06 Double Danger by Dee Davis Read Free Book Online Page B

still takes time.”
    “So which is which?” J.J. asked, her face devoid of emotion, but her fingers clenching into fists as she clearly fought against her unease.
    “This was the pilot,” Lydia said, tilting her head toward the closest body. She reached out and pulled the sheet back. Simon’s stomach roiled, and J.J. bit back a gasp. “You want me to cover him back up?”
    J.J. shook her head, her hand still covering her mouth. And Simon marveled at her strength. “So do you have a cause of death?” she asked.
    “Blunt force trauma.” Lydia nodded. “You can actually still see the point of impact here.” She pointed to the man’s skull, most of the skin burned away, and a deepindentation just above one eye socket. “I’m guessing it happened when they hit the building. He was most likely thrown against the instrument panel. Truth is I’m surprised he wasn’t tossed right through the window.”
    “Might have saved his life,” Simon mused, hoping the poor bastard hadn’t suffered too much.
    “Not likely,” Lydia said.
    “So he died instantly?” J.J. asked.
    “Unfortunately, no. There was evidence of smoke in his lungs, which means he was alive when the fire started, and I understand that wasn’t until sometime after the crash.”
    “Yeah. About fifteen minutes or so.” Simon couldn’t pull his eyes from the mutilated body.
    “But I thought you said it was blunt force trauma?” J.J. frowned, her puzzled gaze catching Simon’s.
    “It was,” Lydia confirmed. “Or more accurately, a brain bleed caused by blunt force trauma. When a person takes a blow to the head, the brain moves within the skull in the direction of the blow, for the most part, absorbing the shock. But if the blow is strong enough, the brain is slammed, quite literally, into the wall of the skull.” She jerked her head back to demonstrate. “And then in worst-case scenarios, it rebounds off the other side.” She swung her head forward. “Which causes tremendous bruising and swelling.”
    “Hematoma,” Simon said, his eyes back on the body.
    “Right. In some cases, the swelling itself can be lethal. But if the hematoma breaks or tears, then the brain is going to fill with blood. And unless there’s immediate medical care, chances of survival are nil.”
    “But when I checked the guy, he was already dead,”Simon said. “Before the fire started. So how did he wind up with smoke in his lungs?”
    “Could be a couple of things.” Lydia shrugged. “There may have been a smaller fire in the helicopter on impact. Maybe electrical. And that would be the source of the smoke. I should be able to verify that with more testing. But it’s equally possible that the pilot was still alive when you checked. He’d have been unconscious and, considering the impact, quite possibly in a coma. So for all practical purposes, he’d have looked dead.”
    “So you’re saying that if I could have gotten to him, I could have saved him?”
    “Not with that kind of brain injury.” She shook her head. “He was dead the moment his brain began to bleed. There’s nothing you could have done.”
    “But he was in the middle of a hospital,” J.J. whispered to no one in particular, the horror in her voice reaching something deep inside him.
    “Doesn’t matter. He didn’t have a chance.” Lydia reached out to cover him up. “Sometimes there’s just nothing we can do.”
    “Did the autopsy show any signs of a struggle?” Simon asked, already pretty sure he knew the answer. “We think it’s possible that his passenger forced him to crash the helicopter.”
    “If that’s the case, then I think maybe you have it backward,” Lydia said, moving over to the other body. “If there was coercion involved, I’d say it was this guy that was on the wrong end of that stick.”
    “I don’t understand,” J.J. said, her confusion mirroring his own.
    “It’s pretty straightforward,” Lydia said, pulling backthe sheet to reveal an equally