Solving the Case
Abby is convinced the dog she is calling Jethro is innocent and she is set on proving it. To help the team figure out if it was Jethro the dog or not, Dr. Mallard and I took a deeper look at the body.
Hansen had many wounds on his body that might have been from a dog. He had scratches and bite marks, but it was hard to find the traditional bite hold.
“You know, Mr. Palmer, a number of these puncture wounds are exceedingly sharp,” observes Dr. Mallard.
Certain breeds, especially shepherds, can have needle-sharp teeth, capable of inflicting severe puncture wounds,” I share.
“As on the clavicle here,” notes Ducky as McGee walks in. “Did you get your shots, Timothy?” The good doctor asks.
“I feel like a dartboard,” says McGee.
“Guess that's better than being a chew toy. If you're looking for my findings, I'll be done momentarily,” Ducky tells him.
“Actually, Ducky, I was wondering if you could tell me what the symptoms of rabies are,” asks Tim.
“Yes, well, I will yield the floor to young Palmer here and allow our resident dog expert to explain to you why you do not have rabies,” says Dr. Mallard.
“You ever heard of Kujo?” I ask McGee. He probably got the paranoia from Tony. McGee nods.
“Well there is something to that. Dog bites and scratches cause 99% of the human rabies cases. However it can be prevented through dog vaccination. And lucky for you, the dog Abby is calling Jethro was vaccinated. Rabies is preventable and besides you already had the medication and vaccinations that are used as extra precautions against rabies,” I tell him.
McGee still seems a bit anxious, but at least I think I convinced him he doesn’t have rabies.
Abby is still convinced the dog is innocent and takes him on a field trip to the Naval Base. While she is there she finds bones. We have another body.
“Careful, Mr. Palmer. We're trying to take bones out of the ground, not put mine in,” Ducky scolds.
“Of course,” I reply. I’ll be careful
“That dog should have a muzzle on it, Abby” says McGee staying as far away from Jethro the dog as he can
“Put a muzzle on yourself, McGee. It's not like he shot you. All right, I know I shouldn't have taken him out without authorisation, but time was of the essence. And besides, Jethro might have uncovered an important clue,” rants Abby
“Or maybe it's another one of his victims, and he's confessing,” Says Tony.
“Not unless he was a cannibal,” Ducky replied
The bones were from another dog. This case just keeps getting more complicated, and in the end this body would not be the last one found connected to this case.
Jethro the dog was sick. Abby thought he was just depressed until he started coughing up blood. Abby rushed him up to the autopsy room.
“Ducky, I need help!!” she yelled and then explained the situation. Quickly we hopped into action, we had a life to save.
“Get the x-ray machine, Mr. Palmer,” orders Ducky
“Is he dying?” asks Abby
“I don't know,” replies Dr. Mallard
“That’s not a good answer,” replies Abby getting more anxious
“You must calm down,” Ducky orders her
“In the stomach, right there,” I point out when I see a shadow that shouldn't be there on the X-ray
“What is it?” asks Abby
“Something that doesn't belong,” replies Dr. Mallard before ordering me to “Prepare to sedate, Mr. Palmer. You'll find everything you need in my bag,”
“Right away, doctor” I reply.
I'm unsure if this is the right decision. We might be medical professionals but neither of us regularly work on animals. Besides, do I really want to put this dog through this when he is likely to die anyway? No, I couldn't live with myself if I didn't try. Jethro the dog is suffering a I can do something about it. The likeliness of a successful surgery is slim but I don't want to disappoint Abby. I don't want this dog to die.
“We're going to have to operate,” says Dr. Mallard
“Is he gonna be okay?” Abby asks again
“The inside of a dog's stomach is like a sewer. Survival rates are not good,” I tell her.
However, while the odds are not good, we have to hold onto hope. We have to believe that there is a chance this dog can survive, the power of positivity, and all that. Odds have been defined before. Nobody survived the killing curse before me, or at least nobody returned from death in that way until I did. My mother found a way to beat the odds. I doubt anybody survived a Basilisk bite either, but faith brought Fawkes to me and his healing tears saved my life. We have a chance to save this dog, but it’s not going to be easy.
“Well, then both our expertise are going to be challenged,” says Dr. Mallard. He still believes we have a chance. He believes in our collective skills.
