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groznyj_grad2007-12-09 04:27 pm
hajimenoippolit.livejournal.com) wrote in groznyj_grad2007-12-09 04:27 pm
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Results [Feb 23, 2:03 pm]
"Strange," Rakitin murmured.
The body was spread out on the autopsy table beside him. Another young, blond man, this one whole, but festooned with bright blood patterns on nearly unmarked skin. Leopardus pardalis, as he had thought, and a hastily purloined book on zoology had confirmed.
"This blood," he said. "It comes from several sources. What prints I can get are various, too."
He look a long look at the sample he had been testing, then glanced at Liadov.
"There was a team involved in this."
His eyes swept over the results.
"There's light bruising along the arms and torso. Not enough to have been a major fight. And..."
He went over to the corpse, lying as if waiting for news worth awakening to hear.
"Look."
Rakitin lifted the wrist to show the faint lines across it.
"Ligature marks."
The body was spread out on the autopsy table beside him. Another young, blond man, this one whole, but festooned with bright blood patterns on nearly unmarked skin. Leopardus pardalis, as he had thought, and a hastily purloined book on zoology had confirmed.
"This blood," he said. "It comes from several sources. What prints I can get are various, too."
He look a long look at the sample he had been testing, then glanced at Liadov.
"There was a team involved in this."
His eyes swept over the results.
"There's light bruising along the arms and torso. Not enough to have been a major fight. And..."
He went over to the corpse, lying as if waiting for news worth awakening to hear.
"Look."
Rakitin lifted the wrist to show the faint lines across it.
"Ligature marks."
no subject
Nika blinked, in a rare of moment of legitimate and literal surprise.
"What do you mean? That there are...different donors?"
Maybe not the most apt term for this kind of blood drive.
He crossed his arms, bewildered, and stared down at the corpse. He hadn't known the young man, even as a cursory and fleeting red beret in the periphery. What was it Major Ocelot had groused venomously about the kid? That he was AWOL more than once in his short tenure?
Liadov's eyes cruised over the wreck of humanity that spraweled ungracefully over Rakitin's steel cadaver table. He had long legs and arms, and a lanky, willowy build that made his deadweight difficult to manuever.
Unfortunately, rigor had just begun to set in, making him as unruly as a giant starfish.
They'd had a few moments of near high comedy getting him situated, where both he and Polya exchanged glances, but manfully refrained from laughing.
"Sure, I see it now. That makes sense. He was restrained while he was assaulted."
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A frown creased his brow.
"At least, I don't think so. That there's this much of a mark at all suggests he could have been resisting a little. I don't have a lot of experience in this specific area."
His eyes went back to the crimson pattern.
"Multiple blood types. It was definitely a collaborative effort. I can't tell you exactly how many, but there were more than a few people involved. If the murderer did it, he wasn't acting alone."
no subject
If he was alive, and not fighting, it must have been consensual. That made sense.
"Well, that's instructive," said Liadov. "Glad we had this talk."
no subject
Ippolit made an attempt to find a less blunt phrasing that was fruitless before it was begun. Liadov had proved a strong stomach.
"He was violated, anally and orally, after death." He winced, clinical detachment slipping, as the information traveled back to his ears. "Sorry."
no subject
He shook his head.
"Doesn't get us much closer. We still don't know if the Ocelot hazing played any role in his death. Unless...the assault- when you swabbing, did you get fluids? And if so, did the sample taken from the oral cavity and rectum match? Or were they also indicative of...multiple donors?" he finished, cringing slightly.
He paused, remembering Isaev.
"What did you find in the bloodwork?" he asked, suddenly. "Was it the same sedative?"
If so, Andrei would be somewhat exonerated.
If not...
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Rakitin paused, tracing the edge of the puzzle piece arising from the raw data.
"That's another strange thing. Besides a high alcohol concentration, I didn't find any sedative at all."
A deviance, if any part of this case could be said to be more deviant than another.
A man who could kill with barely more than a touch would hardly need to go out of his way to ensure a fully incapacitated victim.
Polya looked at Nika.
"You don't think Isaev did this."
Casual surety made it a statement.
no subject
His lips settled to lie deceptively taut and he drew up involuntarily to his parade stance, his MENT nature ingrained and innate.
"What I said was, he won't be guilty."
no subject
Rakitin returned to examining the body.
"You wouldn't have let Captain Irinarhov warn somebody you really believed could be the murderer."
While Nika remained inscrutable in most ways, that much Polya understood.
no subject
It was rheotorical, but pointed.
Liadov sighed, rubbing the bridge of his nose.
"Polya...do me a favor. I know that I usually make the reports to Moscow. But if they call you...regarding the latest murder...tell them you're still waiting on evidence."
A note of subtle entreaty entered Nika's solemn tone.
"I can't risk this getting back to Leningrad. Not yet."
no subject
"A, all right." It was true that the evidence was far from complete. "I trust your judgement."
