Dressed For Death

CHAPTER 1

JULIETTE

"Shit, shit, shit" I was going to be extremely late for work, and I'm never late! I swear to god this damn alarm just didn't have to turn on the one morning I had an important autopsy to do with my mentor. 

I opened the door of my apartment building, and I jogged to my car and didn't see a peel of a banana on the sidewalk. I tripped and fell on the concrete right on my behind.

"WHO THE HELL LEAVES A BANANA PEEL ON THE SIDEWALK" I yelled exasperate. I looked over the other side of the street only to see a woman with her child looking at me.

She grabbed her toddler's hand and walked faster, probably to get away from the crazy lady screaming over a banana peel. What can I say... I never watch where I'm going and this is the perfect example of my clumsiness. 

I groaned as I stood up from the ground and walked to my car instead of jogging this time. I wasted no time getting in it and driving to the office.

I sighed as I parked and walked into the building. I knew Dr. McCarty was going to be pissed at me for being late, but it wasn't my fault my alarm didn't go off this morning. 

"You're late Miss Ross," said Dr. McCarty. He's a douche towards me and I really don't know why. Maybe it's because I'm annoying him with how fast I was learning.

"I know and I'm very sorry about that. I promise it'll never happen again!" I said to him.

"I don't care, we have a lot of work to do this morning," he said as he walked away from me, and I quickly followed him.

We entered the autopsy room and I waited patiently for him to uncover the body of the white sheet. When he grabbed the top of it, I wanted to hop in excitement. Only I could be excited about this. A normal person would most likely vomit in the garbage can. 

When he pulled off the cover, a woman's body was laying there with the skin of her face torn off. She didn't have a face anymore, only bloody flesh that's been ripped out. 

"What happened to her?" I asked quietly, paying my respect for that poor lady at the same time. I might be a morbid person, but she was probably married, a mother or a daughter to someone before she became a cadaver in this cold lifeless room. 

"The same thing as the other victim. Now, let's get to work" he sighed as he walked to his stool where he liked to sit all the time while I did the autopsy. 

I examined the body and I could already tell some things about her so we could identify her as soon as possible. The better, the sooner as the police officers always say to us when they ask us to fill an autopsy report for them. 

"Tell me what you can about her so far just by looking at her body without further examination," He asked while he crossed his arms. I swear this man let me do all the work by myself, I didn't know if it was to train me even more, but it was getting annoying to watch him sit on his ass while I was filling the report completely. And, after, he gets all the credit for it when he did absolutely nothing. 

"She's a white woman obviously. Dark brown hair and her nails are extremely chipped, we could extract DNA from under her nails for sure." I began as I walk around the table to examine her body without touching her yet. Her eyes were closed so I couldn't say what color was her eyes yet. All of her facial traits were non-existent due to the lack of skin and the bloody muscles were making everything harder. 

"I would say she's an adult and her age will be estimated once we do a dental exam. She has bruises around her wrists and ankles which means signs of struggle when she was tied up by something, which of course will be found once we examine her more profoundly" I told Dr. McCarty, hoping he would do something to help me work faster on this case.

"It's highly possible that the killer used the same material as the other victim if it's indeed the same person who did this" I stated and noted at the same time. Every little detail is crucial in this case. 

When I saw he was doing nothing I continued my little routine and didn't wait for his directions when I gently picked up her right arm to examine it more closely. The bruises on her forearm were clearly fingerprints, and it didn't take a genius to figure that out. 

I noted that as well on my notepad and turned around to face Dr. McCarty. "I'm sorry to interrupt your relaxation session, but could you help me examine her body. The police are most likely waiting for us to finish and you're sitting there doing absolutely doing nothing while I do the work" 

"I can do what I want and should I remind you that I'm your mentor and you're just a student here" He angrily said to me. Finally, I got a reaction out of him this time. YoU'rE jUsT a StUdEnT! What kind of bullshit is that when I'm the one doing your job?!

"Mentor my ass" I mumbled under my breath as I continued to note all of the things I noticed on the woman's body. I moved on to identify her age by looking at her teeth, and it didn't surprise me to find out she was in the same age range as the other victim. 

I internally sent another prayer for her and her family, hoping that we would catch the person who did that horrible thing to her. No one deserves to die in this way. 

I finished the report in silence, not feeling the need to share my discoveries with someone who couldn't care less about this job and solving crimes. I took a Q-tip and collected DNA from under her nails. I did another sample on her wrists and ankles for more details. 

I walked out of the room and went to the main office where I could write more clearly for the police officers. 

I didn't want them to read my gibberish abbreviations that were filling my notebook. And, I liked filling those reports in this office while I was in complete silence. Maybe that's what I loved about my job, the dead didn't speak. 

I leaned back into my chair, resting my writing hand for a second with all that writing. I took a deep breath and my eyes snapped open when I hear rapid footsteps just outside my office door. He just can't leave me alone for five minutes without being scared I screw up his precious report I thought to myself. 

The door burst opened, and I looked up from all the paperwork I had to fill for the moment. Well okay... I was about to go off, but now it wasn't the person I was expecting to enter this office. 

"First, who are you? Second, who do you think you are entering here without having some manners?" I said calmly to the person that was standing in front of me. The man standing in front of me was a snack not gonna lie, but where are his manners though? In his car perhaps? 

"Detective Hayden Smith. I was hoping to speak with the doctor in charge of the autopsy, but it seems you're not him" Of course he would be some police officer too impatient to wait for us to finish our work. 

"Dr. McCarty is probably in his office, now get out so I can finish all of that paperwork," I said as I continued to write. I heard him grumbled something before he exited the office, man I just hoped I wouldn't have to deal with his impatient ass soon again.