Five

If Detectives Lauther and Reisdorph were disappointed at Schmunk’s answer, they were not surprised. As veteran detectives, they knew that it wasn’t always possible for pathologists to determine a cause of death with precision.

But Schmunk wasn’t ready to give up so quickly. He noted that further microscopic examination of various tissues taken in the autopsy might provide an answer, as could a variety of toxicology tests.

If, for example, analysis of Irene’s blood and tissues showed traces of a drug or rare disease or poison, that might clarify matters. And there was still the examination of the brain to go; something might turn up there to explain why a seemingly healthy 34-year-old mother of two would simply drop dead for no apparent reason.

Reisdorph and Lauther asked about the hemorrhaging and the bruises. Wasn’t that evidence of something, like maybe violence? Both detectives knew, from previous experience, that the small petechial hemorrhages found in Irene’s eyes and on her face and in her lungs were indications of possible asphyxiation. Such bursting blood vessels often occur as blood pressure increases while the body is being starved for oxygen.

But not always, Schmunk said. You can’t be sure that the hemorrhaging didn’t take place because of a death by natural causes. You can often find the same sort of petechia in deaths other than by violent causes; it might well be part of the agonal dying process, the result of a heart attack or brain seizure or some other cause. These hemorrhages are normal findings, he said; non-specific to any one kind of death.

And as for the bruises, he added, who knows when they occurred? They might have no connection with the death at all.

But could it still be murder? Reisdorph and Lauther asked, persisting.

Sure, said Schmunk. But right now, don’t expect me to say it is. Until we get more information, I’m not saying anything anywhere near close to something like that. I’ll let you know what the other tests come up with, if anything.

With this, Lauther and Reisdorph went back to their office on G Street in downtown Sacramento to fill out their reports. With the absence of a cause of death, there was no point to investigating any further. Until a forensic pathologist was willing to swear in court that Irene Barron had died as a result of an act of homicidal violence, there was no case to investigate. That was the policy of the Sacramento Sheriff’s Department, which had, Lord knew, enough to do without begging for more.