Polya's own instincts were tumultous with everything that was wrong with the situation. Lately those had also been picking arbitrary moments to insist that there was a dead man right behind him, so it wasn't difficult to tell them to fuck off.
"I think you could have," he observed quietly. How, exactly, he wasn't sure. The sniper seemed very protective of his lover. Liadov could have kept him back, somehow.
Isaev. The brother. Admissions over the fumes of vodka and longing.
What kind of man could have this effect, peripherally and over this distance?
Ippolit was almost relieved that he would never know.
Something else had been bothering him.
"Look, Nika," Rakitin began, doing his best to keep his eyes from fleeing to the safety of the floor. "There's something I need to tell you. I know this isn't the best time, but..."
He shrugged helplessly.
"It's like they say; let the presence of a brutalized corpse stop you, and you'll never get anything done."
no subject
"Davai," he said, blinking, "of course, Polya. Anything you like."
He relaxed and leaned forward, resting his elbows on the counter.
Palpable relief had washed over him at Rakitin's reassurance, the promise to stall for him.
"What is it?"
no subject
It would be awkward. That was no excuse to avoid it. Rakitin was tired of running like a child from every shadow that spooked him.
Especially if they were going to show up later on the god damned helipad.
Time to be a man and deal with it.
"I want to apologize," Polya said, forcing himself to meet Nika's eyes. It wasn't as hard as he'd thought. "For the other night. I was drunk, and-"
He cut himself off, chagrined. No weaseling around it.
"I want to apologize."
no subject
"Pardon? I don't understand," he said, bemused. ''There's no need to apologize. I know you were drunk, Polya. We both were."
He paused, smiling slightly.
"That's why I didn't let you suck me off, Lieutenant. It wouldn't have been professional. I don't treat my colleagues like that."
Nika gave a slight upward nod.
"I don't treat my friends like that either."
no subject
That hadn't been so bad.
That's why.
Of all the reasons.
"I'm glad you understand," Polya said, with subdued sincerity. "I should know better than to try to use a friend that way."
He looked down into the counter's reflective surface. The effect was silvery and distorted, but recognizeable.
"I'm just beginning to realize that."
It was as though Polya had set down an awkward, heavy object, after finally remembering that the only reason he carried it was habit.
Absently he added, "The offer still stands, you know."
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"Why?" he asked, after a moment, resting his chin in his hand.
"Why do you want to do that? With me?"
It was an artless, straightforward question.
He paused, delicately.
"Do you..."
Another pause.
"Do you know what I do to my lovers, Lieutenant?"
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"Ah, well. I didn't really think I could shock you the same way twice. It was worth the try."
His pale eyebrows arched, the wry humor in his eyes offset by a drop of mellifluous earnestness.
"I know you have someone, Nikasha. I wouldn't try to interfere with that. But, as for why I offered in the first place..."
Rakitin lifted his shoulders, a gesture that covered rather a lot of ground.
"Honestly? You're intelligent, interesting, kind, and handsome. I like you, Nika."
He grinned lopsidedly.
"Even when you're being a bastard."
"Is that really so strange?"
Polya leaned forward, resting long hands flat on the countertop.
"Then tell me. What do you do to your lovers, Major? What is it that makes you so terrible?"
no subject
"Let's show some respect for the dead and his ligature marks," he said, only half wryly.
He straightened.
"Let's just say I like to control my environment."
He shrugged.
"Now isn't the time and place to get into that. My pathologies will long be intact for interrogation, Lieutenant, at your leisure if you so desire. But we need to interrogate the Ocelot squad now, before any collusion occurs."
He paused.
"And...Isaev. We'll need to question him."
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He gave Nika a significant look. Now his curiosity had been stirred.
"But I'll hold you to that."
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"I have a feeling you will."
Not that he could blame Rakitin. Everyone loved a good story of aberrant psychology. Especially, he suspected, a pathologist.
"I suppose I owe you anyway. For Moscow."
That would buy him time to brace Andrusha and figure out exactly what the hell he'd been doing that night, and how to avert a crisis.
The real crisis would be if Leningrad got word, because then Magnum Frater would come. That was the last thing Nika or Groznyj Grad needed.
no subject
Abrubtly, he pulled out of the momentary solemnity.
"Come on," he teased, giving Nika a light elbow in the side. "It can't be that bad."
He found himself lightened considerably, just from having the subject addressed, and not lingering in the back of his mind, emitting unpleasant plaintive growls. So that sort of thing could be civilized.
The concept of someone not despising or disregarding him had gone from eliciting frightened disbelief to pleasant surprise.
Odd, that.
"Anyway. Things to do, people to interrogate. Will we be taking on the Ocelots as a mob? There's something eerie about that many balaclava'd blonds. Like they all sprang in a squad from the head of Zeus."
no subject
"Gather your findings, if you haven't already. We'll need to use a the biggest conference room we can find, at least for the general inquest. We'll mark out specific participants as we progress and question them more thoroughly."
Nika brooded for a moment, then tuned his codec.
"I'll call Major Ocelot."