Finding Out

“And this is why due diligence in a scientific screening is so important from a crime laboratory.”

Ethan tried his hardest to stay awake while Professor Adams carried on diving into the introduction of Medicolegal Death Investigations. Ethan knew he would’ve been more attentive in different circumstances. He was passionate about this subject and he wanted to learn about it more than anything. If it weren’t for his early morning job combined with an obnoxious late night neighbor, Ethan would’ve been hanging on every word of valuable information his favorite professor blessed the air waves with. Ethan had been losing good sleep lately but needed the job to pay for school and couldn’t afford to live anywhere else. 

“Ethan, what are the two main functions of a crime laboratory in a death investigation?”  Professor Adams quizzed. 

“The two main functions are body identification and finding a cause of death.” Ethan said, trying to mask the fact he hadn’t been paying attention to the lecture. He was only able to answer correctly because he had preemptively read the first chapter of their textbook. 

“Wasn’t sure you were still with us down here on Earth. These summer classes are quite long but the information is invaluable. I’ll try to keep consistent breaks and we’ll all make it through this, one way or another.” He gave a deep chuckle before turning back to point at his powerpoint screen which was now showing the schedule for the lab days. 

‘Why did he have to remind me I signed up for summer classes?’ Ethan thought. His mind started to wander and he wondered what his buddy Jake was doing right now. Most likely unloading the last of his things into his summer home in California. Or taking a break from unpacking to unload a cold cooler onto the hot sandy beaches. Knowing Jake, he certainly had already begun flirting with some of the most beautiful beach babes the west coast had to offer. Ethan was excited to hear from Jake when he returned from his internship but for now he was stuck here. In a dusty college class room, lacking sleep and working way too hard. He knew that by taking this class in the summer, he would be able to graduate in December and effectively fast track his path to a career he knew he would love. Things seemed fairly bleak and daydreaming about California didn’t brighten up his current atmosphere. 

As long as Ethan could remember, he wanted to be a Forensic Scientist. He was really good at logical reasoning and deduction and was never scared of blood or death. Scientific method was something he had always grasped easily. He did, however, regret taking intro to religious studies as an elective credit the previous semester. It actually had changed his way of thinking and made him wonder about new questions. His science classes reeked of death and curiosity but didn’t ask the same questions his religious studies class did. Such as; is there a god? Did man create god? Why were religions created in the first place? Etc. Not all of these questions were explicitly asked in his previous class but they definitely were floating through Ethan’s mind when his forensic science professors flipped through photos of dead bodies. 

“Ethan, a word?” Professor Adams asked after the lecture. 

This was not an unusual request. The old, gray haired man was known as an empath who took interest in his students' lives. The advanced forensic science classes were not overly saturated with students and this was Ethan’s third class from Dr. Adams not counting the multiple labs and projects they had worked on together. 

“You’re usually one of my most focused students Ethan. Today was not your day.” 

“I’m feeling exhausted,” Ethan admitted. “College apartments have thin walls and it turns out college students like to party in the summer.”

Dr. Adams let out his infamous deep chuckle. 

“Yeah, I actually was a university student about 100 years ago or so. Candles are expensive though, it’s best to only burn them at one end you know.”

“You’ve spent a lot of time on crime scenes?” Ethan suddenly blurted out the half question half statement that he already knew the answer to. 

Professor Adams leaned his short stature against his desk and clasped his hands together before answering, “Yes I’ve done plenty of time. I spent 15 years working for the state. I spent a lot of time in a lab but I did plenty of onsite crime scene investigation and evidence gathering. That was all before post grad of course.”

Surprisingly modest. Ethan knew his professor had created 3D software applications that could quickly predict a victim and perpetrator’s estimated positions at the time of a crime based on fairly rudimentary data. Consequently, he had spent a lot of time at crime scenes during his doctorate and was able to point investigators where to look for evidence that wouldn’t have been found otherwise.

“How do you…. Uhm… handle the gore? As in from a spiritual point of view?” Could Ethan have worded his scattered thoughts any clumsier?

Dr. Adams lips formed a gentle smile as his knowing eyes met Ethans. It was as if he knew where Ethan’s unmethodical slurry of words was leading all along. Wouldn’t it only be natural to think about what happens after death when you spend all your time surrounded by it?

“I’m a scientist first, Ethan. It is important to focus on the facts and evidence available to you and not get too clouded with other thoughts. That being said, this is an age old question and is worth thinking about. However, it is not a question that has a concrete answer, from a scientific point of view any way, and therefore is not something you should obsess over. You’ll do good work in this field so my advice would be to be respectful in your work environment and try to not get embrangled with things you can’t control. We’ll all find our answer when it’s our time I assume”. 

