Free Matter of Trust by Sydney Bauer

friend. I’ll be in and out – one day, two tops.’
    But Joe obviously wasn’t convinced. ‘This is a mistake,’ he said again.
    â€˜I won’t let it be, Joe.’
    â€˜I’ve heard that before, David, but at least on those occasions you have limited your “leap before you look” approach to Boston. Newark is a whole new kettle of fish, my friend. You may know how this city works criminally, legally – but Newark, New Jersey? You might not be aware of what you’re getting yourself into.’
    â€˜I’m not getting into anything, Joe. And besides, I grew up in Newark, so how hard can it be?’
    â€˜You’re going where you haven’t gone before, David.’
    â€˜No I’m not, Joe.’ He shook his head. ‘I’m going home.’

13
    â€˜S he was still alive when she hit the water.’
    And there it was, plain and simple. Salicia Curtis had conducted most of the autopsy in silence and Harry McNally had not asked any questions, knowing the competent ME would summarise her findings when she was ready.
    The examination had been gruelling, largely due to the putrefaction of the body. While the cold temperatures of the Passaic worked to slow decomposition, the reasonably stagnant state of the water surrounding the body hastened its decay. Further, a lack of freezer space in the morgue meant the body had had to stay in the cooler truck before being transferred for autopsy, resulting in further temperature changes and movement and further breakdown of examinable tissue and skin slippage which meant that the poor woman in front of them was virtually unidentifiable.
    â€˜So it wasn’t the blunt forced trauma to the head that killed her?’ he asked, referring to the evidence of a blow and subsequent brain haemorrhage Salicia had also found during the course of the autopsy.
    â€˜No, the blow to the back of the head was severe enough to cause the internal bleeding, and we could well have listed the subdural haematoma as the eventual cause of death if the victim had not been deposited in the Passaic before the cranial bleeding had time to send her into anirreversible coma. But our friend here,’ Sal gestured at the victim on the cold metal slab before them, ‘has water in her airway and stomach, and her lungs are swollen and there is evidence of bleeding which signifies an aggressive struggle for air.’
    McNally nodded. ‘And the cold?’ he asked, knowing the temperature in the river – a little over four degrees – was enough to send a human into hypothermia.
    â€˜There’s evidence of spasm of the larynx,’ replied Sal, ‘which means she had a severe reaction to the sudden exposure to the cold. In fact, given she would have been groggy from the blow – and her heart rate must have decreased to a point close to non-existence – the massive drop in temperature would, at least initially, have helped her regain consciousness.’
    â€˜Just in time to struggle for her life,’ said McNally.
    â€˜Yes,’ replied Sal, ‘until the lack of oxygen sent her into cardiac arrest.’ The ME took a breath. ‘Once again, hypothermia could have been listed as the cause of death if she had stayed alive long enough for her body temperature to drop below 77°F. That would have resulted in the enzymes in her body slowing down to the point where her vital organs were no longer able to function. But my guess is she was dead long before the one to three hour benchmark of hypothermia-related deaths in waters between three and ten degrees.’
    â€˜So this vic had three doors of death to choose from – a blow to the back of the head, asphyxia or freezing to death?’
    â€˜Pretty much,’ said Sal, her eyes sad behind the plastic glasses. ‘But I’m afraid there was no choosing about it. The perp who hit her set the whole process in motion leaving her body no option but