Hour Game (Sean King & Michelle Maxwell 2)

Sylvia was looking down at him when King touched her on the shoulder. She turned, and there were tears in her eyes. She dabbed at them with her hand and straightened up, assuming a more professional appearance.

“It’s okay, Sylvia,” said King. “You two weren’t best friends but I know it still hurts.”

She blew her nose into a tissue and nodded at the techs standing by. “You can take him.”

They placed Kyle in a body bag and carried it out.

Todd Williams came over to join them.

Michelle said, “So it was a drug overdose? We’re not looking at another serial killing?”

The chief shook his head. “No watch and no dog collar thing going on.”

King was staring at Sylvia. “But on the phone you said you weren’t sure it was a drug overdose.”

“Certainly, we found indications that it was,” she said slowly.

Williams added, “A syringe, rubber tourniquet and a needle mark on his forearm.”

Sylvia said, “We need to run tests on any residue in the syringe to see what it was. That’ll take a few days. And I’ll run toxicology on the body fluids, but we won’t know the results of those for at least two weeks.”

“You can’t tell from the autopsy what was shot into him?” asked Williams.

“Yes and no. If it was heroin, for example, which is a respiratory depressant, there might be some slight heaviness or congestion in the lungs and a foamy mucus in the airway, but it would be far from conclusive. The fact is, if he died of an overdose, the autopsy alone won’t reveal what it was for certain. We have to rely on the toxicology results for that. If it was cocaine, the tox report will pick that up. If it was heroin, 6-monoacetylmorphine, a metabolite of heroin, will be found in the body. That’s pretty conclusive proof of a heroin overdose.”

“Maybe it was a drug from your office.”

“Possible, but if the screens find 6-monoacetylmorphine in Kyle’s blood or urine and don’t find the presence of aspirin or Tylenol, that will be proof enough that it’s not a prescription opiate narcotic in his system.”

“Tylenol or aspirin?” asked Williams.

“Yes, because prescription opiates are frequently combined with those medications. That’s not the case with heroin or cocaine or other street drugs.”

“Who found him?” asked Michelle.

“I did,” said Williams. “After you called me this morning, I decided to handle it myself. I came here with a deputy. We knocked. There was no answer. His Jeep was parked in front, so we figured he was here. We called his apartment and his cell phone, but there was no answer. We didn’t have a warrant to go in, but it was suspicious enough that I went to the super’s office and got them to open it. That’s when we found him.”

“The core body temp and degree of rigor mortis suggest he’s been dead less than twelve hours,” opined Sylvia.

King checked his watch. “So sometime after midnight or so?”

“Yes.”

“And no one saw anyone enter or leave the apartment?” asked King.

“We’re still checking on that,” said Williams.

“Okay, we need to find this mystery woman at the Aphrodisiac pronto,” said King.

“I’m heading over there today,” said Williams.

“We’d like to go with you, Todd,” said King. “Can you hold off for a couple of hours and meet us there? We’ll call you.”

“I guess that won’t hurt.”

“When are you going to do the post, Sylvia?” asked Michelle.

“Right away. I’ve canceled my patients for the day.”