Our Mind Palace // Sherlock BBC|Psych USA

4 | Was It Suicide? Nahhh...

The autopsy on the body was finished, so they headed straight for St. Bart's Hospital. Shaina and Bri had to carpool with Lestrade, since Bri insisted they save money. It was Shaina's idea, however, that they force themselves into Lestrade's police car.

St. Bart's was a reasonable distance away. They would've gotten there faster if they didn't stop for food. But around 6:47 pm, Shaina, Briana, and Lestrade finally arrived at St. Bart's Hospital with bags of fast food in their arms.

"I cannot believe you made Lestrade buy us food." Briana grumbled as she walked alongside Shaina, who was busy stuffing a cheeseburger into her mouth.

She shrugs, "What? He offered to buy it for us! Plus, you're the one going on and on about saving money. Since you're so set on saving money, I didn't get to eat at all today."

Shaina lifts a french fry to Briana's lips, "You want one?" Briana slaps it out of her hand, causing the french fry to fall to the ground. Shaina stares at it,
"Man! You just wasted a perfectly good french fry, which someone paid perfectly good money for!"

Lestrade finally gets back from parking the car, "If you ladies will just follow me..."
He leads the duo into the fancy looking hospital, which Shaina probably shouldn't be bringing food into. But Shaina being Shaina, she brings her food anyway.

~~~~~

Shaina continued to munch loudly in the autopsy room; making the awkward silence even more awkward as they waited for the medical examiner. Fredrik White's body lay on the table before them.

"Shaina... There's a dead body here. I'm gonna ask you to be respectful." Briana mumbles to her.
"I will respectfully decline." Shaina manages to say through the amount of french fries in her mouth. Shaina licked her fingers before throwing away the bag.

A woman that was a bit shorter than Shaina walked into the room with a lab coat on. Her hair was tied back in a ponytail and she had on a minimal amount of lipstick. A smile graced her face, as if she was smiling all the time.
"Hello Lestrade. Brought some new faces, I see." She says as she looks between Shaina and Bri with a smile.

"I'm Molly Hooper; a medical examiner here at St. Bart's. I was put in charge of Fredrik White's autopsy." Molly shakes Shaina's hand as she introduces them,
"I'm Shaina; the consulting detective. This is my underprivileged partner, also named Shaina. No relations."

Molly scrunches her eyebrows up in confusion, but chooses not to question their introduction.
"But I thought her name was Briana?" Lestrade steps in obliviously.
"My dear Lestrade... Over the years, she has required many different aliases. We just choose to accept them." Shaina replies. She gestures to Molly, "Please, continue."

Molly nods, "Ah! Yes, of course." She takes out a clipboard and starts to read through it, "Fredrik White. A 31 year old male, living on his own. He was found dead in his flat 4 days ago, but the autopsy indicates he was dead for longer. But everything is pointing to suicide."
"What caused his death?" Donovan interjects.

Molly starts to sift through papers, trying to find the cause of death.
Shaina starts to have her own examination of the body:
White spray paint on the fingertips.
Injection marks on the elbow joint.
Only one mark, so the person who injected it has experience in the medical field.

"Was he injected with something by any chance?" Shaina asks out loud, right before Molly could explain the cause of death. A look of surprise makes it's way onto Molly's face,
"We did find injection marks from a needle on his antecubital vein."

"I'm sorry... his what?" Shaina wonders.
"Antecubital vein?" Molly responds hesitantly.
"Whatever that is..." Shaina shrugs nonchalantly. "Were there any drugs or poisons in his system?"

Molly nods as she starts to read off a list on her clipboard, "We found many different things... cloroform, cyanide, strychnine, atropine, even boat cleaner."
Molly puts down her clipboard solemnly, "This man was killed by one hell of a concoction."

"But none of these drugs were found in his apartment?" Briana adds on.
Lestrade shakes his head,
"Nothing along those lines, no."
"What about the spray paint used to make the Yin Yang symbol?"
"We couldn't find that either. His flat was clean... a bit too clean for a man living alone."

"What's so suspicious about that?"
"Well, not only were there no dirty dishes or dirty laundry, but there wasn't any mess! It seemed as though someone cleaned the flat before his death."

Briana nodded, "So the questions are... Why would someone who plans on causing suicide take the time to clean his apartment beforehand?"

Shaina joins in, "Where would someone be able to get all these drugs found in his system?"

"Where is the syringe used to inject this unfortunate man and the spray can used to paint the Yin Yang symbol around him?"

"And who is behind all this?"

"I'm sorry, but..." Molly interups. Shaina and Bri turn their attention to her.
"What you're saying is that this man... Did not commit suicide?"
Shaina nods, "If someone was to commit suicide, they wouldn't take their time to make a concoction of different drugs and poisons. He also wouldn't spray paint a Yin Yang symbol around himself just before his death."

Shaina shoves her hands into her pockets and turns to the detectives, "To put it simply... This is the work of someone else... Someone who knows what they're doing."

"Brilliant!"
Everyone turns to Molly, "That was absolutely extraordinary. You are a very good detective."
Shaina smiles, "Oh Molly, you flatter me! You, Bri, and I should hang out sometime. I have a feeling a friendship is starting to blossom this time of year."

Molly smiles, "I'm actually off of work this Friday."
Shaina looks to Bri for permission,
"Friday's perfect. We'll meet you here, then!"
Shaina extends her hand over the dead body's head for Molly to shake,
"Thank you for your help, Molly. It's very appreciated."
Shaina turns to Lestrade next with a smirk on her face, "Take me to the crime scene."