1960: My uncle is the FBI Director

Chapter 243 DC people are indeed perverts!
Bernie called the Third Precinct and learned that the autopsy results were in, but it might take some time before they could get the full autopsy report.

Theodore immediately decided to go to the Third Precinct to obtain the autopsy results.

On the way, Billy Hawke shared his thoughts:

“There are factories of all sizes all over my hometown, and the workers in almost every factory organize and join the union.”

“I’ve been dealing with labor unions since I was a child, and I’ve never heard of any factory labor union being as unreasonable as he described.”

"Maybe we should go directly to the union and ask them; they might just give us the list."

Billy Hawke's family lived in Cleveland, Ohio, a major industrial city in northeastern America.

Theodore was scribbling in his notebook, dismissing his idea without even looking up:
"The union will not give it to us."

Bernie nodded in agreement:
"If we had gone to the union from the beginning, it might have worked, but now..."

He shook his head, reminding Billy Hawke:

"When Richard Dick Vaughn showed up, he kicked everyone out, leaving only us and him alone in the conference room."

"And he knew Theodore; he greeted Theodore as soon as he came in."

"The union probably already thinks we're pretty close to Richard Dick Vaughn."

“Even without Richard Dick Vaughn, the union probably wouldn’t have cooperated with our investigation so readily.”

"The union was already wary of us in the meeting room before Richard Dick Vaughn even showed up."

“The two workers needed the consent of the union representative and the union lawyer almost every time they spoke.”

"If we go to the union now to ask for the list, we may not get it today, and we may not get it tomorrow either."

"Let's just wait patiently for Richard Dick Vaughn's assistant to bring us good news."

Silence fell over the carriage.

They first encountered traffic congestion on the 14th Street Bridge, and then went through a stop-and-go traffic jam between the numerous traffic lights on Independence Avenue and Pennsylvania Avenue in the city.

It took almost an hour to travel a mere ten miles.

The Third Precinct was rather deserted over the weekend; apart from the officers on duty, there was hardly anyone else to be seen.

Within the Third Precinct's jurisdiction, it seems even criminals have to abide by the rule of resting on weekends.

They arrived at the forensic lab and happened to witness an autopsy.

A professor from Howard University School of Medicine, along with a dozen or so young people who appeared to be forensic pathologists, filled the autopsy room to the brim.

The professor demonstrated as he worked, skillfully cutting open the corpse's skin, prying open the victim's sternum, and beginning to remove the internal organs.

Someone covered their mouth and turned away, only to be met with a powerful roar from the professor.

The person who was yelled at shuddered and quickly turned away, covering their mouth.

But the professor had no intention of letting him off the hook.

The professor, clutching a piece of liver, rushed up to the man and unleashed a torrent of words, speaking rapidly and urgently, while constantly moving the liver towards the man's face.

The person being scolded dared not move a step, and could only keep backing away until he finally fell backward into the arms of the person behind him.

The professor glanced at Theodore and his two companions standing outside the dissection room, then pointed with considerable displeasure at the young man who had been helped up, warning him that if he behaved like that again, he could forget about passing his course.

The young man nodded repeatedly.

The professor placed the liver on a tray, then assigned two young men to perform the dissection, and left the dissection room.

He led the three to his office, took out the anatomy notebook, and flipped through it:
"The three bodies you brought over have been basically examined; only some toxicology and pathology tests are still pending results."

This result surprised Bernie and Billy Hawke.

They didn't expect it to happen so quickly.

The professor glanced at them, then took out a bulging file bag from the filing cabinet and opened it.

It was filled with autopsy photos, roughly estimated to be at least fifty or sixty.

The professor picked through the photos and handed over a few full-body shots:
“DCME-0181，成年白人女性，身高5英尺2英寸至5英尺6英寸（约157-168厘米）。”

"The body was highly adipocere, with skin ranging from grayish-white to yellowish-white, hard as wax, and facial features were unrecognizable."

“Wearing a purple synthetic fiber shirt and black tights, the clothes were severely adhered to the adipocere skin and were difficult to peel off.”

"To ensure the garments remained intact, we thoroughly soaked them in warm water before gradually separating them. This process took a full six hours!"

Bernie and Billy Hawke both turned their heads and instinctively looked toward the dissection room.

Theodore then asked the professor about his assessment of DCME-0181's (the second deceased person) age.

