Tessa obtained permission to participate in the examination on the morning after the reader test. The permission specified her role beside the local medical staff. It did not make the body hers to investigate, nor give her authority to take samples away.
She read the approved scope before changing into protective clothing. Documentation of visible injury and dressing relationships. Comparison with recovery photographs. No removal of the coin without the custodian’s separate procedure. An independent clinical record that could be compared with Eli’s native identification lead without having been written to confirm it.
The lead remained outside the initial examination notes until the staff had recorded their own findings. Tessa knew it, but the local examiner did not need to hear her repeat it before looking at the wounds.
Taren Ilyr lay under the same careful covering Eli had described. Tessa used the name quietly, aware that the civil identification remained unconfirmed. The local examiner recorded the case reference aloud. A staff member checked it against the carrier and the image record.
They began with what the photographs could establish about handling. The recovery team had documented the body’s position before turning it. The visible coin had remained in the wound. Certain parts of the clothing had been cut for the transfer and recorded as such. None of the coastal responders had applied a dressing beneath the torn inner garment.
