Keller, worried that Andres would also kill her daughter after killing her, knelt on the ground, desperately pleading with the man who had just violated her, and to avoid her own screams from waking the sleeping daughter and provoke Andres to kill,
Emmaline Keller voluntarily bit into a towel, lay on the ground, and let Andres, the psychopath, hammer her to death with a hammer.
Even though the pain caused her to bite her teeth to pieces.
This woman, until death, did not utter a single scream...
...
The long ash dissipates into the air.
Brian let the burning cigarette butt scorch his fingertip's skin, breathing heavily, with the afterimage of a blood moon flickering in his eyes.
Even after death.
Emmaline Keller's obsession was not revenge.
She just wanted to protect her child...
Brian flicked off the cigarette butt, looking up at the blue sky and murmured, "This world is truly ugly..."
He somewhat missed the exhilarating feeling of the screwdriver piercing flesh that night.