Bad Apple Press 2021 Catalogue

Extract
‘There was blood everywhere.’
The head of the forensic pathology department was recounting to me his adventures
during a night call-out to a scene. We donned our white overalls and protective
gowns before proceeding into the autopsy suite at the State Mortuary.
Police had arrested a nervous character hanging around a house where a man was
found dead. There was blood spread about in several rooms and the deceased was
found lying with his head on a blood-soaked pillow.
The body arrived in the autopsy room with brown paper bags tied over his hands
and, creepily, one over his head. Several police officers accompanied the alleged
victim to collect evidence in this sterile environment and observe the post mortem
proceedings. I was incidentally there to be looking at other autopsies, cases of
presumed natural causes, not suspicious ones. But everyone was diverted to this
spectacle for a while.
Some bottles and packets of medicines were recovered from the scene and delivered
in a plastic bag along with the body. The man was a known alcoholic but, as a
general medical practitioner and country doctor, I could tell from his medications
he was also being treated for high blood pressure, arthritis and a past stroke. This
was my immediately useful contribution.
The paper bags were removed. Inspection of the outside of the naked corpse
revealed bruises of various ages over his trunk and limbs. There was a fresh deep
cut to his left ear but no other bleeding sources were detected.
No weapon had been found. Could the amount of blood dispersed throughout the
house have come from this apparently minor wound? Was it foul play or something
less sinister?
Trace evidence was collected from his body surface, scrapings from under his
fingernails, and combings from his hair. Each bruise was meticulously sampled
with a small cutting device and the tissue placed in little cassettes for subsequent
microscopic examination. Then the head pathologist continued the autopsy in the
usual way.