The professor flipped through his anatomy notes:
"The deceased had severely worn teeth and receding gums, and was likely between 38 and 48 years old."

He then picked out seven or eight photos of necks from the pile, and chose two with the best angles to show to everyone:

"An irregular horizontal subcutaneous bruise, approximately 2.8 to 3.5 inches (7 to 9 centimeters) wide, was visible on the front and sides of the deceased's neck."

"As per your request, I first performed an autopsy on the deceased's neck."

"The autopsy revealed linear fractures of the greater horn of the hyoid bone and the thyroid cartilage plate, and patchy hemorrhages were visible in the subcutaneous soft tissue and muscles of the neck."

"She was strangled."

After a pause, the professor continued:
"After a full autopsy, it was found that the deceased had multiple fractures in his limbs, sternum, ribs and other parts of his body."

"The deceased's stomach contents were missing."

Theodore repeated in confusion:

"Missing?"

The professor nodded:
"The organs in the thoracic and abdominal cavities are deformed due to adipocere, making their structures difficult to identify. It is hard to distinguish which are internal organs and which are organ contents."

"I took some samples and sent them for toxicology testing, but the results are not yet available."

Theodore then asked:
"What about the reproductive organs?"

The professor found several badly damaged photos and handed them to Theodore:
"The body has been stored for too long, making it difficult to obtain results directly; we can only wait for pathological examination."

"This situation is even more serious in DCME-0182 and DCME-0183."

“The thoracic and abdominal cavities of DCME-0182 were almost empty, while DCME-0183 was just a pile of bones, and even pathological and toxicological tests could not be performed.”

Theodore steered the conversation back to DCME-0181:

"What was the time of death?"

The professor shook his head:

"Adipocere usually begins weeks to months after death."

"Considering the environment in which DCME-0181 was located, the complete adipocere process may take even longer."

“We do not have relevant data records, and can only speculate based on the time of adipocere in a normal state. We estimate that DCME-0181 died between 6 and 18 months ago.”

Bernie couldn't help but ask the professor:

Couldn't it be more precise?

The professor shook his head:
"No."

He stuffed the photo back into the file bag, then took another file bag from the cabinet and opened it:

“DCME-0182, adult female, height 5.1 to 5.3 feet (153 to 161 centimeters), age between 25 and 40 years old, based on the condition of tooth wear.”

"The body was severely decomposed, with most of the soft tissue missing, and the bones of the limbs and torso exposed, appearing yellowish-brown."

Theodore interrupted him:

"Is it impossible to distinguish skin color?"

The professor picked out several full-body and facial photographs, pushed them in front of Theodore, and stared at him without saying a word. Theodore picked up the photographs, looked at them, and asked the professor:

"Is it impossible to determine this based on skull features?"

The professor's expression changed drastically, and he stared at Theodore with a serious look:
"Using skull features to determine race is pseudoscience and completely inaccurate!"

"It's not like hundreds of years ago, when people from different continents rarely interacted."

"With the invention of airplanes and ships, humanity is no longer isolated, and unprecedented integration has occurred between various races."

"The features of the human skull are no longer as obvious as they used to be."

“Cranial features are no longer applicable to this era of racial integration, and will become increasingly inapplicable, eventually being completely eliminated.”

"Black people are no longer slaves, and there is no reproductive isolation between people."

Theodore suspected that the professor might have misunderstood something.

He met the gaze of the slightly agitated professor, then turned to Bernie and Billy Hawke, only to realize that the two men hadn't understood a word they were saying. He could only look away, pick up the photograph again to examine it, and then show it to the professor:

"But you can see from the photos that the deceased's skull was long and high, his nasal bone was high and narrow, his face was vertical, and his eye sockets were almost square."

"This is a typical characteristic of the Caucasian race."

"DCME-0182 is white."

The professor took the photo and examined it carefully, then looked up at Theodore.

He opened his mouth, wanting to argue, but his academic integrity wouldn't allow him to talk nonsense.

So the professor could only nod and acknowledge Theodore's judgment.

The office fell into a brief silence, with the faint sound of laughter coming from the dissection room not far away.

Bernie's gaze darted back and forth between Theodore and the professor, breaking the silence.

He asked the professor:

Was she also strangled to death?

The professor nodded and flipped through the photos:

"The deceased had linear fractures of the greater horn of the hyoid bone and the thyroid cartilage plate, and multiple old fracture marks on the ribs and limbs. Due to the lack of records of decomposition changes in the body in the water, the time of death can only be estimated based on the records of decomposition changes on the shore."

