The Drowned Ones

3.

3

The angles of the photos and videos taken on the TV were always something that Fabian had to give credit to, how the hell did the photojournalists get those shots? He watched as the reporter on scene recounted how the body was found, showing blurred images at these impossible angles. They had been explaining how this changed the direction of the case and whether the police had it handled or not. They did this using specific neutral language in a negative tone of voice, Fabian knew this was a media trick to make their audience believe everything was going to hell and pressure the local police into acting quick to get on top of it, a very malicious tactic to get more views and make more money.

It was a female reporter who stood on the opposite island Comerong nature reserve across from Kurrojong where the body and Fabian had been earlier. the police boats and divers were still on the ground there trying to find more evidence, he wasn't hopeful they would find anything else.

Fabian had already made his way back towards Nowra police station on Plunket Street before turning off toward Scenic Drive, towards Shoalhaven hospital which sat overlooking the Shoalhaven River. He had taken the elevator down to the basement and saw two officers standing by the door, flashing his badge he walked in and now stood in the old room which he hated, it was always cold here this was the morgue.

It wasn't one of the newish looking ones most people saw on TV with stainless steel doors and white clean décor it was an aging building that had been built in probably the 1950s or colonial times, it had an old aesthetic of off-white doors with the large lever latches on them which were more reminiscent of an old asylum. There was a darkened quality to the room, the lights were dropped down from the ceiling and had the amber hue to them, it was disturbing to set foot in it and remain there alone. The floor was old brown marble which didn't accent the walls at all in certain areas. Where Fabian waited for the coroner, there was off-white tiles on the walls, a TV that could be used with some of the medical equipment of the place or to just play the news as it was now. Fabian hadn't been there long, but he checked the clock on the wall, it didn't match his watch, it had stopped working on the wall, he bet it may have been like that for more than thirty years.

Fabian often wondered if it got scarier at night, he was glad he wouldn't have to find out. It was cold, these places often kept the temperature down past 12 degrees Celsius, to make sure the bodies didn't decompose whilst the ongoing investigations were going on.

He could see his reflection in the corner of the room, Bill one of the forensic coroners kept a tall full body mirror there in the corner as they were often used to check their PPE before stepping into the room to perform autopsies. Fabian wasn't wearing any PPE though he still had his suit on but had put on a pair of blue latex gloves. he saw that his dark hair was greying slightly at the sides and his blue eyes had seen better days the bags of fatigue hung underneath they were visible which meant he needed sleep. He noticed some movement behind him.

"Hey Bill," Fabian said. The only other person in the morgue today was Bill, he was suited up in a dark blue with a red tie, he only wore the suits when he had to attend tribunals. Fabian hadn't been notified of an impending tribunal so therefore it must have been for a different case. Bill was only here because Fabian had called him earlier to do an emergency autopsy quickly in the morning before the tribunals were to commence, he had been there since six in the morning, it was now nine am, he would have to move quickly to get across to the courts.

"Fabian, your looking terrible, sleeping much?" he said which was true, Bill was an old cynic and had a sarcastic but brutally honest sense of humor. He would tell it how it was even if it hurt the other party, kind of why Fabian liked him. Since moving here from Sydney working with Bill never felt like he had made a bad decision.