Demons & Death is the sixth Forensics level in Trauma Team, & the first in the Patient Zero Finale sequence.
Opening[]
Following the successful endoscopic surgery done on Alyssa's cat, Chloe, Dr. Kimishima is alone outside of Resurgam when she witnesses Gabriel Cunningham being dropped from a helicopter. She makes a few witty remarks before she and Gabriel return to the inside of the Hospital, with Gabriel showing her the skeleton he had taken from USAMRIID while he was diagnosing Samuel Trumbull. Gabriel then informs Naomi of the events that happened there and asks her to reconstruct the skeleton. Naomi then tells him how ridiculous of a request it is and voices her doubt about this being connected to the outbreak of the Rosalia Virus, though Gabriel then says it is worth a shot. Naomi sighs and gives in, agreeing to reconstruct the skull while Gabriel takes care of the body. At this moment, her phone goes off, much like in the previous cases. She answers the phone and hears the voice say: "my son... forgive me... I was enticed by the Devil...!". Gabriel jokingly asks Naomi if it was her "Voodoo Hotline" going off again, which irks her and she dismisses him. From here, the investigation starts.
Investigation[]
The investigation starts by reconstructing the skull of the skeleton. As Naomi finishes the reconstruction of the front part of the skull, she notices there is a fragment missing, meaning she is unable to complete the reconstruction for the time being. After she finishes the partial reconstruction of the skull, she moves on to the items found with the body. The first thing Naomi notices is the large bloodstain on the clothing, which she notes as odd because there is no external damage to the clothing. Searching through the pockets of the clothing she comes across a key and a syringe case, which contained a needle and various ampules of medicine. She takes both these items from the clothing and concludes that she cannot learn more until she has organized the information she has so far. (Player will obtain the following info cards: "Skull (incomplete)", "Bloodstained Clothing", "Mysterious Key", and "Portable Syringe Case". The player will also have an additional card from the start of the investigation aside from the card "Deceased's Voice" that is labeled as "Strange Bone Fragment".)
Naomi returns to her computer and begins talking with Navel. The first thing she shows him is the syringe case and asks him to investigate the contents, to which Navel responds that he will have the ampules analyzed to determine the contents and see if the syringe was used. The next item Naomi shows Navel is the key, which he determines goes to something that is high security because the key utilizes magnetism. Naomi the asks him to seek out what the key goes to, which Navel states will take time because they have little information to work with, but he admits that a national group like the FBI has the ability to track down where the key goes. Naomi then realizes that the pieces of bone that Chloe had swallowed were the missing pieces of the skull, which she affixes to the last area to complete the skull. She then thinks about how Chloe began to have mysterious foci appear within her after she had swallowed the bone, which implies that something within the bone was causing the unknown pathological changes within her. She then notes that due to the way the bone was fusing into Chloe's digestive tract, she had to have swallowed the bone fragments a week before. Navel then informs Naomi that Gabriel has finished the reconstruction of the skeleton, allowing her to finally examine the body. Naomi asks Navel for any information that they had gleaned from the corpse, which Navel states wasn't much, only the assumed height of the victim along with the chemical composition of the bones. After this exchange she returns to the examination room. (The player will permanently lose the "Mysterious Key" info card, and gain the following cards: "Diseased Bone" and "Bone Nitrogen Concentration".)
Beginning with the examination of the skeleton Naomi first notes the damage done to the bones on the left knee, which she notes is odd and adds that the damage cannot have been done by an external force. She then notices that the femur of the right leg is shattered , which is unusual because the femur is the hardest bone in the human body and wonders what could've broken it so easily. As she moves up the body to the arm, she notes some odd marks and scratches on the bone, which she intends to examine more closely. (Player obtains the info cards "Joint Damage", "Fractured Femur" and "Markings on Right Arm".)