"It is estimated to be between 12 and 24 months."

"Because the body was highly adipocere and partially skeletal, the available tissues and organs for testing were limited, far less than what DCME-0181 could provide."

He then introduced the third body (the fourth victim):

“DCME-0183 is highly skeletalized, so there is even less information available.”

Theodore picked up a photograph of the deceased's skull and examined it, determining that the deceased was a white person.

"The deceased's brow ridges were not prominent, her forehead was relatively vertical, the angle of her pubic arch was greater than 90 degrees, and her pelvic inlet was wide. The preliminary judgment is that the deceased was female."

"Judging from the wear and tear on the teeth, the age is between 30 and 45 years old."

"Height is between 5.0 feet and 5.4 feet (approximately 153 cm to 165 cm)."

"The time of death may have been more than two years ago."

The professor's estimated time was more conservative than Theodore's estimate when he was at the dock.

Theodore deduced that the third body (the fourth victim) had been dead for about 23 months, which is why he kept mentioning two years when requesting the personnel list from the shipyard.

Bernie quickly realized this and turned to look at Theodore.

Theodore didn't notice Bernie watching him. He hesitated for a moment, then asked the professor:
Did Howard University's medical school not approve funding for research on the decomposition of corpses in water?

"If Howard University doesn't have funding for this, perhaps the FBI could sponsor you to conduct this research."

“DC recovers several bodies from the Potomac and Anacastia rivers every year.”

The professor shook his head and refused.

He was unwilling to say more about the matter and instead steered the conversation back to the autopsy results:
"The pathology and toxicology test results should be available tomorrow or the day after, and you should receive the autopsy report before next Friday."

He called over a young forensic doctor to retrieve the clothing of victim number 2 (DCME-0181) and the waterproof tarpaulin and hemp rope that were with victim number 4 (DCME-0183).

Accompanied by a familiar, complex stench, seven or eight paper bags were piled on the ground.

The professor opened two paper bags, inside which were pieces of waterproof tarpaulin torn into pieces.

He explained that although they had been careful enough, the tarpaulin had completely lost its elasticity, and the only way to remove the body was to cut it open.

Before leaving, Theodore asked the professor again if he needed funding from the FBI.

The professor still refused.

This left Theodore somewhat disappointed.

Even after leaving the Third Precinct, he couldn't stop thinking about it and planned to write an application to have the FBI lab conduct the research when he got back.

He stared at Bernie for a while, thinking that perhaps getting Bernie to speak would increase the chances of success.

But then he thought of inviting the bald firefighter, which Bernie also seemed to have failed.

Bernie steered the conversation back to the case.

He asked Theodore whether they should contact Richard Dick Vaughn's assistant to postpone the list's release date.

Theodore shook his head:
"Need not."

He offered an explanation:
"The killer murdered only four people over a period of at least two years."

"This shows that only under specific pressure will the killer's murderous desire be triggered."

Billy Hawke raised the question:

"Are all three of them prostitutes?"

Theodore gave a cautious answer:

“The old fracture marks on the three victims were similar to those on victim number 1.”

"Such frequent fracture marks indicate that the deceased had been frequently beaten before his death."

"If it's not caused by domestic violence, then it can only be an occupational injury."

"Given that the three victims and the first victim were all victims of the same serial killer, there must be a strong connection between them."

"The first victim was a professional prostitute, therefore it is inferred that the other three victims were also prostitutes."

Billy Hawke felt somewhat incredulous:

“But they are all in their thirties, or even their forties.”

"I don't understand. He's not short of money, so why doesn't he go for younger prostitutes instead of older ones?"

Bernie, thinking of the Riverside Hotel case, couldn't help but reply:

"It might be a special kind of hobby."

"Maybe he just likes older women."

Theodore looked at Bernie in surprise, sizing him up, hesitating whether he should ask about his partner's marital status.

He had just met Mrs. Sullivan, who worked as a typist at the law firm, two days ago, and said he would introduce Theodore to the female staff at the firm.

She is quickly adapting to life in DC.

Billy Hawke imagined it for a moment and couldn't help but shudder:
What's in it for him?

Bernie shook his head, also indicating his incomprehension.

The killer's preference for prostitutes in this case further confirms his view of people in DC:
People in DC are truly perverted!
(End of this chapter)