E
nter my Flash Giveaway for a chance to win an Advance Reader Copy of VULNERABLE, my new suspense novel featuring the Morgan’s, Nashville’s preeminent law enforcement 
family. This time it’s Georgia and Detective Jake Bishop’s story. Giveaway ends at midnight tonight!
a Rafflecopter giveaway
Happy St. Patrick’s Day all! I’m keeping busy at this end with the usual—debating the latest holiday costumes for Buddy, Bella and Tiki, and whipping up a St. Patrick’s Day recipe or two. This time it’s The Morgan’s Espresso Chocolate Cupcakes with Bailey’s Irish Cream Chocolate Frosting. I’m also giving away an Advance Reader Copy of VULNERABLE before it reaches stores on Tuesday, March 29th. I hope you’ll enter for a chance to win!
I can’t think of anything sadder than the loss of a loved one. And I can only imagine that this pain must be even worse if, as sometimes happens, the person is never positively identified. Aside from the heartache of “what if,” there are practical complications as well for family and friends. Positive ID is important beyond providing closure. It’s needed to obtain a death certificate, access bank accounts, transfer property, settle insurance claims and any number of other practical issues.
In cases where identification is in doubt, medical examiners must sometimes make a “presumptive identification” based on fingerprints, dental records and DNA. When the scientific means of confirming the person’s identity isn’t possible because of fire or decomposition, medical and law enforcement professionals must find identification clues in other evidence. Where was the body found? What clothes or jewelry was the victim wearing? Was the deceased carrying credit cards, notes or receipts?
When a crime is involved, knowing the name of a possible victim is hugely important to law enforcement’s investigation. I knew this when I gave a local police department in I’LL NEVER LET YOU GO, the third of my “Morgan Family” novels, the puzzle of a death with no verifiable clues—no DNA results or dental records. All I gave them was a wallet with a driver’s license and a family ring.
Here’s Tennessee Bureau of Investigation agent and Morgan sibling Alex dealing with the possibility of a mistaken identification.
Alex arrived at the state medical examiner’s office minutes after eight, a newly acquired file tucked under his arm. He approached reception, showed his badge, and stated he had an appointment with Dr. Heller. He’d only had minutes to wait before she appeared at the side door. Dark slacks and a chestnut-brown turtleneck accentuated her long frame. She wore her hair pinned up in a tight bun at the base of her neck. Reading glasses perched on her head. She crossed the lobby, smiling. “Alex, what can I do for you?”
“I have a file I’d like you to review.”
“Sure. Come on back.” She scanned her card at the door and it clicked open, and the two moved to a small conference room off the lobby. She sat at the head of the table and he took the seat to her left. “What do you have for me?”
“It’s an autopsy report. Done by a coroner in South Carolina.”
“Okay.”
He pushed the file toward her. “Read it and let me know what you think. It’s only a couple of pages.”
She perched her glasses on her nose and leaned forward as she opened the file. She read the first page and frowned. The second page deepened that frown, and by the time she’d reached the third page, she looked puzzled.
“What do you think?”
“I think it’s rather incomplete. The body was badly burned in the car accident, but there was no DNA testing done, nor were dental records pulled. The identification was made solely on a charred wallet at the scene, a ring on the victim’s finger, and hearsay from several witnesses.”
“If you were going to fake a death . . .”
“I’d pick a jurisdiction like this. It’s rural, the county coroner isn’t a medical professional by trade, and it would be a place where identification mistakes are likely. That’s not to say the didn’t ID the right guy. They may have, but I’d want more evidence to make a ruling.”
He sat back in his chair, almost sorry his instincts were proving correct. “Right.”
“Why pull this file? . . . Why care?”
Three weeks to go until VULNERABLE, my new Morgan Family novel! So let’s hear it for the fifth of my Grab Bag Giveaways counting down the weeks until the March 29th pub date. For those of you who haven’t been introduced to the Morgans, they are Nashville’s preeminent law enforcement family, siblings Deke, Rick, Alex and Georgia. Georgia, a forensic specialist, takes the lead in this story of a cold case gone hot.
