Page 24 of The Burning

Doc Coblentz continues. “The flesh appears to be cracked, apparently from thermal injury. I believe that is actually an incised wound, ostensibly caused by restraints. I took a look at the radiographs, which I believe will confirm that because there is a fracture of the right radial styloid.”

“In layman’s terms?” Tomasetti says.

“A small bone that’s part of the wrist is broken. Most often that type of fracture happens during a fall or some sports activity.” He tightens his mouth. “It’s rare, but that kind of fracture has been documented as occurring during handcuffing.”

“Or in this case, wire?” I ask.

The doc nods. “Exactly.”

Tomasetti narrows his eyes. “So the victim was bound while conscious and struggled with so much force that he broke his wrist?”

Doc Coblentz nods. “Another scenario is that he was bound and then dragged by his wrists.”

I glance at Tomasetti. “I didn’t see any drag marks.”

“We’ll take another look.” He grimaces. “Doc, if the victim struggled with that much vigor, could that indicate something like panic or pain? That he’d been alive and under extreme duress when the fire was set?”

“That is certainly a feasible theory,” Doc Coblentz replies. “During autopsy, we will look for soot from inhaled smoke in the esophagus and respiratory tract. We’ll also screen for carboxyhemoglobin levels in the blood. That will tell us if he was breathing during the fire. Even then, I will not be able to tell you if the victim was conscious, only if he was or was not breathing. Sometimes, much can be determined by the amount of soot on the mucous membranes. In this case, however, the thermal injuries are so extensive, we can’t see that with the naked eye.”

Doc Coblentz turns to his assistant. “Put the X-ray from the C3 vertebra level on the board.”

“Sure.” His assistant jumps into action, finding the radiograph quickly, and snapping it into place so that the X-ray is visible to all of us.

“The victim also suffered a broken hyoid bone,” the doc says.

“Isn’t that usually associated with a strangulation?” I ask.

He nods. “It’s usually a postmortem finding in victims of strangulation and sometimes hanging.”

“Are you saying the victim was strangled first?” Tomasetti asks.

“I cannot explain it. I do know that injury to the hyoid bone is rare. In survivors, it’s usually caused by trauma. If I may.” Doc rounds the gurney and, with a fresh swab, indicates a shadowed area on the screen. “The hyoid bone is this U-shaped bone situated in the anterior portion of the neck. The angle we’re looking at is between the mandible and the thyroid cartilage.”

“Is it possible he was struck in the throat area?” I ask.

“Or subdued by something looped around his neck,” Tomasetti murmurs.

“Yes and yes.” I see the smile in his eyes. “Suffice it to say, I’m hoping to narrow all of this down once we get a more complete picture. That’s the best I can do at this point.”

“So, did the killer stage the scene?” Tomasetti poses the question in brainstorming fashion, not expecting an answer, but to put forth a premise. “To conceal evidence? Or somehow muddy the investigation?”

“Or was this some kind of bizarre pseudo-symbolic execution?” I add. “Was he burned at the stake?”

We’re standing next to the Explorer in the hospital parking lot. Light snow drifts down from a slate-gray sky. It’s cold, but the wind has picked up. Traffic from Wooster Road hisses in the near distance. Despite the chill, neither of us is ready to get in the vehicle. As if by unspoken agreement, we need a few minutes to let the air wash away the remnants of the things we witnessed in the morgue.

“The killer went to a lot of trouble,” Tomasetti says, his breaths puffing out in front of him. “He had to dig a posthole. Set the post. That took some time.”

“Not an easy task when the ground is frozen,” I say. “Unless he had help.”

“Something to consider,” he tells me. “We’ll look at all of it.” He pauses. “Do we know where the pallets came from?”

“There’s a pallet manufacturer in Millersburg. Pickles is looking into it. So far, no way to tell if these particular pallets were made at that facility or elsewhere.”

“This has the hallmarks of something that was planned,” he says.

“In advance,” I add. “The killer—or killers—were determined.”

He nods. “Burning someone at the stake is such a bizarre way to kill someone. Why would anyone go to all that trouble? They could have simply shot him and buried the body. Or weighted it down and tossed it in a lake? Dumped it in a remote area or woods.”