Mike and Alex arrived to find Captain Covington, Dr. Savage, Dave Ellison and Mr. Acosta, the second engineer, all standing talking quietly. Off to one side stood a very young oiler named Rodriguez. From the expression on his face he knew that whatever he’d gotten himself involved in was not good for him and wished he could just disappear into the bulkhead. Mike went immediately to the opened void and looked in. The body was lying on its side, almost in a fetal position. There was blood smeared around near the head and a bloody rag lying next to it. “Who found it?” asked Mike. “Rodriguez, here,” answered Covington. Mike turned to the young oiler. “Is this how you found it?” “Yes, sir.” “But,” spoke up Patti Savage, the ship’s doctor, “I moved the head an inch or two to examine the wound.” “Your conclusions?” “That he was stabbed repeatedly in the temple and the ear with something sharp. There appears to be a little bit of gray matter mixed with the blood.”
