Title: Digging For Memories
Author: Laura Meyer
Email: laura.meyer@ibm.net
Rating: PG
The Challenge: Amanda talks Mark, Steve, and Jesse into helping
her clean out her old storage shed one evening. As they dig one
of the three men discovers an antique-looking hope chest under
some sheets and boxes. After identifying it as once belonging to
her great grandmother, Amanda helps her friends drag it out into
the yard,but upon opening it they discover a body rather then
memories. Who was the dead person? Why was he/she killed? How did
the body end up in the chest in Amanda's shed? What was the
motive? And most importantly who was the killer?
Disclaimer: Diagnosis Murder belongs to CBS and Viacom, no
profit is being made by this story.
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Dr. Amanda Bentley was ready for a break. She and friends Mark,
Steve and Jesse were in the process of opening a new wing of
Community General Hospital the wing was a cancer unit a much
bigger unit. The ceremony was to be held in two weeks. But for
Amanda Bentley the next two weeks were about to take her where
she as a pathologist had never gone before.
Amanda was always a neat person, but the one thing she needed to
do was clean out her storage shed. She asked Mark Jesse and Steve
to help her. All three doctors agreed having no idea they would
uncover something other than memories.
The four doctors left the hospital early that day to begin
cleaning the storage shed.
"Thanks for helping me with cleaning the shed." Amanda
said very greatly. Amanda helped Mark, Steve and Jesse pull stuff
away so they could look at what Amanda believed was a hope chest,
how wrong she was about to be
Three hours later the chest was cleared off and was able to be
seen and now came the task of pulling the chest further so it
could be opened. Finally the chest was out far enough.
Before the chest was opened Mark passed out a pair of gloves and
masks. Now all four began to open the chest. There was a key to
unlock. Amanda inserted the key in the lock. A few minutes later
the key was out of the lock.
The four doctors stood in position to push up the top of the
chest each house of them pushing slowly and ever slowly as they
continued a creaking sound came from the chest as the lid moved
up. The sound of the creek made all of them remembers that sound
coming from old movies. Amanda went to get something to drink for
everybody. Sandwiches were for a snack. Within moments nobody
would feel like eating
anything.
Mark Steve and Jesse had pushed the lid as far as it would go.
"Steve Jesse come quick!" Mark said anticipation in his
voice was eerie. Steve and Jesse rushed to look inside. "I
am afraid that this isn't a hope chest as Amanda thought its more
like a coffin because inside is a dead body." Steve said
unsure of how to tell Amanda.
The three looked at each other and couldn't figure out exactly
what to do next. Jesse said, “didn’t Amanda say that
she thought this chest belonged to her great grandmother?”
“Yes I think she did.”Mark answered.
Steve went inside to keep Amanda from finding out the discovery
in the chest he thought it would be bad for her to see this. Mark
and Jesse continued looking nside the chest
Mark carefully took a look at the head of the badly decomposed
body. Mark saw some other things inside. “Jesse the body
looks like a woman who was dead long ago.” They continue to
look inside Jesse finds one of two items one of them appears to
be a birth certificate and the other is what looks like a death
certificate.
Now Mark and Jesse were shocked at what they discovered Steve had
come outside to the
shed to see what was contained in the chest. Mark was the first
to speak. “Steve we found what we think is the dead body of
a woman. Steve wasn’t quite sure exactly of what he had just
heard. Mark went over the information again. “We also found
2 certificates one a birth and a death certificate.” Mark
finished. Why would anybody bury both the birth and death
certificates with them?” Steve couldn’t even believe
that this was happening how was Amanda going to believe what they
found? Steve asked.
Mark and Jesse pulled out the certificates and carefully read
them Mark began “ the date of birth was December 13th 1920.
Her name was Lucille Bentley she lived here in California and was
a patient at Community General when she was 5 years old.”Mark
brought his lap top computer with him which was connected to the
hospital records.
Jesse read the death certificate, which said, “her death
date was October 28th 1952 cause of death was unknown. Everybody
waited to hear more Jesse found information about Amanda. It said
that her grandmother raised her for 5 months until her mom could
care for her again.
Mark also found a mysterious note inside which read in part I am
hiding from my husband. No signature was on the note. “Mark
do you think the reason the birth and death certificates were in
the chest was to hide evidence that someone was murdered.”
Jesse wondered. “I think that might have been the reason.
