Last part of the story: but I have to go back now and add a couple of bits. Then see if it coheres. Hopefully, it will.
Entering the lab made the detective’s skin prickle for a moment, and at first he wasn’t sure why. It looked the same (there was a corpse on a gurney, probably waiting for him to take a look at it), but it didn’t quite smell the same. There was the usual combination of disinfectant and death, and he had been expecting that; but there was something else, too. After a moment, he realized it was fear; and it was coming off the coroner’s assistant. She was standing in one corner, rigidly waiting, and not meeting anybody’s eyes.
The agent nodded at the assistant. “Everybody else is out for the day,” she said. “Involuntarily. She’s the only one on the staff who could handle what you’re about to see for more than five minutes.”
“Ah. Maybe I don’t want to see it, then,” replied the detective. “Whatever it is.”
“Sorry, Detective.” The agent didn’t sound very sorry as she picked up a clipboard. “If we’re stuck with this, then so are you.”