Noah and I sat at my desk back at the station in silence. I reclined back in my desk chair behind it, he leaning forward in the one across from it, looking grim. I was still buzzing with excitement from the arrest. I had to play it cool, though, because people were under the impression that I'd been doing this for years.
"We're not any closer than we were to apprehending the killer of these girls," Noah said.
"It could have been Layla, we never know," I said optimistically. "And if it's not, then at least we can cross her off our list."
"Which leaves us with a whopping zero suspects." He raised his blue eyes to meet mine and half smiled. "Besides, I thought I was supposed to be the optimistic one, not you, little miss ray of sunshine."
"The next time you call me that, I will remove your left testicle," I threatened.
"There she is. Evelyn is back in the building!" he announced.
"Shut up!" I looked around to see if anyone was listening. The only person looking at us was Lily, who had a strange expression on her face. When our eyes met, she made a kissy face and made a heart with her hands. I made another gesture with my hand, but not one meaning love.
Noah chuckled at our little exchange, causing me to scowl at him. "We need to visit the mortician to see what they can uncover from the bodies for us." Noah stood up and straightened his tie.
The two doctors in the morgue were a strange couple of people. The head doctor was a tall, bearded man named Ravi with an English accent. His assistant was a pale girl with short, almost white hair. I think her name was Liv or something. (Shoutout to anyone who got that reference)
"Let me guess. You two are here for the Jack the Ripper girls," Ravi said, grinning.
"You got that right," I said.
"Coming right up!" Ravi said, heading over to the coolers where they keep the bodies. I'd never been in a morgue. I was always the one who put bodies there. A stab of regret hit me like a punch.
"We couldn't get much from the organs, obviously," Liv explained. "Get ready for a little bit of a horror show."
She uncovered the body. Noah winced when he saw the state of the girl's body. "Shit," he swore under his breath.
The sight didn't phase me, seeing as I'd seen plenty of dead bodies before. "These cuts are expert. No run-of-the-mill killer with a butcher's knife could have made these. Are they post-mortem?"
"Yeah, except for the neck wound. That was the one that killed her," Ravi told me. "I'm always so impressed by your ability to deal with these bodies."
"Thanks." I moved to her feet. Some serial killers that I knew left marks on the feet, such as removed toes. I knew one who even gave them tattoos.
"Damn, they're good," I said when I came up empty handed.
I looked up at Noah to see if I recognized anything. He looked somewhat queasy.
Ravi noticed too. "If you're gonna be sick, mate, we've got a bucket for that. Just try to avoid the bodies and the tables. Just cleaned 'em."
I smiled at his concern for everything but Noah's well-being. "I don't want to be the one cleaning up your puke this week. No desire to switch roles from me." Despite what I said, I put a comforting hand on his shoulder blade out of habit and rubbed slow circles there. "Seriously, if you want to leave, that's okay. I have all I need anyway."
YOU ARE READING
The Anatomy of Killer
Ficção Geral"You know how they say that the shot heard around the world was the one that started the Revolutionary War? Yeah, well they were wrong. It was the shot fired directly at my chest by a man that I thought was my friend" I was given a second chance at...