It seems the more I look forward to you all reading the book, the more I reflect on how writing it raised my awareness of those around us who are vulnerable in ways we can’t even imagine. And when we do see or suspect their vulnerability, how difficult it may be to help them. Here’s Georgia reaching out to a woman she’s certain is in danger both emotionally and physically.
The rattle of glasses had her turning to Carrie, who carried a tray completely filled with empty beer bottles. As the singer’s set concluded and she announced to the crowd she was going to take a break, Carrie approached Georgia.
“Hal told me he came to see you. He was pissed more than usual but I got him to calm down. I can take care of myself and the baby.”
She scanned the young waitress for more bruises. She spotted a dark purple ring around her right wrist. He’d grabbed her and wrenched her arm. “He’s still hurting you. Why stay?”
Carrie shook her head, dismissing Georgia’s logic. “He’s having a rough go of it. He lost his job and he’s worried about taking care of me and the baby. He doesn’t like it that I have to work.”
“Where’s the baby, Carrie?”
“She’s with my neighbor. She’s okay.”
“My offer still stands for a place to stay, Carrie. You don’t have to live this way. Think about the baby.”
A stick-thin man with a handlebar mustache held up an empty glass to get Carrie’s attention. She grinned broadly at him. “Be right there, sugar.” The spotlight overhead caught the bruise across her cheekbone, covered almost completely with makeup.
Georgia shoved back a mouthful of anger.
Carrie turned back to Georgia. “I got to get back to work, but thank you.”
“You can thank me by moving out.”
“I can’t leave Hal now.”
Georgia drew in a breath, realizing her message was not being received. Again, she worried how violent Hal would have to be for Carrie to take a stand. She watched the waitress hold her tray high as she angled her slim body through the crowd.
I hope you enjoyed the above sneak peek celebrating the fifth “romantic suspense weekend” in my Countdown to Vulnerable. Ready to read more? If you haven’t already, check out the excerpt on my site. And please don’t forget to enter for a chance to win a Grab Bag of my titles.
Dr. Heller, the pathologist you’ve met in my Morgan family novels books, most recently in I’LL NEVER LET YOU GO, plays a huge role in providing leads and evidence in the crimes the Morgan family have investigated. While in those novels Georgia, whose story I tell in VULNERABLE, holds sway in evaluating and gathering evidence on site, the pathologist holds the keys to what can’t be seen or proven at the crime scene. That means all things related to bodily fluids and tissue and requires exactitude and being able to check the accuracy of the many tests performed.
Pathologists oversee autopsies and make the determination of how a person died. They are the Maura Isles (Rizzoli and Isles) and “Cam” Saroyan (Bones) in the real world without the stylists and glamour shots. And their role doesn’t begin and end in the lab. They supervise crime scenes, work with investigators and lawyers, and end up in court explaining medical terms and procedures to juries.
Here’s a look at Dr. Heller at work in I’LL NEVER LET YOU GO.
Dr. Heller stood at the head of the stainless-steel table. She wore a gown, gloves, a cap and clear goggles . . . She kept Deirdre’s face and slashed throat covered and exposed the right arm, marred with five gashes, bloodless and gaping. “She sustained injuries on her right side, as you can see, and her palm has a slice down the center. That’s a defensive wound . . .”
Dr. Heller rolled back the sheet a little farther and then moved the body to its left side. A dep gash marred the flesh above the kidney. “This was the killing cut. It lacerated her kidney and the inferior vena cava, a major blood vein. She would have bled out in a matter of minutes.”
. . . She moved her magnifying glass closer to the body and, with tweezers, plucked several blond hairs from one of the wounds. She dropped the hair in a bag and handed it to Alex. He held it up to the light, examining the strands of hair. “Get these to Forensics.”
“Maybe you got lucky.”
“Maybe.”