Steve decided to start thinking of Amanda’s house as a crime
scene. He made a call to the police station and have the place
searched thoroughly with a fine toothcomb. As they say in the
police business. Mark and Jesse decided that they should take
Amanda to Mark’s house and try and explain what they found.
Mark began cooking hamburgers for dinner while Steve was
searching Amanda’s shed for any clues that might solve a
nearly 40 year old mystery. Their job was to try and keep Amanda
occupied for a while until they found more clues. Now the
difficult part was coming up, how to remove the skeleton that was
in that chest without doing any harm to it. They couldn’t
very well keep the body where it was. Dinner was now severed Mark
and Jesse decided to wait and then tell Amanda about their
findings. Why ruin a good dinner? Mark and Jesse thought as they
ate.
Steve called with more information. Mark answered the telephone
“what did you find out?” Mark couldn’t wait to
hear what Steve found out. “Dad I went to the hospital and
tried to find out what Lucille died of all I could find was that
she had in fact died as for the cause of death none was listed.
Bye dad I will see you back at home.”
The conversation ended at a dead end. Mark carefully took out the
death certificate and found the name of her husband. His name was
James. One question bothered both Mark and
Jesse the question was this why had Lucille died and how did the
body end up in Amanda’s shed?
How after 40 or so years were they going to solve this murder and
wasn’t it more likely that whoever murdered Lucille was also
dead and if that was the case nobody would be arrested for the
crime.
Amanda was anxiously wondering what Mark, Jesse and Steve found
in the chest in the shed. Mark, Steve, and Jesse carefully went
through every detail that they found so far. They also told
Amanda that they hadn’t found the cause of death. Mark asked
Amanda if she wanted to do the autopsy. Amanda said she would but
had never done one on a body that had been dead nearly 40 years
and that it might be hard.
The next day Amanda began the autopsy to see if she could find
out the cause of death. First Amanda needed to find a blood type
and needed a sample of DNA (DNA is the genetic map of who you are
and how unique everybody is). Amanda found out that Lucille had a
blood type of O negative it also helped her find that Lucille was
murdered but with a big weapon of some sort. Amanda noticed that
day light was nighttime she lost track of the time. Amanda fell
asleep at her desk. Steve carefully carried Amanda to his car and
drove her home where she stayed with Mark.
The next day Amanda went back to her house to make sure that the
body made it to her lab in one peace. “Be careful please I
want that body sent to the pathology lab right away. The other
parts of the body were sent to the pathology lab immediately.
Amanda did a toxicology screen on each of the parts of the body.
Amanda began examining the head she found that the back of the
skull was crushed badly but was not sure what weapon was used.
Amanda figured the butt of something like a gun or a baseball bat
was used to kill Lucille. Amanda also examined the hands and
found dried blood on the hands.
Part 2
@@@@@@@@@@@@@
note: I know the birth and death certificates are not usually
placed in cofins or chests but the idea for the story is strange
and wanted it to be a little more stange.
@@@@@@@@@@@@@
when we last left the gang Amanda was wondering what was
contained in her hope chest, maybe some albums of Frank Sinatra
or maybe even some old love letters. But Amanda was in for a
mystery when she asked Mark, Jesse and Steve to help her move the
chest so it could be opened. The gang was going to end up not
looking at Pictures of Amanda’s family but of a dead body
that of her great grandmother. Who had been dead since 1952. As
you read this story here is a question will anybody be arrested
for a crime committed nearly 40 years ago?
We continue with our story. Amanda was found asleep in the
pathology lab and was taken home to rest until the next day.
Amanda still needed to examine the head to see if she could find
the answer to this mystery. Amanda typed the name Lucille into
the computer to see if they had any of the blood type o native in
stock. Community General had the blood type in stock. Amanda
delicately scrapped some dried blood off the dead body and took
some of the blood that she got from the lab at the hospital.
After she tested the dried blood against the fresh blood Amanda
found that the blood type was indeed o negative. Now Amanda
needed to find out how Lucille was murdered and as always who did
it.
Amanda examined the skull and found that it was cracked and when
she picked it up to examine the back of it she heard something
rattle she carefully tilted the head so the object or objects
would fall out. The objects made three distinct taps on the table
the objects were silver. Amanda paged Mark Jesse and Steve.
The friends came right away. Amanda explained what she found.
Mark was amazed at what Amanda found given that Lucille was
murdered nearly 55 years ago. Mark sat with Amanda as she
continued. Mark also tried to see if Lucille was married and he
then took out the death
certificate. Lucille was married according to what the death
certificate had.
