The Pretty Mortician Downstairs

The Case

It was just like any other day. Archie was down in the mortuary, taking care of a deceased. He was doing an autopsy report on the man. He had been shot in the head and had many abrasions, looking like he had been trying to fight back. Archie had turned his emotions off after he got to work. He had a straight face, calm posture. But you could take one look at him and tell that he felt bad for the deceased.
As he put the report into the computer, the chief came down with a new guy. “Dr. Marcell,” the chief greeted. Archie turned to look at the chief, standing up straight from his desk. “Chief,” he responded in a monotone voice. “This is Detective Toffner. He just moved to our district from Tennessee,” the chief introduced the new guy as he gave a small wave. Archie gave the man a small nod.
“Detective Toffner, this is Dr. Marcell, our mortician, and the best one we’ve got.” Archie had a small smile on his face, but it quickly faded. “Good to meet you, detective. Is there something you two needed? I know you didn’t just come down here to introduce us.” “Toffner here has been put on the latest murders. It’s starting to seem that we have a serial killer on our hands,” the chief explained.
Archie nodded and gave them what he had on the victims, pointing out a pattern. All attacked at melee range, manipulating the victim into thinking that they can fight back only to get shot in the head. The two men thanked the taller male and left with the information they were given. Archie got right back to work and did what he had to do. At the end of his shift, he put the body back in the freezer and packed up his stuff to head home.
He powered his phone back up as he had kept it off the entire time he was working. He saw messages from his friends that they were going out for the night and that they would see him in the morning. As he walked back to his car, he saw something on his windshield. It was a piece of paper, a note. Archie sighed, frustrated. This had been happening to him for the past couple of days.
He hadn’t brought it up with his colleagues, seeing that they were already working their butts off trying to solve these serial murders. He snatched the note off of his windshield and threw it into the passenger seat. All he wanted to do was go home, eat, and sleep. He pulled out of the parking lot and headed home, turning the radio on but keeping it on quiet. He finally arrived home, grabbing the note and heading into the house.
He turned on some lights and went into the kitchen to fix up something for himself. He had set the note down on the table, not even wanting to look at it. It was just going to be as creepy as the other notes he has received. He would receive one every day, and he was getting tired of it. Some of the details in the notes were about his personal life. Like the kind of music he liked, his hobbies, what he liked to eat.
That wasn’t really the creepy part. Every person he knew knew those things. The creepy part was when it got into his past relationships. How he liked some things and things he didn’t like in a relationship. Even creepier, how he liked it in bed. He was terrified but tired of this. He eventually forgot about the note he had just received and went to bed after taking a shower. His friends arrived home later that night, noticing the note on the table.
They got curious and took a peek at it. It was a typed up note. Only this time, it was much more terrifying. It touched on the murders and on how the person enjoyed it. How they played with the victims' emotions, giving them the upper hand in the beginning before getting bored and ending their lives. Omar found this extremely worrying and looked at his boyfriend Henry. Henry had a look of fear and anger.
They both raced to Archie’s room to find him asleep, worn out from his work day. Omar gently woke his friend, obviously panicking. “What? What’s going on?” Archie asked in a tired and groggy voice. “Dude, there’s something you need to see,” Henry responded with a sense of urgency in his voice. Archie didn’t like the sound of that. He sat up, put his glasses back on, and went with the boys back to the kitchen.
Omar handed the note to his best friend, shaking a bit. Archie took it and read it, his eyes widening, pure fear on his face. “Father, we need to report this,” Omar told him. “How long have you been home?” “Uhm,” Archie checked the time to see that it was 1 in the morning. He had gotten home around 11:30. “Around an hour and a half. I went to bed after I ate something.” Henry and Omar looked at each other then back at their friend. “How long has this been going on?” Henry asked.
Archie sighed and leaned against the counter. “Couple days,” he answered. “We need to call the cops. This touches on everything that’s happened recently,” Omar exclaimed. Archie hesitated for a moment, then nodded, going back to his room to grab his phone then going back to the boys. He sat on the counter as the two watched him as he called his boss. “Hey doc. You sure are up late,” the chief answered. “Chief, there’s something you need to see. It’s tied to the case.”