The report is understated, clinical, professional.
It obviously follows the same template as a thousand others before; a hundred thousand. Each one just words on paper, relaying factual information which may one day be used in a court of law. It's impersonal and skims past the details of the person as if he was just a collection of statistical observations.
Name: Bernard F. Richleau
Sex: Male
D.O.B. 12/07/1962
Nationality: French
Occupation: Purveyor of Fine Goods (by appointment to His Majesty, the King)
'Can he hold a warrant to the King if he isn't installed yet?' Joe asks. He turns to look at Jill seated right beside him. 'By the way, have you decided on an outfit for the coronation?' he asks.
Jill looks at him.
'Ah, I'm not sure those are the most pressing questions in all of this, Joe', she replies, impressed all the same that he's interested enough in her wardrobe choices to ask. But then again, it's Joe. He's inordinately interested in any detail about her.
She rests her hand on his arm.
'As you ask though, I have it down to three. I thought you might help me make my final choice', she says and the look of delight that crosses his face is answer enough.
'Sure, I mean I'd be delighted. Anything I can do to help', he replies and presses a kiss to her temple.
'Ok, glad that's sorted', she smiles. Running her fingertips tenderly down his face she stops and holds her hand steady, keeping the soft skin of her palm pressed against his cheek.
She doesn't want the moment to end because as soon as it does they will turn the page and read about the ending of a life, the horrible final moments, the details of Bernard's existence reduced to nothing more than text on a page.
Joe notes her pause, senses her reluctance and is content to let her set the pace.
They have all night.
The result will still be the same no matter when they read it.
He watches her, can practically see the internal struggle taking place; the war waging in her mind between wanting to know everything, wanting to bear witness and, at the same time knowing that the report will be dehumanizing will not represent Bernard as a human being but as just another case; another victim.
Finally she leans in and captures his lips in a deep kiss. 'Maybe we should get back to this', she says and he nods but sits closer and slips his arm around her waist as they resume reading.
The words follow the same tempo right through. First outlining the scene found by the officers, then a sanitized description of how the investigation progressed. But, ultimately the most jarring impersonal line was saved for the very end, just before the appendix which included photographs of the scene and the post mortem report. Joe held his hand steady on that page, wanting her to be sure before she ventured there, wanting her to take a moment to pause before she opened that Pandora's box.
Opposite the broad span of his hand the final conclusion lay stark and cold on the final page of the investigative report.
They read it at the same time, the summation of Bernard's final moments and the expert determination as to what caused his death.
Cause of Death: Blunt force trauma to the head and chest, consistent with a fall from a height.
Overall finding: Accidental death.
Note: The mechanism of the window was found to be faulty, thus allowing it to be extended more than standard safety guidelines recommend. The victim likely opened the window further than expected and overreached, losing his balance and falling to his death.
