The Stolen Heart: A Regal Whodunnit

Chapter 3

As I groggily ambled into the morgue early the next morning, I noticed the door to the prince's cooler was wide open. His feet extended far past the opening, and the sheet that covered him lay in disarray. I yanked on the icy table to reveal his upper body, still covered by the white sheet. A blood stain was soaked bulls-eye to the middle of his upper abdomen. As the sheet was lowered, it revealed a gash in his chest. My eyes scanned the wound as I mindlessly tried to conclude what had happened. As I looked on, I detected that the wound had been hollowed out.

The prince's heart was missing.

In a panic, I began scanning his cooler but saw nothing. I spun around, my head now in a tizzy, as I stumbled around the room, trying to find any signs of the heart. My breath felt heavier and heavier as my mind descended into chaos. I sank to the floor beside the open cooler as I tried to slow my breath. After a few panicked minutes, I shakily stood, walked over to the phone, and dialed the number to the police station.

'Hello?' a deep voice said from the other end. 'This is Detective Ba-'

'Hi, yeah, this is Faith from the Royal London Hospital morgue,' I blurted. 'I'm the doctor in charge of Prince Andrew's autopsy, and I've just popped in this morning and it seems that someone was in here last night and got into his cooler,' I rambled on.

'Faith, is it? Slow down, I don't understand,' Detective Baker piped up. 'What are you saying, huh?'

'Sir, someone has gotten into the morgue and... and, well they've stole the prince's heart.'

The line was silent for a few seconds before the detective spoke again.

'Wh..., what?' he stammered.

'Sir, his heart is gone. I-I haven't started the autopsy, I haven't even begun to prepare for it, but when I came in this morning I found his heart's been ripped from his chest.'

'And... you're sure?' the detective asked. 'You haven't just done something with it, have you?'

I began losing my temper. 'Sir, I think I'd remember opening up a man as important as the prince of England and taking his heart out,' I snarkily said into the phone.

'Bloody hell, okay...' he paused again, leaving only the sound of my adrenaline-filled hand shaking the phone against my face to fill my ears. Finally, he spoke again. 'I'll be over in a few minutes. Don't touch anything.'

The line went dead.