Those words ran through Ethan’s mind on his walk home. He was so busy re-running through the conversation, he almost didn’t notice he had autonomously walked past the corner “Circle K” convenience store that indicated he was nearly home. Of the three old red brick apartment buildings, his was the closest one to the store which made for a slightly shorter walk. Nothing impressive was to be said about the two story apartment buildings aside from their cheap cost of rent. They had to be well over 50 years old and looked as if it would only take one huff from the big bad wolf to send them tumbling down.

Ethan noticed a cop car driving by as he rounded the first building and entered the alleyway between the first two buildings. He was happy to see a cop driving by as there had been a recent uptick of crime in his neighborhood. He felt safer walking home knowing there was a good chance of a cop on patrol nearby. The next thing he saw, however, only made him feel irritated. It was his rowdy neighbor Ricky sitting in a lawn chair, smoking a dart outside of his apartment. 

“Well if it isn’t the teacher’s pet” Ricky said at the sight of Ethan before letting out an unearned roar of laughter at his own joke. 

“Hey Ricky” Ethan sighed out knowing he was probably failing to conceal his annoyance.

“You need to take it easy there bud. Relax a little. You’re working too hard.”

‘And you need to actually do something with your life’ Ethan thought. It almost seemed unfair that Ricky had not a care in the world while Ethan seemed to be working every waking moment.

“Come over to my place tonight, Allen and Bobby are bringing over these smooooooking hot chicks they met last weekend” Ricky said with a face full of enthusiasm as he tapped his cigarette against the ashtray sitting on the old glass table next to him. 

“Yeah, sorry, I gotta get some sleep before work. I haven’t been able to sleep the last couple of nights” Ethan said dryly. 

Ricky stroked the scruff of the unkempt beard that coated his face and upper neck. The look on his face was one of discontent, almost as if Ethan’s words perplexed him. Like his response was a riddle, or a physics problem that had to be considered with expert attention in order to solve correctly. Why did Ricky seem so confused or surprised by Ethan’s response? Ricky had moved in next to Ethan almost a month ago and Ethan hadn’t accepted an invitation to any parties. Every offer was met with “I have class” or “I have finals” or any other combination of things that Ethan needed to do. In fact, he had even made a point of telling Ricky that he didn’t like the parties and was missing out on quality sleep due to them. He might as well have poured water on a duck’s back. 

Ricky’s source of income was unclear. He had once been enrolled in classes but said, “Why keep going to class anyway? They just charge too much for stupid classes and I can live the college life without them” when Ethan had asked earlier. He took this as code for ‘dropped out to party’. Ethan had spent a couple late nights, when he didn’t have to work the next day, hanging out with Ricky. These late night lawn chair conversations had led Ethan to believe that Ricky was an ok guy who had potential but wound up with the wrong type of people the first year in college. He lacked ambition but this was mostly fueled by bad decisions and influences. All Ethan knew for sure was that he needed a change. Maybe a place with thicker walls. 

“Well, you’re definitely going to be missing out so feel free to come over whenever.” The look of irritation was slowly beginning to fade as Ricky took another puff of his cigarette. 

“I’m sure I am.” Ethan said before walking past Ricky and further down the dead end alley to stick his key in the apartment door adjacent to Ricky's. 

Ethan looked around his small apartment, happy to turn in for the day. It was a cozy, single bedroom apartment with furnishings that looked like they could’ve been there since it was built. Just as he plopped down on the old tan couch, a commotion began in the alley way. Ethan heard scuffling and shouting and knew almost immediately it wasn’t horseplay between a couple of party animals.

Instinctively, Ethan quickly and quietly glided over to his wooden front door and peered through the dusty peep hole. Out in the alleyway, there were three people. Two men were dressed in black sweaters and pants with black ski masks covering their faces. The third was the familiar bearded face of his least favorite neighbor, Ricky. The first thing Ethan noticed was the handgun one of the men in black was holding to Ricky’s head. The second thing he noticed was the dark red blood pouring down from Ricky’s forehead and spilling into his eyes. Ricky couldn’t be bothered to wipe it away as both of his arms were firmly gripping the muscular arm that was wrapped around his neck. Ricky was struggling to breath as it was, meaning that the man in black would’ve already choked him if it weren’t for Ricky’s two arms fighting to leave just enough breathing room. The man holding Ricky towered over him. Granted Ricky was only 5’ 7”, but this man looked enormous. Ricky had no chance against him but apparently that hadn’t stopped him from trying. 

“Dangit, I think my wrist might be broken” The man in black who wasn’t occupied holding Ricky against his will complained. 

“Dude, get over it!” The second man in black snapped. “What the hell are we supposed to do now?”

“We wouldn’t be in this situation if you had just shot that cashier in the first place.”

