Agent Pendergast 23: Pendergast: The Beginning

At the same time the bottom of the casket gave way, splitting into several pieces and allowing the body within to flop out. And as he did so, something began to dawn: the friendly, dead-looking eyes, the flat affect, the strange emphasis on food… Wickman must have been in contact with the surgeon before he himself arrived with the victim. Finally, Chambers thought, Pendergast was coming around.