dead pulse

dead pulse- chapter 2, part 3

The forensic investigators took a few shots of the woman's body, then her mouth.

Officer Brian Stoke had found his way over, and was standing over the body, grimacing.

"Ah shit, I thought this was a goddamn kidnapping?" He said, trying to scratch his back under his stab vest.

"So did I" Ashe shrugged her shoulders. "But what are you gonna do? She's dead"

Stoke finally got the sarcastic edge and let out a small laugh. He was a tall man, with an athletic build, spiky black hair and deep green eyes.

"So how do you think she got a fuckin' vial lodged in her throat? Was it put there or something?" He seemed to have finally got the place he wanted to scratch, as a look of intense relief passed over his face.

"That's what I thought" Ashe replied. "It's properly stuck in, I have reason to believe it's not down the throat, it's pushed into the back, by the angle it's sticking out. the swelling could've been the thing holding it in, but so far we don't know how long the body's been here so..." She trailed off, with another gentle shrug of her shoulders. Stoke nodded, and turned to look back at the body.

"Cole?" He said, without turning around.

Cole raised her eyebrows. "I guess it's lucky I kept my gloves on" She said grimly, taking a few steps closer, crouching down and reaching Into the woman's mouth. She gripped onto the vial and pulled gently, but the vial stayed put. She let a little air out of her mouth and pulled again, this time a little harder. There was a wet snapping sound, and the vial slid out.

Cole looked back into the woman's mouth to see a hole just above the throat in the roof of her mouth where the vial had actually been placed. "Hey Ashe, you're right. Come take a look"

"Eurgh, gross, man" Ashe cried, wrinkling her nose. She was pleased to see a flicker of disgust pass over Cole's face. She really thought she was badass. Well, as a general rule, she was pretty badass.

She took her notepad back out, and scrawled a couple of notes, whilst narrating them.

"Discovery... Of... Cylindrical vial... Located in... Back of victims throat... "

"You guys might want a picture of that" She told the forensic scientists and investigators, waving her pen at them. They all nodded, and she caught a few murmured 'Yeah's and 'right's.

It was the shape of a test tube- with a silver lid in the top, and what appeared to be a rolled up piece of paper inside of it. "This feels like Scoobie Doo or something" Cole joked. Ashe wondered if anyone else had heard the slight stress on 'Doo' That confirmed she also succumbed to human emotions. Ashe quickly noted down the finding of the paper in the tube, and then looked up expectantly. She opened her mouth to ask Cole to continue, but then Angelo Harrison startled her, walking out from the trees behind her.

"Damn! No, I can't seem to find much, no trail, no evidence, no shit!" He said, stretching his arms in front of him.

"Shit, Angie!" Ashe gasped. "Where the fuck did you come from?"

He rolled his eyes, tilting his head back. "I was checking out the trees, you know, bag with gloves in, shovel, knife, all that sorta fuck. And don't call me Angie" He said, exasperated. Cole looked up briefly, but then continued turning the tube around in her hands, examining it from all angles. Then she began to unscrew the top.

"Hey! Shouldn't we be keeping that for the forensics?" Angelo cried.

"To be honest with you Angelo, I don't believe now is the time to be bothering about things as unimportant as that. Ashe, note it down anyway" Cole continued to unscrew the lid, and pulled it off.