There is a potted houseplant, but there are no Kleenex, as the office tries to discourage family members from visiting. Beside Cindy's phone sits the daily mail, which includes stacks of slides that are taken of each crime scene and autopsy. Waiting to be cataloged are pictures of a dismembered Jane doe and a widower hanging from a ceiling fan, his tongue hard and black. During brief periods of quiet, Cindy reorganizes the case files piled on the table beside her desk. Each file contains a photo of the decedent, a death certificate, the results of various tests run on the blood and sampled organs, and, if necessary, a crime-scene report.
Charts note the presence of identifying scars and tattoos, bullet holes, and knife wounds.
Because the Medical Examiner's Office is a county institution, anyone can, for a small fee, receive copies of a case file. Just as the office tries to discourage family members from visiting, it also discourages them from ordering copies of the photographs.