Returning to her computer, Naomi contacts Navel and asks him to examine the marks on the bone. Navel determines that the damage was done recently and that it was likely made with a router, which Naomi deduces was done to obtain a sample for analysis. (This detail matches up with information obtained during Proud One.) She next discusses the damage done to the knee, which Navel states is bone abrasion due to the meniscus of the knee being missing, which makes Naomi wonder how the meniscus was lost while the victim was alive. Naomi moves on to the fractured femur, which Navel deduces was caused by a loss of bone density, which most likely happened while the person was alive. Naomi then concludes that the lack of bone density and the missing meniscus point to the victim having a weakened skeletal system which most likely happened while the person was still alive.
Now that the skull was completed Naomi asks Navel to examine the bones for any unusual properties, which Navel fails to find. Naomi then states that the bone is unusual because it caused Chloe to develop foci similar to infected victims in the quarantine zone, which means the bone was hosting the Rosalia Virus. Navel says that isn't possible because a virus requires a living host to reproduce and live. Both agree that there is not enough information to draw a definitive conclusion about the bones carrying the virus, though Naomi clears up why neither had contracted Rosalia: the virus must make contact with mucous membranes in order to infect the host, thus making airborne transmission impossible. This then leads Naomi to deduce the reason that the USAMRIID researcher was infected with Rosalia while he collected the bone sample from the skeleton. After this, Naomi requests that Navel examines the DNA of the skeleton and the blood found on the clothing the skeleton was found with. After a short analysis, Navel confirms the DNA is a match, confirming the blood was from the victim. Naomi asks Navel to do a more in depth investigation of the bloodstain, since they needed to know what could cause such a large loss of blood without any obvious injury to the body, to which Navel agrees to do so.
During this time, Navel receives the results of the syringe and ampule analysis, which determined that the ampules and syringe contained a variety of antiviral medications, including one known as Ashvins which was not fully approved by the FDA. Navel then informs Naomi that the reason Ashvins was not approved for use was due to the side effects of the drug, namely a loss of bone density. This then leads Naomi to deduce the reason the victim had lost their meniscus and had a hollow femur was due to them injecting themselves with Ashvins, which would only happen because the person was suffering from a viral infection. At the same time, Navel reveals that the results of the blood analysis have returned and that the blood contained traces of saliva, which indicates that the blood on the clothing was vomited. With all the evidence, Naomi confirms that the victim succumbed to viral hemorrhagic fever, giving them a cause of death. Navel then tells Naomi that all of the antiviral drugs and even the Ashvins were not medicines the general public could access, which means the person who had these items was someone who worked in the medical field.
With this new detail in mind, Naomi moves on to finally determine the identity of the corpse by studying the shape of the bones. Navel sends her information to do so and she returns to the exam room to ID the corpse. (Due to the large amount of information and card fusing that happens during this section, the information cards that the player will have upon returning to the examination room will be Solid Evidence cards "Conclusive Cause of Death" and "Health Professional", along with the evidence cards "Determining Gender", "Assuming Age", "Assuming Race" and "Estimating Time of Death".)
After one more short examination, Naomi deduces that the skeleton belonged to a caucasian male in his 50's. Once she has deduced these facts, she feels prepared to finally identify the corpse. (Since this is the final part of the investigation, the player will have the following Solid Evidence cards: "Conclusive Cause of Death", "Health Professional", "Male Skeleton", "Age Assumed Around 50", "Caucasian Skeleton", "Time Since Death: Two Years" and the "Deceased's Voice" card will become Solid Evidence as well.)
Ending[]
Naomi puts all the information together to narrow down the search for the identity of the skeleton by confirming it was a Caucasian male in his 50's who was an influential person in the medical field, namely the field of pathology due to the antiviral drugs in his possession and the fact that only a medical professional would know how to use them and had clearance to obtain them. She also confirms that they passed away from a viral hemorrhagic fever long before the Rosalia Virus outbreak. Naomi then reveals the identity of the skeleton: Albert Sartre. She then rendezvous with Gabriel and the Chief, informing them of the developments.
Notes[]
- This episode takes place after Chloe's Change (Endoscopy).