“I didn’t think he’d fight back like that and I didn’t actually wanna shoot anyone.”

“Put your weapons down, NOW!!” a third voice suddenly boomed in through a megaphone. 

Just like that, the puzzle pieces had fallen in place. Most likely the cop was driving by when these two men were unsuccessfully robbing the Circle K next door. They fled the scene and the quickest cover was this alleyway they were currently in. Little did the would-be get aways know that the alleyway would be a dead end and not a quick escape into neighborhood backyards. Ethan was sure they also hadn’t anticipated the stupidity of the mangy man who had clearly hurt the first robber only to be quickly overtaken by the second man who was now holding him at gun-point.

‘Does this make Ricky brave or just dumb?’ Ethan thought as he walked into his undersized kitchen. He had to admit, to Ricky’s credit, that Ethan was almost certain he wouldn’t have been brave enough (or maybe dumb enough) to step in like that. Ethan reached for the cutlery block set sitting next to his stove and grabbed the largest knife in the set, certainly a butcher knife. He had no intention of using it but didn’t dare not hold it while watching the tense scene unfold in front of his apartment. He had seen a lot of pictures of very gruesome crime scenes with knives as murder weapons. It wasn’t the quickest way to get things done but it certainly was capable. Most of the victims Ethan had seen had been stabbed multiple times, leaving behind tattered and grim looking corpses. These situations were usually brought on by desperation or fury. They were almost never methodical and theoretically could be done much cleaner. 

As Ethan approached his front door once again, he heard something that sent chills down his spine. 

“Joey? Is that you?” The familiar sound of his noxious neighbor was just loud enough to hear. 

‘Pure idiocy’ Ethan thought to himself. 

“Are you shitting me!?!?” The first robber said. “Joey, he recognized us! You have to kill him now!”

These words sent Ricky into a frenzy of squirming and pathetic flailing while Joey’s tree trunk sized arms effortlessly held him back.  

“If I kill him we won’t have a human shield any more, the cops will just kill us both!” Joey said

“No, no I got it. This door isn’t locked over here. You’re going to shoot him on three, we’re both going to go through this door, and then out the first window. Got it?”

“Andy, I can’t do it” Joey said meekly with an obvious panic in his voice. 

“Shut up man. Here we go,” Andy said with a firm grip on the door straight across the alley way from Ethan. 

“Dude, I know you guys, I’m not going to tell them!” Ricky managed to gurgle with what little airway he had free to use. 

“One” Andy said firmly but at a moderate volume proving he was the only one with composure in the situation. He also seemed to be unarmed as far as Ethan could tell through the hazy door peep.

“Please!” Ricky pleaded as his dire situation only got worse. 

“Two,” Andy said.

“Shit man, come on,'' Joey said. It was so soft and choked up Ethan wasn’t sure who it would’ve been for. It sounded like Joey was on the verge of tears as the adrenaline, panic, and indecision flowed through his body.

‘Wow, I never thought these thin walls would actually be helpful.’ Ethan thought. No matter now though. He violently and quickly flung open the wooden door like he had already practiced in his mind what felt like a million times. The movements were so quick and fluid Joey hadn’t done more than begin to turn his head in Ethan’s direction when the steel blade of the butcher knife met his skin and plunged through his side. When Joey had his right hand holding the gun at Ricky’s head, he left his right side wide open. Ethan took this as an opportunity to hit vitals in the form of either a lung, heart, or even the thoracic artery. 

Joey immediately jumped back and yelped in pain. He dropped the gun as his blood sprayed violently all around from the stab wound. His eyes met Ethan’s as they faced each other and the two of them stood there silently and somberly for what felt like an eternity. The look in Joey’s eyes told Ethan he knew his chances of surviving this attack were minimal to none. As soon as this thought crossed Ethan’s mind, Joey collapsed from blood loss.

Without warning, Ethan felt the pressure of his sternum being shattered as the deafening ringing pierced his ears. Not that he paid much mind to the noise. By that point, he was far more concentrated on the blood that was pouring out of the cavity that was just made in the center of his chest. He held his hands up close to his face as if to confirm that it actually was blood that he had caught pouring out of his body. More ringing penetrated his ears as two more gunshots were fired. Andy joined him on the cold concrete floor, which now was nearly as red as the brick buildings that were on either side of the three miserably wounded bodies. Ethan winced with pain as he felt the last feeble attempts of his heart trying to pump what blood he had left. 

“Ethan! Stay here okay!? Oh man, call him an ambulance!” but Ricky’s cries were just wasted breath. All Ethan was thinking about was his earlier conversation with Professor Anderson. “We’ll all find our answer when it’s our time”. 

‘Well, Prof,’ Ethan thought ‘guess It’s my time to find out’. And then he did.