The world of American TV series: Starting with the L.A. Patrol.

Chapter 1102 Strange Cause of Death

"Come on, Jack is just trying to scare you. Alexis is probably just in love." Beckett also smiled and "comforted" someone.

"Love?" Cassel indeed breathed a sigh of relief, but the turn that someone had expected did not happen.

"So you don't mind Alexis having a relationship before entering college?" Jack asked in surprise.

Cassel's expression was even more surprised than Jack's. "Why should she mind? Isn't it the best experience in life for her to enjoy a sweet and sour love at her age?

When did I become that old-fashioned guy in your eyes? I have always been the coolest dad in the eyes of Alexis' classmates."

Seeing this guy quickly recover his mood and come close to Beckett and smile again, Jack suddenly felt that his happiness was leaving him rapidly.

It turns out that stereotypes are not true. There are really fathers in this world who don’t mind their own children being taken advantage of by pigs.

"OK, according to the county hospital's reply, Dr. Monroe got off work at 6 o'clock last night, which means she was murdered one to two hours after she got off work.

I plan to go to the hospital later to investigate and hopefully her colleagues can tell us where she has been since then.”

As soon as Beckett finished marking the first time point on the evidence board, Kevin Ryan, the other half of the funny duo, hurried into the office.

"Hey guys, Esposito checked with the funeral director and he said he found a broken rear window early this morning and called the police on suspicion of a break-in.

I checked the police records, but because nothing was missing from the scene, the patrol officers didn’t even have time to check the house before the body was exposed.”

"Did you find any suspicious fingerprints on the coffin or the rear window?" Beckett's eyes lit up.

Kevin put his hands in his pockets and looked a little embarrassed. "Sorry, I got struck out (got nothing)."

So what on earth was this guy so excited about? Jack, who was looking through the records on the deceased's phone, looked at him speechlessly.

“But we still have hitters (who still have a chance).”

Behind Kevin, Esposito also walked into the office with a smug smile on his face.

"I checked Dr. Monroe's credit card records and found something unusual. During the past six months, she bought a cup of coffee almost every morning."

"Oh, a doctor who buys coffee in the morning, that's really unusual." Kevin, who had just been given a few cold stares, took the opportunity to look down on his partner.

"What if the money was spent at a coffee shop 20 blocks away from where you live?" Esposito didn't understand what was wrong with this guy that he suddenly jumped out to expose his own plan.

"Is she on her way to work?" Cassel moved closer to Jack again, wanting to know what he was looking at.

"No, in the exact opposite direction," Esposito said while glaring at Kevin, startling him.

"Or maybe you have a boyfriend living nearby?" Jack said casually, handing the phone to Cassel.

"I'm going there now to check it out." Esposito said and turned to leave, glaring at Kevin fiercely before leaving.

Kevin hurriedly followed, "I'll go with you." After watching the two funny guys leave, Cassel frowned after getting the dead man's phone. "Dr. Monroe used his phone to search for hotels in Katona when he got off work at 6 o'clock last night. Could this be related to the case?"

"Maybe she has some friends or relatives there?" Beckett guessed.

Cassel suddenly seemed to realize something. "Or was she planning to meet her lover in secret? Then her current boyfriend found out, and she became so jealous that she killed her impulsively?"

"This is a clichéd plot that is terrible." Beckett mercilessly complained about the great writer. "Lanni only found a small bruise from the back of the head to the neck of the body, and there were no resistance injuries from the arms to the nails. How can this be called an impulsive murder?"

Cassel opened his mouth but didn't come up with any new guesses. He was rarely silenced.

At this time, Jack's cell phone rang. It was an unfamiliar landline number. After he answered it, the voice of forensic pathologist Lannie was heard.

"Jack, can you come to my office sometime? Bring Kate (Beckett) and her writer."

-

"I can't believe you called Jack instead of me." Beckett complained to her best friend, the medical examiner, as soon as she entered the medical examiner's office.

Lanny was busy at a microscope and didn't even look up when she heard her complaint. "I know this is your case, but can you help me get in line at the CSI lab?"

"Did you find any trace evidence?" Jack understood.

"Gray nylon fiber. I guess it's the kind used in plastic carpets. But if you want to find the manufacturer, the CSI lab has the most comprehensive database. The evidence has been sent over. I just need someone to make a phone call."

Only then did Lanny raise her head from the microscope, move aside and let her best friend look at it herself. As a result, Cassel curiously put his head forward.

"What's the cause of death?" Beckett looked at the dissection table. It was obvious that the body had been disemboweled, but fortunately, Lannie covered it with a piece of white cloth, so the scene was not too horrifying.

"This is also the reason why I asked Jack to come here. After shaving off some of the hair, the bruises are more obvious." Lanny lifted the white cloth to reveal only the head of the deceased, and motioned for the professionals to come forward.

"Is this... a knife attack?" Jack recognized the cause of the bruise at a glance and gestured in the air with his hand, although he preferred to target the carotid sinus.

Lani smiled appreciatively, "Hmm, judging from the size of the palm, the murderer is most likely a man, but he should have worn gloves. I didn't collect any DNA traces other than the deceased.

And my previous judgment was correct, this was not a fatal injury."

She turned the head of the corpse to the other side. "I found an injection needle hole on the other side of her neck. This is the real cause of death."

The deceased, Dr. Valerie Monroe, was a white woman in her early 30s. The skin on her neck was very fair and tight, which made the small red injection needle hole extremely conspicuous under the light.

"There is no inflammatory reaction, and you shouldn't have enough time to complete the toxicology analysis in such a short time, but you have determined the cause of death, so she was injected with a shot of air?" Jack guessed the answer instantly.

"Air embolism?" Cassel, who had been unable to get a word in, quickly responded.

"Very good, both of you." Lanny gave them a rewarding wink. "The injection technique was very decisive. If I were to say, the murderer must be at least a fairly experienced medical worker."