Chapter 7 - THE MEDICAL EXAMINERThe preliminary autopsy findings came forty-eight hours later.
Harrison listened standing.
He could not sit.
The medical examiner, Dr. Lena Morrison, spoke carefully.
“There is no evidence of blunt-force trauma or external violence.”
Harrison closed his eyes briefly.
“Cause?”
“Pending toxicology.”
“What did you find?”
“Amelia’s heart showed signs consistent with a sudden rhythm disturbance, but that alone does not explain why it occurred.”
“The pregnancy?”
“Eight months, approximately thirty-four weeks.”
“The baby?”
Harrison swallowed.
Dr. Morrison softened.
“There was no evidence of longstanding fetal distress.”
“Could the baby have been delivered?”
Silence.
That was the question no one wanted.
“Potentially.”
The word devastated him.
“If emergency services had been called?”
“We cannot say whether either life would have been saved.”
“But?”
“But a pregnant patient with sudden collapse requires immediate emergency response.”
Harrison looked at Elias.
No ambulance.
No hospital.
No obstetric team.
Dr. Morrison continued.
“There is another concern.”
“What?”
“Amelia’s blood contained a medication not listed in the health records we received.”
Harrison’s pulse increased.
“What medication?”
Dr. Morrison named it.
Harrison did not recognize it.
“What does it do?”
“In legitimate circumstances, it may be prescribed for certain medical conditions.”
“Was Amelia prescribed it?”
“We found no record.”
“At the detected level, combined with her pregnancy and other factors, it could contribute to dangerous cardiac instability.”
“Could it kill her?”
“It could contribute to a fatal event.”
Harrison’s hand tightened around the chair.
“Was it the tablet Nora saw?”
“Possibly.”
“Can you prove that?”
“No.”
“Then what can you prove?”
“That Amelia had a drug in her system that her records do not show she should have been taking.”
Dr. Morrison continued.
“And that her death should not have been certified as an uncomplicated natural pregnancy-related event without further examination.”
Dr. Voss had signed too quickly.
Maybe because he was incompetent.
Maybe because he knew exactly what would be found.
Harrison asked:
“Do doctors normally carry this medication?”
“Not necessarily.”
“Could a physician obtain it?”
“Yes.”
The family physician became much more interesting.
Then Dr. Morrison added:
“We found another unusual detail.”
Harrison waited.
“A small amount of the same compound was found in a drinking glass collected from Amelia’s bedroom.”
Elias looked up.
Not simply a tablet?
Someone may have dissolved or transferred medication.
Dr. Morrison warned them not to overinterpret.
Contamination possible.
Chain of custody imperfect because the room was not initially treated as a crime scene.
Still.
Enough.
Harrison remembered Amelia saying she did not want the tablet.
Had she taken it anyway?
Had something been put in water?
Nora remembered Dr. Voss handing her a glass afterward.
“Drink.”
Amelia did.
The possibility turned Harrison’s grief into controlled fury.
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Now the investigation had a medical path.
And Dr. Samuel Voss had disappeared.
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