Robin Miller had recently moved back to San Francisco. She had lived here years ago, when she attended the University of California Berkeley. That's where she had met her late husband, Greg. He had been a pre law student and she had been a pre med student. Until his death, they had been living in Los Angles. San Francisco was colder the LA, some days there seemed to be a permanent fog, especially around the bay. She missed the beaches of LA and the sun. But she needed this change. It was good to get away from LA, especially since she knew where all the good bars were there. Since Greg had died, she couldn't stop at just one or two drinks anymore. She had needed to be almost numb to get through the day without him.<br/><br/>Her mother, Belinda Carter, had hated that she had moved to San Francisco. Oh well, Belinda hadn't liked many of Robin's choices in life. Like the fact, that instead of becoming a world famous surgeon, Robin had became a medical examiner. Belinda told her friends that her daughter was a doctor but never what type. Robin wondered if her mother was bothered by the fact that her work made her be surrounded by dead people. Dead people had stories to tell and Robin helped make their voices heard. Especially when someone else caused the death. It was an important job and she didn't care if her mother hadn't liked it. Dear old Dad had been proud of her. Always telling anyone who would listen that his only child helped the police solve crimes before he died of prostate cancer.<br/><br/>Of course, a medical examiner wasn't just called upon in murder cases. Any time there was the possibility a person died of unnatural causes, a medical examiner was called. Sometimes one was called just because the deceased hadn't seen a doctor in a long time and someone had to rule cause of death. She was supposed to be meeting Belinda and her stepfather, Larry, for supper tonight. They were in town on vacation and Belinda had practically demanded that Robin make sure she had the night off. Robin was getting ready to leave when she got the call she was needed at Black Point Battery, a body had been found. She called her mother as she changed into more comfortable shoes and tied back her dark hair.<br/><br/>"Sorry, Mom, I have to postpone our dinner."<br/><br/>"What, why?"<br/><br/>Belinda replied, rather annoyed that Robin was having to go to work. Belinda had only worked a part office jobs her adult life. She had never been on call and didn't like that her daughter who she hadn't seen in a few months was not going to make it to the dinner they had been planning.<br/><br/>"I'm needed at a crime scene."<br/><br/>"Seriously? Can't Nolan go instead?"<br/><br/>Nolan Ryder was her boss and an old friend. He had been recently promoted to Chief Medical Examiner and she had taken his old position that he offered to her. She had needed a change and he had needed someone he could trust in the office. The last Chief had left the office in shambles. There were backlogs of cases, some dating back almost three years. It was a giant mess that was going to take Nolan months to sort out. Robin grabbed her bag and car keys. She was talking to her mother she locked her apartment door and headed to her car.<br/><br/>"No, Mom. He's my boss, remember? He tells me where to go."<br/><br/>Belinda sighed.<br/><br/>"I know but I was looking forward tonight."<br/><br/>"Me too, but I'll make it up to you and Larry."<br/><br/>Robin said and she got into her car.<br/><br/>"Can't you just come to dinner and then head to work? It's not like the dead person is going anywhere."<br/><br/>Robin didn't know whether to laugh or scream at her mother's reply. Her mother truly didn't understand how some things worked in the world. Especially when it came to law enforcement.<br/><br/>"The person may not go anywhere, but the police at the scene are very much alive and they would be pretty pissed if I made them wait too long. I'll call you later."<br/><br/>Robin said and hung up her phone. She had to input the address into her GPS. She had remember where some places were in SF but it had been so long since she drove in this city. One positive of her new home was that the traffic wasn't awful like Los Angeles. Plus, she shouldn't have paparazzi all over the scene, wanting to know if celebrity overdosed.<br/><br/>When she arrived at the scene, she grabbed her bag and flashed her identification to the officer guarding the scene. Since she arrived in San Francisco, most her cases had been standard stuff. An accident here or there, a suicide, and a few people who died of natural causes. She had not met Joe or his partner before.<br/><br/>"Hello, Inspectors, I'm Doctor Miller. It is a shame we could not have met under better circumstances."<br/><br/>As she greeted them, she set her bag down and began to examine Mister Gabriel Lopez. She saw no obvious signs of trauma. She didn't see any visible gun shot wounds, stab marks, or even a terrible beating. His arms showed some track marks, the tale tell signs of a drug user. She took his liver temperature and told Joe and Sam.<br/><br/>"Mister Lopez died about six hours ago. I'll have the lab run a tox screen and see if his habits may have contributed to him meeting his maker."