Lost in Blue

𝕯𝖗𝖊𝖎: Autopsy

"Dorn, Schneider called."

Eckert sat across him, as usual a pile of paperwork stacked over one another, hand signing and filling in several boxes with his pen. Busy as always, his superior took a sip from his cup of black tea with his spare hand. Henning admired his ability to multitask, it only proved how much of a workaholic his boss was.

"The autopsy's preliminary results are here. They want you to visit the clinic in an hour. It's urgent."

One week had passed after the first appearance of the corpse and only now, on the 17th of April had the results of last week's autopsy arrived. Well, only a tentative one, which would lack a few details, but given that this was most likely a criminal case every information that could be shared earlier was crucial for the investigation. A normal autopsy report would have taken weeks, so Dorn appreciated the forensic's work and their cooperativeness.

"What did they find out?"

"Schneider wouldn't tell me about it on the phone, but it seems to be so grave that Arzt allows the surviving victim to take a look at the corpse," Wolfgang explained, shrugging it off, "I expect a report as soon as you're back. I'd like to go there myself but you see -"

Hazel eyes wandered to the stack of paper beside him, as he commented, "German Bureaucracy."

Asking around the area if anyone had seen anything strange had proved to be futile. German media already were on the police department's tail – as expected the salvage accompanied by police officers on the scene hadn't gone unnoticed.

Eloquent as ever, Eckert had diplomatically declared the matters to be a simple routine check in a public interview. Needless to say, he left the two bodies out of the conversation with the reporter, disguising the police's involvement as an attempt to help retrieve a sunken steamboat. Of course, the whole procedure had led to a decent amount of desk work.

Dorn nodded slowly, confirming, "German bureaucracy."

Both men simultaneously let out a heavy sigh, silently cursing the never ending paperwork the two policeman were well acquainted with.

"Understood, Herr Eckert. I'm on my way."

𝕹 𝕴 𝖃𝕰 𝕿 𝕺 𝕽 𝕰 𝕿𝕰𝖄

"Arzt."

"Dorn."

Both men just gave each other a quick nod downwards – an unspoken token of respect among males, despite having had differences in opinions the last time they had seen each other. Yet, no matter how polite they both expressed themselves with words, trying to keep up appearances, it didn't change the frosty atmosphere, charged with tension.

Barely a week ago they had discussed the survivor's necessity to take a look at the corpse. And now they found themselves at the small conference room of the Loreley Clinic in order to talk about the autopsy's results.

Henning was not the type to bear grudges, but his opposite seemingly did, judging by his saturnine look, which only loosened after his female peer entered the room. Her shrilly voice announced her arrival before the policeman could even see her.

"Sorry for being late," Schneider apologized, closing the door behind her, file in hand, while giving Henning a smile he skillfully ignored.

Pouting, she noticed both men had not taken the initiative to sit themselves down at the table. "What are you standing around for? Take a seat, you two!"

Silently, they obeyed and seated themselves, opposite of one another. Henning could see in Schneider's eyes that she thought about sitting beside him, but his slight head-shaking thankfully made her reconsider.