American forensics, but the gourmet system

The Cybertruck was parked on the snow-covered open ground; it was completely dark by then.

In front of a building not far away, several spotlights shone on the light-colored snow, reflecting a flickering light.

Half an hour ago, at Russell's instruction, Aina forged a report of an accidental death, with the deceased's name being Sofia Fick.

The fabricated documents claimed that Sofia's body was found fifteen months earlier on the banks of the Hudson River, and that she had been mauled by wild animals, losing her entire right arm and half of her lower leg.

Russell was on the phone in his car, his tone calm and serious:

"...That's right, Sheriff Monroe. You can check the files now; Sophia's death report is missing a few photos... I'm not blaming Dr. Simmons for negligence; anyone can make such mistakes..."

"Yes, I need to add a few photos to the file. Although it was unintentional, a mistake is a mistake and it always needs to be corrected. What if someone finds half a leg while riding a horse next time? Would you still go through such a huge investigation?"

"Oh, you saw Sophia's file... Is it the same as what I described? That's right, there are no photos from the autopsy, nor photos of her identity being confirmed before cremation... This is a mistake that shouldn't have happened."

"Fortunately, the autopsy process was recorded on video, so it doesn't have a big impact. However, the lack of photos confirming the identity before cremation is a bit of a problem. If the deceased's family suddenly comes knocking, the Ulster County government says they might have to go to court."

"The funeral home might have CCTV footage? That's great! Can I get authorization to view the CCTV footage of cremations at the funeral home? Perhaps I can fill in the missing parts..."

  

"It's alright, no need to thank me. This is my job until the new forensic pathologist arrives... Goodbye, Sheriff Monroe."

Russell hung up the phone, smiled slightly at Aina, and the two gave each other a high five.

"How did you manage to get the forged documents into the Ulster County Sheriff's Department's internal network? I never expected you to be able to do it so quickly..."

Russell spoke to Aina in a complimentary tone.

"Hack into a county sheriff's office's internal network is much easier than recovering a super blurry photo," Aina shrugged. "Want to learn? I can teach you."

"Never mind," Russell waved his hands repeatedly, then said seriously, "I still prefer my job as a forensic pathologist."

Before getting off the bus, Aina suddenly asked Russell:

"So, wouldn't we be considered to have deceived the police or illegally obtained evidence?"

"A little bit of both," Russell answered honestly, "but we just want to find out what Dr. Simmons is up to... sometimes you have to use some unusual methods."

"That's great." Aina patted Russell on the shoulder with a smile. "You know, I'm not a conventional girl... I've always liked to do rebellious things."

……

The administrator at the Ulster County Funeral Home was named Fitcher; he had gray hair and was slightly hunchbacked.

When he saw Russell and Aina, he paused for a moment, clearly surprised by their youth:

"Forensic pathologist? With Sheriff Monroe's authorization?"

“Yes, Mr. Fitcher.” Russell nodded. “We found some inconsistencies in a death report from last year that need to be supplemented by reviewing surveillance footage.”

"Okay...okay." Fitch opened the door, gesturing for Russell and the other man to come in.

The door closed, shutting out the cold, snowy night outside.

"I heard about Dr. Simmons, it's a real shame," Fitcher said as he led Russell and Aina toward the monitoring room. "He was a nice guy, he never offended anyone..."

"Are you acquainted with Dr. Simmons, Mr. Fitch?" Russell asked casually.

"Not that close." Fitch stopped in front of a door and pulled a bunch of keys out of his pocket. "My interactions with him are limited to him bringing bodies over, me cremating them... occasionally exchanging greetings, him buying me a coffee... that's it. He is quite close to the hearse driver, Andy, though, of course, that's obvious, Andy is Simmons' cousin, they're definitely close."

Fitch pushed open the door to the monitoring room and continued:

"This is the funeral home's monitoring room. Only a few key locations have surveillance cameras installed: the main entrance, in front of the crematorium, the signature confirmation area... The surveillance camera at the main entrance has been broken for a long time, and the application for repair funding has not been approved. I don't know if it will be repaired before I retire..."

Fitch had the rambling, talkative nature common to older people.

"Thank you, Mr. Fitch," Russell said politely. "We'll call you if we need anything."

"Okay...okay. Call me if you need anything..." Fitch turned around, slightly hunched over, and walked to the other side of the corridor, muttering words like "regrettable," "shocking," and "really."

"Would you suspect this administrator?" Aina closed the monitoring room door behind her and turned to ask Russell, "If Simmons bribes this administrator, then all the corpses in Ulster County will be practically Simmons's private property."

"Do you think Simmons is dealing in corpses?" Russell asked Aina in return.

"I think that's the most reasonable explanation." Aina sat down in front of the monitoring computer and skillfully began operating it. "Send a puff of air into the crematorium, put the ashes from some kind of combustion into an urn... and then resell the body for profit. Sounds reasonable, doesn't it?"

"Hmm...that makes sense. But it doesn't quite make sense either." Russell nodded, then shook his head. "Let's see what happens when Simmons cremates Jennifer...If Simmons really sent a puff of air into the crematorium, then we'll have to think carefully about how to escape from the dangerous funeral home...Fitch will definitely be waiting for us behind the door with a baseball bat or a chainsaw."

Aina couldn't help but laugh.

Based on the time Jennifer registered for cremation, Aina quickly found the surveillance footage from that day.

"Here it comes," Aina said, pointing to the hearse on the screen. "The records for that day only show one body being cremated; this should be the one."

In the surveillance footage, the hearse driver jumped out of the vehicle and, together with Dr. Simmons, lifted the body off the hearse and pushed the hearse into the funeral home.

"Clearly they didn't cremate a puff of air," Russell said, pointing to the screen. "So here's the question: if this body is Jennifer, where did the right hand we found come from? If this body isn't Jennifer, then whose is it?"

"Let's keep watching," Aina said, perking up as well.

The scene shifts to the signature confirmation area, where Fitch hands Simmons a confirmation form. Simmons scribbles on the form, and Fitch pushes the hearse into the crematorium.

The scene shifts again, and Fitch is seen using tools to lift a body from a hearse—

Click.

Aina pressed the pause button.

Even without image enhancement, Russell could still recognize, in the blurry surveillance footage, that the body being sent into the crematorium by Fitch was not Jennifer.

Jennifer died from drowning. Her body was swollen from being submerged in water, and her facial features were somewhat blurred.

The female corpse in the picture has tight skin and clear facial features, making it look like a fresh corpse that has just died.

A fresh corpse?!

Russell was startled, and the hairs on his arms stood on end.