Mort asked after we’d found Seth and brought him into the garage. “Looks like he took a misstep and fell in. Obviously a drowning accident, right?” Alexei lay on the concrete floor next to the pit from which Mort and Jeremy had hauled him. “Hard to tell,” Seth said, kneeling by the body. “The scarf didn’t leave any marks on the skin that I can see. No petechial hemorrhages in the eyes. That possibly rules out strangulation. More likely it’s primary respiratory impairment from submersion in a liquid medium.” “Huh?” “Drowning.” “Isn’t that what I just said?” Mort grumbled, running his fingers through his hair. “Face and lips are blue,” Seth continued. “Course he could have had cardiac arrest from the hypothermia. We’ll have to see if there’s water in his lungs.” Jeremy stood as far away from the body as he could, his eyes roaming the room to keep from looking at the corpse. At Seth’s pronouncement, Jeremy’s teeth began to chatter, the sound reminding Mort of his presence.