Steve had taking the bullets Amanda found and had them analyzed
they belonged to a semi automatic gun. “could you have the
gun tested for finger prints.”Amanda asked. Steve had the
gun tested and found that a lot of finger prints were on it.
The prints on the gun were that of a man. “The name of the
man is Harry Doe.” Steve told Amanda. Steve continued “Harry
Doe was arrested for the murders of 5 women between 1920 and
1952. What I am going to do is get his arrest sheet and see if I
can find where the murders occurred. I am really sorry Amanda.”
Steve said more determined to find out why and where this
happened.
Mark took the phone from Amanda and found out where she was
murdered. “Steve the death certificate indicates that
Lucille was murdered in
California specifically in the Beverly Hills area.”Mark
said. “Thanks dad I will see you later.”the phone was
hung up.
Mark saw Amanda was crying and angry. “Mark I am angry that
my great grandmother was murdered and I never knew her. Mark
nodded his head in agreement. Steve called to say that he had
talked with the man that murdered Amanda’s great grandmother
and that he would go to trial soon. "The trial would be in a
month.” Steve said.
Mark led Amanda out of the pathology lab and they went back to
the beach house. Mark tried to cheer Amanda up he said a song he
heard in a movie. He told her to put on a happy face. Amanda was
happy for a while. Amanda went for a walk to clear her head
having no idea that she would meet the person who killed her
great grandmother. Amanda hadn’t realized how far she had
walked when she heard someone come up behind her. Amanda tried to
run away
Someone kept coming up behind Amanda. She tried to run away again
but this time the person who killed her great grandmother
wouldn't let her go. He asked her a question "why did you
discover the body and where was it hidden? Amanda told him that
she didn't discover the body her friends discovered it and told
her about what they had found. The man hit Amanda hard and she
hit the ground. He ran off. Meanwhile Mark and the gang were busy
discussing what had occurred so far. Now they needed the results
of the autopsy Amanda had done on Lucille.
Mark kept trying to page Amanda but received no response.
"Why was she not answering?" Mark wondered he needed
those results right away. Mark was at the hospital putting away
patient's charts. Mark waited another hour before trying Amanda
again. The hour came and went with still no response.
Meanwhile Amanda still lay lifeless on the ground still been hit
at. The man laughed at the body the on ground and then ran away.
Dr. Jesse Travis and Steve were headed back to the hospital with
dinner for everybody. The dinner was an assortment of things
Chinese food and hamburgers, spaghetti and salads. As they drove
in the car Jesse began telling Steve of a suspicious death that
occurred last night. Steve said he would investigate what
happened as soon as he could. Jesse said that he would ask Amanda
to perform the autopsy.
They came near a stoplight and up ahead they noticed a body lying
on the ground. Steve drove the car to the side of the road. Jesse
grabbed his cellular phone and got out of the car with Steve
slowly they walked to the body. Jesse and Steve kneeled down
close to the body. Jesse carefully got his flashlight out and the
light shone on the body. Steve and Jesse both gasped as they
discovered that Amanda was in trouble. "I'll call dad you
check for a pulse." Jesse was able to find a pulse, which,
was very low.
Part 3
Steve felt a chill go up and down his spine as he realized that
he body on the ground was Amanda. Steve grabbed a tissue out of
his pocket and began to stop the blood that was coming from the
top of her head. Next Jesse began to check for her vital signs as
Steve called Mark. Who was at the hospital checking on a patient
who needed help right away? Jesse wrote down her signs and found
that the blood pressure was very low. Next he felt around her
head to see if there was any pressure on the brain. There was a
lot of pressure on her brain. Steve called an ambulance to come
get Amanda.
The ambulance arrived to take Amanda back to Community General.
Steve stayed behind to see if he could track down the person or
persons who attacked Amanda and why. Jesse rode with Amanda in
the ambulance. The paramedic on the ambulance rechecked Amanda's
vital signs they continued to drop. Jesse was in Communications
with Susan his girlfriend and he told her to have an operating
room ready immediately upon their arrival.
Mark continued to make sure the patient was all right during the
operation that involves repairing an artery in his heart that
sometimes took hours. The ambulance arrived in three minutes.
Susan met Jesse at the emergency doors and looked at the chart
and immediately wheeled Amanda into operating room 1. "See
if you can find a room that is open so we can do a CAT scan on
Amanda right away." Jesse said. He hoped that he could save
Amanda. The room was available Amanda was taken their right away.
