The Black Bag (Part 1 of 2)

Death's Puzzle ~ 13

Mid-2007, Age 10.

Carlisle never liked the thought of keeping tabs of corpses. He preferred to avoid Death as long as he could keep himself alive. Even so, he felt extremely calm as he and Sophie reached the hospital basement, stepped out of the elevator and strode towards the morgue.

They were not here to deal with the dead, but they were here for the man who studied them.

Morgan was on shift today, much to their good luck. The moment the automatic doors slid open, Sophie identified the many distinct features this man possessed. She saw the collar of his warm grey turtleneck sweater poking out from the top of the apron and the silver tube locket dangling from his throat. She saw that his sable-black hair was nearly of waist-length and that he'd arranged it all into a single ponytail braid. She saw the two thin pale scratches etched into his coffee-skinned left cheek when he'd removed the mask, and the one long scar over his right eye.

The two men greeted each other as though they hadn't seen each other for years (it was usually months, but their different careers and locations made it all seem longer). They shook hands, patted each other on the back, asked how one and the other had been. Carlisle joked a little about Morgan's 'feminine locks' and the latter warned him not to push it. Then, Sophie was introduced. Morgan was initially surprised that Carlisle had a girl now (he'd heard about Richard and no one more); so the man filled him in.

"Hmm... This is very interesting, I'll definitely admit." The coroner clicked his tongue as he inspected every nook and cranny he could find. "This head is still fresh after who knows how long it has been buried. Everything is still intact. Unexpectedly clean and no signs of decay. I've never seen anything like it..."

"What's the matter? Is there anything else?"

Morgan thought for a moment, then exhaled silently through his nostrils. "I'm not entirely sure if I can find much from this, Carl. The fact that the rest of this man's body is missing makes it difficult for me to identify him. The flesh is intact but bloodless, so I doubt I can make any DNA matches. As for that patch back at the house you described, if the blood has dried for too long...

"What I can tell you about this man though, is that he was murdered. The weapon was probably a large blade: a saw or a machete most likely. But... Not in the usual way."

"...What does... that mean?" This time, it was Sophie who asked. Morgan looked down at her, his golden eyes locking with deep copper. Her form, remaining as stoic as ever in this freezing white room, indicated that she could handle whatever he needed to say. With a grim nod from Carlisle to carry on, he began:

"It may not be easy to notice, sweetheart, but it's close enough." 

He pointed towards the torn flesh and skin at the throat area. "The main swath on the right side of the neck is off-kilter by a few degrees while the other side is methodically sawed down in a straight line. If this man was being threatened with the murder weapon, his attacker probably didn't have much patience with him or made the cut by accident... although the second is very unlikely.... But the scenario can be seen this way: the attacker delivered one slash to the victim's throat, but didn't cut all the way through. The victim died from the blood loss and attacker then proceeds to sever the head completely from the shoulders.

"Either way, it is a bit strange. Usually, the body would be disposed as a whole or simply left at the crime scene or chopped to bits and pieces to be later flushed away. Why spare the head and dispose everything else? The only so-called 'supernatural' thing about this is the fact that this head is probably the only part of the body that has remained unblemished while the rest may already be reduced to bone by now."

Sophie's heart seemed to sink right then, the dread further dragging it down into her stomach. He had told her to look for the rest of his body. If it is completely gone as the coroner had just explained, how was she supposed to put him back together? She wasn't missing something, was she?

Carlisle saw her change of expression and couldn't blame her for it. All this time under his care, the child had been searching for a dead man. She still hadn't told him why other than that she had promised to do so. Knowing now that she may not be able to keep to it after so long, he couldn't help but feel sorry for her right now.

He wasn't the only one who noticed. Morgan had stopped talking altogether. He placed the head back onto the operating table and pulled off the gloves. "...I can't say that I completely understand what is really going on, but I can guess that this is important to the kid. If this is any consolation, I'll do whatever I can to help. ...Just so you know and remember, things can get ugly if we get caught."

Carlisle nodded once more, feeling for the first time troubled and burnt out. Morgan was right about that one thing. Imagine how much trouble they would have with the law if anything about what they're doing slips out. But despite all that, he knew that there isn't much choice. Just like Richard, he had dug a little too deep... only worse by even pulling his former colleague into this mess.

'My God.... Bramms, you idiot. What have you dragged yourself into?'

As much as he'd like to say this out loud, he couldn't. ...Not if it meant leaving her to face the music alone. Just like before.