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intubated, attached to a respirator and EKG. They'd turned off the audio, but she could see the regular slow heart beat on the monitor. He had bandages all over his body.
    “OK to get a quick look at the sutured wounds?” she asked the nurse. "I need photos and measurements of the lacerations."
    “No problem, I can change out the bandages now, while I’m at it.”
    Taking her time to gently remove bandages, Reilly snapped photos, and took measurements as the nurse went about her business.
    From a forensic point of view, it was important that sharp force injuries (stab wounds) were distinguished from lacerations (tearing apart of tissues), which were a type of blunt force injury.
    The presence of tissue bridging within the depths of the wound, below the level of the skin surface - represented by nerves, vessels, and other soft tissues that extended across the gap from one side to the opposite side - were indicative of a laceration, which was what she was seeing now.
    The injury to Morrison’s shoulder was an incised wound, where a cut or "slash," had resulted when an object with a sharp tip or sharp edge, made contact with the skin, with the direction of the force occurring in a more-or-less tangential fashion. Incised wounds were typically longer than they were deep.
    As the bleeding from the incised wound had been stopped and the gash cleaned, that one was straightforward enough for Reilly to assess.
    Examination of the stab wound - present under the victim’s ribs - would be a lot more difficult, and would yield considerably less information, by nature of the fact that it had been sutured, and so some of the detail often so easily gathered from a corpse would be impossible.
    These were caused by a pointed object typically having a sharp tip when the object is forced into the skin and underlying tissues, with the direction of the force in a more-or-less perpendicular angle with the skin.
    Reilly carefully measured all the wounds’ margins and angles and took note of the defensive injuries on Josh Morrison’s fingers.
    Such information, along with blood spill and drip patterns, foot impressions, handprints, and fingerprints taken from the crime scene, were all hugely important in helping the team determine what had happened during the attack, and she hoped, ultimately identify the perpetrator.
    She tried to remain unaffected as she measured and recorded, keeping in step with the science, not the emotion, but it was difficult in the face of such a fresh attack, and while the man was still lying unconscious on the bed.
    And she couldn't help but wonder if Tony Ellis would have done something similar to her if Chris hadn't shown up…
    She shook her head. This was a brand new investigation and the attack bore no relation whatsoever to what had happened to her a few weeks’ back. She needed to focus.
    When it was all done, she thanked the ICU nurse and stepped back out to join the detectives.
    But they were paying Reilly no attention, and she soon discovered why.
    The TV Queen herself, Annabel Morrison was walking down the corridor. Even with tear-stained puffy eyes, an expression carved from sustained trauma, lack of make-up and whatever workout clothes she'd changed into in the meantime, she looked stunning.
    Though as with most TV people, much smaller and thinner in person, the television presenter had lustrous blonde hair that hung in waves over her shoulders--quite the contrast to Reilly's own wiry locks that were often bunched up in an untamed ponytail.
    With her brilliant green eyes, toned body, and sex appeal to match her stardom, importance seemed to emanate off her in waves.
    As she approached, all the men standing nearby fell silent and stopped moving. Except for Kennedy, who kept shifting between his feet.
    Annabel arrived at the door of ICU, and without saying a word, flashed everyone with a dismissive “who-the-hell-are-you and what-are-you-doing-here" expression, shot through with a deep sense of