Avriel Kaplan: Well dressed, well groomed, beautifully handsome, quiet and brooding and exactly the kind of man Ariel Declan doesn't need to know. But, that is not for her to decide.
Alexander Kirk: wickedly handsome, well known and well liked, egot...
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Reports were always the tedious part of her job and the part she hated the most. She wasn't looking forward to the reports that had come in from the outskirts of the city. So many of them had been full of concern and worry over an increase in the number of deaths over the past six months. Each death was ruled as Death by natural causes. Nevertheless, something was definitely amiss. The numbers just didn't add up and numbers didn't lie. Dr. Maldonado looked over the reports. If she added the reports together. The number of Deaths due to heart failure was alarming. The number was well above the national average, above the average for any other set of three counties in the state. Even in cities twice as large as hers or closer to the border, the death toll due to heart failure was much lower than it was in the counties she looked over.
Huddled in her office, burning the midnight flame, Kirstin poured over stat after stat comparing both similar and dissimilar area's death tolls. A frown creased her brow as she tortured the end of yet another pen with her teeth. No. The numbers didn't lie. Something was wrong, very wrong, but what? She pulled up her email and read over the message from Deborah, one of the county medical examiners that were reporting an increase in heart failure deaths in her county.
Dr. Maldonado,
I am writing you this letter with great concern. There is no short way to put this. I am seeing an increased number of deaths due to heart failure come through my morgue. There have been over 15 unrelated cases of heart failure in this county alone in the past 30 days.
It is not just in the elderly population, that can be expected in a poorly cared for area as the poverty level increases so do the number of unexplained deaths, typically. But as I have stated I am seeing a significant increase in heart failure without indication of any previous complications or troubles with the heart. It's like the body just gives up on living.
The bodies come in after being discovered, most after a few days decomp some a little longer, so they're not in very good condition when I get them. There is no sign of injury outside of self-inflicted injury and that is never enough to cause the loss of life. The heart just stops beating.
The toxicology comes back clean, most of the time. Well clean enough. The drugs that are often found in the body are not uncommon here, cocaine, heroin, PCP, but it is all in doses that are not significantly high or even elevated.
I don't know what this trend means. I have done pathological testing to determine if it is a biological agent at work or better yet to rule it out. Examination of different tissue samples, especially of the heart, show a significant lack of oxygen and proteins in the cells, yet there is no sign of hemorrhaging, ruptured cells or other forms of destruction. I am also getting reports from my fellow ME Bradley Landon over in the projects that he is noting the same trend.
I will continue to monitor the situation and await your instructions.
Sincerely,
Deborah Santelli MD
Medical Examiner
Kirstin swore under her breath. And ran her hands through her dark hair. It was a huge problem, far larger than she could have imagined.
