American forensics, but the gourmet system

"Jennifer Jackson, a Philadelphia resident. Her body was found on the banks of the Hudson River on October 3rd of last year. Ulster County Sheriff's Department detectives arrived at the scene and identified Jennifer using her driver's license, which she was carrying."

Aina sat on the sofa, intently looking at the information displayed on her laptop screen.

Russell stood to the side, holding a coat hanger, and pointed at the computer screen.

"On October 5, Ulster County Medical Examiner Simons performed an autopsy on Jennifer, confirming that she died of asphyxiation due to drowning. The autopsy report bears Simons' signature. Police also confirmed through interviews with eyewitnesses that Jennifer was alone on the upper reaches of the Hudson River on September 30, confirming that Jennifer's death was not a homicide."

Russell bent down, flipped through the pages of the document with the mouse, then straightened up and continued:

"Further information indicates that police were unable to contact Jennifer's relatives, and her body was officially placed in the cold storage morgue at Kingston Health Alliance Hospital on October 6. Here is the morgue administrator's signature; let's take a look, the administrator is also Simmons."

Russell paused for a moment, then gently tapped his left hand with the coat hanger in his right:

"Finally, something interesting happened. On May 23rd of this year, Jennifer's aunt contacted the police and came to Ulster County to collect Jennifer's body. The person who signed the application to claim the body was still Simmons."

Aina blinked:

"You think there's something wrong with Simmons? But... in a small place like this, it's quite normal for one person to hold multiple positions..."

“Yes, that’s normal,” Russell nodded. “Not to mention Ulster County, even Dr. Beckman has to fill in for administrative duties when there aren’t enough people… But when one person manages the entire process of examining, storing, and retrieving corpses, problems are bound to occur. Otherwise, we wouldn’t have found Jennifer’s half-arm under a rotten, dried-up oak tree.”

Aina nodded in agreement.

Russell tossed the coat hanger aside and bent down to open a webpage on his computer:

"Secondly, according to federal law, unclaimed bodies must be cremated after six months of storage. However, DNA samples or other evidence that can prove the identity of the deceased must be preserved... Here is Jennifer's cremation certificate, signed by medical examiner Simmons."

Aina took a slight breath, clearly realizing that something was amiss.

She asked, somewhat shocked:

"So Jennifer's aunt only took her ashes? But since Jennifer has already been cremated, where did that hand come from?"

"I have two theories at the moment." Russell held up two fingers, then bent one down. "First, before Jennifer's body was cremated, a wretched raccoon sneaked into the funeral home and stole Jennifer's right forearm."

"How could that be!" Aina immediately shook her head. "The funeral home in Ulster County is in Kingston, a 40-minute drive from here... unless that raccoon can drive!"

"There's a raccoon in the Avengers who can fly a spaceship... Okay, let's not talk about that." Russell wagged his remaining finger. "Now there's only one possible explanation left: Jennifer's body wasn't cremated at all, but was just dumped somewhere nearby, and some lucky raccoon found it, and then—"

Russell shrugged.

  

Although the room was very warm, Aina still felt a chill run down her spine.

"If that's the case, then Dr. Simmons, who was involved in the whole process, is definitely involved..." she murmured. "Should we notify Chief Hunter or Sheriff Monroe now?"

Russell slowly shook his head.

"Why?" Aina asked in surprise.

“Because I suspect they’ll defend Simmons,” Russell said softly. “You heard it yourself, everyone in the department speaks very highly of Simmons. And, as their colleague, Simmons was just murdered…”

"A person's most perfect moments are in the first few days after their death. If we were to propose an investigation into Dr. Simmons now, do you think we would encounter a lot of resistance at the Ulster County Sheriff's Department?"

Aina took a deep breath; she clearly realized that Russell was right.

"What should we do then?"

Russell took out his phone, glanced at the time, and said:

"Dr. Beckman has granted me about three more days of travel time. Within these three days, I must find concrete evidence of Dr. Simmons's crimes so that we can continue our investigation..."

"It's us."

Aina took over the conversation.

"What?"

Russell didn't understand at first.

"We're investigating together, not just you," Aina said casually. "I think I can be of some help, right?"

Russell laughed:

"It will definitely be helpful... Alright, let's set off now."

……

Kingston, Health Union Hospital.

The Cybertruck chugled through the snow and pulled into the parking lot.

Russell jumped out of the car. The snow was still falling, and the snow on the ground was already above his ankles.

He tightened his trench coat, somewhat regretting not bringing more clothes on vacation.

Before arriving at the farm hotel, Russell only brought one change of clothes in his backpack.

Who would have thought that the short two-day holiday would be extended several times over?

Aina also got out of the car, and the two of them walked through the crunching snow into the side door that the hospital had specially reserved for the forensic doctor.

"Didn't Sheriff Monroe ask you what you were doing here?"

As Aina brushed the snowflakes off her shoulders and hair, she asked Russell.

"I told him that I couldn't remember some details when I was writing the forensic report and that I wanted to come here to see the video footage from that time."

Russell stepped into the elevator.

"That's true...we really did come to watch the recording..."

The elevator doors opened, and a small brass plaque hung on the door diagonally opposite:

office

Leo Simmons

Forensic

The door was locked, but not locked, indicating that the police had come to Simmons' office to look for clues during the investigation.

The two removed the padlock and went into the room.

Aina immediately turned on the computer on her desk, while Russell rummaged through the filing cabinet next to her.

Generally, forensic doctors will categorize and save the videos of the autopsy process by date or the name of the deceased.

Russell and Aina came to Simmons' office to find some useful clues from Jennifer's autopsy video.

"Here are two more hard drives." Russell took two labeled portable hard drives from the filing cabinet and placed them on his desk. "If you can't find them on the computer, they should be in here."

"Obviously, there's no need." Aina shrugged and opened a video file named [J.Jackson 10.5]. "Looks like Dr. Simmons's office computer has plenty of storage space..."

The video has started playing.

The young girl on the autopsy table looked much like the one Russell had seen in the file, except that her body was somewhat swollen from being soaked in water.

In the video, Dr. Simmons skillfully dissects the corpse, opening the sternum, turning over the ribs, and observing and recording the condition of the lungs.

This is indeed a necessary procedure for examining the bodies of those who died from drowning.

Moreover, as Andrei said, Simmons' anatomical skills were indeed very proficient and dexterous.

While it certainly can't compare to the elite level of master butchering, it's at least a technique at the level of precision surgery.

I have definitely practiced diligently and wholeheartedly.

Would a forensic pathologist who has meticulously studied anatomical techniques be willing to work in a small county town for decades, even being criticized by his ex-wife for lacking ambition?

Russell increasingly felt that there was something wrong with Simmons.