Drained (Edgars Family #6) - Suzanne Ferrell Page 0,46

branch, so the tat narrows it down to the Army’s special forces.”

“Well, that’s a pretty old tattoo. Look at it closely.”

Aaron really hated touching dead bodies, even being near them, but leaned in closer to study Art’s tattoo. Numbers were embedded between the hilt of the knife and the ribbon beneath. “Nineteen seventy-one.”

“Right. If we assume he was drafted that year, he’d have been at least eighteen. So that makes our guy about sixty-seven. I doubt he would’ve gotten the tattoo the moment he got drafted, so I’d add a year or two. So, your victim is probably around seventy.”

“Any medical problems? Something he might’ve taken meds for?”

The doctor looked at his computer screen to read from the report he’d filed. “Liver was a little enlarged, probably from drinking too much, but not cirrhotic. The vessels around the heart were full of plaque, so he was probably headed for an myocardial infarction—heart attack—at some point. I’d bet his blood pressure was up, too. Gut had some ulcers in the small intestine and the lining of his stomach, again due to too much alcohol consumption. Surprisingly his kidneys and brain looked to be in good shape.”

“So, nothing that could’ve required him to get meds on a regular basis?”

Sarghetti leaned back against his desk and folded his arms over his chest. “If he managed to go see a doctor, they might’ve put him on a beta blocker or diuretic. We don’t normally look for those post-mortem, just anything that might show overdose or a causative agent, like opioids or poisons.”

“Do you think any were used on Art? Maybe too subdue him, incapacitate him in order to do the blood draining?”

“You saw the two symmetrical burns on his neck?”

Aaron nodded. Ramos had pointed that out last night.

“I’d guess he was tased. Probably how he was incapacitated. Then he was held down by some mechanical means.” Once more the doctor strode over to the table. “See theses marks on his wrists, heels and upper arms and thighs? Some sort of thick band was used to keep your victim strapped down at some point. As to drugs being used? Depending on what it was, our tox screen should tell us.”

“Any idea when that will be back?” Aaron asked hopefully. The more information he had and the sooner he had it, he might be able to find his killer.

“Usually it would take a few days, but again, this is a unique case and my curiosity had me putting a rush on it.”

“Thanks, Doc. I appreciate it,” Aaron said, shaking hands with him then heading for the sliding glass doors to the lab. He paused and turned back. “Doc, you haven’t gotten anything similar to this pass through here, have you?”

“Lately? No.”

“How about ever?”

Sarghetti blinked then raised both brows. “I’d have to check the records. I personally never worked a case like this in the past twenty-five years, but there have been other coroners in and out of the office.”

Aaron fixed him with a questioning look. “Think you could do a little research for me? Just to be sure we’re not missing anything?”

“It will take some time, but with the computer data base updated a few years back, I think I could.”

“Appreciate it.”

“I can’t promise anything will come of it. Like I said, this was a weird one.”

Aaron nodded. “I understand. Just let me know if you do or don’t find anything similar.”

14

“I like this place,” Brianna said, glancing around.

Aaron cocked his head slightly to the side like he was studying a strange, never-seen-before bird. “You’ve lived in Cleveland nearly all your life and you’ve never been to a Burgers 2 Beer before? There’s four or five them in the greater Cleveland area.”

She gave a little shrug and studied the menu in front of her. “I haven’t been out much in the past three years. In fact, lunch with you has been the only time I eat out. Before that…” She paused, her cheeks filling with humiliating heat at admitting to the embarrassing way she used to live. “Well, let’s just say, the men I dated rarely let me choose where we went. They liked high-end things. Homes, cars.” Again, she paused, lifted her eyes to meet his grey-green ones. “Women. And of course, food. They liked their privileged lives and they liked flaunting it.”

“You should’ve said something. We could’ve gone elsewhere,” he said, his jaw tightening just a touch.

Dammit, she’d insulted him without meaning to. He thought she was complaining it wasn’t expensive enough for her.