“Ducky, you know what you're doing, right?” questions Abby.
She brought Jethro the dog to us and she has very few options if we want him to survive. It is not the time for doubt. I try to put all of the doubts out of my head and think back to my days at the clinic. I've assisted with a few surgeries on canines. I know the anatomy and Ducky has a varied skill set. Together we might pull this off, we just have to believe.
”Yes, well, the fact that he's breathing does put me somewhat out of my element. But we don't have a choice, now, do we?” Ducky tells Abby before asking me “What do we need?”
It's weird that my mentor is differing from me. He's been doing this kind of stuff longer than me. He was an army medic, while I was just a veterinary student. He saved lives in the chaos of war while I just took them, but my old persona was the one recognized as the hero. However, I’m not totally useless. While Ducky might be the more experienced healer, I know animals. I studied the anatomy of a variety of creatures great and small. I know dogs, while Ducky knows emergent surgery. Together we might pull this off, so I look at our tools and think back to what we might need.
“The suture materials. Metzenbaum scissors. Hemostats. And scalpels, Number 10 blade,” I reply quickly.
He thanks me and gets the materials ready. “You might want to leave,” he tells Abby.
She refuses to leave, but we continue on. Now is not the time to worry about human comfort. We have a dying dog on our hands.
“All right. I need to make an incision posterior to the xiphoid cartilage,” says Dr. Mallard.
“Retracting the peritoneal fat,” I narrate.
Oh, clip that bleeder, Mr. Palmer” Dr. Mallard orders.
One thing I don't miss about working on the living is all the blood that spurts everywhere. While dead bodies might be gross sometimes, they usually keep their blood to themselves.
“Yeah. Hurry, hurry, hurry, please,” says Abby. I ignored her, we were moving as fast as we could.
“All right, all right, I see. Got it,” I tell Ducky when I got the bleeder.
“Got it!” repeats Ducky when he had the foreign object in his hemostat.
He slowly puts it in the tray. We still have to finish the surgery.
“Now pull up the inner mucosal layer. There you go,” instructs Ducky gently
We close Jethro the dog up and return our focus on the object.
“All right, now...Got the little rascal,” says Ducky
“Is that what I think it is?” I ask
It was a part of a boot knife. The wounds on the Petty Officer were knife wounds.
“Well, your Jethro may be the first to survive a trip to autopsy,” I tell Abby
“Wait. We're not out of the woods yet,” says Ducky and we get back to work.
We have a patient to monitor and a murder to solve. This clue helps clear Jethro the dog of the murder.
The phone rings and I answer it. “Yes, sir. He's here. I'll put him on. Dr. Mallard, it's Agent Gibbs,” I tell him
Gibbs found another body while we found new evidence.
“Clean this off for me,” orders Dr. Mallard while handing me the blade.
“Uh, certainly. But we have an interesting
development here, Jethro, that you will find fascinating. The dog from Hanson's house…You'll never guess what he swallowed,” I hear Dr. Mallard say while I clean the blood off the blade.
“It's the tip of a knife, Gibbs,” says Abby from behind Ducky
“Yes, well, while Hanson was definitely mauled, there was a puncture mark on his collar bone that troubled me. I now know that that puncture mark was made by this knife, not a dog bite,” Ducky informs his old friend
“It's a perfect match,” I tell them
“It wasn't just the dog that killed him,” Gibbs concludes
“No, no, no. He had a human coconspirator. Just a minute, Jethro. Mr. Palmer, the cervical vertebrae from the John Doe, the one I cleaned off, where is it?” Dr. Mallard asks me
“John Doe?” I ask confused. What John Doe?
“The dead dog, Mr. Palmer,” he clarifies.
“206” I tell him and he walks over to the slab. He grabs the blade carefully on his way.
“Stay with me, Jethro. Yes, as I thought. The knife point fits perfectly into the wound on the cervical vertebrae of the dog we unearthed yesterday. If I were a betting man, I'd say the two crimes were related, Jethro” Ducky says
With that information, the case was solved. The Petty Officer was killed by a colleague and the killer's dog was switched with a non drug sniffing dog.
One question remains. What will happen to Jethro the Dog now that he was proven innocent?