The Serviceman, Chapter 9

9 — The Forensic Entomoligist

The coroner arrives on the scene just as the Detective and the Cop agreed upon the drug problem of the resident of the property. The real problem to confront the coroner was to determine whether the corpse lying across the edge of the playpen was male or female or the glob lying on the base of the playpen is actually human. The coroner asked the Detective about photos from inside the house and determined a Forensic Entomologist would need to be called in first before the body would be removed. The Cop returned to the squad car holding the Vagrant, opened the door and started asking him questions. The Vagrant repeated several times; I haven’t done anything, I just kicked the door in a couple days ago and was just sleeping there until I can get enough money together to get out of here. I don’t know what’s going on here and I just got into this town three days ago. The Cop asked for the Vagrant’s ID so he could run background checks as he replied; I haven’t done anything. The Cop retrieved the Vagrant’s wallet, found his driver’s license and contacted dispatch. As the Cop sat down in his seat and started typing information into his computer, a white truck utility vehicle pulled onto the scene, pulled to the front of the Cop’s squad car and stopped. A fairly large woman with a bad complexion stepped out of the truck and walked over to the Detectives car and chatted with the coroner and Detective, leaned over to observe the photos, stepped back and returned to the truck. The young man inside the truck looked at the Forensic Entomologist, nodded his head, stepped out of the truck, turned and walked to the side of the truck, opened a storage compartment and removed a large yellow bag. Both members opened the yellow bags which contained white chemical suits, gloves and booties. Stepping into the suits made a crisp sound, almost like paper tearing. The booties were laced up and the bottom of the suits having draw ties at the cuffs, tied securely over the booties. The Forensic Entomologist and the assistant put on head coverings, pulled the elastic over the collar of the chemical suit, put on their protective mask, picked up large toolbox looking containers and walked into the house. Both started collecting flies, maggots, beetles, roaches, other insects and larvae. The assistant returned to the truck and removed a couple large plastic bags and what appeared to be a hand cellophane wrapping tool. While he was doing that, the Forensic Entomologist was taking pictures of the scene. The assist immediately pulled a long strip of the cellophane and wrapped it around the corpse’s head and continued wrapping the body in cellophane wrap until most of the body was held together by the wrapping. They pulled a body bag out of the plastic bag, wrapped it around the corpse, tucked it under as far as they could and lifted the corpse off the edge of the playpen. Maggots and slim still drained from the bloated human form as they laid it on it back and zipped the bag close. The glob that appeared to have human form was severely decomposed needed a panel slid underneath it to contain the form. A body bag was laid alongside the form and both lifted the form on the panel waste raised and laid inside the bag. They lifted the bag out of the playpen and sat it on the floor. The assistant returned to the truck and removed a portable wheeled gurney and returned to the house. They laid both corpse on the gurney, covered both with an additional body bag, tied them down and removed them from the house to the back of the truck where they secured them inside the body. The Forensic Entomologist removed her mask, stepped out of her suit, looked at the Detective and said; it’s all yours Detective, we got this now.