When Jack arrived at the medical examiner's office, Mike Taylor's deputy, Stella Bonasiella, was also there. On the dissecting table lay the dissecting body of a man, whose stomach had been disemboweled.
A thin, gray-haired old man, wearing black-framed glasses, was busy under a shadowless lamp, scooping out the contents of the deceased's stomach with a long-handled spoon.
Normally, medical examiners might not wear masks when attending a scene, especially when handling a fresh body, but once on the dissecting table, they would be fully equipped with basic protective gear.
No one knew if the body had any infectious diseases, and the autopsy inevitably involved splattering of tissue or blood. For bodies that were severely decomposed or even exhibited gigantism, a respirator with a disposable filter and goggles was essential.
It was clear the CSIs were very busy. The case had occurred three days prior, and they had only just begun the dissection. Jack greeted Stella and stood by, watching the medical examiner empty a large glass jar with a spoon.
"Normally, starch is easily broken down by stomach acid, but since the deceased ate so much, I can even find small pieces of bread. See?"
The old forensic doctor used a small spoon to scoop a nearly unrecognizable piece of semi-solid matter into a separate glass dish and showed it to Stella.
Jack put on gloves and, after receiving his consent, carefully took the large glass jar from him, frowning as he examined the contents.
"It looks like there is steak, asparagu, some vegetable salads and corn. It seems that Mrs. Carter is a housewife who is quite good at cooking."
Although the old forensic doctor's expression could not be seen clearly due to the mask he was wearing, his raised eyebrows showed a hint of excitement at meeting a confidant. "You know what? I am always amazed at how corn kernels resist stomach acid and eventually pass through the entire digestive tract."
Jack also shared a little story with a very bad taste, "Did you know? There was a guy in Florida who wanted to know the answer just like you, so he did an experiment with enoki mushrooms and corn kernels, and finally concluded that corn kernels are digested faster than enoki mushrooms.
Corn kernels only need three cycles, while it takes a full fifteen enoki mushrooms to completely digest"
"That's enough, you two." Stella, who had been completely calm in front of the corpse, couldn't stand the bad taste of these two people anymore, and quickly interrupted them.
"Can we get back to the point? According to the confession of his wife Deborah Carter, before she took action, her husband Kevin Carter had just sat down at the dining table and took only a bite of the donut, which is where we found the suspected third party's DNA. So where did all this food in his stomach come from?"
The old forensic doctor Hammerbeck shrugged indifferently, "This is your job. I can only tell you that these foods were eaten less than 20 minutes before the husband's death."
When Danny Reagan rushed to the CSI laboratory with an excited expression, he saw two guys who were concentrating on analyzing the dishes on the computer screen.
"What are you doing?" Danny asked, with a curious tone.
"Shh, don't talk." Stella turned her head and shushed him. "Wait, it'll be your turn soon."
She continued to review the photos of the scene one by one. "There's at least half a pound of asparagus scattered on the floor, usually enough for two people. The cream of corn soup looks quite large, and the steak is intact."
Jack pointed to the salad plate that had luckily escaped being carried off the table with the tablecloth. "The salad hasn't been mixed yet, so it's obvious it hasn't been touched. The plate is quite broken, but it's mostly clean.
The silver cutlery is the same, well, except for the steak knife that stabbed the victim seventeen times, but technically that steak knife is also clean, with blood stains, not grease."
"Wow, seventeen stabs? Is this the end of an eight-year marriage?" Danny exclaimed, picking up the case file beside them and flipping through it.
"You make it sound like your marriage with Linda was shorter than this. This is all love." Jack's exclamation drew the attention of Stella and Danny.
Stella frowned at him in confusion. "What are you talking about?"
"A wealthy, middle-class life, comfortable and easy. If Deborah Carter had married her husband simply for money, she would have pretended she hadn't noticed anything, put the ring back in the box, hung up her clothes, and then sat down to continue savoring her steak and that bottle of fine Merlot."
Jack's convincing argument made Danny's face change, and he curled his lips. "Love turns to hate, this kind of thing doesn't seem to be limited to couples. I think you should be more worried about this than I am."
"Uh..." Jack didn't expect the boomerang to fly back so quickly. Was it really about the first year of the boomerang?
"Okay, no matter what, we need to find evidence of a third person's presence." Stella walked over to a rectangular evidence examination table, covered it with a white cloth, and moved a chair, motioning Danny to stand next to it.
"Now, you are the deceased, Kevin Carter. According to Mrs. Carter, you just returned home and eagerly took a bite of a bagel from the bread basket on the dining table."
She approached Danny from the other side and put her arm around his neck. Danny then picked up a roll of duct tape from the table and pretended to take a bite. Stella, like a coquettish wife, slapped his hand, and he angrily placed the half-eaten "bread" back on the table.
"You've been traveling a lot lately, and my heart is burning with love, so I prepared a wonderful dinner." Stella waved at the table littered with folders, duct tape, and other miscellaneous items.
Danny continued her story, "And I'm a great actor. Even though I had a big meal, my feigned gluttony just now easily fooled you, and then I let my guard down."
He took off his coat and casually placed it on the back of a chair. He then turned his back to the two of them, indicating his temporary departure.
Stella picked up his coat and began the show, since it was indeed empty. "Look, what did I find? A ring box and a card.
I smiled and opened the card, thinking it was a little surprise from my husband. But to my surprise, it said 'To my beloved Kevin.' I was shocked. I opened the ring box and found a men's ring inlaid with peridot. Suddenly, everything clicked!"
"My husband, unaware of this, washed up and returned to the dining table."
Danny pulled out a chair and sat down. Stella circled the table and returned to his side, holding a plastic tray with a small petri dish on it, pretending it was a ring. Her other hand was hidden behind her back.
Danny was immediately shocked and instinctively raised both hands. But before he could even raise his hands, Stella roared, raised the stapler in her other hand, and then, gripping it with both hands, stabbed Danny in the chest.
Her force was so strong that it knocked Danny and his chair to the ground. If Jack hadn't tacitly hooked his foot onto the chair back to gently block the blow, he would have been knocked unconscious.
Danny, not forgetting the confession he'd just seen in the case file, instinctively grabbed the white cloth on the table with his right hand as he fell. Suddenly, he tossed the table and the scattered items used for the pretend dishes to the floor.
Stella didn't stop there, straddling Danny, her stapler still stabbing.
"Crack!" Applause erupted from the surroundings. Apparently, Jack wasn't the only one watching; the other researchers in the lab, including Mike Taylor, who had just returned from the police station, were all applauding.
"Honestly, it's a shame you didn't apply for a Broadway role." Jack reached out and pulled Danny, a wry smile on his face, up from the ground. Turning to look at the mess before him, he shrugged at Stella.
"Whether it's the physical evidence at the scene or Mrs. Carter's confession, that's pretty much the whole story. So where did the DNA on the half loaf of bread and the third person on the knife handle come from?"
Mike Taylor asked, picking up the tape on the ground and shaking it at the three of them.
"I have an idea," Jack and Stella exchanged a glance and spoke.