Jayne and Steelie - 01 - Freezing by Clea Koff Page A

metal desks, filing cabinets, and bookshelves filled with forensic science reference texts. The back of the room was set up as a wet lab with fume hoods and countertop.
    Steelie sounded impressed: ‘So this is where you guys hang out?’
    Weiss nodded. ‘Tony Lee, who did the photography out by the freeway, is just through that door, in the cool room.’
    â€˜What goes on here, exactly?’ asked Jayne.
    â€˜We do collection of trace evidence, some analysis.’
    Agent Lee emerged from the door at the end of the room. He was wearing blue scrubs and had two reddish stripes across his cheeks where the elastic straps on a filter mask must have pulled tight. There was another stripe across his forehead and his dark hair looked flattened. He raised a hand in greeting.
    â€˜Hey, Thirty-two One. Been expecting you.’
    Weiss said, ‘I’ll leave you to it, then,’ and departed.
    Steelie and Jayne followed Lee into an anteroom that was divided by a bench and had lockers on one side. At one end, there was a sink with a mirror above it next to a door marked ‘Restroom’. Adjacent to that were two swinging doors, each with a porthole.
    Tony explained, ‘We’ll do the examination in the cool room itself because we’re trying to keep the material as cold as possible on account of the coroner needing it next. Here’s the protective gear. I’d suit up over your own clothes – you’ll need them for warmth. The shoe covers are here.’ He gestured to a container by the entrance to the cool room.
    â€˜And the glasses are inside this box.’ He put his hand on a wall-mounted cabinet holding Plexiglas safety glasses on a series of hooks, all illuminated by a soft ultraviolet glow.
    â€˜I’m here to run the fluoroscope for you, capture whatever images you want, take photos, and move the material if necessary.’
    â€˜Basically cater to our every need,’ joked Steelie.
    â€˜Exactly.’
    Jayne was glad Steelie had made the joke. She was beginning to feel tense about seeing the body parts out of the natural environment by the freeway where the leaves and detritus had masked the brutality of the cuts. The clinical setting would make the body parts look more like a dismembered body – one body in particular, one person in particular: Benni – no, don’t think of him, don’t even conjure up his name . Jayne felt Steelie nudge her and she took the mask Steelie was holding out, shaking her head in response to the question in her friend’s eyes.
    She pulled up her hood and followed the others into the cool room, another windowless space whose chill was a shock. Most of the overhead lights were switched off but a panel illuminated the center of the room above the fluoroscope. The fluoroscope’s neck was cantilevered parallel to the floor, making the portable X-ray machine resemble an out-of-commission oil derrick. The body parts were in black body bags, each bag on its own gurney, and lined up next to the fluoroscope.
    â€˜Sorry for the “CSI” effect with the lights,’ Tony said, only slightly muffled through his mask, ‘just trying to keep radiant heat to a minimum but let me know if you need more light.’
    He pulled the nearest gurney towards the fluoroscope and unzipped the body bag. It held the severed leg.
    The pale flesh was damp and had defrosted. Blood pooled darkly in the recesses of the body bag. Jayne was relieved that her first instinct was to move closer to get a better look. She and Steelie positioned themselves on either side of the gurney, while Tony stayed by the fluoroscope.
    â€˜The cut goes through the femoral shaft,’ commented Steelie. ‘Looks like midway up the thigh.’
    â€˜And the other cut’s just under the patella,’ Jayne murmured.
    â€˜Trying to avoid sawing through bone again?’
    â€˜Maybe. Can’t tell which cut he tried first.’
    â€˜How