Jesse and Susan carefully placed Amanda on another bed and Jesse
started taking x-rays of her brain and Susan made sure someone
was beside Amanda in case she awakened. The procedure took 5
minutes only. Jesse and Susan immediately took Amanda back to the
operating room and began the operation.
Steve had given up on finding out who hurt Amanda until tomorrow
when he would be able to see exactly where Amanda was laying
prior to getting hit. Steve carefully got back in his car and
drove back to the hospital with the radio playing in the
background. The song playing was close to you. He felt a tear
fall as he thought about the many times he and Amanda solved
cases together and did other things together. Steve didn't even
notice that he was in the vicinity of Community General. Steve
carefully walked into the hospital doors unsure of exactly how to
tell Mark that Amanda was seriously injured.
Steve carefully looked at the information he gathered while
waiting for Medical attention for Amanda. He seemed rather
disappointed that he hadn't gathered much to give him a lead as
to whom attacked Amanda.
Mark finally finished the operation and headed to the pathology
lab and expected to find Amanda working on an autopsy or updating
files. To the doctor's amazement Amanda wasn't there. "Where
is she why isn't she here as always?" wondered Mark.
Mark was walking down the hall and looked at Steve who seemed
very far away. Steve seemed very far away as he tried to figure
out how to tell Mark what had happened to Amanda. Mark came
closer to Steve and sat down with him and waited for Steve to say
something. All he wanted to do at that moment was cry. In his
many years as a police officer he had never seem anybody that
badly injured. Mark tried to comfort Steve and let him know that
what ever happened wasn't his fault.
Meanwhile Jesse continued to work on Amanda by putting a lot of
passion and experience into his work to save Amanda. She had a
bad head injury. And a few broken ribs. Jesse checked her vision
and found that her eyes were equal and reactive.
Jesse found that Amanda had sustained allot of bumps and bruises.
Next he wanted to do a CAT scan which would help him better
understand if Amanda had little or any brain damage at all.
Amanda was taken to a room where the procedure would be done.
Steve and Mark were sitting silently until Steve told Mark about
Amanda. "Do you remember when Amanda was doing the autopsy
report and she hadn't quite finished the report yet?" Mark
knew this was leading up to something but he wasn't sure.
"Yes I remember I need those autopsy results right away.
Steve continued to tell Mark what happened to Amanda. Steve
described what happened when he and Jesse were headed back to the
hospital and they spotted a body on the side of the road only to
discover that the body was that of Amanda. Steve also described
how bruised Amanda was and that for a minute they were unsure
that that was Amanda they were looking at. Mark knew that Amanda
was at he hospital and was being watched by Jesse.
Mark saw Jesse and Amanda go into a hospital room where Mark
would take a look at Amanda and her chart. Now Amanda was in her
room asleep under the medication Jesse had given her to ease some
of the pain. Mark carefully looked over the chart and realized
how close they came to losing Amanda.
Suddenly Amanda was moaning Mark and Jesse were at her bedside.
Amanda asked what happened and how she got here. Mark quickly
answered those questions he was anxious to find out what Amanda
had seen or remembered. But before Mark began questioning Amanda
he wanted to be sure Steve wrote this down. Mark quickly got
Steve and Mark began asking Amanda a specific question about what
she did and what she was able to recall. They were soon about to
find out that though Amanda was hurt badly she remembered quite a
bit.
Mark asked this question, "did you seen anything about the
person who attacked you?" Amanda sat up comfortably as she
began to answer his question. "I went for a walk to clear
head and then I heard footsteps behind me and I continued running
because I was scared and I needed to finish the autopsy results.
Next the man in a black suit with a mask grabbed me and asked me
why I had found the body in my shed, and when I told him that I
hadn't found the body that the three of you discovered it, he hit
me hard and was angry that the body was discovered." Mark
got Amanda some water and next she continued. "He told me
that he didn't want the body discovered because he didn't want to
be accused in the murder."
Mark, Steve, and Jesse were amazed at what she was able to tell
them. "Did the bad guy tell you if he had help in committing
the murder?" Steve asked writing down every word Amanda
said.
Steve eventually arrested the person who attacked Amanda and a
deposition was taken from Amanda because she was unable to
testify in court because her injuries were too painful to move.
The court handed down a sentence of 30 years in prison without
the possibility of ever getting out of prison.
Amanda was given a big party. The final autopsy report showed
that the great grandmother Lucille died of massive injuries to
the head and other parts of the body.
The End
